Originations

Jason Gillespie, a senior vice president in the warehouse lending division of Southwest Securities FSB, has left the bank, the second senior official in the unit to depart within the past three weeks.

In today’s mortgage market, there are three big challenges facing some lender customers of Wipro Gallagher Solutions. These include how to improve loan officer productivity in the branches or retail scenarios, dealing with compliance or loan quality, and third, the focus on customer service.

One of my most long-lasting and profitable niches was working with an Asian community. No, I’m not Asian. No, I do not speak the language. But I did understand their culture, their family structures, their mindset about money and their religious beliefs.

The Federal Reserve, in its new 'Beige Book' report, says U.S. home sales are in the tank again with "evidence of very low or declining" interest from consumers in buying a house.

Fiserv this week rebranded its multiple product loan servicing platform, calling it LoanServ.

CoreLogic Credco has unveiled a new product called the LQ GAP report, which is designed to help residential lenders comply with Fannie Mae's 'Loan Quality Initiative' by identifying and summarizing any changes in an applicant's credit report between pre-approval and pre-funding.

Housing was a big part of the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina, whose five-year anniversary has just been soberly noted. It would be a great thing if housing could also speed up the recovery from a devastating one-two punch of natural and manmade catastrophe.

A new trade group that caters to the 'hard money' segment of the mortgage industry has drafted a code of ethics for its members — lenders that are privately held and cater to borrowers who can't get credit elsewhere.

Residential loan applications fell by 1.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis last week, but there was a slight improvement in new purchase money loans, according to figures compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

BDO Seidman has brought on Richard Hauer, a commercial property workout professional, to assist the New York consulting firm's bankruptcy and restructuring professionals on all real estate-related issues.

Over three-quarters of the Baby Boomer generation whose ages are between 45 and 65 said they are willing to spend less money now to have more to invest for a more comfortable lifestyle in the future.

A unit of Mariner Holdings LLC, Leawood, Kan., has purchased part of a $760 million portfolio of property loans from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Mortgage lenders originated $1.04 trillion of 'purchase money' loans in Southern California during the past decade, according to a new research report.

The Federal Housing Administration Tuesday morning officially launched a new refinancing program to aid underwater borrowers, allowing lenders to write a new government-backed mortgage where up to 10% of the original loan amount will be forgiven.

In the current issue of Origination News, I wrote an article that warned business owners about the damage an employee like former flight attendant Steve Slater can do to one's business.

Cantor Commercial Real Estate, a new financing business aiming to originate what it describes as “competitively underwritten” loans for securitization, has been expanding across the country in major metropolitan areas and last month was looking to bring more origination staff on board.

Giving clients a higher level of service has them spreading the word about Luke Chamberlin, who learned that lesson from his physician father.

ST. LOUIS—Many mortgage originator license applicants who fail their national and state exams don’t do very well if they decide to take the tests over again.

Aggressive borrower outreach was on the minds of the participants in the editorial roundtable at the SourceMedia Best Practices in Loss Mitigation Conference in Dallas that I chaired.

Mortgagors continued to pay down their residential loans in the second quarter, a trend that reduces their debt load but also spells potential trouble for mortgage banking firms that earn processing fees on such balances.