Originations

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston is teaming up bank employees with student volunteers from Bike & Build, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to construct affordable housing across the nation through cross-country bicycle trips that benefit affordable housing developers.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 184 mortgage is the most successful loan ever to target American Indians.

Gramercy Capital Corp. has changed both its investment strategy and its management following completion of a strategic review.

Experian’s research data show over 20 million underbanked consumers may be eligible for financial products normally reserved for prime credit prospects.

Researchers at Andrew Davidson & Co. found that by some measures “affordability” has not risen since the housing bubble burst, but rather remained about the same.

It hasn’t been a good week for the loan brokerage community. On Monday Raj Date, the number two man at the CFPB, in a speech to the American Bankers Association blamed mortgage brokers (more or less) for the housing bust.

Thanks to rock bottom interest rates new mortgage applications spiked by 18% for the week ending June 8 on a sequential basis.

Wells Fargo & Co., the nation's largest home lender and issuer/servicer of GNMA loans, is telling its correspondents and brokers that it will only participate in the FHA's new "Streamline" refi program on loans its services.

More than 1.3 million people received assistance from a foreclosure mitigation counseling program.

Paramount Residential Mortgage hired former Caliber Funding official Dave Pilotte as its new wholesale manager in charge of the Inland Valley area and Southern California.

In a speech before the American Bankers Association Monday Consumer Financial Protection Bureau deputy director Raj Date slammed loan brokers for causing the mortgage crisis, raising the ire of at least one loan broker trade group, the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals, which is calling for his resignation.

Last time I wrote about some of the better marketing I saw in the past few weeks as I continue to recover from a leg infection. Unfortunately not all advertising I came across was as strong.

Commercial and multifamily real estate loan balances increased by $8.1 billion in the first quarter compared with the end of last year.

Discover Financial Services has finally closed on its purchase of LendingTree Loans, also known as Home Loan Center, from Tree.com for a total purchase price of $46 million.

CoreLogic will implement a series of changes to its board, including the addition of three independent directors and the announced resignation of board chairman D. Van Skilling.

The National Association of Independent Housing Professionals, in a new comment letter to the CFPB asks the agency to exclude all Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and government mortgages from coverage under proposals that could radically alter how loan officers earn their pay.

According to new reports, both Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company controlled by Warren Buffett, and Ocwen Financial have expressed interest in buying the nation’s fifth largest servicer.

Not too many life and homeowners insurance firms are foregoing rate increases and rebating money to their insured.

Mortgage default risk is adjusting to precrisis levels. Almost.

The UFA Default Risk Index for the second quarter of 2012 increased slightly to 120 from last quarter’s revised 119 that was based on the UFA baseline macro scenario.