General World News

Inside Figure and Homebridge’s massive bet on blockchain

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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, […]

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The Education Dept. can’t find 11,000 student-loan borrowers to issue refunds for illegally garnishing paychecks during the pandemic

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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 […]

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Mortgage profits drop in second quarter on lower volume

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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 […]

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Biden’s Education Dept. wants you to prove you were defrauded by a for-profit school — then it will forgive all your student debt

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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 […]

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2 Chick-fil-A restaurants in Alabama are closing early every night because of ‘extremely short staffing’

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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 […]

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America’s housing crisis is screwing over millions of vulnerable Americans. Congress needs to stop twiddling its thumbs and use its biggest tool to help fight soaring prices.

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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 […]

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A pizzeria in Alabama has offered to ‘literally hire anyone’ in a sign that the labor shortage continues to hit restaurants hard

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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 […]

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Democrats are unlikely to extend federal unemployment benefits after they expire in 2 weeks

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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 […]

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Forbearance numbers dip slightly as exits slow

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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 […]

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Biden’s SEC doesn’t want to let companies hide their terrible diversity records anymore

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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, […]

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The Choctaw Nation is giving its members $2,000 apiece in universal basic income from stimulus funds. Other tribes are trying similar things.

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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 […]

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Biden’s $3.5 trillion economic plans could see big cuts as moderate Sen. Kyrsten Sinema doubles down in opposition to cost

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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 […]

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Jerome Powell needs to be bold and detail the Fed’s next steps at Jackson Hole for the sake of the economy, Mohamed El-Erian says

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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 […]

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I founded a $500 million company and always paid myself last. The astronomical pay gap driven by CEOs like Jeff Bezos is giving capitalism a bad rap.

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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 […]

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A grocery chain says it’s receiving just 40% of the items it orders from suppliers, and is making its own version of Lunchables because it can’t get hold of the real thing

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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 […]

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How a noncompete ban would impact the mortgage industry

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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 […]

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2 Chick-fil-A restaurants in Alabama have closed their dining rooms because they can’t find enough staff. One called it a ‘hiring crisis.’

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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 […]

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Four states dole out direct payments to residents as fourth stimulus check remains unlikely

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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. […]

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Northeastern US ports shut down ahead of Tropical Storm Henri’s arrival, threatening to further snarl shipping supply chains

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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 […]

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Wall Street just heard a record scratch — and it could be a sign that the party in the stock market is shutting down

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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 […]

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‘Murdered by the student-loan industry’: 2 borrowers describe the crushing interest that keeps them from paying off their debt

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Summary List Placement Alexandria Mavin heard from her high-school teachers that there was a path to the American Dream. If she went to college, graduated, and got an office job, she would get there. She graduated with $117,000 in student debt as a down payment for that dream. Now 32 years old and a property manager, she’s paid back $70,000 […]

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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will reportedly back Jerome Powell for another term as Fed Chair

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Summary List Placement Treasury Secretary and former Chair of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen will support another term for her successor Jerome Powell as head of the US central bank, according to a report from Bloomberg on Saturday. Yellen made such comments to senior White House advisors, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. […]

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The labor shortage has created a ‘bidding war’ for staff as restaurants that are desperate for workers hike wages, says a burger chain owner

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Summary List Placement The huge shortage of restaurant workers has led to a “bidding war” for staff that’s driving wages up across the industry, the owner of a burger chain said. “Your restaurant neighbor next door might offer $1 more, then you go back and offer $1 more over that to just retain your people,” […]

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A customer left a $10,000 tip for staff at a Florida restaurant to say thanks to them for showing up and working through the pandemic

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Summary List Placement A diner left a $10,000 tip at a seafood restaurant in Gainesville, northern Florida, CBS4 first reported. Shawn Shepherd, the owner of Wahoo Seafood, told Newsweek that the diner asked to see the 10 members of restaurant staff that were working during his visit on Tuesday. “He said he appreciated that they […]

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Paint is a gateway drug: New millennial homeowners have gotten their feet wet with DIY and are turning to pros for bigger projects (HD, LOW)

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Summary List Placement As many Millennials are wont to do when embarking on a project for the first time, Alex Strunce and Hayley Swanson turn to YouTube. But when it comes to renovations on the mid-century ranch house the couple bought this summer in Madison, Wisconsin, things are not always as easy as they seem […]

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Vaccine mandates could make staff quit, says one exec who wants workers to get their shots but fears a mandate is too risky during the labor shortage

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Summary List Placement Pressure on companies to introduce vaccine mandates is mounting amid the spread of the Delta variant. Staff at tech giants Uber, Google, and Facebook need to be vaccinated before they can return to the office, while Houston Methodist Hospital hit the headlines in late March after it became one of the first […]

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California judge rules Prop 22 unconstitutional, dealing blow to gig worker initiative backed by Uber and Lyft

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Summary List Placement In a huge setback for Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch ruled Friday that Proposition 22, a measure that allowed gig companies to classify their app-based drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, is unconstitutional. In a lawsuit filed by the Service Employees International Union, Roesch ruled […]

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Over 1,000 Nabisco bakery workers are on strike over 12-hour shifts: ‘We’re prepared to be out there for as long as it takes’

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Summary List Placement Over 1,000 workers at Nabisco bakeries across the US are on strike.  Nabisco workers — who are unionized with the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) — began striking over what they say are contract issues with Mondelez International, Nabisco’s parent company. They’re currently in the process of […]

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Minority borrowers struggled in 2020: HMDA

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The mortgage market had a stunning year in 2020, with closed-end originations increasing by 65.2% from the year prior, a Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) report published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week disclosed. But some of the industry’s same problems remained in 2020. According to the report, comprised of data provided by […]

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Housing sector dominates Inc. 5000

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Congratulations to all of the entrepreneurs, founders and executives who have survived the onslaught of phone calls, emails and DMs from first-year private equity associates (yeah… we’re looking at you Summit Partners….). But hey, growth equity firms and potential acquirers blowing up your cell phone is certainly not the worst thing in the world.  The […]

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Sex workers who earn thousands on OnlyFans say it’s unclear how the company will enforce its ‘disgusting’ porn ban — and some may leave the platform because of it

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Summary List Placement In the past six months, Cheslea Lynn says she made over $200,000 from OnlyFans. The platform took 20% of her earnings, or nearly $42,000, she said.  On Thursday, Lynn found out from a news article that OnlyFans would be banning porn.  OnlyFans said in a statement to Insider it will prohibit users […]

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A top Democrat wants to make them pay. All the executives behind defunct for-profit schools, that is.

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Summary List Placement A series of for-profit colleges have shut down in recent years amid accusations of fraud, mismanagement, and misleading students into taking on student debt they can’t pay off. A top Democrat wants to make these schools’ executives pay. On Monday, House Education and Labor Committee Chair Bobby Scott wrote a letter to […]

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Better expands real estate, explores iBuying

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Christian Wallace, Head of Real Estate Services at Better.com Better.com, a digital mortgage lender that is set to go public later this year, unveiled Thursday another expansion of its in-house real estate group, one that has a unique business model in the world of brokerage. The seven-year-old, New York City-based company will also soon provide […]

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Here’s how states can extend expanded unemployment benefits after Biden ends them nationwide

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Summary List Placement Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh confirmed on Thursday that President Joe Biden won’t extend unemployment benefits beyond September 6. But at the same time, they encouraged states to keep helping unemployed people beyond that date. Walsh and Yellen wrote a letter to the House and Senate finance committee […]