News

SunTrust announced Thursday that it has taken further steps to clear up its mortgage problems with the government and with the GSEs. On top of an agreement reached with Freddie Mac at the end of September, SunTrust has settled with HUD, the Department of Justice, and the Federal Reserve for allegedly unsound practices with respect to its servicing and origination operations. The Atlanta-based lender estimates its third-quarter earnings will take a $179 million hit as a result.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has ordered two mortgage banks to pay civil penalties for violating the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) with allegedly inaccurate for applications from 2011. According to a release from the agency, Mortgage Master (a nonbank headquartered in Walpole, Massachusetts), and Washington Federal (a Seattle-based bank), failed HMDA reviews when it was determined "that their compliance systems were inadequate and that they had severely compromised mortgage lending data."

While many analysts cite varying reasons for the tepid, start-stop nature of this recovery, we attribute much of the lethargy to the heightened level of uncertainty that has gripped consumers.

Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase both released their earnings summaries for the third quarter on Friday, revealing the full toll that legal expenses have taken on the latter's profits.

Mortgage Returns, a provider of customer relationship management (CRM) technology and automated marketing solutions, has launched its new Storefront marketing solution, an enhanced feature of the company's CRM system.

JPMorgan Chase will soon welcome Dana Deasy as its new CIO. He brings more than 27 years of experience to his new role.

The frenzy that has characterized the 2013 housing market has officially come to a close, Redfin says in its latest Real-Time Price Tracker. The tech-powered brokerage reported a seasonal drop in home sales, prices, and inventory in September, though the recovery's strength is still evident in year-over-year gains. Current trends point to continued declines in the months ahead--an expected turn as demand from homebuyers starts to slow down in fall and winter.

Fixed mortgage rates held more or less steady this week as Capitol Hill remained locked in debate over budgetary concerns. According to data in Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.23 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending October 10, just up from 4.22 percent last week. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.39 percent. Meanwhile, Bankrate.com recorded a fifth consecutive week of declines for fixed rates in its weekly national survey.

CoreLogic announced that lenders using the CoreLogic Credco 4506-T Direct product on Ellie Mae's Encompass360 platform will now be able to take advantage e-signature technology to streamline the origination process.

Builder data tracked by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) indicates mortgage applications for new home purchases decreased from August to September. MBA's monthly Builder Application Survey (BAS) suggests new home purchase application volume declined 1 percent month-over-month in September. Using that data and other assumptions regarding market coverage, MBA estimates sales of new single-family homes ran at an adjusted annual rate of 459,000.