Summary List Placement Fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week as hiring picked up amid the reopening of the economy. New US jobless claims reached an unadjusted 547,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday morning. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected a jump to 610,000 claims that week. The reading marks a second straight […]
Summary List Placement If you’re fed up with the millennial narrative, I get it. It reads like a set of contradictions. Millennials can’t afford homes, according to one headline, while another states that they’re busy snapping up homes during the pandemic. Millennials are finally getting rich, per one article, but a different piece tells of […]
Summary List Placement Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s invitation to testify at a Senate Finance subcommittee has been rejected by one of her outspoken critics, billionaire Leon Cooperman. On Monday, Warren invited Cooperman to testify at her hearing, called “Creating Opportunity Through a Fairer Tax System.” “This hearing is an opportunity to share your views on how […]
Summary List Placement The next part of the White House’s infrastructure package will focus on American families, with education, childcare, and paid leave all set to be major priorities. According to the Washington Post, the American Families Plan will allocate $225 billion towards paid family and medical leave. Now, 17 state treasurers are calling for […]
As part of the landmark CARES Act passed in 2020, Congress stipulated that mortgages in forbearance as a result of COVID-19 must be reported as “current” on credit reports. The legislation saved millions of homeowners from having their credit scores ruined during the most devastating year in recent U.S. history. But future risk still remains, […]
Summary List Placement Throughout the pandemic, researchers from Zhejiang University, University of Chicago, and the University of Notre Dame have tracked US poverty rates. In March 2021, pandemic-era poverty reached a new height. According to the researchers, the poverty rate reached a previous high in November 2020, when 8 million Americans fell into poverty over […]
Summary List Placement Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is staunchly opposed to lifting the gas tax and implementing user fees, the GOP’s preferred measures of financing infrastructure upgrades. “Hell no don’t raise them!” he told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday. “I got people that have to drive a long way to make a living. […]
Summary List Placement President Joe Biden will announce on Thursday that the US met his vaccination goal of 200 million shots in 100 days. And on Wednesday, he announced new plans to ensure every American employee can get a shot. A White House statement said that Biden is calling for every employer in America to […]
If you’re caught in the sights of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) — or if you’re hoping to avoid the regulator’s scrutiny altogether — here’s what you need to know in 2021. The regulator is no longer “taking it easy” on consumer financial services providers firms in light of the pandemic, said Jeffrey Naimon, […]
As a leader in the adoption, implementation and use of digital mortgages Camelia Martin’s breadth of experience has never been more relevant to the industry. A 2020 Woman of Influence, Martin joined Snapdocs earlier this year as Head of Industry and Regulatory Affairs. “Many lenders were not able to pivot as quickly as they would […]
Summary List Placement In the 11 months since the Black Lives Matter movement emerged across the country, scores of Republican-led states are attempting to crack down on protests by introducing what they call “anti-riot” legislation, The New York Times reported. GOP lawmakers in two of those states — Minnesota and Indiana — want to step […]
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced on Wednesday that due to “low usage” it is no longer extending expirations on certain temporary loan origination flexibilities for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The regulator is also advancing permanent changes to be made in the appraisal space. Temporary flexibilities related to employment verification, condominium project reviews, and expanded power […]
Summary List Placement New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is the highest paid governor in US history, according to a report by Forbes, with a salary of $225,000. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is the second-top paid current governor, earning nearly $210,000 in 2020. Cuomo and Newsom, both Democrats, have faced a series of scandals throughout 2020 […]
After six consecutive weeks of dips, mortgage applications rose 8.6% in the latest report from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The jump in applications can be traced to mortgage rates falling to the lowest level in two months, prompting a small resurgence in refinance activity, said Joel Kan, MBA associate vice president of economic and industry […]
Summary List Placement The US Department of Agriculture announced on Tuesday that it is extending a free school-lunch program for every K-12 student through spring 2022. “States and districts wanted waivers extended to plan for safe reopening in the fall,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. “This action also increases the reimbursement rate […]
Summary List Placement When asked if corporations pay their fair share in federal taxes, two-thirds of respondents in a 2018 Gallup poll said they pay too little. In fact, Gallup found “the public consistently thinks that ‘upper-income people’ and corporations do not pay their fair share in federal taxes.” In recent months, one of the […]
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria said the controversial amendments made to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac‘s Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements in late January should be just the start. “I said in January when the PSPA were signed — there needs to be another set of amendments. January really is a bridge,” he told Wells […]
Summary List Placement Two years after it was first introduced, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts reintroduced the Green New Deal on Tuesday. The resolution, which Markey and Ocasio-Cortez first introduced in February 2019, laid out goals for a 10-year national mobilization to upgrade US infrastructure, convert to zero-emission […]
Summary List Placement Sen. Elizabeth Warren has extended an invitation to one of her most vocal critics to debate her marquee policy, the wealth tax, on Capitol Hill. On Monday, Warren invited billionaire Leon Cooperman to testify at a hearing for the Senate Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth, which Warren chairs, […]
Appraisal-management tech provider AppraisalWorks is now available through the ICE Mortgage Technology Platform, the company announced Tuesday. ICE Mortgage Technology, formerly known as Ellie Mae, is a cloud-based loan origination platform provider for the mortgage industry. With this integration, lenders can now order, assign, monitor, and review real estate valuations from a marketplace of AMCs […]
Summary List Placement A policy instrument designed as a buffer for unemployed Americans is broken in 33 states, according to a new report released Tuesday from the California Policy Lab. The Extended Benefits program is meant to provide jobless aid to people who exhausted regular benefits in high-unemployment states. Earlier federal rescue packages that Congress […]
Summary List Placement Many household goods are getting more expensive, as companies like Procter & Gamble and General Mills hike prices to combat shortages and rising shipping costs. During their third-quarter earnings call, P&G said it has started raising prices on some of its paper goods, including baby-care, feminine hygiene products, and adult diapers. The […]
Patrick, a 25-year old tech worker, had his heart set on buying a home in the Reading, Massachusetts area, where he grew up. He wasn’t looking for a fixer-upper. That turned out to be nearly impossible as home prices in the small town north of Boston accelerated. The first house he submitted in an offer […]
Summary List Placement The American student-debt problem encompasses 45 million people with a combined $1.7 trillion of debt, and much of the burden falls on communities of color. Civil-rights organizations want President Joe Biden to change that by canceling $50,000 in student debt per person. On Monday, 36 civil rights organizations, led by the Leadership […]
Servicers’ total number of loans in forbearance dropped for the seventh week in a row, down another 16 basis points last week to 4.5% of portfolio volume, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Following the massive decline the week prior, the share of loans in forbearance has dropped a total of 40 basis points in […]
Summary List Placement Growing wealth inequality has been exacerbated by the pandemic, as the global middle class shrinks and millions fall into poverty. One question has lingered: What can be done to address both the economic scars of the pandemic, and the inequality that’s grown alongside them? For some, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, wealth taxes […]
Summary List Placement President Joe Biden wants to increase taxes on corporations with his American Jobs Plan — and he let some leading business executives know before he announced it. According to The Washington Post, the Biden administration briefed Brian Moynihan, the CEO of Bank of America, and David M. Solomon, the CEO of Goldman […]
Last year, Laura Grannemann’s dedication to providing Americans with access to safe and affordable housing earned her a spot as one of HousingWire’s 2020 Women of Influence. Today, her passion is still apparent in the work that she’s doing to help those in underserved communities own homes and build wealth. “COVID-19 has starkly highlighted housing […]
Summary List Placement The US national debt is measured at over $28 trillion, and for decades, it has been a source of concern — and inhibition — for lawmakers. The Republican Party tends to cite the runaway federal debt when it is not in possession of the White House, while Presidents Donald Trump and George […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is making good on its threats to police mortgage servicers. In late January, the agency released weeks a series of authority actions warning servicers that it needs to do right by consumers who need access to forbearance programs. According to a new report from Reuters, the government watchdog is […]
Summary List Placement Americans have built up excess savings worth $2.6 trillion since the start of the coronavirus pandemic that will help power the economy’s recovery from the crisis, according to Moody’s Analytics. The US has amassed the most excess savings of any country, with the cash pile amounting to 12% of gross domestic product. […]
There is a well-known analogy about a frog and a pot of water. If you drop a frog into a boiling pot of water, the frog will leap out. But if you drop a frog into a pot of cold water and turn the heat up slowly, the frog will boil. Personally, I think the […]
Summary List Placement Hospitality workers in California who lost their jobs during the pandemic will get priority for new roles with their former employers, per a statewide bill Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Friday. The bill requires employers in the hospitality and business-services industries, including hotels, airports, and large event centers, to give qualified former employees […]
Summary List Placement The predicted baby boom is looking more like a baby bust. While many thought a year locked up would lead to some serious babymaking, Brookings Institute economists Melissa Kearney and Phillip Levine forecasted the opposite last June: The pandemic would lead to 300,000 to 500,000 fewer births in 2021, they said. So […]
Summary List Placement A congressional battle line was forming last week over former President Donald Trump’s SALT tax cap, which is threatening to derail President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure proposal. A bipartisan group of more than two dozen lawmakers, calling itself the SALT Caucus, formed to push for Trump’s cap on tax deductions be […]
Summary List Placement A New York City investment manager was charged Friday with stealing more than $2.4 million from five lending institutions through Payment Protection Program loans, prosecutors said in a statement. Gregory Blotnick, 33, is accused of applying for five separate PPP loans between April 2020 and August 2020, and lying about the number […]
Summary List Placement With buyer demand high and inventory low, home prices in the US continue to rise. A new report by the Seattle-based real estate brokerage, Redfin, found that for the four-week period ending on April 11, the median home-sale price shot up to $341,250, a 17% year-over-year increase. Homes that were sold during […]
Summary List Placement Throughout the pandemic, Washington Post economics correspondent Heather Long has been providing indispensable context to the Department of Labor’s monthly unemployment announcements in thoughtful Twitter threads. As soon as lockdowns began last March, job losses skyrocketed to literally unprecedented levels, and Long’s analysis helped explain the reasons behind the numbers, what those […]
Summary List Placement Infrastructure talks are starting to gain momentum in Congress two weeks after President Joe Biden rolled out his sprawling $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan. A Republican-led group of 20 lawmakers is gearing up to make a counteroffer in a bid to strike a bipartisan deal on a smaller package. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito […]
Summary List Placement Fed Chair Jerome Powell said this week that while US government borrowing at current levels is “unsustainable,” the current debt level is “very sustainable” and won’t be a concern in the near-term. “The US federal budget is on an unsustainable path, meaning simply that the debt is growing meaningfully faster than the […]
Blend Labs filed a confidential registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, signaling its intent to enter the public markets. The dropping of the S-1 closely follows the mortgage tech firm’s big venture capital raise in January, in which it raised $300 million in a Series G round from Tiger Global Management […]
Summary List Placement In recent years, Federal Reserve economists have estimated that 600,000 US businesses have permanently closed each year. But a Fed study released on Thursday found that the pandemic has resulted in an additional 200,000 permanent closures of businesses over prepandemic levels — or about a quarter to a third above normal. Individual […]
Summary List Placement The US housing boom wasn’t built to last. What began as a hefty uptick in home purchases evolved into an all-out buying spree in a matter of months. Americans taking advantage of low borrowing costs and looking to flee cities for suburbs snapped up homes at a rate not seen since the […]
In 2020, housing was an economic bright spot for a nation shuttered inside. Globally speaking, things look much different roughly a year later – jobs are returning by the millions, a series of viable vaccines are being deployed across America, stimulus checks have hit bank accounts and mortgage rates are ascending rapidly from nearly a […]
Summary List Placement The pandemic cost millions of Americans their jobs, and while the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 9.7 million of them are actively seeking work, businesses are reporting significant labor shortages. Weekly jobless claims are at a pandemic-era low just this past Thursday, but businesses, particularly in the restaurant and service industries, […]