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Churchill Mortgage Corp. is promoting from within, naming Doug Walker as its vice president of sales support. Walker has been employed with Churchill for more than a decade, and his new role will encompass lender support for home loan specialists in all branches of the financial institution.

Technology provided a big boost for Bank of Idaho giving the company an estimated 67 percent increase in loan officer productivity. Utilizing Mortgagebot to integrate point-of-sale transactions, Bank of Idaho has shortened its average closing time for mortgage loans by 22 percent.

With refinancing activity continuing a backslide, the number of homebuyers filing mortgage applications waxed over last week, falling by 4.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to a weekly survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The trade group recorded new lows for 30-year and 15-year loan contract interest rates. According to the MBA's Market Composite Index, a yardstick for mortgage loan applications nationally, numbers declined by a seasonally unadjusted 5.3 percent.

Mortgage application volume suffered a drubbing Wednesday, even as the U.S. economy fell behind in important global rankings and the euro zone crisis continues to trouble investors. With numerous economists attributing lows for consumer confidence to a bevy of international concerns, MReport spoke with analysts to spot any troubling signs for housing as the global economy wobbles. The verdict: Market watchers should keep an eye on euro zone fallout for mortgage rates and credit supply.

On of the country├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós largest independent mortgage companies, Mortgage Master, Inc., has opened its first office in Manhattan. MMI cites the city├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós relatively resilient housing market as the catalyst behind its recent expansion in New York. The Manhattan branch will serve the Tri-State area, which includes Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York, and Massachusetts-based MMI holds licenses in all three states.

Promoting from within, SunTrust Mortgage Inc. is set to strengthen its internal structure. Both Debi Minton and Jeff Calvert were recently named as assistant vice presidents with the Georgia-based financial institution. Minton, hired by SunTrust in April, boasts more than 23 years of finance-related experience, and additionally, she├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós spent over eight years within the mortgage lending space, prior to her promotion.

Keeping trends on track for mortgage rates, real estate Web site Zillow revealed a 15 basis-point plunge for the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. The current rate beached on a record all-time low made possible last month. According to the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, which the Web site creates by tracking thousands of anonymous loan quotes reported daily, the 30-year loan fell from 4.07 percent last week to crest at 3.92 percent. Meanwhile, rates for the 15-year loan hovered at 3.17 percent.

Prudential Mortgage Capital Company has added a loan officer to its mid-Atlantic, southeast, and southwest regions with the hiring of Scott Heath. Based in the company├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós Atlanta office, Heath will serve as an originator of commercial, mortgage-backed loans for securitization by newly-formed Liberty Island Group.

Partly in response to suits brought by the Federal Housing Finance Agency Friday, stocks for a number of the 17 companies-turned-defendants sank Tuesday, with Deutsche Bank leading the way down midday. Market watchers across the country offered up their reactions, with some portending considerable fallout for the economy and others waving away notions that a settlement by the banks would weaken the housing recovery. Deutsche, Barclays, Morgan Stanley, and others all saw their shares decline Tuesday midday.

First United Bank has reason to celebrate, with the company├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós recent announcement that its mortgage servicing division├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós portfolio has ballooned to more than $1 billion. The Oklahoma-based financial institution will now be able to serve even more customers in its home state and Texas thanks to its achievement.