BRUSSELS — The European Union’s top court ruled Thursday in a landmark decision for the future of soccer’s club competitions that UEFA and FIFA acted contrary to EU competition law in blocking plans for the breakaway Super League. The case was heard last year at the court after Super League failed at a launch in April […]
It was late 2022 and Mike was feeling the pressure. Mortgage rates had climbed close to the 7% range and he was determined to remain competitive on pricing with rival loan officers in North Carolina. But there was a problem: pricing exceptions, in which the lender takes the hit, were becoming scarce at his company. […]
Last week’s DataDigest offered readers a host of housing forecasts from industry experts at banks, trade associations and more, the thrust of which was housing professionals should expect a modestly better year of sales thanks to retreating mortgage rates in the year to come. A day after publication, Federal Reserve officials made several of their […]
Mortgage demand fell for the first time since November as mortgage rates reached their lowest level since June 2023. Total home loan applications decreased by 1.5% for the week ending Dec. 15 compared to the previous week, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Mortgage rates for the 30-year fixed loan averaged 6.83%, […]
High-profile government actions against some of the nation’s largest financial firms for alleged violations of fair lending laws and loan servicing principles have sent a sobering message to industry CEOs and their boards: the buck stops at the top. We have entered a new regulatory era, one filled with expectations that a firm’s compliance with […]
New York — Jonathan Majors was convicted Monday of assaulting his former girlfriend after a trial that he hoped would vindicate him and restore his status as an emerging Hollywood star. It did just the opposite: Marvel Studios and the Walt Disney Co. dropped him hours after the verdict. A Manhattan jury found Majors, 34, guilty […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last week released a new order amending its “express consent” rules for the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which closes the “lead generator loophole” used by mortgage professionals to connect with potential business leads. The loophole allowed those gathering leads to sell to many entities at once, who would then […]
Nominated for a Golden Globe and Spain’s entry for an Academy Award, the film “Society of the Snow” revives the story of the 1972 flight disaster in the Andes Mountains. Veronica Villafane spoke with its director, Juan Antonio Bayona, and one of the survivors of the fatal plane crash that captivated the world. details ⇒ […]
By: Montserrat Garibay, Assistant Deputy Secretary & Director for the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) As part of the Raise the Bar: Lead the World Initiative, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) last month hosted a convening with national and local leaders to discuss the pivotal moment we found ourselves in, as we transform […]
Rome — Pope Francis has formally approved allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, with a new document explaining a radical change in Vatican policy by insisting that people seeking God’s love and mercy shouldn’t be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” to receive it. The document from the Vatican’s doctrine office, released Monday, elaborates on a […]
New York — “Wonka” debuted with $39 million in box office sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. That made it a strong start for the Timothée Chalamet -starring Willy Wonka musical that underscored the young star’s draw. Musicals have been tough sells in theaters in recent years, so […]
Paris — Notre Dame Cathedral got its rooster back Saturday, in a pivotal moment for the Paris landmark’s restoration. The installation by a crane of a new golden rooster, reimagined as a dramatic phoenix with licking, flamed feathers, goes beyond being just a weathervane atop the cathedral spire. It symbolizes resilience amid destruction after the […]
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MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Maya Train rail project opened partially to the general public Saturday, amid hours-long delays and huge cost overruns. Passengers waiting for the twice-daily train to leave the resort of Cancun were left waiting on the platform for about five hours before being able to board. Officials apologized for the delayed and said […]
The Federal Reserve played the good grinch for Christmas this year and delivered the best gift for homebuyers nationwide, leading to lower mortgage rates. The 10-year yield and mortgage rates fell together after the Fed meetings, which gave us mortgage rates under 7% last week. Mortgage rates and the 10-year yield What a crazy week! […]
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA — Cambodia has welcomed the announcement that New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art will return more than a dozen pieces of ancient artwork to Cambodia and Thailand that were tied to an art dealer and collector accused of running a huge antiquity trafficking network out of Southeast Asia. This most recent repatriation of […]
PHOENIX, ARIZONA — Once the initial shock wore off on the price tag of Shohei Ohtani’s record-shattering $700 million, 10-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, details about the contract emerged that were nearly as stunning. A total of $680 million — 97% of the money — was deferred until 2034-43 with no interest. Had the […]
South Carolina-based retail lender Movement Mortgage filed a lawsuit this week against Todd Scrima, founder and president at its competitor Summit Funding, accusing him of gaining illegal access to Movement’s confidential financial files and also scheming to divert Movement’s customers toward Summit. It’s the latest salvo in a legal battle that started after the three of Movement’s […]
Mr. Cooper Group’s examination of the cyberattack it suffered in late October concluded that the personal information of current and former customers was compromised. The data breach led the company to estimate an additional vendor cost related to the incident in the fourth quarter to include offering identity protection services for two years. On Oct. 31, […]
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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) — the government regulatory body overseeing communications across a wide variety of media including radio, telephone cable and the internet — adopted a new series of rules on Wednesday designed to crack down on controversial lead generation methods, including “robocalling” and “robo-texting.” The new rules as adopted could bring a […]
A coalition of bipartisan lawmakers in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday introduced legislation targeting the practice of mortgage trigger leads. The bill, designated “S.3502,” is designed to “amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to prevent consumer reporting agencies from furnishing consumer reports under certain circumstances,” according to the bill’s language. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) […]
The holidays have come early for the mortgage industry. Mortgage rates fell below the 7% threshold this week as markets prepared for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s announcement on Wednesday. The 30-year, fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.95% for the week ending Dec. 14, according to Freddie Mac‘s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. That’s down from last […]
Mortgage industry trade group Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) is urging government agencies to begin to have conversations surrounding the impact of the jury verdict and potential court ruling in the Sitzer/Burnett commission lawsuit on lending practices. In a letter submitted Thursday to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Sandra Thompson, Federal Housing Administration Commissioner […]
Texas-based lender Thrive Mortgage plans to merge with digital multichannel rival Lower, which will create a unified lender with more than 650 loan officers and 120 active branches across the country. Financial details of the merger, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, were not disclosed. Over the last 12 months, […]
The housing market cheered as the Federal Reserve signaled interest rate cuts next year after making a series of rapid rate hikes starting in 2022. While the central bank did not completely rule out the possibility of a rate increase in 2024, that action seems unlikely. Instead, fresh economic projections from central bank officials showed […]
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and the National Mortgage Servicing Association (NMSA) are expressing their views on a recently revised Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loss mitigation proposal, stating that it needs additional adjustments to effectively address the challenges it is designed to tackle. The proposed policy FHA in May submitted — and in November, updated […]
Government sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac has approved mortgage technology company Truv for both payroll verifications and consumer-permissioned income. With the new integration, lenders will have access to the Truv platform to obtain and transmit information and data required on Freddie Mac’s Loan Product Advisor platform for the income modeling assessment without needing a third-party verification. […]
The Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) held its short-term policy interest rate steady at a range of 5.25% to 5.5% at its last meeting of the year on Wednesday. It was the fourth pause recorded in 2023. Investors will parse Jerome Powell’s press conference this afternoon for clues about when and why the central bank […]
Images of African senior citizens walking the runway created a buzz on social media, eventually going viral. These AI-generated pictures challenged the typical depictions of elderly Africans, showcasing them in an empowering way. Karina Choudhury has the story. Camera: Samuel Okocha. details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web source: VOANews.Com
As 2023 winds to a close, so too does a brutal year for the housing market, a year marked by rising rates, steep home prices, scarce inventory and anemic mortgage originations, compared with the boom years of 2020 and 2021. It also has been a brutal year for the secondary market that creates liquidity for […]
As 2023 draws to a close, housing professionals hope for relief from the high mortgage rates, terrible inventory levels and slow sales that characterized the year. They may find that relief for mortgage rates next year, according to forecasts from various industry experts compiled by HousingWire. Sales, however, may see only mild improvement in the […]
London — In 1979, British painter Martin Lever was only 9 years old when he moved to Hong Kong because his father was employed as a surveyor in the Hong Kong Housing Department. He tells VOA’s Cantonese service that growing up in the multicultural city gave him a very different upbringing, one he is grateful for […]
PrimeLending, a Texas-based retail mortgage bank, added 12 new loan originators as it attempts to grow market share within its existing Texas footprint. Among the newly added LOs in the fall included two LOs — John Muhammad ($25.72 million) and Hugo Ortiz-Pulido ($21.21 million) with a production volume of more than $20 million year-to-date, according […]
California-based mortgage lender loanDepot on Tuesday announced the launch of its fully automated underwriting engine called melloNow. The new system, which has been in beta-testing for the last several quarters, delivers a fully conditional loan approval “in minutes rather than hours or days,” the company said in a statement. Jeff Walsh, loanDepot’s mortgage president, said in a […]
The National Center for Education Statistics today released the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). IPEDS gathers information annually from U.S. college, university, and technical and vocational institutions eligible to participate in any of the Title IV federal student financial aid programs. Below is a statement from U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on the results: details ⇒ […]
In the mortgage business, November typically represents the start of the slow season. While mortgage rates cooled down significantly from October, it wasn’t enough to overcome seasonal, historic trends and low levels of inventory. Lock volume declined 10% last month from October, driven by a 12% drop in purchase locks, according to Optimal Blue’s originations […]
Wells Fargo, once the largest mortgage lender in America, was accused of discrimination through the common industry practice of offering mortgage loan discounts to select borrowers, CNBC reported. The bank received Matter Requiring Attention (MRA) notice from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on problems with loan discounts, CNBC reported on Monday, citing anonymous sources. […]
After hitting a 23-year high of 8% in October, mortgage rates have cooled down to the lowest levels since July. Some borrowers are even getting quoted in the 6% range. A top-tier borrower with a 780 FICO score and a 25-30% down payment for a single-family vanilla 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was quoted 6.875% on Thursday, […]
“Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — the unlikely pair of films that dominated the box office and spawned countless internet memes this summer — are expected to lead the newly revamped Golden Globes when nominations are unveiled Monday. Collectively dubbed “Barbenheimer” after their theatrical releases happened to fall on the same date, both movies are likely to […]
For the first time in Hayao Miyazaki’s decades-spanning career, the 82-year-old Japanese anime master is No. 1 at the North American box office. Miyazaki’s latest enchantment, “The Boy and the Heron,” debuted with $12.8 million, according to studio estimates. “The Boy and the Heron,” the long-awaited animated fantasy from the director of “Spirited Away,” “My […]
The Paris 2024 organizing committee president said Thursday that he still wanted the surfing competition at next year’s Olympics to take place in Tahiti, despite the controversy surrounding the construction of the judging tower at the site, where coral has been damaged. Speaking to media company Polynesie La Premiere, Tony Estanguet said he was going […]
The most underreported housing story I’ve seen this year is that even with mortgage rates rising to 8%, the number of homes that took price cuts before they sold was 4% below 2022 levels. This happened even with higher home prices and higher mortgage rates in 2023. Weekly housing inventory data We will start with […]
Ryan O’Neal, the heartthrob actor who went from a TV soap opera to an Oscar-nominated role in Love Story and delivered a wry performance opposite his charismatic 9-year-old daughter, Tatum, in Paper Moon, died Friday, his son said. “My dad passed away peacefully today, with his loving team by his side supporting him and loving […]
A former mortgage consultant who worked for Wells Fargo and ultimately brought a case against the company in a Southern California court over allegedly being fired for complaining about discriminatory lending practices has settled with the company, according to reporting from Los Angeles-based radio outlet KNX News. Attorneys for both parties jointly filed papers in […]