News

The U.S. Census Bureau and HUD jointly announced today in a press release new residential construction statistics for June 2015 finding single-family building permits rose slightly, while housing starts and housing completions both declined.

ClosingCorp, a provider of residential real estate closing cost data and technology for the mortgage and real estate services industries, recently announced a new partnership with Bills.com, the leading resource for free and personalized money help.

Steven L. Antonakes, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)'s second-in-command official, announced Thursday in a memo to employees that he is stepping down from his position with the CFPB. Before being appointed as the CFPB's Deputy Director, Antonakes served as the Bureau's Assistant Director of Large Bank Supervision.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday published the first in a new series of monthly reports that highlight key trends found in the complaints the consumers submit to the Bureau. The monthly reports will provide the public and the marketplace with insight into the hundreds of thousands of complaints the CFPB receives from consumers on financial products and services.

Regulators are hindering much-needed competition in the banking industry and placing consumers and taxpayers at risk, according to a report released on Thursday from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) titled "A Bird in the Hand and No Banks in the Bush." The report also noted that this lack of competition in banking furthers the same too-big-to-fail rationale that led to past bank bailouts.

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes in July reached new heights not seen since November 2005. According to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index released Thursday, builder confidence hit a level of 60 in July, while the June reading was upwardly revised one point to 60.

Investment banking firm, Goldman Sachs reported their highest first half net revenues in five years at $9.07 billion, according to the firm’s Q2 2015 earning statement released Thursday. Citigroup also experienced significant year-over-year growth in their net income with revenue reaching $4.8 billion for the bank, compared to $181 million for the same quarter last year, according to the bank’s earnings statement also released on Thursday.

Prominent Democrats on the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees recently brought concerns about the a Federal Housing Administration lending proposal that could make it easier for lenders with a criminal history to continue accessing taxpayer-backed mortgage insurance.

The director of the controversial Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) testified before the Senate Banking Committee on the Bureau's perceived lack of oversight and accountability in a full committee hearing titled "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Semi-Annual Report to Congress" on Tuesday.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently issued an advisory bulletin that offers guidance on Federal Home Loan Bank's (FHLBank) core mission achievement. The bulletin also describes how FHFA will assess the banks' core mission achievement, as well as FHFA's expectations about the content of the strategic plans for banks with core mission assets below specified levels.