Originations

Heartland Financial USA Inc., Dubuque, Iowa, is consolidating a state banking charter in a move that is slated to include among its benefits higher loan limits for affected customers.

A.M. Best has slightly downgraded the financial strength rating and the issuer credit rating of National Title Insurance of NY Inc., noting that NTINY’s surplus—while positive—has not kept pace with its business growth.

Now before you start going ahead and thinking we are crazy let me explain a few things that are critical to your success.First – This deal was referred to us by another loan officer.

As the market for reverse mortgages grows, concerns are mounting that more seniors are being misled into signing up for a product that some say may put them at risk for losing their home.

Starwood Property Trust, Greenwich, Conn. has recently deployed $271.9 million of capital through three separate loan originations: a $206 million first mortgage loan, mezzanine loan and bridge loan on a portfolio of ten full service hotels located throughout the United States, a $33.9 million first mortgage and mezzanine loan on a portfolio of drug stores located throughout the United States, and a $32 million first mortgage loan on a retail development in Vail, Colo.

Homeownership counseling networks in Michigan and nationwide are bringing significant relief to over a million families struggling to avoid foreclosure, Michigan State Housing Development Authority Executive Director Gary Heidel announced today.

The volume of mortgage loans moving to REO continued to drop in November as moratoria further delayed foreclosure sales, according to Lender Processing Services, Jacksonville, Fla.

There is much truth to the cliché, "it's not what you say, but how you say it." And that is very important in the sales profession, where not only your words, but also your actions while you say them can convince a prospect to become a client.

Home prices fell in October for the third month in a row and it appears the housing market is headed for a double dip, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller house price index.

Making loans for the Federal Housing Administration could become a higher-cost, but also higher-volume, business if an advocacy group succeeds in stamping out what is now a common industry practice.

California’s home builders pulled permits for 21% more houses in November versus the same month a year ago. But the surprising jump won’t be enough to keep the Golden State from seeing its second lowest number of annual housing starts ever.

The Federal Reserve Board is revising an interim final rule it approved in September to make changes to the disclosures required for interest-only, payment-option and 5/1 hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages.

A more robust recovery in the general economy will help lift the mortgage industry out of its current abject depression.

LAS VEGAS—Americans doing business in the Orient often use the backside of their business cards to print their information in the native tongue of the particular country where they are working. Japanese, perhaps, or maybe Mandarin.In the United States, mortgage brokers sometimes use the other side of their cards to ask for business, such as, “The greatest compliment you could pay me is a referral.”

It is a new world out there, and mortgage originators and managers who don’t adjust will find themselves in a new profession.If the fear of public speaking is the No. 1 dread for Americans, the fear of change might be No. 2.

Some of the underwriters in the private mortgage insurance industry have ramped things up another notch in the efforts to recapture market share from the Federal Housing Administration.Several firms, including Genworth, Radian and RMIC have announced they will accept appraisals for loans which originally had intended to have FHA insurance but for some reason are being switched to a conventional secondary market execution.

Its Mortgagee Review Board has fined WR Starkey Mortgage $223,000 for violations of Federal Housing Administration lending requirements, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said it is awarding more than 500 housing counseling organizations with $73 million in grants for 2011, up 22% from this year.

New home sales rose 5.5% in November after a 10% slide in October that took sales down to record lows for the building industry.

Fitch Ratings has placed Whitney Holding Corp.'s ratings on Rating Watch Evolving status following the New Orleans-based bank’s merger agreement with Gulfport, Miss.-based Hancock Holding Company.