Contracts, Invoices & Legal

As steep tariffs on Canadian goods took effect this week, banks on both sides of the border expressed concern about the economic fallout and the uncertainty their customers face. View the full article

The White House has tapped former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. director Jonathan McKernan to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and attorney Jonathan Gould to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency late Tuesday. View the full article

Acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Russell Vought ordered bureau employees to "stand down" and perform no work, effective immediately. View the full article

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., the Committee on Financial Services' ranking member and other members of her party plan to confront HUD Secretary Scott Turner. View the full article

The top five banks had a combined wholesale volume of more than $20 billion at the end of 2024's fourth quarter. View the full article

As homeowners insurance becomes expensive and hard to find, mortgage loan officers should work closely with insurance agents, said Travis Hodges of Viu by Hub. View the full article

Investment properties are the primary properties backing the collateral pool, at 80.3%, while second homes account for 19.7% of the pool. View the full article

Fannie Mae increased its mortgage volume and home sales predictions, but that comes from cutting its forecasts for U.S. gross domestic product growth in 2025. View the full article

The Federal Housing Finance Agency found the practice aimed at selling more real-estate owned homes to occupants had downsides, according to a recent order. View the full article

Scott Turner, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, extended borrowers more leeway after he toured the region with a local official. View the full article

The re-engineering of the convertible note arrangement between the two parties includes a one-time cash payment of $110 million by Better. View the full article

The enterprise failed to improve on its net income but did report a steady profit, and got closer to meeting minimum risk-based regulatory capital requirements. View the full article

More than two-thirds of the counties most at risk of a housing downturn were concentrated in five states, according to a new report from Attom. View the full article

The Connecticut bank said its newly minted president, Steven Sugarman, successfully led a private placement and signed a long-term employment agreement that makes him a potential CEO. David Lowery, current chief executive of Patriot, plans to step down in April. View the full article

Rocket expects the combined company to achieve more than $200 million in run-rate synergies by 2027, it said in a statement. View the full article

The increase in refinance originations in the fourth quarter trickled down to the title insurers, which reported year-over-year gains in new orders. View the full article

"Red flags are emerging for the US economy," said Elias Haddad, senior market strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman. "Another month or two of poor US economic data would deliver a blow to the US exceptionalism narrative." View the full article

In a public appearance Thursday, Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller said the Founding Fathers supported independent money management and undoing it now would be a mistake. View the full article

Mortgage companies under scrutiny could see a reprieve, while the status of functions like behind-the-scenes guidance inquiries is uncertain, experts say. View the full article

Clear regional differences appeared in the average tax amounts owed across the U.S., with residents of one state seeing five-figure sums, Attom said. View the full article

Mortgage and housing industry groups cheered the U.S. Senate vote, which found only two Democrats crossing over to support Scott Turner's nomination. View the full article

Experts said the government-sponsored enterprises could change their tack on some of the innovation seen since the pandemic in loss mitigation, lending and technology. View the full article

Amir Syed, mortgage coach and social media powerhouse, worked at Lower for a little over a year helping to build out and nurture the mortgage lender's origination team. View the full article

California leads the nation with over 1.5 million at-risk properties, but many threatened homes sit east including $68 billion worth of Florida real estate. View the full article

A March 2025 survey by the National Association for Business Economics shows growing inflation concerns — and a diminishing chance of rate cuts — in 2025, but also optimism about avoiding a recession. View the full article