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Optimal Blue: Mortgage refinances jump despite higher rates

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Loan locks for refinances rose more than 20% year over year while purchase lock counts saw a 6% decrease, according to Optimal Blue‘s January 2025 Market Advantage mortgage data report released Thursday. Purchase lock volume climbed 16% from December, but year-over-year counts – which control for home-price appreciation – were down 6%. That marked the […]

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loanDepot enhances home equity access with two new product options

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California-based mortgage lender loanDepot on Wednesday announced the expansion of its equityFREEDOM portfolio to provide nearly 50 million U.S. homeowners with access to their tappable home equity. The expansion adds 10- and 30-year fixed-term options to the company’s existing 20-year fixed-rate home equity loan, which the company has designed as complements to its first-lien and […]

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Russian fashion designer’s skirts portray life struggles of immigrant women 

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Russian-born fashion designer Dasha Pomeranz tells stories with the clothing she creates. Her latest collection is a tribute to women who were forced to leave their native countries and start new lives in the United States. Karina Bafradzhian has the story. (Videographer: Sergii Dogotar ; Produced by: Sergii Dogotar, Anna Rice   )  details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received […]

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Slightly lower mortgage rates fuels strong refi activity

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Mortgage applications increased 2.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis in the latest MBA survey. This follows the prior week’s 12% increase in refinance applications, which marked the strongest refi week in months. The Mortgage Bankers Association‘s market composite index increased 6% on an unadjusted basis compared with the previous week. Continuing a strong streak was […]

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The playbook for a rookie loan officer: What I’m telling my son before his first year

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Entering the mortgage industry as a loan officer can be both exciting and overwhelming. With a 100% commission-based structure, success isn’t guaranteed — it’s earned. The first year is crucial for developing the habits, relationships, and skills that lay the foundation for long-term success. I’ve spent years in the industry, and as my son prepares […]

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Mortgage credit availability jumped 2.5% in January

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Mortgage credit availability ramped up in January, according to a report released Tuesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) that analyzed data from ICE Mortgage Technology. The MBA’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) increased by 250 basis points (bps) on a monthly basis to 99.0 in January 2025. By comparison, the index rating was 92.7 […]

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ICE adds rate lock comparison tool to Encompass

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ICE Mortgage Technology on Monday announced several enhancements to the Encompass loan origination platform, including a rate lock comparison tool that enables lenders to automatically detect and adjust for changes to a loan that may affect pricing and eligibility. The “Rate Lock Comparison Tool,” which is integrated with Encompass’s product and pricing engine (PPE), enables […]

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Rocket’s modern messenger: TikTok influencers

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Rocket Companies’ return to the Super Bowl on Sunday marked not only a milestone for the company’s calculated rebrand but a new level of connection between the financial services sector and online influencers. While many mortgage professionals have taken to apps like TikTok, LinkedIn and Instagram to make housing-related content, the influencers who posted “reaction” […]

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Why the CFPB’s enforcement pause is not a free pass for lenders

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The recent developments surrounding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) have left many in the mortgage industry wondering what comes next. With Acting Director Russell Vought halting all rulemaking, enforcement actions and examinations, some may be tempted to believe that the regulatory burden on Independent Mortgage Banks (IMBs) is lifting. However, this assumption is dangerous. […]

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Kiavi expands investment lending options to 13 more states

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Residential real estate capital provider Kiavi announced Monday that it is expanding into 13 additional states, broadening the company’s reach to 45 states and Washington, D.C. The expansion includes the states of Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. “Kiavi’s expansion into these 13 additional […]

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Philadelphia defeats Kansas City in Super Bowl

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The Philadelphia Eagles dominated the Kansas City Chief in this year’s Super Bowl, defeating the reigning champions by a score of 40-22. The Chiefs had been slightly favored to win the game, going into the American football showdown with hopes of winning their third consecutive National Football League title. But the Eagles held the Chiefs […]

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Rocket makes a Super Bowl commercial comeback

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Rocket Companies is not one to shy away from the spotlight. Within the last few years, leadership additions of Varun Krishna, Katie Sweeney and Dan Sogorka to the team and an auspicious rebrand announced at the start of the year have put Rocket in the financial services spotlight. It makes sense that Rocket is returning […]

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‘Anora’ wins at Producers and Directors Guild Awards

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Did a wide-open Oscar race just get a front runner? Sean Baker’s Brooklyn comedy “Anora” took top honors at both the Producers Guild Awards and the Directors Guild Awards on Saturday night, catapulting it to Oscar favorite status with wins from a pair of closely watched Academy Awards precursors. Hollywood’s award season has been uncharacteristically […]

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Better mortgage spreads are capping rates in 2025

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Another jobs week has come to an end, and amid the chaotic headlines about job numbers, tariffs, and the leadership of the Treasury, mortgage rates remained calm. Better mortgage spreads are limiting how high rates can rise in 2025. This situation contrasts with the challenges the market faced in 2023, during the banking crisis when […]

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A timeline of what’s happening at the CFPB under Trump

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President Trump’s shake-up of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continues. On Friday night, Russell Vought, the architect of the Project 2025 plan and the newly confirmed director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, emailed top staffers at the CFPB to inform them that he’d been named acting director, according to the Wall Street […]

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Project 2025 architect Russell Vought takes over CFPB

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Russell Vought, an architect of Project 2025 and the current head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is the new acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Wall Street Journal reported late Friday night. Vought emailed top staffers at the agency to inform them that he’d been named acting director, […]

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Stradivari violin made in 1714 sells for $11.3M

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NEW YORK — A violin made in 1714 by the legendary luthier Antonio Stradivari sold for $11.3 million at an auction in New York on Friday, short of estimates that would have made it the most expensive instrument ever sold.  Sotheby’s auction house had estimated that the “Joachim-Ma Stradivarius” violin could sell for between $12 million […]

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Washington, D.C. moves to bolster reverse mortgage foreclosure protections

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The governing council of the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. is taking steps to establish a permanent program seeking to protect its older residents with reverse mortgages from foreclosure. In mid-January, the D.C. council enacted the “Fairness and Stability in Housing Amendment Act of 2024,” which amends specific housing agency laws to allow for protections for […]

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Better appoints Patrick Kandianis as new VP of business development

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Digital mortgage lender Better announced Friday that Patrick Kandianis has been appointed as the company’s new vice president of business development. A 22-year industry veteran in lending sales, Kandianis most recently served as Figure Lending’s senior director of lending partnership sales and was instrumental in helping that company achieve more than $12 billion in production. […]

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If the GSEs exit conservatorship, what’s the impact on mortgage servicers?

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The Trump administration is expected to try to remove the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) from conservatorship, but it probably won’t be fast and it probably won’t be without considerable strife. At the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s Servicing Solutions Conference & Expo in Dallas on Thursday, experts shared their views on when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac […]

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Click n’ Close adds conventional loans to SmartBuy program

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Multistate mortgage lender Click n’ Close on Thursday announced that it’s adding a 30-year, fixed-rate conventional loan option to its SmartBuy Shared Appreciation Mortgage (SAM) program. Texas-based Click n’ Close, formerly known as Mid America Mortgage, offers the SmartBuy SAM program as an alternative path to homeownership. SAM loans grant the lender a share of […]

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Pennymac launches full-service, nondelegated mortgage solution

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On Thursday, PennyMac Financial Services Inc. announced the launch of its full-service, nondelegated mortgage solution, NonDel+, an end-to-end loan experience within its dynamic POWER+ portal. According to a company press release, the new product is “specifically tailored to banker partners who value control over their loans, but desire support with disclosures, loan documents and additional […]