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A financial crisis could emerge from the coronavirus’s lingering fallout, World Bank chief economist says

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Summary List Placement Achieving herd immunity and bringing the coronavirus in check won’t resolve all of the pandemic’s economic damage, Carmen Reinhart, chief economist at the World Bank, said Tuesday. What began as a health crisis is creating “your classic balance sheet problems” and risks plunging the world into a dire financial crisis, Reinhart said […]

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New-year optimism reflected in mortgage applications jump

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Mortgage applications jumped 16.7% after a 4.2% drop last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The jump underlines the seasonality behind last week’s decrease in mortgage rates, as well as the expectation of additional fiscal stimulus from the incoming administration, per MBA Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting Joel Kan. “Booming refinance […]

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LinkedIn is offering free online classes based on the top skills companies want in 2021

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  Summary List Placement LinkedIn identified the top five hard skills employers are looking for in 2021, such as data analysis and project management.  Through January 31, the platform is offering free classes to learn those skills — no LinkedIn Learning signup required. Also included are general career development courses, from preparing for job interviews […]

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Senate Democrats start sketching out a legislative agenda that includes $2,000 stimulus checks as odds of a Trump impeachment trial rise

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Summary List Placement Senate Democrats are beginning to lay out their legislative agenda for the year as the party barrels toward a second impeachment of President Donald Trump in the final days of his term. “The nation is facing unprecedented challenges: the greatest economic crisis in seventy-five years, the greatest public health crisis in a […]

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U.S. Department of Education Announces Additional College Scorecard Updates, Providing Greater Transparency on Borrower Repayment Progress and Postsecondary Costs

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education announced today a new update to College Scorecardthat delivers on the Administration’s promise to make higher education more transparent and accountable. College Scorecard now provides prospective students with information on how well borrowers from individual colleges and universities are progressing in repaying their federal student loans, as well as […]

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Reggora gets Series B funding, eyes 2-day appraisals

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Appraisal software company Reggora today announced the completion of a $30 million Series B funding round, led by returning investor Spark Capital. Other investors included Shine Capital, Greenpoint Partners, Boston Seed and 1984. The company snagged $10 million in a February Series A funding round, bringing the company’s total capital to $45 billion. The company […]

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US job openings shrank by 105,000 in November as the hiring rate held steady

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Summary List Placement US job openings dipped in November as businesses continued to hire workers amid the worsening coronavirus pandemic. Openings dropped by 105,000 to about 6.5 million through November, according to Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, data published Tuesday. The reading met the 6.5 million openings forecasted by economists surveyed by […]

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US small-business optimism tumbles to 7-month low as COVID-19 restrictions curb activity

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Summary List Placement A popular gauge of small-business confidence in the US sank to a seven-month low in December as stricter lockdown measures and climbing daily case counts cut into economic activity. The National Federation of Independent Businesses’ index of small-business optimism fell 5.5 points last month to 95.9, according to a Tuesday release. The […]

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LoanDepot files paperwork to go public in 2021

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The moment has finally arrived: California-based lender loanDepot has filed an updated S-1 with the Securities and Exchanges Commission and plans to go public in 2021. The company, founded by billionaire entrepreneur Anthony Hsieh, said Monday that its affiliate loanDepot Inc. had confidentially filed paperwork, but it hasn’t determined how much stock will be sold […]

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Forbearance rate falls to mid-April levels

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The U.S. forbearance rate fell seven basis points last week to 5.46% of servicer’s portfolio volume, according to a survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association on Monday. As of last week’s data set, forbearance portfolio share is now below numbers Black Knight reported in mid-April of 2020. Every investor class managed to see a decline in rate, […]

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CFPB investigating Rocket Homes for illegal kickbacks

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Rocket Homes Real Estate, a real estate affiliate of Rocket Companies, is being investigated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for possibly violating the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) when it charged fees for referring Quicken’s mortgage clients to real estate agents, according to officials. Syndicated columnist Lew Sichelman reported Sunday that Dmitry […]

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In Japan, Worshippers Take Frosty Plunge Against COVID-19

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In Japan, an annual Shinto ritual of soul purification this year included prayers for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing guidelines forced a much smaller gathering than in previous years, but as VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, believers still turned out – and stripped down – for the annual observance. Produced by: Arash Arabasadi  […]

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Non-QM lending is making a comeback

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Even with total credit risk transfers (CRT) and non-QM lending trending down due to seasonality, some observers are predicting a strong beginning to 2021. Officials with dvo1, a lending markets analytics company, remain encouraged by low levels of new impairments, which reached pre-pandemic levels in both CRT and non-QM. Vadim Verkhoglyad, dv01 vice president and […]

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Will there be a housing supply shortage in 2021?

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This is the fifth installment of our economist Q&A series, as we work to answer the top 2021 housing market questions for our HW+ members. Every Tuesday in December, HousingWire interviewed a top economist in the HW+ Slack channel. In each Q&A, we attempt to bring clarity to the top questions around housing supply shortages […]

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Homepoint files for IPO

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Correspondent and wholesale lender Homepoint is the latest mortgage company to aim for an IPO. The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based lender filed an S-1 with the Securities and Exchanges Commission on Friday afternoon. The company indicated in the S-1 that its price offering was $100 million, generally a placeholder for a larger offering. In its S-1, […]

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5 soft skills LinkedIn says will get you hired in 2021 — and the online courses to help you develop them

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  Summary List Placement The job market is always shifting, but soft skills like emotional intelligence, adaptability, and creativity translate to every career. LinkedIn used billions of data points from its 660+ million members to determine which hard and soft skills matter most to employers in 2020, and which ones are helping LinkedIn members get […]

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3 charts show how December’s surprisingly bad jobs report was especially devastating for the most vulnerable workers

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Summary List Placement The United States lost 140,000 jobs in December. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the surprising dip in nonfarm payroll jobs on Friday. As Insider’s Ben Winck reported, economists had actually anticipated that 50,000 jobs would be added. It’s the first decline in a jobs report since April, showing how the recovery […]

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2021 means new challenges for mortgage lending

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For many of us, the start of a new year is usually synonymous with a renewed sense of professional self, focusing on new goals, new prospects for the year and, of course, the excitement for the upcoming spring real estate market. As we think about coming out of this first month of the year, we’ve […]

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Secretary DeVos Announces More than $4 Billion Available in Emergency Education Grants for Governors to Help Students Continue Learning

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Secretary DeVos announced that more than $4 billion in additional COVID-19 emergency relief is now available to governors to ensure learning continues for students of all ages and at all schools. details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web source: Website of U.S. Department of Education

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12 affordable online classes that can help improve your mental health during the pandemic — from Yale’s free positive psychology course to journaling and drawing prompts

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  Summary List Placement As the pandemic continues, many people can feel deeply isolated or worried about the future. Education can be a powerful tool in mental health management, and online platforms like Coursera, Skillshare, LinkedIn Learning, and FutureLearn contain affordable courses that can help you feel better. The 12 courses outlined below hone in […]

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LendWize acquires broker software platform ARIVE

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Months after taking over management of broker LOS platform ARIVE, mortgage software startup LendWize has finalized a deal to take complete ownership of the origination platform. LendWize took over management of the platform in early 2020 and integrated ARIVE’s software into its own technology stack. It launched a revised version of the ARIVE platform in […]

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US payrolls post surprise drop of 140,000 in December, the first decline since April as America’s labor-market struggles continue

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Summary List Placement The US economy saw a surprise decline in payrolls in December as stricter COVID-19 lockdown measures extended the nation’s unemployment crisis into the new year. American businesses shed 140,000 nonfarm payrolls last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. The reading defies consensus economist estimates that foresaw 50,000 job additions, according […]

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New year sees 2.74 million loans in forbearance

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After three consecutive weeks of increases, the number of mortgage loans in active forbearance fell by 92,000 the first week of 2021, according to a Friday report from Black Knight. This was a 3% drop and the greatest week-over-week decline since early November, largely driven by quarterly forbearance plans reaching their expiration. Black Knight now estimates […]

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American taxpayers will pay for the damage caused by the Capitol riots because the buildings aren’t insured, experts say

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Summary List Placement Taxpayers will foot the bill for damage caused to the US Capitol from Wednesday’s violent mob attack because the site isn’t covered by insurance, industry sources told Reuters. It’s unknown how much it cost to clean and repair damage to the building in Washington, DC, which was vandalized during the attack after […]

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For 2021 housing data, context is key

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2021 was supposed to be different. In the first days of the New Year, we have been dealing with a new strain of COVID, vaccinations aren’t going as planned and the political drama is hotter than ever. It was starting to seem like 2020 all over again. But it is different. On Jan. 5 the […]

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Mortgage rates drop even lower to new record of 2.65%

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The average U.S. mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed loan fell two basis points this week to 2.65% – the lowest rate in the Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey’s near 50-year history. This week’s mortgage rate broke the previous record set on Dec. 24. With this week’s record drop, there have now been 22 consecutive weeks when average mortgage […]

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US weekly jobless claims dip to 787,000 as unemployment crisis continues into 2021

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Summary List Placement The number of Americans filing for unemployment insurance dipped slightly last week as the coronavirus’s economic fallout dragged the unemployment crisis into the new year. New US jobless claims totaled an unadjusted 787,000 for the week that ended Saturday, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected 800,000 claims. The […]

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Mortgage Tech: Blend, Black Knight and QuestSoft

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Mortgage tech is already off to the races, with companies introducing new digital products early in 2021. Digital mortgage platformer Blend is back this week, announcing that they are furthering their Freddie Mac partnership by integrating the GSE’s automated underwriting system, Loan Product Advisor. With the integration, Blend will have access to the companies Dual […]

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UWM offering 61 bps on conventional loans through March 8

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To generate buzz for its upcoming independent public offering, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) is offering a special deal on conventional mortgage loans to select borrowers for the next two months. “We’re going to celebrate this exciting time by kickstarting 2021 with 61 basis points for the next 61 days on all of our conventional W2 […]

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Should you refinance to a 15-year mortgage in 2021?

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For many middle-aged and older homeowners with several years of equity on their homes, 2021 could be a prime time to refinance from a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage into a 15-year mortgage. The three primary reasons homeowners refinance to shorter-term loans are to save money on interest, to pay off the loan faster, and to build […]

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US private-sector employment shrank in December for the first time in 8 months, ADP says

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Summary List Placement Employment shrank in December for the first time in eight months as stricter COVID-19 lockdown measures cut into economic growth. The country’s private sector shed 123,000 payrolls last month, according to the ADP monthly employment report published Wednesday morning. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected an increase of 75,000 payrolls. The decline is […]