Luke Johnson won’t be accused of avoiding controversy to gin up business for his fintech mortgage lending shop, Neat Capital. You might say he’s actively courting it. “In the financial services community, most companies are afraid of taking an active voice in any community health issue, or any issue of importance because it is politicized […]
Mortgages changed my life. Like most mortgage industry professionals, I fell into the business. Most of us don’t grow up telling everyone that we want to change the world by selling, processing, underwriting and closing mortgages. Unless, perhaps, you are my five-year-old daughter and six-year-old son. They both make it known that they will “do […]
A recent syndicated article on racial bias from The Markup on racial bias, published by ABC news, AP, Market Watch and more, has drawn a great deal of attention from trade groups, policy makers and housing advocates with support from some and attacks from others. The story, “The secret bias hidden in mortgage-approval algorithms,” included […]
As I observe Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Fudge staffing out her management teams, a large hole remains unfilled. In fact, this hole has not been filled permanently in almost five years. The position is an important one, a fact that I know firsthand as the last permanent appointment to the role of president […]
Analytics vendor CoreLogic announced Thursday that it has entered into an enterprise agreement with ICE Mortgage Technology to integrate and automate its core solutions on ICE’s platform, enabling a more streamlined workflow for lenders. Via the Encompass Partner Connect, a cloud-native third-party-service integration platform, CoreLogic will update critical data-driven processes and make these solutions available to […]
The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage held steady at 2.87% for the week ending in August 26, according to mortgage rates data released Thursday by Freddie Mac‘s PMMS. The week prior, mortgage rates declined slightly to 2.86%. This week’s near constant mortgage rates may not yet reflect a rise in U.S. Treasury yields, which ticked up […]
Summary List Placement Filings for unemployment insurance jumped from pandemic-era lows last week as the country crept closer to the expiration of federal UI aid. Weekly jobless claims reached an unadjusted 353,000 last week, the Labor Department announced Thursday morning. That compares to a median estimate of 350,000 claims from economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The print […]
Summary List Placement It’s always been the ultimate dream of remote work: living in luxury, somewhere cheap, on a big-city salary. For the first year of the pandemic, many white-collar professionals got to play this game of geographic arbitrage, decamping to places like Austin, Atlanta, Denver, or Boise while keeping their San Francisco or New […]
Summary List Placement If you’ve ever taken out a loan, held cash in a savings account, saved for retirement, or received a stimulus check during the pandemic, the Federal Reserve played a role in your financial life. Most Americans know next to nothing about it — more than 75% polled by Ipsos for Axios said […]
Questioning First-time homebuyer tax credits ” data-image-caption=”” data-medium-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/house-uestions-HW.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/house-uestions-HW.jpg?w=1024″ loading=”lazy” width=”1200″ height=”694″ src=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/house-uestions-HW.jpg?w=1024″ alt=”Questioning First-time homebuyer tax credits” class=”wp-image-304484″ srcset=”https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/house-uestions-HW.jpg 1200w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/house-uestions-HW.jpg?resize=150,87 150w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/house-uestions-HW.jpg?resize=300,174 300w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/house-uestions-HW.jpg?resize=768,444 768w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/house-uestions-HW.jpg?resize=1024,592 1024w, https://www.housingwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/house-uestions-HW.jpg?resize=600,347 600w” sizes=”(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px”> The much-talked-about $15,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit has made another appearance in Washington, D.C., this time as part of a […]
Summary List Placement In a win for Democrats, the House voted on Tuesday to advance their $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill that included provisions addressing the climate crisis. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said those provisions, along with the infrastructure bill, will help make major headway in combating climate change. Schumer wrote a Dear Colleague […]
Prior to the Great Recession, private label securitizations (PLS) constituted a majority of all residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) issued. In the intervening years, the makeup of the RMBS market has changed significantly and, today, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae are responsible for approximately 99% of RMBS issuance. For a variety of reasons, including […]
Summary List Placement The US has been steadily recovering from major pandemic-related job losses experienced in the spring of 2020. However, not all states may get back to pre-pandemic levels of employment by the end of this year. During the first wave of the pandemic, the US lost more than 22 million jobs in just […]
Summary List Placement The labor shortage is trash. Like, literally, there is more trash lying around as local governments struggle to hire more sanitation workers. Bloomberg’s CityLab reports that government jobs are still well below their pre-pandemic state — about 780,000 are missing — and that could be impacting everything from trash getting picked up […]
Summary List Placement December and March stimulus packages gave states a combined $46.5 billion to help tenants as emergency rental assistance. But as of July, they’ve only sent 11% of that aid out. President Joe Biden first extended the pandemic-era ban on evictions through the end of July to help tenants who were behind on rent. At […]
Mortgage applications rose 1.6% on the week ending Aug. 20, moving in concert with a drop in Treasury yields, according to the latest report from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The market composite index moved 1% on an unadjusted basis from the prior week. Refis ticked up 1% from the prior week and purchase mortgage applications […]
Summary List Placement Extra-long trucks could help solve supply chain issues during a driver shortage in the UK, an expert says. These trucks, which are being tested by the UK’s Department for Transport, are two meters longer than standard, which means they can carry more goods and therefore cut down on the number of journeys […]
Mortgage industry groups on Tuesday made their voices heard in response to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s proposed reinstatement of its 2013 disparate impact rule. Numerous industry stakeholders asked HUD to make some changes to the regulation to raise and further explain the threshold for disparate impact claims. A homeowners insurer trade group, […]
Summary List Placement Baby boomers are sounding the alarm on inflation, bracing for the fastest price growth since the 1980s and fearing for their life savings. Millennials aren’t as bothered, and most experts are on their side. The Consumer Price Index — a popular measure of broad price growth — rose 0.5% in July, continuing […]
Summary List Placement A top House Republican indicated that GOP lawmakers are unlikely to support lifting the debt ceiling and instead put the onus on Democrats to do so, raising the risk of a perilous showdown that could engulf both chambers of Congress this fall. Rep. Kevin Brady, ranking Republican on House Ways and Means, […]
Summary List Placement House Democrats advanced a $3.5 trillion spending plan in a party-line vote, making headway on a key part of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda after a major intraparty brawl. Democrats approved the budget blueprint in a 220-212 vote with every Republican in opposition. They relied on a procedural maneuver that packaged multiple […]
Mike Cagney, co-Founder at Figure Technologies Peter Norden, the CEO of Homebridge Financial Services, has been waiting a long time to do something truly unique in the mortgage business. Decades. “I’ve always struggled with finding a way to be different than my competition,” Norden, a 43-year veteran of the business, said. “Because the reality is, […]
Summary List Placement Federal unemployment benefits are set to wind down in just a few weeks. The suite of programs — which include the additional $300 in weekly benefits — were last extended in President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan stimulus package. However, even as millions of workers stand to lose benefits completely, an extension […]
Summary List Placement Wage garnishment, or withholding someone’s wages until a debt is paid off, was prohibited for certain student-loan borrowers under the CARES Act for the duration of the pandemic. But a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request revealed the Education Department continued to garnish wages of borrowers, and nearly 11,000 of them still […]
Independent mortgage banks (IMBs) and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks reported less profit in the second quarter, with net gains declining to $2,023 on each loan originated compared to $3,361 in the previous quarter, according to a report published by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The data, compiled from 361 companies, shows that the average pre-tax […]
Summary List Placement Last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk presented what’s becoming an increasingly less radical idea about work: That physical work will be a choice. His alternative? A “Tesla Bot,”a robot that he’s developing to do the work humans no longer want to do. As Insider’s Ayelet Sheffey reports, Musk would task that robot […]
Summary List Placement Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in March reversed a methodology created under President Donald Trump’s administration that gave only partial student-debt relief to borrowers defrauded by for-profit schools. The Education Department confirmed on Tuesday it will not be creating a new methodology, and instead, will presume defrauded borrowers’ approved claims are entitled to […]
Summary List Placement Two Chick-fil-A restaurants in Decatur, northern Alabama, are closing early because they can’t find enough workers. “Due to extremely short staffing, both Decatur Chick-fil-A restaurants will temporarily be closing at 8 p.m. beginning Monday, August 23, 2021,” the restaurants said in matching Facebook posts Monday morning. They are both run by the […]
Summary List Placement Despite a temporary extension by President Biden, the national eviction moratorium is scheduled to end on October 3. It’s estimated that 3 million Americans are at risk of eviction when the moratorium finally ends, and even a further extension is only delaying the inevitable. Compounding this problem is the fact that with […]
Summary List Placement In an unusual job posting on Facebook, a pizzeria in Alabama has offered to “literally hire anyone,” suggesting the labor shortage continues to hit restaurants hard. “We will literally hire anyone,” Dave’s Pizza, in Homewood, said in a Facebook post Wednesday. “If you’re on unemployment and can’t find a job, call us; we’ll hire […]
Summary List Placement House Democrats are unlikely to include an extension of federal unemployment benefits in their planned $3.5 trillion spending package, according to House Budget Chair John Yarmuth. “I haven’t heard any interest in extending [enhanced unemployment insurance],” the Kentucky Democrat told Insider. “It’s not been part of the discussion.” All pandemic aid programs […]
The total number of loans in forbearance remained relatively unchanged, declining by one basis point to 3.25% as of Aug. 15, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest tally. Though the drop is more subdued than in previous weeks, the decline continues a downward trend across most categories. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans decreased […]
Summary List Placement Corporate America’s diversity problem could soon become clearer than ever. The Securities and Exchange Commission is mulling rule changes that would require public companies to reveal more information about their employees, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a Wednesday Twitter thread. The rules could force the disclosure of workforce turnover, skills training, […]
Summary List Placement Starting next year, visitors to Venice will reportedly need to prepare to pay for entry — and even make reservations in advance. As first reported by Italian newspaper La Stampa, the historic Italian city wants to enact measures to ease the inflow of tourists as it grapples with what The Times calls […]
Summary List Placement Across a handful of Native American tribes, stimulus checks are still rolling in. The Choctaw Nation announced last week it will use funding from the American Rescue Plan to send additional relief payments, essentially a fourth stimulus check for its members. The Choctaw Nation isn’t the only tribe to send a fourth round […]
Summary List Placement Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona is doubling down in her opposition to the $3.5 trillion price tag of a party-line spending plan Democrats are assembling to secure much of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda. It may compel Democrats to dramatically scale back their ambitions in order to get her support. This comes […]
Summary List Placement Famed economist Mohamed El-Erian wrote in a Financial Times op-ed that the upcoming Jackson Hole event is a valuable opportunity for Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell to be bold and regain the policy narrative. “The longer Powell waits to detail his own thinking, the greater the challenges to maintaining Fed unity, and […]
Summary List Placement When the moon landing happened in July 1969, I was glued to my TV screen like everyone else. Who would have dreamt that 52 years later, Americans’ attention would be focused on two spoiled CEOs taking 10-minute joyrides into the upper atmosphere and returning to Earth to congratulate themselves? And wearing cowboy […]
Summary List Placement The CEO of a Southern supermarket chain says he’s struggling to keep shelves full during a supply shortage, and that his company has resorted to creating its own version of Lunchables, Kraft Heinz’s miniature cracker, cheese, and meat selection. Donny Rouse, who runs Rouses Markets, told The Wall Street Journal that sometimes the […]
On July 9, President Joe Biden ordered the Federal Trade Commission to fully ban or limit an employer’s use of noncompetes. If such a rule is implemented, industry veterans and labor attorneys say it could change how the mortgage industry recruits and retains talent over the next decade and beyond. Should the Biden administration make […]
Summary List Placement Two Chick-fil-A restaurants in Alabama are shutting their dining rooms because of the US labor shortage, Fox News first reported. The restaurants in McCalla and Madison, which will continue serving food via collection and delivery, both said that they wanted to reopen their dining rooms, but didn’t have a date for when […]
Summary List Placement Americans are increasingly calling for more stimulus money as the coronavirus pandemic drags on. Some states are responding on their own as the prospect of Washington approving a fourth-round of checks seems more and more unlikely. So far, there have been three rounds of stimulus checks. Eligible Americans received $1,400 stimulus checks in March. […]
Summary List Placement Ports in southeastern New England have been shut down by the US Coast Guard ahead of the pummeling winds and heavy rain that will slam the region as Tropical Storm Henri moves through on Sunday. The ports of Narragansett Bay, Mount Hope Bay, Buzzards Bay, Cape Cod Bay, Vineyard Sound, and Nantucket […]
Summary List Placement Wall Street just heard a record scratch — loud, noxious and impossible to ignore. Since 2019 investors have been clamoring for Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), but a combination of legal issues, regulatory scrutiny, and abysmal performance has made it impossible to ignore what has always been true of these formerly forgotten […]
Summary List Placement Wall Street is tempering its hopes for the US recovery. A handful of big banks say it’s the American people who spoiled the party. With the Delta wave on the rise, causing a dip in consumer spending and confidence, Goldman Sachs slashed its forecast for third-quarter gross domestic product growth to 5.5% […]