Practice and client management

Homebuilders that team with mortgage lenders get higher levels of borrower satisfaction with the finance process, according to a loanDepot study. This comes as more consumers are evaluating financing options first, highlighting an opportunity to reach them earlier on.

Real value comes from the wholesaler using a hands-on approach to ensure that a mortgage broker's customers are treated to the best experience for the life of the loan.

As Amazon looms over the mortgage industry, expert views differ on the retail monolith claiming its stake in the sector.

Ally wants to increase productivity and improve the use of analytics to build on customer relationships.

A Western Union survey claims consumers are unable to tell the difference between humans and interactive voice response or artificial intelligence when needing customer or payment assistance, but their responses may say otherwise.

Calls for getting more women into leadership positions, and strategies for achieving that, dominated the LEAD conference in New York.

While regulation and nonbank competition are spooking some banks, others believe low funding costs and the right relationships can help them succeed.

Americans continued to take on debt in the first quarter, though new mortgage borrowing slowed to the weakest level since late 2014, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York report.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau received over a quarter-million complaints in 2018, according to analysis by an advocacy group that urged the agency to maintain public access to its database.

Zillow's mortgage division experienced better customer demand in the first quarter than it expected, but its revenue was outweighed by expenses that led to a pretax loss of $9.6 million.

A larger share of Midwestern loan officers compared with their counterparts nationwide said working with first-time home buyers was extremely important for their success, the 2019 Top Producers Survey found.

The long-awaited proposal includes safe harbors to protect collectors from getting sued, but would restrict phone collection attempts and allow borrowers to opt out of receiving other communications.

Having a cash-out refinance program is important to greater share of originators in the West than it is in the United States as a whole, the Top Producers 2019 survey found.

Customer-facing mortgage technology is not that big of a deal for Top Producers based in the South, even as a growing number of lenders are partnering with fintech firms to create a better user experience.

Millennials act differently than prior generations, including moving to second-tier markets to buy a home, and that is the opening for community lenders to reach this market.

Consumers increasing their online shopping for homes and loans is a reason why mortgage servicers' retention rates haven't improved much since the downturn, according to a marketing technology firm executive.

360 Mortgage is bringing back the no-income, no-asset loan, but says its $1 billion pilot's guidelines differ from those of the NINA loans that contributed to the financial crisis.

Marianne Lake, seen in recent months as a leading candidate to replace CEO Jamie Dimon, got the post she may have needed to round out her resume — consumer lending chief. And Jennifer Piepszak, another rising star at the company, will take over as CFO from Lake.

Northeast mortgage originators relied heavily on referral relationships with attorneys and financial planners and less so with homebuilders last year, the Top Producers 2019 survey found.

The National Mortgage News 2019 Top Producers countdown takes a look at the top 50 loan officers by number of units originated.