Originations

Walter Investment Management Corp. has agreed to sell Green Tree Insurance Agency to a wholly owned subsidiary of insurance company Assurant.

F&M Bank Corp. in Timberville, Va., has acquired Valley Southern Title in Harrisonburg, Va.

Residential loan application activity continued its post-election slump, declining for the sixth time in the eight weeks, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The Senate Banking Committee will have six fresh faces in the new Congress as Republicans grapple with a slimmer majority.

In an enforcement action totaling more than $23 million in fines and restitution, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that TransUnion and Equifax — two of the largest consumer credit reporting agencies — had misled consumers on the value of the data they marketed.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s decision to offer a special-purpose charter for fintech firms may entice more players than expected, including mortgage lenders.

National Mortgage News is now accepting submissions for the 2017 Top Producers, our annual ranking of mortgage loan officer and broker origination volume.

Home values continued to climb in November, but in 2017 price appreciation is likely to slow due to rising interest rates, according to CoreLogic.

The new year is shaping up to be the one in which sizable changes to the Dodd-Frank Act are finally enacted, thanks to Republican victories in the White House, Senate and House.

Kenneth Mahon, the new CEO of Dime Community Bank, wants to reduce the 152-year-old institution's multifamily exposure by diversifying into other asset classes. But finding new business amid already fierce competition could be an immense challenge for Dime — and other community banks — in 2017.

This was a year of shocks and surprises, including a multimillion-dollar verdict after one lender sued another, regulations putting a lender out of business, Brexit driving rates down and Donald Trump's election pushing them back up. Here are 10 events and trends from 2016 that changed the industry.

The Rural Housing Service is expanding its manufactured housing loan guarantee program to include more refinancings of used or existing manufactured homes.

Mortgage industry hiring and new job appointments for the week ending Dec. 30.

The commercial-and-industrial loan space is overheated and higher rates could stifle mortgage refinancings. Bankers could be fighting these fires and more in the new year.

Some of the most popular contributors to National Mortgage News' Voices community weigh in on what they see coming in the next year for origination, servicing, technology and regulation.

From selling servicing rights along with the loans to issuing private-label securities, a host of strategies from the past could return to the market as a result of the new political climate and interest rate environment.

Mortgage rates moved higher, closing the year with nine consecutive weeks of increases, according to Freddie Mac.

The Department of Justice has agreed to a settlement with a pair of Cincinnati banks accused of redlining African-American neighborhoods in four cities in Ohio and Indiana.

United Shore Financial Services, a Troy, Mich.-based lender, has agreed to pay $48 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act.

Fannie Mae's Day 1 Certainty initiative and automated verification tools at Freddie Mac are set to improve mortgage loan application defect and misrepresentation risk in 2017, according to a report from First American Financial Corp.