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As mortgage origination volume continues to fall from the heights of the pandemic-spurred boom, many lenders see cost-cutting as their top priority this year. About 39% of 210 senior mortgage executives representing 189 lending institutions said cost-cutting was the most important agenda item, the first time that has happened since 2017, according to Fannie Mae‘s […]

Fannie Mae reported $4.7 billion in net income for the second quarter of 2022, up from $4.4 billion in the first quarter. Net revenues increased by $200 million in the first six months of the year compared to last year, thanks to higher base guarantee fee income, an increase in the size of Fannie Mae’s […]

United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) rolled out a new adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) product for jumbo loans in an effort to provide brokers more options in a highly competitive mortgage origination market.  UWM’s Prime Jumbo Max pricing offers a seven- or 10-year ARM with a rate/term and cash-out refi for a maximum loan amount as much as […]

Xactus will add flood services to its list of verification solutions with the acquisition of MassiveCert, a software company that provides flood zone determinations for insurance, lending and real estate. With the acquisition, Xactus will offer flood zone determinations to its clients by using its proprietary flood data and technology products, the firm said Wednesday. […]

Freddie Mac’s net income for the second quarter slipped to $2.5 billion, a 33% year-over-year decline, as it grapples with the mortgage sector’s vulnerability to fluctuations in interest rates. Freddie Mac’s net income for the year so far has decreased to $6.3 billion compared to $6.4 billion in 2021. But while Freddie Mac’s net income […]

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill late Wednesday creating federal minimum standards, which would allow notaries nationwide to perform remote online notarizations. The legislation passed the House with a vote of 336-90. A key to advancing the universal adoption of fully electronic mortgages is the creation of remote online notarization (RON) standards across […]

Purchase mortgage rates dropped after climbing for two consecutive weeks, reflecting increased recession risk and declining consumer confidence in a higher interest rate environment. Purchase mortgage rates declined this week to average 5.30%, down from last week’s 5.54%, according to the latest PMMS survey from Freddie Mac. A year ago this time, rates averaged 2.80% […]

What a difference a year makes. In mid-2021, most mortgage companies enjoyed strong origination volume and were hiring additional staff in response. But as we begin the third quarter of 2022, the landscape has changed drastically and multiple challenges face the industry. Rates are now reaching almost 6% for a 30-year fixed mortgage, while the […]

The Federal Reserve (Fed) on Wednesday raised the federal funds rate by another 75 basis points, to 2.25%-2.50%, delivering what was expected by most investors and economists in recent weeks.  Designed to control persistent inflation, the decision will likely increase the cost of mortgage borrowing and further slow home sales, as the housing sector is […]

The Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are taking the fight to non-bank mortgage lenders for redlining. The two agencies revealed their new strategy to rein in mortgage discrimination on Wednesday, with a $24.4 million consent order, stemming from a referral the CFPB made in November 2020. It’s the DOJ’s second-largest mortgage […]

Borrowers’ demand for mortgage loans decreased for the fourth consecutive week to the lowest level in more than two decades, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The market composite index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, declined 1.8% for the week ending July 22 compared to the previous week. The refinance index dipped […]

When it comes to continuing suspensions of policies that roiled the mortgage market in 2021, the ball is now in the U.S. Treasury‘s court. The Federal Housing Finance Agency and Treasury agreed in September 2021 to end limits imposed by the Trump administration on overall volume and the kind of mortgages lenders’ could sell to […]

The digital revolution has changed the game in mortgage lending over the last few decades, resulting in a rise in digital operations such as online applications and eClosings. While digital strategies have focused primarily on origination, mortgage servicing can take a page or two from origination’s playbook to get off the sidelines and into the […]

California-based wholesale/correspondent lender New Wave Lending Group filed a lawsuit against Sprout Mortgage, accusing the company of defaulting on a pool of $32 million in loans it agreed to purchase.  Sprout has been sued by former employees, vendors and business partners since it shut down its operations in early July, laying off its entire staff […]

Guild Mortgage rolled out a new program, aimed at first-time homebuyers, which will accept rental payment records and residual income history in place of credit scores. If the borrowers’ report from financial tech company FormFree, which provides the rental payment history and residual income analysis, shows consistent payment records, the borrowers may qualify to receive […]

The national mortgage delinquency rate rose in June after hitting consecutive record lows in each of the previous three months. The overall delinquency rate rose nine basis points to 2.84% in June, according to Black Knight. The delinquency rate is 35% lower than the same period last year and remains 30% below pre-pandemic levels.  A […]

Rising interest rates and a slowing economy overall are already taking some of the air out of the rapid home-price appreciation the housing market has experience over the past year, according to the recently released Federal Reserve Beige Book for July. Several leading housing-market economists also are projecting the deceleration in home prices will continue in near […]

Pink slips will arrive for 58 employees working in the mortgage business at Texana Bank in California, according to a Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification (WARN) sent to the state’s Employment Development Department.  Lauren Witherspoon, director of human resources, wrote: “Circumstances will force Texana Bank to conduct layoffs,” taking place Sept. 5, according to the document reviewed by […]

Gone are the days that loan originators received hefty signing bonuses to crank out refi after refi. But make no mistake, even in a down mortgage market lenders are still dangling signing bonuses to recruit high-producing LOs who can eat what they kill.  Signing bonuses are still here to stay for distributed retail LOs because […]

This week’s HW+ member spotlight features Omar Ennabe, who serves as president at Ennkar, a reverse mortgage lender. Below, Ennabe answers questions about the housing industry: HousingWire: What is your current favorite HW+ article and why? Omar Ennabe: I enjoy reading anything Chris Clow writes. Chris Clow helps keep me apprised of what’s going on in my unique niche […]

Fannie Mae has executed two new Credit Insurance Risk Transfer (CIRT) deals — the seventh and eighth of 2022 — dubbed CIRT 2022-7 and CIRT 2022-8.  The two transactions convey a combined $1 billion in mortgage credit risk to private insurers and re-insurers as part of the agency’s ongoing effort to share risk with the private […]

Non-QM lender First Guaranty Mortgage Corp. (FGMC) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the end of June — leaving four warehouse lenders on the hook for more than $415 million. Sprout Mortgage imploded in early July, leaving its employees out in the cold. The lender so suddenly shuttered its doors it failed to file […]

The U.S. House of Representatives voted this week to give the Department of Housing and Urban Development an 18% increase in funding for information technology. The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill, which was lumped in with five other bills, would set aside $73 billion in gross appropriations for the department. That is $12.6 […]

Recent pleadings filed in the bankruptcy case of First Guaranty Mortgage Corp. (FGMC) show the lender left its warehouse lenders holding the bag for a mound of debt.  FGMC and its affiliate, Maverick II Holdings LLC, on June 30 filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Pleadings filed in the case — now pending in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware […]

Purchase mortgage rates increased for the second consecutive week but at a slower pace as the market chewed on the latest U.S. inflation data, the expectation of a tightening Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, and its economic impacts.   After jumping 20 basis points last week to 5.50%, purchase mortgage rates increased this week to 5.54%, according to the […]

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Sandra Thompson is keeping her views on whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should exit conservatorship and a decision on credit scoring models close to the vest. “Ending conservatorships is not a quick action to undertake,” Thompson said in testimony Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee. “There are capital […]

When non-QM lender Sprout Mortgage abruptly shut down on July 6, more than 300 workers expected their last paychecks to be delivered the following day as scheduled. They also expected Sprout to offer severance packages to cushion the blow.  Instead, paychecks weren’t delivered to employees, and severance wasn’t offered, former employees said. There’s more grim […]

Weakening economic outlook, high inflation and affordability challenges took a toll on buyer demand, leading to a drop in both purchase and refi applications last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The market composite index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, declined 6.3% for the week ending July 15, the MBA said. […]

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said it is “looking very hard” at how to make it easier to finance small-dollar mortgages, but has yet to spell out how it will accomplish that goal. In April, HUD signaled it would take on the issue. But a senior HUD official in mid-July stated the obstacles […]

New home purchase applications dropped 12% year over year in June due to higher mortgage rates and economic uncertainty, according to the builder application survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Month over month, application volume dipped by 10%.  New residential construction and permitting activity weakened from March through May, which reduced the number of […]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s regulator imagines a future where, perhaps through artificial intelligence and machine learning, errors in mortgages are identified in real time before a loan is closed. Automating compliance could make eligibility, as well as pricing and pooling decisions, and verify and validate that information. But that scenario is a long way […]

Anthony Hsieh, founder and CEO of loandepot ” data-medium-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Anthony-Hsieh-e1632930256968.png?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Anthony-Hsieh-e1632930256968.png?w=1024″ width=”3990″ height=”2390″ src=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Anthony-Hsieh-e1632930256968.png?w=1024″ alt=”Anthony Hsieh” class=”wp-image-322982″>Anthony Hsieh, founder and CEO of loandepot Even in a downturn, the loan officer recruiting wars remain fierce. Beleaguered nonbank lender loanDepot is suing rival lender CrossCountry for allegedly dozens of poaching high-performing loan officers from its New York branches. […]