Origination

In the wake of confusion about the status of pre-approvals, an expert on compliance seeks to clarify, but exhorts the CFPB to do so, officially, "prior to the effective date of the new rule."

Mortgage professional hiring and new job appointments for the week ending March 20.

Changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's consumer complaint system could give lenders lots to gripe about if they don't prepare accordingly and be proactive, mortgage industry consulting firm STRATMOR Group said March 23.

Sales of previously owned homes fell short of a 5 million annual rate in February for a second month, showing an industry struggling to gain traction amid rising prices and a lack of inventory.

A new loan program will allow borrowers to put down even less than the 3% down payment mortgage programs to be offered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This move and others like it, while laudable, will no doubt ensure increasing default rates.

Bank of New York Mellon is building out a new investment firm with the mortgage specialist Amherst Holdings. The move is its second major commitment to a fixed income-related fund this year.

Many housing markets have seen more homes become trapped underwater during the fourth quarter although the nationwide negative equity rate didn't change, according to analytic firm Zillow.

Lennar Corp., the second largest U.S. homebuilder, is raising its bet on rental housing as the pace of sales continues to drag.

The CFPB wants to expand banks' data reporting requirements under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. But this would impose even greater costs upon local financial institutions that are already overburdened by regulation.

As the temperature have crept up, mortgage rates have gone down, making for a positive start to the spring home-buying season, according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey.