Fannie Mae, the largest mortgage financier in the U.S., said Friday that its net income in the fourth quarter of 2020 checked in at $4.6 billion – up 8% from the third quarter. The government-sponsored entity’s total net income for the full year was $11.8 billion, and executives on Friday’s earnings call spoke enthusiastically about […]
Summary List Placement A Tuesday note from Bank of America Research predicts a correction for the stock market — and also showcases the disconnect between Wall Street and the rest of the economy. In a chart, BofA researchers show how as the S&P 500 has climbed to record highs, Main Street indicators have in most […]
Plugged In-Myanmar Democracy in Peril The United States is levying new sanctions on Myanmar’s military following its takeover of the country’s government on February 1, placing Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest and ending a nearly 10-year experiment in democracy. Plugged In with Greta Van Susteren examines the situation with Derek Mitchell, former U.S. ambassador to […]
“Ailey,” a documentary about the life and creative spirit of iconic African American dancer, director and choreographer Alvin Ailey, weaves an immersive portrait of Ailey as a creative genius and a complex individual, who emoted his life experience through movement. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke with the filmmaker […]
It wasn’t long ago that scribes were writing the obituary of the mortgage underwriter. And yet, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the underwriter has become the most sought-after professional in the mortgage industry. Some underwriters were commanding five-figure bonuses on top of six-figure salaries. The problem is, there just aren’t enough of them. That didn’t change […]
Chick Corea, a towering jazz pianist with a staggering 23 Grammy Awards who pushed the boundaries of the genre and worked alongside Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock, has died. He was 79. Corea died Tuesday of a rare form of cancer, his team posted on his website. His death was confirmed by Corea’s web and […]
Summary List Placement Coursera has thousands of affordable online courses and certificate programs, and currently offers 12 public health courses for free. Below are 12 of Coursera’s best public health courses — including one that’s CME eligible — that offer optional paid certificates to add to your resume or LinkedIn. Read more: Coursera Plus […]
Tai Christensen, CBC Mortgage Agency’s director of government affairs, will join other housing luminaries to discuss how lenders can increase their diversity to impact minority homeownership at HousingWire’s Spring Summit on March 4. The homeownership gap between white and Black Americans is larger than in the 1960s, and both real estate and mortgage lenders are looking for […]
Summary List Placement Total US public debt is set to overtake the size of the national economy in 2021 even without the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan sought by President Joe Biden, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Federal debt is projected to reach 102% of US gross domestic product through the end of the year, […]
Summary List Placement Columbia University ranks as one of the best colleges in the world. But prestigious colleges are often harder to access due to tuition costs and academic requirements. Luckily, you can take for free through edX, or earn certificates in subjects from to for under $1,000. Read more: MIT offers over 2,000 […]
Summary List Placement Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said during a press conference on Thursday that a federal $15 minimum wage increase will be included in the stimulus package that will go to the Senate. “Yes it will,” Pelosi said in response to whether the provision would be included. “And we’re very proud of […]
Summary List Placement Democrats are attempting to stick to a swift timeline for President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion rescue package, which they hope to have passed by early March to head off a lapse of federal benefits for unemployed Americans. But it’s one that leaves a very slim margin of error. Speaker Nancy Pelosi doubled […]
Online retail lender loanDepot raised just $54 million by offering 3.9 million shares at $14 on Thursday, far below the range of $19 to $21 it initially had sought. The downsized offering follows a theme that’s afflicted almost all of the nonbank mortgage originators that have gone public in the last year. LoanDepot, the second-largest […]
Summary List Placement Back in September, Sandra Kwan left San Francisco dreaming of the perfect Hawaiian life. The past five months haven’t disappointed. A senior program manager at LinkedIn, Kwan works 7 to 3 from her apartment, which overlooks Waikiki’s surf breaks. In the late afternoons, she catches a few waves or goes scuba-diving or […]
Summary List Placement 34% of Americans said they will save the next round of $1,400 stimulus checks that President Joe Biden is pushing Congress to pass, which will lower household debt and stimulate the economy. In a survey conducted by Morning Consult, which was commissioned by Bloomberg, it found that compared to the first round […]
Freddie Mac, the second-largest mortgage financier in the U.S., said Thursday that its net income in the fourth quarter rose 18% from the prior quarter to $2.9 billion as low rates continues to boost originations. In total, the company’s net income at the end of 2020 was $7.3 billion, a 2% increase from 2019. Its […]
Summary List Placement After applying to get their toddlers into top-rated preschools, parents tend to receive one of three responses: an acceptance letter, a rejection letter, or an offer to remain on the program’s waitlist should a spot open up. “Being on the waitlist means that as all of the schools are licensed by the […]
For the third week in a row, the average mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed loan remained unchanged at 2.73%, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Even though rates remained at their record low levels, mortgage applications dipped, with some economists pointing to the overheated home prices and lack of supply for applications seesawing. “The […]
The president of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizing committee reportedly will resign after making sexist remarks about women that were disclosed to media. Japan’s Kyodo news agency and other news outlets, citing unnamed sources, reported Thursday that Yoshiro Mori would step down on Friday after concluding he could not let the ensuing controversy continue. […]
Summary List Placement To kick off the new year, 20 states raised their minimum wages around the start of 2021. A few more are set to raise theirs throughout the year. In fact, according to a report from the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a record-breaking number of jurisdictions are set to raise their wages […]
Summary List Placement Departing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos would pay almost $2 billion a year under Washington state’s wealth tax proposal. State legislators have proposed a 1% tax on people who have more than $1 billion in wealth. The tax would only apply to nontangible financial assets, such as publicly traded options, futures contracts, and […]
A new presidential administration and a clarion call from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has transformed fair servicing from a seemingly remote risk into a front and center mandate. After the 2008 financial crisis, regulators enhanced long-standing fair lending examination guidelines to incorporate the concept of fair servicing. They began to scrutinize potential discriminatory loss […]
Summary List Placement Employees who can gain insights from complex data are increasingly valuable in a rapidly evolving workforce. Thankfully, there’s a multitude of online data science courses for breaking into a new career or moving up the corporate ladder. Below, you’ll find 10 of the most popular, varied, and relatively affordable options from […]
The Oscars ceremony, delayed until April 25 due to the coronavirus pandemic that has rocked the entire film industry, will be broadcast live from “multiple sites,” including Hollywood, the Academy announced on Wednesday. Despite the COVID-19 epidemic, which still places restrictions on the Los Angeles area, “the Academy is determined to present an Oscar ceremony […]
Summary List Placement Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that US unemployment is about 10% — or nearly twice the officially recorded rate. That roughly equal to Great Recession levels more than a decade ago. The Fed chair made the remarks in a speech on strengthening a battered labor market at the Economic […]
Brian “Woody” White, Homebridge‘s chief diversity officer, will join other housing luminaries to discuss how lenders can increase their diversity strategy to impact minority homeownership at HousingWire’s Spring Summit on March 4. The homeownership gap between white and Black Americans is larger than in the 1960s, and both real estate and mortgage lenders are looking for solutions. […]
Summary List Placement Unemployment benefits will expire in mid-March if Congress does not pass a stimulus package before then, putting 11.4 million Americans at risk of losing needed aid. As part of his $2 trillion stimulus proposal, President Joe Biden called on Congress to extend unemployment benefits through the end of September and provide $400 […]
Jay-Z, Foo Fighters, Tina Turner and Iron Maiden lead this year’s nominees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a female-heavy list of 16 acts that includes for the first time The Go-Go’s, Mary J. Blige and Dionne Warwick. Artists are eligible for a nomination 25 years after the release of their first official […]
Summary List Placement Black, low-wage, and female workers bore the brunt of the pandemic’s hit to employment last spring, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York study published Tuesday. Low-wage workers and minorities suffered the most acute economic pain at the start of the COVID-19 recession, the Fed researchers said. Indicators including the unemployment […]
Summary List Placement The poorest 20% of Americans can expect to see a nearly 33% boost to their incomes with key Democratic stimulus provisions of $1,400 stimulus checks, and the expansion of child tax credits and the Earned Income Tax Credit. In a report released on Tuesday by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy […]
Deep into this pandemic winter, it can be hard to remember what a refuge gardens were last spring and summer. In those frightening early days of COVID-19, victory gardens and household vegetable plots sprang up all over. Seed companies reported shortages. Hardware stores saw a run on garden tools. Millions found comfort, release and a […]
Summary List Placement America’s history is largely one of immigration, and the best way to learn about those experiences is to read stories by immigrants. We’ve rounded up 16 contemporary memoirs, non-fiction books, and anthologies by immigrant and refugee authors, including Ilhan Omar, Meredith Talusan, and Diane Guerrero. Read more: The best books of […]
Freddie Mac announced Wednesday the creation of new leadership roles in order to address housing equality in single- and multifamily housing businesses. Pamela Perry Freddie Mac appointed Pamela Perry as vice president of single-family equitable housing, and Amanda Nunnink as vice president of equity in multifamily housing. Perry will lead a newly formed team responsible […]
The seesaw nature of mortgage applications continued for the week ending Feb. 5, as applications decreased 4.1% from the prior week, according to the latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Applications were up 8.5% the week ending Jan. 29 – breaking a two-week stretch of decreases – before falling again last week. Mortgage rates […]
As the world grappled with COVID-19, a recession and a racial reckoning, the ultrawealthy gave to a broader set of causes than ever before — bestowing multimillion-dollar gifts on food pantries, historically Black colleges and universities and organizations that serve the poor and the homeless, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual rankings of the […]
Summary List Placement The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is ranked the second best school in the world in 2021, according to US News. Despite the exclusivity that comes with prestige, the institution offers accessibility to its educational resources. You can take thousands of free MIT courses online through or MIT OpenCourseWare. Read more: […]
Borrowers with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be eligible for an additional forbearance extension of up to three months, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Tuesday. FHFA forbearance plans initially had a 12 month expiration date, however, the government entity is now allowing borrowers up to 15 months of coverage. According to the agency, eligibility for […]
The post Mortgage credit is still the tightest it has been in more than six years, but steady loosening in January revealed lenders are preparing for a rebounding economy, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a report on Tuesday. The group’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index rose 2% to 124.6 last month, still hovering near levels previously seen […]
Super Bowl 2021 in now history – and it also made history for a number of reasons. Maxim Moskalkov has the story. Camera: Yuriy Zakrevskiy details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web source: VOANews.Com
Summary List Placement Democrats in Congress are racing to approve President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion rescue package within weeks. But the final threshold for stimulus checks has divided Democrats as they scramble to get federal aid out the door by early March. Some Democrats are pushing to restrict the payments to lower-income households. The plan […]
Summary List Placement GOP Sen. Mitt Romney has made an ambitious proposal to offer a near-universal annual child allowance of $4,200 for children under age 6, and $3,000 for children aged 6 through 17. Currently, the federal government offers tax credits to parents with children, but they are smaller than this and, crucially, you have […]
Mega Capital Funding just became the latest company to re-enter the non-Qualified Mortgage space with the launch of several new product lines. Its new “Mega Elite” non-QM and debt service coverage ratio product lineup includes alternative income documentation products such as its three- and 12-month bank statement products, CPA and borrower prepared P&L and asset […]
Summary List Placement If you’re planning to apply to the No. 1 law school in the nation, then you already know you have your work cut out for you. According to US News & World Report’s 2021 Best Law Schools ranking, that school is Yale Law School, where the 2023 acceptance rate was a slim […]
Summary List Placement A new analysis from the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) found that 275,000 more women left the workforce in January, meaning they are no longer working or looking for work. The analysis comes from January’s jobs report, released on Friday. As Insider’s Ben Winck reported, nonfarm payrolls added 49,000 jobs in January […]
America’s latest first lady is breaking with tradition as the first presidential spouse to keep her job while in the White House. Jill Biden, who has a doctorate in education, is an English professor at a community college near Washington. “I think in particular, the fact that she is in a profession that is seen […]