Tag Archives: Agents & Brokers

On the heels of disappointing news in the broader economy, mortgage rates fell precipitously alongside Treasury bond yields Thursday, with Freddie Mac and Bankrate releasing reports that saw new lows for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, 15-year rates, and 5-year adjustable-rate mortgages. Freddie Mac signaled the lowest pullback in 30-year fixed-rate mortgages for the year, with data for the category showing up at 4.39 percent on average, just down from 4.55 percent last week.

CoreLogic was the bearer of some positive housing market news recently, with its announcement that home pricing is on the rise for the third consecutive month. Data from CoreLogic indicates that the results from its Home Price Index for June demonstrate a 0.7 percent increase in the market, building on similar statistical improvements recorded in May and April. CoreLogic notes that pricing is still depressed by 6.8 percent compared to last year's numbers.

SunTrust is going global with United Way Worldwide. Recently named as a Global Corporate Leadership partner for the philanthropic organization, SunTrust has committed a $2.88 million gift from its SunTrust Foundation to the cause. Additionally, SunTrust already contributed $8.4 million during 2010, $4 million of which was pledged by the company's employees, and logged more than 100,000 volunteer hours with United Way via SunTrust's Solid Gives Back initiative.

In a weekly survey released Wednesday, the Mortgage Bankers Association revealed a 7.1 percent swell in mortgage applications from one week earlier, partly in response to declining mortgage rates. According to the Market Composite Index, which measures total mortgage loan application volume, numbers went up 7.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, increasing at nearly the same percent on an unadjusted basis. From the previous week, the Refinance Index shot up 7.8 percent, alongside updrafts in the Purchase Index.

Reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac without anticipating changes from new limits to government-backed mortgages could make the fixed-rate mortgage a less available product, witnesses told lawmakers Wednesday.

Citing dips in home sales, purchases, and low job growth, some economists say housing is already in a double-dip recession, with reprieve still off for another two years - this despite a last-minute debt deal.

After an operation orchestrated by regulators over 10 states, Morris Plains-based Mortgage Access Corp., doing business as Weichert Financial Services, inked its name to a remittance in the amount of $3 million over a multitude of compliance and internal control deficiencies. Some ten agencies joined the effort, with actors including banking regulators from Connecticut, Louisiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Vermont.

Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC, is expanding via newly acquired assets from American Home Equity Corp. (AHE). Focused on growing its origination component, Carrington structured its purchase deal with AHE to enhance the company├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós wholesale retail channel.

On Friday the House of Representatives put largely partisan weight behind a bill that would require the FDIC to investigate the 382 bank failures it has corralled with shutdowns since 2008. If reconciled with a similar bill passed by the Senate, H.R. 2056 could require the FDIC's inspector general to examine whether the current regulatory climate crimps lending for community banks. A House Financial Services Committee statement cites some 140 bank failures over 2009 and 157 over 2010, claiming their concentration in only 10 states.

A rule recently finalized by the Federal Trade Commission will take effect this month, prohibiting mortgage brokers, servicers, and nonbank lenders from advertising 19 practices it calls deceptive. The rule will enable the FTC, newly opened Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and state regulators to issue civil monetary fines and penalties against wayward mortgage advertisers. The Mortgage Acts and Practices Rule prescribes a number of penalties for deceptive claims about mortgages.