Contracts, Invoices & Legal

Housing starts increased 7.2% to an annual pace of 1.49 million homes in January, according to government figures out Thursday. View the full article

The Ohio-based lender is accusing Atlantic Coast Mortgage of stealing customers, while a Chicago bank is accusing Lower of raiding a Maryland branch. View the full article

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley repeated his long-standing criticism of Fair Isaac Corp. in a letter noting the detrimental impact of its prices on home buyers. View the full article

Artificial intelligence has opened the door for innovations ranging from virtual economists and compliance assistants to lender-profitability forecasting. View the full article

Layoffs stretch across the organization, including members of Summit's c-suite and its general counsel, the company said in a notice to California officials. View the full article

The federal court rejected Flagstar's attempts for both a panel rehearing and an en banc hearing to overturn California's interest on mortgage escrow rule. View the full article

United Wholesale Mortgage lost ground to RKT in one category but held onto a healthy lead in another, an analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data shows. View the full article

Washington State charged Newrez after a consumer investigation, with the notice following recent enforcement action against Luminate Home Loans. View the full article

Roughly a third of homeowners with a mortgage rate less than 6% would not give up their rate for any reason, according to a survey of 1,000 mortgage holders. View the full article

The effective tax rate, measuring taxes relative to home prices, also increased to its highest mark in five years, according to Attom's analysis. View the full article

Financial institutions that are members could gain access to expedited funding through a Fed partnership and advances secured by a broader range of collateral. View the full article

CrossCountry increased its agreed-to offer for the real estate investment trust by 50 cents per share, as UWM Holdings made an unsolicited bid on April 20. View the full article

The top bullet point in Two Harbors' rejection notice is the Mizuho credit facility does not constitute committed financing for UWM to pay for the deal. View the full article

PennyMac Financial Services reported $82.3 million net income, inclusive of a $44 million net reduction related to servicing fair value and hedge losses. View the full article

In addition to 10 new AI agents for financial services, the company announced partnerships with software and data providers FIS, Microsoft, Verisk, Third Bridge, Fiscal AI, D&B, Experian, GLG, Guidepoint and IBISWorld. View the full article

The percentage of investors who view the market as better than it was a year ago fell to 36% from 45% in the winter, according to a spring survey. View the full article

The changes put out by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac make it clear the Nov. 2 date applies to valuation submissions to the UDCP, not when the loan is delivered. View the full article

The Mortgage Bankers Association's Mortgage Credit Availability Index declined 0.4% to 107.9 in April after reaching a three-year high in March. View the full article

While not looking to take on UWM and Rocket, GO Mortgage CEO Jay Promisco said mortgage brokers want and need more options for their production. View the full article

The Senate voted 54-45 to confirm Kevin Warsh to lead the central bank. Warsh will take the reins from Jerome Powell, who said he will remain on the Federal Reserve Board. View the full article

Achieve launches a correspondent channel for its fixed-rate HELOC, Deephaven ups its loan limit to $1M, and Planet expands into non-agency TPO products including non-QM and DSCR loans. View the full article