Government

California-based technology provider, Platinum Data Solutions, has announced a new reverse mortgage client partnership in San Diego. The company recently revealed that Plaza Home Mortgage Inc. has implemented Platinum's RealView platform, targeting quality appraisal review for reverse mortgages across the U.S.

The Obama administration made another push Friday to expand refinancing opportunities for homeowners, with HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan behind the effort to adopt any one of three bills currently in Congress. Officials told reporters in a teleconference Friday that President Barack Obama would appear with a family in Nevada later that day to tout the need for a wider refinance net. The HUD secretary outlined three bills before Congress that seek to streamline the refinance application process and increase servicer competition by reducing barriers.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unveiled new rulemaking proposals Thursday that would require background checks for mortgage originators and complement a previous rule that prohibits loan officers from steering borrowers to higher-priced products. Together with these rules, others would provide consumers with discounts for paying mortgage origination points, mandate comparison plans for those interested in tracking different products, and ban brokerage firms from charging fees that vary by the loan size.

Jittery investors retreated to U.S. Treasury debt this week after upsets in French and Greek elections, a movement that yet again drove mortgage rates to all-time lows. Freddie Mac found Thursday that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage broke records by falling to 3.83 percent, down from 3.84 percent last week. Finance Web site Bankrate.com, which releases a survey at the same as Freddie each week, found similar results, with the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage hitting 3.2 percent and the jumbo 30-year loan falling to 4.54 percent, both new lows.

HUD announced Thursday that it reached a $202 million settlement with Deutsche Bank and Mortgageit over allegations of misconduct and false certifications with a government lender program. The agency said that Mortgageit acknowledged and accepted responsibility for false certifications it submitted to HUD in order to gain from a direct lender program under the Federal Housing Administration. For its part, Deutsche Bank admitted wrongdoing by failing to account for Mortgageit's activities when personnel with the financial institution were in a place to know about them.

In Connecticut, Clayton Holdings LLC has added a new senior-level leader. The company recently announced the appointment of Jenine Fitter as Clayton's senior managing director of business development.

Coester Appraisal Group is updating its technology offerings, recently announcing enhancements to the company's Cloud Control program. The platform upgrade will add Coester's automated appraisal review technology, C-Data, to the Cloud Control module.

Fannie Mae revealed that it produced $2.7 billion in net income for the first quarter this year, enough to prevent another draw from the Treasury, a first for the mortgage giant since it entered federal conservatorship in 2008. The favorable results offer a significant difference to a net loss of $6.5 billion from the same quarter last year, along with a net loss of $2.4 billion by the fourth quarter. Despite net income for the first quarter, Fannie Mae sustains a debt for more than $180 billion in taxpayer funds it has received with Freddie Mac since 2008.

Targeting better risk management for the mortgage-backed securities market, RiskSpan, Inc., has added a new independent pricing initiative to the company's service offerings. The enhancement will give risk managers, traders, and pricing professionals immediate, daily access to security prices and changes, enhancing risk mitigation and streamlining audits.

Proving that financial and mortgage professionals do take a break from the bank occasionally, Wells Fargo recently received an award from United Way in honor of the company's volunteer activities.