Tag Archives: Lenders & Servicers

The president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, James Bullard, made national headlines recently following his strong statements regarding the state of U.S. real estate. Among the revelations included in Bullard's February speech - the declaration that nation's housing markets have officially hit bottom. During his speaking engagement in Chicago, Bullard applied pressure to the Federal Open Market Committee, calling the group's decision to extend ultra-low interest rates until 2014 a looming disaster for the country. Bullard cited the decline in U.S. home prices and loss of wealth.

In Maryland, Maverick Funding Corp. is rolling out a new branch of its subsidiary, Reverse Mortgage Network. Recently announcing the addition of 40 reverse mortgage loan officers from within Baltimore-based Great Oak Funding, Maverick will conduct its expansion during the first two quarters of 2012.

Through its recent acquisition of property insurance company Crump Group Inc., BB&T Corporation has doubled its wholesale insurance business. Based in New Jersey, Crump is among the nation's leading providers of wholesale commercial insurance, as well as the largest independent wholesale distributor of life insurance in the U.S.

A federal court sentenced three family members to prison Monday for their role in $11 million in mortgage fraud, just as another court upped the sentence for a onetime company executive-turned-hit man currently serving time. These stories made our mortgage fraud blotter Monday. MReport sourced the stories from several news outlets, finding in their pages a number of illicit activities by the likes of appraisers, Realtors, mortgage brokers, investors, and company executives. First up: One couple and their son help bring in $11 million with co-conspirators.

New York-based direct commercial real estate lender, Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC, has promoted John Caulfield to COO. Caulfield, previously EVP and director of operations, will now supervise Arbor├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós $5.8 billion multifamily loan servicing portfolio.

Nearly 85 percent of refinancing homeowners with first-lien loans maintained or reduced their current payments by paying in additional cash in the fourth quarter last year. Of these, according to recent analysis by mortgage giant Freddie Mac, 49 percent of borrowers slashed their principal payments by refinancing at current rates, compared with 37 percent who preserved their payments. So-called cash-out borrowers accounted for 15 percent of all refinance loans, the lowest percentage in the 26-year history of the GSE's analysis.

Thirty-nine Senate Republicans vowed Friday to challenge several recent recess appointments, including one that installed Richard Cordray as Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director, by turning to the courts. An open letter signaled that the lawmakers will also contest appointments to the National Labor Relations Board. Many of the signers released another open letter Thursday with questions for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid over his past role as a supporter of pro-forma sessions as a tactic to block recess appointments.

A still-brittle economic recovery picked up steam in January as the private sector added 243,000 jobs, driving unemployment figures to lows not seen in three years. The Labor Department said that the national unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent, also signaling a fifth straight month for declines in the number of jobless Americans. Construction added 21,000 jobs from December, with gains for nonresidential construction and specialty trade contractors. Financial services lost some 5,000 jobs from last month by comparison.

Regional bank BB&T is starting of the year with a slew of awards for its Small Business and Middle Market banking groups. Between the two company divisions, BB&T earned 17 Greenwich Excellence Awards from Greenwich Associates.

Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation has released its 2011 internal findings, and the company was pleased to announce that last year marked its second highest annual total for mortgage loan volume in Fairway's history.