Tag Archives: Investors

Consumer sentiment is on the uptick, at least according to a new index released by Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan. During the month of December, U.S. consumers showed a 2.2-point increase in positive economic sentiment, representing the highest recording since June of this year. The index's mid-month evaluation of consumers' attitudes rang in at 69.9, and the current figure demonstrates the fourth consecutive month of growth.

Sun National Bank is updating is commercial lending team, with the addition of two new executives. Targeting support and growth for its middle market and commercial real estate business, Sun National has hired Anthony W. LaMarca and Joseph C. Tkac. LaMarca is joining Sun National as the company├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós senior vice president and wholesale regional manager for its south New Jersey and Philadelphia markets.

Texas-based Supreme Lending is expanding its reach, with the recent announcement that the company added branches in Alabama. The five new locations, which are spread throughout the Southern state, are part of Supreme's growth strategy plan for 2012. Currently, Supreme's Alabama branches close nearly $500 million mortgages per year. Supreme's decision to extend its service area builds on the company's proprietary technologies and its in-house operations for underwriting, closing, and funding loans.

In accordance with the government's updated Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP 2.0), United Wholesale Mortgage has announced its successful implementation of the December 1 enhancements to the initiative. The federal program, which is designed to help facilitate refinancing for distressed homeowners, is expected to increase the number of participants who are eligible for assistance.

InHouse Inc. is working to abbreviate the time it takes lenders and appraisers to deliver the correct documentation to the government-sponsored enterprises. The company recently announced that it now offers users a faster, easier method of integration and compliance with the Uniform Collateral Data Portal. Providing technology services for banks, lenders, credit unions, and other mortgage originators, InHouse will help the companies it works with adapt to the UCDP in a matter of weeks.

A congressional investigation turned up evidence that Countrywide Financial Corp. lavished four members of Congress and an unknown number of GSE executives with discounted mortgages between 1996 and 2008, Rep. Darrell Issa said Friday. Issa addressed members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which he chairs, by releasing an open letter to the public. He did not disclose the names of any members of Congress implicated by evidence in the investigation.

November home sales rose higher this year than figures for the same last year, as markets began to stabilize, according to a recent housing report from RE/MAX. The real estate company said that November marked the fifth straight month for year-over-year sales increases, topping off 1.4 percent above figures seen in October, as home sales fell for the seventeenth consecutive month. Median sales prices for homes taken off the market in November meanwhile averaged $181,322, 1.4 percent more than prices seen in October.

Amid declining share and revenue across the industry, financial services firm Morgan Stanley announced that it will eliminate about 1,600 jobs, or about 2.6 percent of all employees, multiple news outlets said Friday. The move arrives for the financial services firm amid continued problems for the investment trading industry and debt crises for euro zone countries. Earlier this year Bank of America, Citigroup, and MetLife all followed the same route by announcing job-slashing measures.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit against former executives with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Friday over their alleged roles in securities fraud. The SEC suit purports that Fannie├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós executives underreported considerable exposure to forces in the market, with $4.8 billion in single-family loans on the books. For its part, the suit alleges, Freddie misled investors with claims that the GSE attached a different name to $43.3 billion in single-family loans in a report it filed publicly back in February 2007.

LendingTree is reaching out to originators and borrowers with an information release that focuses on consumer preparedness during the mortgage loan process. Citing borrowers' frustration with the pace of loan originations, LendingTree put out a report cataloging the top five documents that those seeking and selling mortgages can use to help facilitate faster processing.