Origination

To enhance its loan origination process, Carnegie Mortgage LLC, a subsidiary of Grand Bank NA of Hamilton, N.J., is relying on a new partnership that has helped bring up to date its mortgage lending and document management technology platform.

The partnership brings together the private and consumer centric banking environment of Carnegie Mortgage with state-of-the-art platforms and service offerings of Mortgage Cadence that helps reduce manual processes, enforces compliant business policies, decreases risk and "allows for the relocation of employees to areas within the business that require a personal touch," says Michael Detwiler, CEO of Mortgage Cadence.

Carnegie Mortgage originates approximately $200 million in mortgages on a monthly basis through both its retail and wholesale channels, Ovation Home Loans and Icon Residential Lenders.

Regulatory changes continue to be what largely drives automation for those on the production side, especially when it comes to the documentation necessary, according to executives at DocMagic Inc., Carson, Calif., which does business as Document Systems Inc.

The StoneHill Group Inc. is seeing a downtick in errors under the new RESPA rules although the company still has some clients who are struggling with the total implementation of these regulations, which have been in effect since the beginning of January.

The Atlanta-based quality control provider has helped lenders who suffered procedural problems go back and implement changes in the way they process information for proper disclosure with the Good Faith Estimate.

"That has been a help as we begin to audit these loans and report the findings to our clients," said Doug Parker, quality assurance manager.

Title insurance giant Fidelity National Financial Inc., earned $140 million in the second quarter, a 52% jump from the same period a year ago.

House prices rose 0.5% in May following a 0.9% jump in April, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency house price index, which has posted price increases over the past four consecutive months.

Only a few hours after regulatory reform was signed into law Wednesday, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke assured lawmakers the central bank was well along toward implementing many of its biggest provisions.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association wants an explicit guarantee and preservation of the to-be-announced MBS market as part of any restructuring of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The record low average 30-year mortgage rate seen this week may not be sustained, but current economic and market conditions point to 30-year rates below 5% "for some time," according to a new Freddie Mac forecast.

As most of you know, I publish an e-zine that keeps loan originators (and their staff) updated on the new rules and regulations that have occurred over the last 30 days.One of the ways that I get the word out is by using Twitter.You know that just one rule update from Fannie could be 15 pages long and could have 12 rule changes in just one announcement.

Old Republic International Corp., Chicago, posted a net profit of $57 million in the second quarter, a major improvement from the same period last year, and another sign that the beleaguered MI industry may be on the road to recovery.