News

CBCInnovis, a Columbus, Ohio-based mortgage credit and data validation services provider, announced this week it is now an “authorized report supplier” for Fannie Mae’s Day 1 Certainty program.

DataVerify, a risk mitigation, data verification, and decision management provider for the mortgage industry, announced this week it is now an “authorized report supplier” for Fannie Mae’s Day 1 Certainty program, which exempts lenders from representations and warranties and helps expedite the lending process.

Optimal Blue recently announced a partnership with Total Expert Inc, a relationship which Optimal Blue hopes will increase productivity and drive revenue with contact and database management tools for every facet of a user’s business.

Mortgage applications decreased from a week earlier, according to a recent survey. This is a substantial difference compared to last week, when applications rose 2.7 percent. Refinances had increased 7 percent that week, as well, but fell 5 percent this week.

Despite sluggish economic growth in Q1 and the widely held assumption that the Fed would raise rates at least two more times this year, the Federal Open Market Committee opted to keep the federal funds rate as is at its May meeting. Raised in March, the rate currently sits at 1 percent. The Committee cited job gains and lower unemployment as factors in its decision.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has denied Ocwen Financial Corporations’s attempt to expedite a court ruling on the constitutionality of the Bureau. The CFPB said that the mortgage servicer shouldn’t get special treatment in the case, alleging it failed “every stage of the mortgage servicing process.” The CFPB attempted to block Ocwen’s expediting attempt by telling a Florida federal court to deny Ocwen’s attempt at fast-tracking its constitutional challenge against the agency’s structure.

According to Ellie Mae’s most recent Millennial Tracker for March, millennial homebuyers are moving to the Midwest. Homes in Midwestern states have proven to be more affordable, and Mount Vernon, Illinois was the most popular metropolitan area for homes purchased by millennial buyers. Other popular cities for millennials included Midland, Texas and Odessa, Texas.

On Tuesday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced the stepping down of Comptroller Thomas Curry on May 5. That day, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced his intention to appoint Keith Noreika as a Deputy Comptroller and designate him the First Deputy Comptroller of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Noreika will become Acting Comptroller of the Currency on May 5 and is currently a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and was a partner at Covington & Burling, specializing in banking regulation.

According to recent data, St. Louis is the ideal spot for millennial homebuyers, boasting a short commute time and good local schools. Parts of West Palm Beach, Florida, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, took the No. 2 and 3 spots, while Milwaukee was deemed the best place for millennial renters.

Markets in the West led national housing price gains over the year. CoreLogic’s latest Home Price Index shows that March prices rose steadily from February and sharply from a year ago. And prices should keep rising through the next 12 months.