Headlines

U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler in Newark ruled that Prudential failed to show sufficient proof that Bank of America and its Merrill Lynch misrepresented the quality of its loans backing securities to ratings agencies, according to reports.

Connecticut-based mortgage industry information and services provider Clayton Holdings has announced the hiring of John Guy as senior managing director of business development.

Morningstar's announcement came just one day after Ocwen CEO Ron Faris told his company's stakeholders that he expected Ocwen's earnings in Q4 to take a hit based on mounting regulatory pressures, expenses, and a ratings downgrade by Fitch Ratings in the week.

Credit Union National Association (CUNA) revealed Friday that credit union memberships grew by 3.6 percent last year, the highest growth rate since 1994. Loan portfolios also saw a solid increase over the year.

Wells Fargo has agreed to pay more than $4 million in penalties in redress over allegations of misconduct related to loan qualifications and an illegal home equity product offered by a former affiliate to borrowers in New York.

ACES Risk Management (ARMCO), a provider of Web-based quality control software for the mortgage industry, announced this week the addition of new enhancements to its Web Audit Technology via integration with analytics software leader Tableau Software.

The Five Star Institute announced the addition Friday of Biniam T. Gebre, Acting Commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), as a featured speaker at the Sixth Annual Five Star Government Forum on March 18 at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

Employers nationwide added 257,000 new jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said Friday. Economists projected a payroll increase of 230,000.

The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) slipped 7 basis points in the last week, settling at 3.59 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending February 5, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. "Mortgage rates fell this week following the release of weaker than expected pending home sales, which fell 3.7 percent in December," said Len Kiefer, deputy chief economist for Freddie Mac.

Mortgage Machine Services (MMS), an enterprise lending solutions provider based in North Texas, will begin offering the source code to its flagship loan origination system (LOS) to the entire mortgage industry, the company said in an announcement.