More mortgage brokers, loan officers, and others chose Minnesota over all other states in which to bilk homeowners and lenders, placing the northern state first for mortgage fraud activity and making it the most unlikely hotspot for criminal behavior. An index released by MortgageDaily.com bore witness to a 27-percent surge in mortgage fraud activity for the North Star State over the second quarter, with other contenders seeing a rise in fraudulent behavior quarter-over-quarter.
Read More »Guaranteed Debuts Invite-Only Concierge Service
Realtors and financial professionals are gaining a high-end concierge through Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company Inc.'s initiation of a new, customized service that seeks to give participants an edge.
Read More »CharterBank Makes Third FDIC Deal
Charter Financial Corporation is growing, via its acquisition of The First National Bank of Florida. Conducting the deal through its wholly owned subsidiary, CharterBank, Charter structured an agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to assume all deposits as well as the majority of assets of the Milton, Florida-based bank. The First National Bank of Florida was officially declared closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the FDIC was named as its receiver.
Read More »Capital One Acquisition of ING Under Scrutiny from Fed
Complex financial evaluation is nothing new for the Federal Reserve, but federal regulators exploring Capital One Financial Corp.'s potential acquisition of ING Groep NV's online banking platform, ING Direct USA, are applying extreme examination to the transaction. According to the Fed, Capital One's proposed purchase of ING's U.S. web-based banking business could create a financial institution so enormous and complicated that it could affect the broader marketplace, and the Fed has issued a two-page letter asking for responses to critical queries.
Read More »National Law Firm Adds New Face to the Payrolls
Locke, Lord, Bissell & Liddell overturned assumptions about the still-weak legal jobs market by adding a Regina McClendon to its payrolls at the firm's San Francisco office.
Read More »Stocks for Mortgage Banks Fall on Euro Zone Fears
The surprise resignation of a key official at the European Central Bank sent stocks and shares plunging in markets across Europe and overseas, furthering fears about a global economic slowdown and the potential for sovereign defaults across the European Union. Sagging stocks doubled up woes for Bank of America, whose CEO, Brian Moynihan, announced plans for some 40,000 layoffs as the mortgage giant reassesses its capital position in the market and undertakes restructuring efforts, according to multiple news reports.
Read More »FDIC Launches Program to Sell Failed Bank Assets Faster
Amid national bank failures that recently ticked up to 70, the FDIC announced Friday that it will stand up a new networking platform that seeks to make it easier for small investors to take a slice of the pie.
Read More »Industry Insiders: Rough Road Ahead for Obama Refi Proposal
President Barack Obama rolled out a $447 billion jobs bill and touted a major refinance proposal in a recent address, estimating that some 2.9 million homeowners could refinance their mortgages at current rates.
Read More »CBO Fields Winners, Losers in Obama Refinance Program
Speaking before Congress' joint session Thursday evening, President Barack Obama unveiled a $447 billion jobs bill - and plans to allow millions of eligible homeowners to refinance their mortgages at current rates.
Read More »Clear Capital: Gloomy Skies Ahead for Home Prices
Clear Capital joins a list of firms and trade groups whose batch of surveys and reports dished on consumer confidence, market health, and job growth this week. On Thursday Clear Capital forecasted glacial prices.
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