Top Stories of 2014
January 2, 2015 8:00 AM
Top Stories of 2014
Take a look back at National Mortgage News' top stories of 2014. Image: Fotolia
January: Wholesaler Restricts Broker-Negotiated Deals
Provident Funding Associates, one of the nation's largest wholesale mortgage lenders, told its brokers they can no longer negotiate the amount of their fee with borrowers.
February: JPMorgan Slashes Mortgage Products Along with Jobs
JPMorgan Chase announced it would scale back its mortgage products, eliminating 22 of its 37 mortgage products and programs as well as cut 8,000 jobs from its consumer and mortgage banking divisions. Image: Bloomberg News
March: Loan Shortage Pushes Mortgage Firms to Accept Lower Credit Scores
Higher rates, mounting costs and the opportunity to lend to underserved borrowers pushed some residential lenders to lower their minimum FICO scores, despite broader reluctance to take more risk in a heavily-regulated market. Image: Fotolia
April: Denial-of-Service Attack Likely Culprit in Ellie Mae Outage
Mortgage technology developer Ellie Mae suffered a series of outages and service disruptions that delayed loan closings and left workers idle at quarter's end, a critical time for lenders. After initially confirming early suspicions of a malicious attack, Ellie Mae executives later backtracked and said the outage "was triggered by a confluence of factors involving network, hardware, software and demand for service." Image: Fotolia
May: Behind Fidelity's Black Knight Maneuver
Title giant Fidelity National Financial is betting it can capitalize on growing demand for technologies that will help lenders stay competitive. The challenge will be doing so without getting stung itself by the industry's regulatory and volume problems. Image: Fotolia
June: Six Months Later, Does the QM Rule Still Matter?
When the qualified mortgage rule took effect in January, many predicted it would stifle lending to low-income and minority borrowers. But a credit crunch never materialized, thanks to exemptions given to federal mortgage agencies. Image: Fotolia
July: Jamie Dimon Really Doesn't Like FHA Lending
JPMorgan Chase has soured on Federal Housing Administration lending after litigation brought by the government for delivering defective loans to the FHA and the Department of Veterans Affairs cost the country's largest bank $600 million. "The real question for me is should we be in the FHA business at all," CEO Jamie Dimon said. Image: Bloomberg News
August: The Refi Boom Is Officially Over and Won't Return Soon
Even though refinance loans account for the majority of mortgage applications, refi boom has long been over, and depressed origination volume will keep it that way for some time. Image: Fotolia
September: No. 1 Reason Loan Officers Change Jobs? It's Not What You Think
Nope, it's not more money, at least not directly. The key to hiring a good loan officer, or retaining one, is said to be showing your mortgage shop can close loans on time, act professionally and protect employees' reputations in the market. Image: iStock
October: Recruiting the Next Generation of Loan Officers
Many young people who had flocked to the business during the boom time were driven out for any number of reasons. The result is that now, the average age of a mortgage originator is 54 and that's a big problem for the future of the mortgage origination profession. Image: Fotolia
November: Five Reasons Why Fannie Mae is Ready to Bring Back 3% Down Payments
While the government-sponsored enterprises' move to allow down payments as low as 3% comes with some inherent risks, Fannie Mae executives are confident they can responsibly administer the new guidelines to ensure they're an effective tool for increasing access to credit. Image: Bloomberg News
December: Senate Passes Tax Bill That Includes Key Mortgage Deductions
The Senate approved a bill that would retroactively extend over 50 expiring tax provisions for one year, including one that shields distressed homeowners from paying taxes on any mortgage debt forgiven in a short sale. Image: Bloomberg News
