Origination

Hilltop Holdings of Dallas, a property and casualty insurer, has agreed to buy fast-growing mortgage lender PlainsCapital in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $537 million.

Having high net worth clients, a referral-based business model and low interest rates helped Eric Magee's production in 2011.

Over the past dozen years, one of the best things I’ve done on the road is to gather top industry officials around me and have a freeform, on-the-record roundtable of industry issues.

For the past year nonbank loan officers have complained they must meet state licensing requirements and pass LO tests while their bank counterparts merely need to register with the states.

HUD secretary Shaun Donovan in a conference call pushed for quick approval of a trio of legislative proposals backed by the president that are aimed at further expansion of refinancing opportunities to underwater borrowers with clean payment histories.

Donna DeMaio, most recently the president and chief executive of MetLife Bank, has joined United Guaranty Corp. as its chief operating officer.

Farmer Mac said it earned $22 million in 1Q12, an increase of nearly $4 million from the $18 million earned one year prior, in large part due to higher net interest income.

When the CFPB’s loan officer compensation proposal came out late Wednesday night nonbank mortgage lenders and loan brokers hit the roof. Some trade group officials thought the young agency actually understood the mortgage market, thinking it would do what is best for consumers – which brokers believe would benefit them.

Community lenders this week asked lawmakers to grant some regulatory relief, arguing the Dodd-Frank Act and other supervisory actions are pushing them to the brink of extinction.

A Houston family has been sentenced to federal prison for running a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme that resulted in at least 70 homeowners defaulting on their mortgage payments.