Secondary Market

Freddie Mac announced that Richard C. Hartnack, formerly vice chairman and head of consumer and small business banking at U.S. Bancorp, has been elected as a director on the company's board.

360 Mortgage Group, an Austin-headquartered mortgage banker focusing on third-party origination, announced the hiring of three new wholesale account executives who possess a combined total of more than 65 years of mortgage experience.

While banks and lending institutions are nervous about the waves of compliance challenges coming in, NTC says the smartest companies are using regulatory changes as a springboard to grow.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported a disappointing 0.3 percent gain in its Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) in April.

Another spike in home prices drove Massachusetts sales down for the third straight month in April, according to the Warren Group.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and Citigroup have reached a settlement over allegations of fraud in the selling of $3.5 billion of mortgage-backed securities.

In Florida, ISGN Corporation announced the addition of former Xerox executive Nancy Alley as the company's chief product officer.

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) offered a comment letter Tuesday addressing the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) proposed restrictions on lender-placed insurance practices. In a response for the association, NAFCU senior regulatory affairs counsel Tessema Tefferi urges FHFA to scale back the discussed restrictions, which he believes are too broad. In addition, Tefferi asks the agency to ensure its policies and regulations are consistent with those already laid out in the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA).

Ellie Mae announced that Veterans United has selected Encompass360 as its mortgage management solution.

Lender Processing Services' (LPS) Home Price Index (HPI) averaged $213,000 in March, an increase of 1.4 percent month-over-month and 7.6 percent year-over-year.