Origination

Cornerstone Mortgage, Houston, of the largest remaining privately held nonbank lenders in the U.S. is in the hunt for a merger partner — and is actively talking with several banks.

We are reaching the end of 2010 and it is typical for many people to use this period to take stock of their actions and develop their strategies for the coming year. For Art Sobczak, the president of Business By Phone Inc., this means sales people asking what he called "the end-of-year cleansing question."

Shareholders of First Niagara Financial Group, and NewAlliance Bancshares Monday overwhelmingly approved their merger agreement despite strong disapproval from Connecticut officials.

The Inspector General's Office of HUD wants WR Starkey Mortgage to reimburse the Federal Housing Administration $360,000 for actual losses on four loans where downpayment assistance was arranged by an entity that was not a registered charitable organization.

CMG Mortgage Services has a steady investor/partner for its popular "Home Ownership Accelerator" loan product, but the nonbank originator is talking to a handful of mid-sized depositories that hope to portfolio HOA mortgages too.

The Federal Reserve Board announced its final rule on Aug. 26, 2010 (published in the Federal Register on Sept. 24, 2010) regarding the loan originator compensation components of a proposed rule published in August 2009.

A net branch manager has successfully settled a labor dispute with his employees, but now the parent company won't pay him. Is it time to sue or should he go to the state labor board?

Wells Fargo & Co. on Monday agreed to modify more than $2 billion of risky payment option ARMs from two lenders that the mega bank bought during the last years of the decade: World Savings of Oakland, and Wachovia Corp. of Charlotte.

An investment consortium organized by private real estate firm Colony Capital has agreed to purchase two portfolios of commercial real estate mortgages from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Private-labeled customized sales training programs have an advantage because they represent the voice of the company and thus have a bigger impact, some of those providing that education say.Dale Vermillion, the founder of Vermillion Consulting Inc., explained, “We get to know our clients so well in a customized training environment that we speak their language, we understand their processes, we understand the acronyms they use and the terminologies.