Originations

A series of integrations to third-party data and analytics providers is beefing up CoreLogic’s LoanSafe Fraud Manager, the mortgage fraud detection technology that the Santa Ana-based firm said uses pattern recognition to provide business intelligence into lenders’ risk levels.

Mortgage, housing, and even local politicians are stepping up pressure on congressional appropriators to extend the maximum $729,750 loan limit on government-backed loans for another year, fearing that a failure to act will damage already stressed real estate markets.

The PMI Group believes an incentive program designed to offer underwater borrowers cash in exchange for keeping current with their mortgage payments will go a long way to help offset the decline in loan values and by extension, stabilize communities.

Total Mortgage Services, a nonbank mortgage lender based in Milford, Conn., on Monday said it plans to hire 50 new loan officers as it expands its retail presence in the U.S.

For various reasons, financial services firms are being seen as laggards when it comes to the adoption of social media marketing practices.

The Florida Association of Mortgage Professionals has voted to reaffiliate with the National Association of Mortgage Brokers.

Improving the back office during these still-challenging fiscal times for lenders is not easy, but some things that might help avoid them process loans more efficiently include a more proactive front-end approach, more standardized training or best practices, and prioritization.

Some federally-regulated depositories are in danger of missing a July 29 deadline to be registered in the National Mortgage License System and Registry, exposing themselves to possible sanctions from regulators.

The announcement by Genworth Financial that it recently strengthened reserves at its U.S. mortgage insurance unit by $300 million "provides another reminder that the debate over ultimate reserve levels at MI companies is far from over," according to a new report from FBR Capital Markets.

Fitch Ratings late Thursday provided an unsolicited preliminary assessment of a City Center Trust 2011-CCHP CMBS deal that differs in terms of investment grade ratings assigned to the most junior class of the transaction.

The National Association of Home Builders is developing an index of "healing housing markets" in an attempt to offset the negative press that casts a pall over the entire sector whenever national price statistics are released.

To read the recent coverage of homeownership, one would think that this lynchpin of the nation’s housing market has moved from Jimmy Stewart’s Main Street to Freddie Krueger’s Elm Street; that what was once the cornerstone of the American dream has become a nightmare.

The House of Representatives late Thursday passed a bill to convert the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau into a five-member commission, giving Congress more leeway over how the new agency operates.

Enlightened leaders over the past two years became aware of the need for resilience, and restructuring their organizations for a period of survival and stabilization. Now leaders must rebound and take the next steps for a sustainable future. They must refocus, inspire and innovate to lead successfully and grow their business.

Astoria Financial Corp., Lake Success, N.Y., is predicting its balance sheet will grow during the second-half as residential conforming loan limits are reduced – which helps its retained portfolio – and it reenters the multifamily space.

It appears that the sacred cow known as the mortgage interest deduction is on the table as the White House and Congress grapple on a budget deal to lift the federal debt ceiling.

Home prices rose 0.4% in May after a 0.2% increase in April, according to new figures compiled by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

A funny thing happened on the way to the mortgage banking sector being restructured: everyone and their brother is now eyeing the concept of correspondent lending.

Insurance giant MetLife Inc. said Thursday it plans to sell its banking affiliate but will remain in the residential finance and servicing business through its MetLife Home Loans division.

Most mortgage rates inched up ever so slightly for the period ending July 21, according to a new Freddie Mac market survey. At press time that upward pressure continued with the benchmark 10-year Treasury yielding 2.99%.