Fierce female leads were once rarities in U.S. action movies. More recently, blockbuster franchises and streaming platforms have placed women at the center of the action, saving the day with their strength and ingenuity. Increasingly, these powerful heroines are ethnically diverse, appealing to wider audiences. VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more. Videographer: Adam Greenbaum, Julie Taboh details […]
Climate protesters threw mashed potatoes at a Claude Monet painting in a German museum to protest fossil fuel extraction Sunday but caused no damage to the artwork. Two activists from the group Last Generation, which has called on the German government to take drastic action to protect the climate and stop using fossil fuels, approached […]
Salman Rushdie lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand following an attack on stage at a literary event in western New York in August, his agent said. Andrew Wylie, who represents literary giants such as Saul Bellow and Roberto Bolano, described the extent of the injuries Rushdie suffered in the “brutal” […]
Many preparations go into the celebration of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, which starts Monday. There’s cleaning and decorating the house, buying new clothes, visiting friends and family — and of course preparing and sharing food. And although the foods associated with Diwali vary from culture to culture, one central theme is snacks and […]
Joanna Simon, an acclaimed mezzo-soprano, Emmy-winning TV correspondent and one of the three singing Simon sisters who include pop star Carly, has died at age 85. Simon, the eldest of four, died Wednesday, just a day before her sister Lucy died, according to Lucy’s daughter, Julie Simon. Their brother Peter, a photographer, died in 2018 […]
Conference season is here in full force. After a one-to-two-year break from in-person events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be challenging to navigate the slew of mortgage conferences that hit the industry each fall. For some, conference season never stops. In a recent episode of the Housing News podcast, HW Media CEO Clayton […]
Days after Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi caused an international incident by not wearing her country’s mandatory headscarf while competing abroad, her fate is top of mind for the world’s best climbers. “It has made me ill — nauseous,” said American Brooke Raboutou, speaking to The Associated Press on Friday at a World Cup climbing event […]
Amid one of the most challenging mortgage markets since the great financial crisis, Finance of America Mortgage LLC (FAM) will shut down by the end of the year following its decision to exit the wholesale channel and the collapse of a forward retail deal with Guaranteed Rate earlier this month. The board of directors of […]
Drop in refis, soaring interest rates and rise in homeowner costs to utilize equity drove prepayment to the lowest level since November 2000. Prepayment activity dropped 14.9% to a single-month mortality (SMM) rate of 0.57% in September – below the recent record of 0.59% set in January 2019, according to a report by Black Knight. […]
Ginnie Mae on Friday announced that it has extended the mandatory implementation date of its controversial risk-based capital requirement (RBC) for nonbanks to Dec. 31, 2024. The rule — which reduced the minimum risk-based capital ratio from 10% to 6%, but put a 250% risk weight on the MSR asset and the dollar-for-dollar deduction from capital […]
In times as tough as these, mortgage lenders must be proactive in borrower outreach and find consumers’ home finance needs if they’re going to close a deal, a new report by mortgage relationship data company Sales Boomerang concludes. Based on decreases in borrowers’ mortgage inquiries, early payoff (EPO) of mortgages and new home listings in […]
Works by Ukrainian artists will be the highlight of the world’s largest outdoor sculpture exhibition, starting Friday in Sydney. The annual Sculpture by the Sea exhibition, near Bondi beach in Sydney, will raise money for the Australian-Ukrainian community’s humanitarian aid charity. The seaside gallery will show more than 100 exhibits from 16 countries from Oct. […]
The popular National Air and Space Museum in Washington on the National Mall has partially reopened, after being closed for almost seven months, with a new look and new exhibits. Among them, a historical look at The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Aerial Age, and Exploring the Planets. Rather than an assortment of […]
A jury sided with Kevin Spacey on Thursday in one of the lawsuits that derailed the film star’s career, finding he did not sexually abuse Anthony Rapp, then 14, while both were relatively unknown actors in Broadway plays in 1980s. The verdict in the civil trial came with lightning speed. Jurors at a federal court […]
Online bank Ally Financial recorded a $136 million impairment related to its investment in struggling digital mortgage lender Better.com, bank executives said Wednesday during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. The bank disclosed to shareholders and analysts that the $136 million impairment was a “nonmarketable equity investment” related to its mortgage business. “Following the impairment, our […]
Nations Direct Mortgage, a residential lender in both the retail and wholesale channels, on Wednesday announced appointing Jack O’Brien as its senior vice president and national sales director. Prior to joining Nations Direct, O’Brien held leadership positions at LoanDepot, was Northeast regional sales manager at Fifth Third Bank; principal at J.H. O’Brien & Associates and […]
A doubling of 30-year fixed rate mortgage rates, shrinking profit margins and a risk of recession presents a challenging environment for independent mortgage banks (IMBs), but smaller IMBs are better positioned to weather challenges, claimed the Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA), a lobby group that represents smaller mortgage lenders. Large IMBs with portfolio holdings […]
Fitch Ratings in late October 2022 set negative outlooks for four nonbank mortgage lenders. ” data-medium-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Fitch-Ratings.jpeg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Fitch-Ratings.jpeg?w=1024″ width=”4429″ height=”2953″ src=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Fitch-Ratings.jpeg?w=1024″ alt=”New York, NY, U.S.A. – Fitch Ratings: Fitch Ratings Inc. is an A” class=”wp-image-366713″ srcset=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Fitch-Ratings.jpeg 4429w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Fitch-Ratings.jpeg?resize=150,100 150w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Fitch-Ratings.jpeg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Fitch-Ratings.jpeg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Fitch-Ratings.jpeg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Fitch-Ratings.jpeg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Fitch-Ratings.jpeg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Fitch-Ratings.jpeg?resize=600,400 600w” sizes=”(max-width: 4429px) 100vw, 4429px”>Fitch Ratings […]
In June of this year, I raised the fifth recession red flag, putting the housing market in a traditional recession where sales, incomes, jobs, and production would be falling, which is happening now. And unfortunately, one of those productions items is housing completions data — which looks terrible in the latest report. As someone concerned […]
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel A. Cardona today announced the recipients of the Terrel H. details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web source: Website of U.S. Department of Education
U.S. debt purchasers are positioned to benefit from rising delinquencies due to improvement in portfolio supply from an increase in non-performing loan (NPL) sales, according to a recent report from Fitch Ratings. This increase in delinquencies is attributed as a byproduct of mounting recessionary pressures, with higher interest rates and inflation raising the risk of […]
Optimal Blue, a division of Black Knight, launched its first hedging and trading platform CompassEdge, unifying its existing risk management and loan sale platform CompassPoint within a single system. CompassEdge is designed to support every originator – regardless of range, size or type – and provide pipeline risk management tools and analytics with dynamic loan […]
Mortgage demand continued its downward trend last week, reaching the lowest level in 25 years, according to the latest survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). That indicates lenders may still face substantial declines in their origination volume in the last quarter of 2022. Depositary banks such as JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and Bank of America have already delivered double-digit contraction in […]
Loan quality and audit services company QC Ally announced on Tuesday that Kristin Broadley has joined the company as its new chief innovation officer. In this role, Broadley will help expand QC Ally’s tech-enabled loan quality initiatives and audit services. Broadley’s professional career spans more than two decades. Her most recent role was vice president […]
To say that mortgage lenders are facing challenging times would be a considerable understatement. The federal funds rate, which is set as a range between an upper and lower limit, currently stands at 3% to 3.25%. The last time that the rate reached 3.25% was in 2005 — and we all know how that story […]
On October 26, the U.S. Department of Education will host the first of five sessions focused on strategies and programs to boost literacy and math outcomes. details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web source: Website of U.S. Department of Education
Racial Equity Accelerator for Homeownership, a collaboration between Urban Institute and Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) of San Francisco, on Monday released a report that examines how the adoption of alternative data can benefit Black households within the mortgage lending landscape. The report found a 30-percentage point gap in homeownership between Black and white households […]
Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka won the Booker Prize on Monday for his second novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, about a dead war photographer on a mission in the afterlife. Karunatilaka received a trophy from Queen Consort Camilla at the English language literary award’s first in-person ceremony since 2019. He also gets a […]
Karim Benzema won the men’s Ballon d’Or for the first time on Monday after a brilliant season with Real Madrid capped by the Champions League and Spanish league titles. The 34-year-old Benzema had his best season ever at Madrid, being the top scorer in both leagues. He scored 44 times with Madrid, including 15 in […]
With how important and critical information is in the current housing environment, we’re excited to share these session highlights from HousingWire Annual in Scottsdale, A.Z. with you through this free virtual event. The HousingWire Annual Remix includes replays of the top sessions at the event like the fireside chat with FHFA Director Sandra Thompson and […]
The Howard County Food Bank in Columbia, Maryland, gained valuable volunteers and donations from Planet Home Lending as the organization partnered with Farmlink to deliver farm-fresh produce to the food bank. Volunteers from Planet Home Lending didn’t just donate canned goods and other grocery items — they got their hands dirty, pulled weeds, fertilized plants […]
Servicers’ forbearance rate declined marginally again in September, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Monday. But the trade group expects pressure in the coming months due to the worsening economic conditions and the destruction caused by Hurricane Ian. The total number of loans in forbearance decreased three basis points from the previous month to 0.69% […]
Rocket Pro TPO, a division of Rocket Mortgage, launched a set of new tools this week for non-delegated correspondent lenders. Through the program, the homebuyer uses Rocket Pro TPO’s digital client portal to apply, submit documents and e-sign. Rocket then generates loan estimates, closing disclosures and final closing documents to the client through the portal. […]
Today, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) is announcing the 2022 recipients of the Presidential Cybersecurity Education Award, kicking-off Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week. details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web source: Website of U.S. Department of Education
The rapper formerly known as Kanye West is offering to buy right-wing friendly social network Parler shortly after being booted off Twitter and Instagram for antisemitic posts. Parlement Technologies, which owns the platform, and West, legally known as Ye, said the acquisition should be completed in the fourth quarter, but details like price were not […]
Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo is undergoing treatment in Atlanta for a brain tumor, the NBA announced Saturday. Mutombo has been one of the NBA’s global ambassadors for years, and recently appeared at Hall of Fame enshrinement events in Springfield, Massachusetts, and a pair of preseason games in Saitama, Japan. He also appeared with […]
Two women have been charged with criminal damage after climate change protesters threw soup on Vincent van Gogh’s painting “Sunflowers” at London’s National Gallery, British police said Saturday. A video posted by the Just Stop Oil campaign group, which has been holding protests for the last two weeks in the British capital, showed two of […]
An Iranian filmmaker said the Islamic republic barred him from travelling to the London Film Festival over his support for the protest movement sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini that he called a “great moment in history.” “I was prevented by the Iranian authorities from boarding my flight to London on Friday,” Mani Haghighi […]
The Mortgage Bankers Association announced Thursday it promoted Joel Kan to vice president, deputy chief economist. Kan has worked at the association since 2006, rising from survey specialist to associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting in 2015. In his new role, Kan will lead the macroeconomic and mortgage market forecasts and oversee MBA’s […]
Robbie Coltrane, the baby-faced comedian and character actor whose hundreds of roles included a crime-solving psychologist on the TV series “Cracker” and the gentle half-giant Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” movies, has died. He was 72. Coltrane’s agent, Belinda Wright, said he died Friday at a hospital in his native Scotland, and but did not […]
Twitter has become somewhat ubiquitous in today’s social media landscape, with more than 200 million users worldwide. The timeline moves about as quickly as the news does, which is why it can be such a valuable resource for those trying to keep up with current events. Mortgage professionals are no exception – whether you find […]
JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo & Co., two of the nation’s largest banks, each faced a double-digit decline in their mortgage origination volumes in the third quarter of 2022. And the coming days don’t look any kinder: the banks’ top executives said on Friday the landscape remains challenging due to macroeconomic and geopolitical issues. That’s […]
WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced the newest appointments to the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the country’s only ongoing, nationally representative assessment of student achievement. The newest board members include a fourth-grade teacher, an eighth-grade teacher, a high school principal, and a parent leader. Former North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue is […]
The Mortgage Bankers Association and fellow trade group the Black Homeownership Collaborative have joined the chorus of voices imploring HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge to reduce mortgage insurance premiums (MIPs) and suspend life-of-loan requirements for borrowers with FHA-insured loans. The trade groups last week sent a letter to Fudge noting that since the start of the […]
Students look to their college as a trusted source of information as they determine how to pay for tuition, housing, books, and other basic needs. In today’s environment, students are facing additional financial challenges coinciding with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising interest rates, and inflation. Each year, millions of students look to their […]