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U.S. Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan on his plan for revising the nation's consumer protection laws comes to pass.
Lead Story
Jamie Dimon: A Great Banker with a Selective Memory
By Paul Muolo
I like Jamie Dimon. As chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase he's a survivor who steered his institution clear of the worst excesses on Wall Street, setting up his $2.1 trillion baby to grow stronger and more powerful as competitors collapse in the wake of the nation's housing/credit crisis.
I may be pushing it, but one day he may even be considered the equal of J.P. Morgan, the man himself, whose many accomplishments include bringing together bankers back in 1907 to stem a financial panic that threatened the U.S. banking system. In short, Mr. Dimon is now the voice of reason and rationality for the financial services industry (if there can be such a thing.).
Daily Mortgage News Briefing
Last updated: July 2, 2009
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have received the green light from their regulator to refinance underwater homeowners with loan-to value ratios as high as 125%.
Click here for more...Industry groups are backing an Obama administration plan to simplify mortgage disclosures and make them more consumer friendly but first the trades want the Department of Housing and Urban Development to kill a Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act rule that is due to go into effect Jan. 1, 2010.
Click here for more...The Department of Housing and Urban Development is revising its appraisal policies on Federal Housing Administration-insured loans with respect to appraisal management companies, according to an agency spokesman.
Click here for more...The Title/Appraisal Vendor Management Association has sent a three-page letter to the National Association of Mortgage Brokers stating its attacks on appraisal management companies in the fight over the Home Valuation Code of Conduct are baseless.
Click here for more...The majority of experts are divided as to whether the downward trend seen in long-term mortgage rates this week will continue or stabilize, according to a Bankrate survey released July 2.
Click here for more...Beazer Homes USA Inc., Atlanta, has agreed to pay the United States $5 million, plus contingent payments of up to $48 million to be shared with victimized private homeowners, to resolve allegations that it and Beazer Mortgage Corp. were involved in fraudulent mortgage origination activities in connection with federally insured mortgages.
Click here for more...In spite of seeing an uptick in business because of the refinance boom during the first quarter, according to data collected by the American Land Title Association, title underwriters had an operating loss of $127.5 million and a net loss of $117.4 million for the first quarter 2009.
Click here for more...PennyMac, the mortgage vulture fund founded by a former top executive at Countrywide Financial Corp., is sitting on top of unrealized losses of $7 million, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Click here for more...The California State Teachers' Retirement System is searching for a master servicer for its home loan program.
Click here for more...Mortgage industry employment fell by 600 full-time employees in May but the government jobs report shows that lenders added 2,900 new workers to their payrolls while 3,500 mortgage brokers left the industry.
Click here for more...The real estate business is one of the few bright spots in the Monster Employment Index for June, the online job search website said.
Click here for more...Video of the Day
| Interview and discussion with Robert Clarke of the Bracewell & Giullani LLP. He talks about banks mortgages securities and how they handle them. |
Mortgage Video Library
National Mortgage News presents Mortgage Focus, a video library of hot topics addressed by mortgage industry experts. Topics include servicing, government mortgage plans, refis, loan mods, technology, REO and more.
Click here for more...Editor's Choice
Pennsylvania Governor Signs Fraud Protection Bills
Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell signed a pair of bills to combat mortgage fraud in the state by strengthening communication between homeowners and their lenders and encouraging employees at mortgage companies to report illegal activity.
Click here to read the details.
Other Voices
This story is from our sister publication, American Banker
FHA Enforces Fine Print as Loans Swell
Home lenders are finding that when you write mortgages for the Federal Housing Administration, the devil is in the details.
Just ask the lender that was fined $1,000 for failing to check the credit of a homebuyer's spouse. Or the company that had to pay $3,000 because it did not verify child-support payments a loan applicant had claimed as income. Or the one that got hit with a $3,500 penalty - and six months' probation - for displaying a government seal on its Web site.
Read more...Blog of the Week
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Each week we will feature a mortgage blog from one of our writers on various topics of interest. To add your two cents, click on the link below, scroll down to the bottom of the blog, type into the comments box, and click submit.
In his On the Road Again blog, editor-in-chief Mark Fogarty asks if the ease and convenience of webinars will ever replace remote conferences.
