Tag Archives: Agents & Brokers

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau joined an exclusive law enforcement club Monday as it announced an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission that makes it a full-fledged member of the Consumer Sentinel Network. Law enforcement agencies and personnel will now be able to view consumer complaints the CFPB submits about credit issues, debt collection, and - eventually - mortgage lending practices that complainants report. An FTC spokesperson says the CFPB will eventually add mortgage lending complaints.

The market remains a dim one for new single-family homes, according to an index jointly released by Wells Fargo and the National Association of Home Builders. The index registered confidence at 15 on a 0-to-100 scale, staying largely the same since July. The low confidence follows a hit taken by homebuilding companies in the stock market last week. Analysts and economists weighed in with MReport about how slowing momentum in home construction and sales, as reflected by homebuilder confidence, impacts job creation and consumer confidence.

More homeowners and mortgage borrowers who chose to refinance their loans opted for the fixed-rate loan instead of adjustable-rate mortgages over the second quarter this year, according to a Freddie Mac quarterly report released Monday. The GSE held that some 37 percent of borrowers refinancing their mortgages moved forward with 15- and 20-year loans. Refinancing borrowers nodded toward these fixed-rate loans in increasing numbers, according to the report.

New Jersey loan specialist, Shelley Solari, has been honored among the state├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós top mortgage professionals. New Jersey Monthly├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós New Jersey 2011 Mortgage Professionals list recently honored Solari for her service.

A new director is taking over at Municipal Mortgage & Equity, LLC. Frederick W. Puddester was recently announced as the company's new director and was also appointed to its audit committee.

In an endeavor to get ahead of mortgage-related woes from the financial crisis, mortgage giant Bank of America has offered to sell a chunk of its mortgage portfolio servicing rights to GSE Fannie Mae, according to the Wall Street Journal. The sale of bad loan rights to the government entity may shift new bulk onto federal balance sheets at a time when the GSE recently posted second-quarter losses and announced plans to petition the government for more taxpayer funds.

Fewer lenders take the time to follow up with potential borrowers, leading to turned-off applicants, according to a new paper by software and services provider Leads360. The paper said that only 21 percent of mortgage lenders made an attempt to call back borrowers after an initial inquiry. The paper, a "secret shopper study," according to Leads360, tracked customer service strategies and follow-up by mortgage lenders with leads and potential borrowers. It faulted mortgage lenders for their failure to implement customer service strategies.

More brokers, loan officers, realtors, and others defrauded lenders, servicers, and homeowners over 2010 despite improving conditions in the housing market at large, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which released a comprehensive report Friday. Mortgage fraud cases and investigations amounted to 3,129 cases over the year, 12 percent more than in 2009 and some 90 percent above the same trends in 2008. Referencing CoreLogic, the FBI said that applicants fraudulently filed some $12 billion in loan applications last year.

While Treasury yields plummeted on low notes sounded by investors over panicked markets, recently downgraded GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to see spikes in interest from investors over their mortgage-backed debt. The Financial Times attributes the investor rush to the market bonanza created by the Federal Reserve, which decided Tuesday to keep interest rates at historically low levels until 2013. Some analysts say the investor rush to agency debt could crimp financing for U.S. federal debt and potentially frustrate mortgage rates.

Manic markets at home and fiscal crises overseas sent investors scurrying last week to buy up Treasury debt, a trend that sent mortgage rates plunging. Experts say the low mortgage rates are unlikely to boost sales.