Mortgages

Freddie Mac is suspending all evictions involving foreclosed owner-occupied single family and multifamily units during the upcoming holiday season.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac spent roughly $640,000 this fall to send 100 of their employees to the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association in Chicago, a decision their regulator defended amid criticism from GSE critic, Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas.

The LOS has an ubiquitous presence in the day-to-day work of loan officers, underwriters and other lender employees. For these industry professionals, the LOS is a technology used as often as Web browsers and productivity applications like the Microsoft Office suite.

I'll bet you could tell me exactly when the last time someone gave you a meaningful compliment. In fact, I'll bet you can remember exactly what the person said that made your day.

The mortgage industry is packed with folks who were probably high school kids who didn’t start studying until the night before an exam. While it’s possible to get a decent grade with last minute preparation in high school, in the business world it’s also almost impossible to make sound financial decisions when a deadline is biting at your heels. Quality takes time. Smart business decisions can’t be made in a hurry.

Fannie Mae acquired $58.4 billion of mortgages from its seller/servicers in October, its best purchase month since January and a sign that low rates are starting to spur new activity in the primary market.

With over two million vacant properties throughout the country available for a prospective buyer to purchase, it is important for financial institutions to distinguish their distressed homes from the competition in order to remove these assets from the market in an efficient amount of time.

Coordinated Central Bank actions aimed at easing European financial concerns gave most industry stocks a lift Wednesday morning as the Dow rose more than 400 points.

Credit risk managers expect consumers will have trouble making payments on a variety of loan types, according to the European Credit Risk Survey taken by FICO and Efma.

The National Association of Realtors' leading indicator of future home sales unexpectedly jumped 10.4% in October after falling 4.6% the previous month.

Members of the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America have developed a new loan workout template that helps address problems between a servicer and mortgage insurer when settling a borrower's loan modification.

The American Legion is calling on Congress to extend the $729,750 loan limit on Department of Veterans Affairs guaranteed loans before the ceiling drops down to $625,500 on January 1.

The majority of national homeowners said in a survey that falling market values are currently a greater threat to them than a fire or a natural disaster.

BBVA Compass, a commercial bank based in Birmingham, Ala., will be opening a new mortgage back office processing operations center in Tempe, Ariz., and will hire up to 100 people to staff it.

October was the second best month of the year for the private mortgage insurers in terms of applications received, but the third worst in terms of the cure/default ratio, according to the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America.

FHA-approved servicers are completing just 10,000 foreclosures a month due to bottlenecks caused by the robo-signing scandal. But settlements with state attorneys general and compliance with regulatory consent orders are expected to free up that pipeline and FHA now expects to pay a slew of claims on defaulted loans next year.

For the sixth consecutive month, the state of California experienced good news in terms of pending home sales.

Eastern Mortgage Capital, Boston, has issued a $5.1 million mortgage loan for a 117-unit affordable elderly housing facility in St. Louis.

NCUA said Tuesday afternoon it filed another suit against a big investment firm over the sale of mortgage-backed securities to failed corporate credit unions, this one naming defunct Wachovia Bank and its subsidiaries as defendants.

The annual retirement survey conducted by Wells Fargo & Co. found that 76% of middle class Americans said it is important to have a specific amount of money saved before retirement, while only 20% said it was more important to retire at a specific age, regardless of savings.