The Department of Justice’s recent fair lending settlement with two subsidiaries of American International Group has put mortgage lenders on notice that pricing disparities, particularly on wholesale mortgages, are back on the government’s radar. In announcing the settlement March 4, the DOJ emphasized that it is the first time the department has held a...
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Government watchdogs who are overseeing the massive Troubled Asset Relief Program are skeptical that GMAC is going to be able to finally stabilize its struggling mortgage banking operation. Although GMAC late last year decided to make another capital infusion to keep its mortgage business going and took steps to cordon off the toxic assets that have caused a lot of its problems, bankruptcy is still...
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Companies in the business of guaranteeing mortgage credit suffered a monumental $98.56 billion in net losses during 2009, according to a new Inside Mortgage Profitability analysis. As bad as that sounds, it actually represented an improvement from the year before. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the six still-functioning private mortgage insurers reported a combined... [Includes one chart and one graph]
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A new industry-sponsored study extols the superiority and effectiveness of good old-fashioned traditional underwriting over proposed “skin in the game” risk-retention proposals that are being considered by Congress and banking regulators. The study found that applying a handful of common-sense underwriting standards improves loan performance substantially. The study was done by Vertical...
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Hudson City Bancorp Inc., the largest U.S.-based thrift, announced last week that it applied to change its banking charter and its main regulator to stay ahead of the regulatory curve. Hudson City applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to convert to a national bank, which would make the OCC the bank’s main regulator.Currently, Hudson City is regulated by the Office of Thrift...
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Warehouse lending has rebounded considerably over the past year, but lenders can’t afford to be complacent with the lines of credit they are providing to independently owned mortgage companies, according to an industry expert. There are red flags that can help warehouse lenders see ahead of time that a small mortgage banker may be sliding into a financial jam, said William O’Connor...
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With the Home Affordable Modification Program not living up to expectations and causing stress for servicers, numerous industry participants are asking how they can wriggle out of their participation agreements, and large servicers are now turning to their own loss mitigation efforts. As of the end of January, slightly more than 1 million HAMP trials had been started, but less...
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The Accurate Title Group recently released its TAG Good Faith Estimate Calculator... Simplifile, a provider of electronic recording, and Rekon Technologies, a mortgage loan... Mortgage Pricing Systems released a new feature for its LEAP Interactive point-of-sale... LoanSifter has released its new eOriginations point-of-sale platform, which it claims...
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