Origination

Under a new agreement between American Bankers Association subsidiary Business Solutions and Mortgagebot, banks signed up with the former will have the ability to access solutions for their online mortgage applications.

On Tuesday the nonprofit data subsidiary of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), MISMO, announced the appointment of senior executive Gabe Minton to a seat on its six-member board of directors. Gabe will provide excellent leadership for MISMO as it drives the development of technology standards for both the residential and commercial real estate finance industries, Michael D.

On Tuesday the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported a slight 0.8 percent rise in home prices from March to April, representing a positive note in a brittle housing market.

Despite gridlock in the confirmation process for its embattled nominee, news reports put the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on schedule to launch formal operations and ready to begin policing Wall Street in July, with or without the director that Senate Republicans vow to obstruct. With its management team and staff already in place, a broad array of powers sanctioned by the Dodd-Frank Act will empower the consumer protection bureau to issue new rules for over 100 banks with more than $10 billion in assets.

Firing another salvo at the new Dodd-Frank regulatory regime, House Republicans submitted an appropriations bill last week that proposes slashing $350 million from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's budget for 2012. Released by the House Committee on Appropriations, the bill offers to cap funding for the CFPB at $200 million, keeping to a minimum the sweeping powers that Dodd-Frank invested in the new regulatory agency. Provisions also threatened to kneecap the Obama administration's 2011 fiscal year budget.

Tech leaders a la mode and CoreLogic are teaming up. CoreLogic├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós ValuEdge platform will now connect with a la mode├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós Mercury Network to facilitate ValuEdge's Native XML appraisal data. CoreLogic's ValuEdge software targets streamlined appraisal process compliance, and the integrated plugin with a la mode will provide CoreLogic with additional quality control elements and advanced bundling for all reports.

May housing numbers are in for the state of California and numbers look grim. The survey, conducted by the California Assoc. of Realtors, credits the struggling economy and stringent lending standards for the decline.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued a six-month delay for the finalization of rules and regulations in sync with the Dodd-Frank Act, temporarily checking a host of new requirements that analysts fear will distress the derivatives, financial, and mortgage banking markets. The Federal Reserve, FDIC, and the Office of the Comptroller of Currency fell behind schedule in the lead-up to Dodd-Frank's implementation phase, which goes into effect on July 16 despite that over half of the required 387 provisions need writing.

Representing a nudge in the right direction for the origination market, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported a 13 percent swell in home loan applications submitted last week, up from the record low reported just one week earlier. It was the biggest gain recorded in three months. Michael Fratantoni, MBA's VP of research and economics, says low rates are driving consumers back to loans. Rates have dropped over eight of the last nine weeks - a primary driver for homeowners looking to refinance. MBA's Refinance Index jumped 16.5 percent.

The innovative franchise system launched by a mortgage company may enable mortgage brokers to go into business for themselves and earn additional compensation in an industry recently beset by tough new compensation rules. LenderCity, a Missouri-based company, recently announced its completion of a Uniform Franchise Disclosure Document (UFDD), which will allow licensed brokers running businesses to retain their financial independence and access back-end services without losing their identities.