The MReport Webcast: Monday 4/6/2015

More than seven million borrowers could benefit from a refinance today, according to data released from Black Knight Financial Services. In its February 2015 Mortgage Monitor Report released today, Black Knight reports the number of potential refinance candidates currently sits at 7.1 million, a substantial increase from just 4.1 million potential borrowers in February 2014. However, Black Knight’s SVP of Loan Data Products, Trey Barnes, says that number is fragile because increases in mortgage rates could cause that number to drop, even marginally.

According to the report, year-over-year home price appreciation rates are leveling off for both bubble states and the nation as a whole. The national year-over-year home appreciation rate currently sits at 4.6 percent, lower than the both the pre-crisis and post-crisis max. Nevada has the highest rate out of states hit hardest by the financial crisis at 6.5 percent. Both California and Florida have rates higher than the national average, while Arizona sits below that average at 3 percent.

FICO, in partnership with LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Equifax, announced a new pilot program is in the works that will allow people who have difficulty getting approved for financing to be creditworthy. The FICO pilot program allows 12 of the largest credit card issuers in the United States to use alternative data to identify creditworthy individuals who would otherwise be unlikely to obtain traditional credit. FICO found that info such as property records, telecommunications, and utility information can be used as reliable sources to score 15 million consumers who do not have enough credit data to generate a FICO score.