Contracts, Invoices & Legal

A court and jury found a father-son executive team liable for wage violations, and a federal judge recently increased the amount of damages for plaintiffs. View the full article

Jay Plum, head of consumer lending at Fifth Third Bank, says artificial intelligence is fundamentally shifting relationships between banks and their third-party software vendors, allowing banks to do things on their own that they would previously rely on vendors to do for them, like identify risky loans and prepare for exams. View the full article

The investment property owner says she was stonewalled and humiliated by BofA's loan officers, and that an error-riddled appraisal was short by over $70,000. View the full article

UWM Holdings is now bidding 70 cents more per share than CrossCountry for Two Harbors, with an all-cash option as an alternative to its all-stock proposal. View the full article

The GSEs' financials are strong but odds are against a short-term change to conservatorship that would give stockholders access to their profits, Mizuho said. View the full article

A rule change requiring trial modifications before other loss-mitigation options is creating workflow and liquidity challenges, especially for smaller servicers without deep resources. View the full article

The Federal Reserve's April financial stability report found that asset valuations remain elevated, even as investors are beginning to demand more compensation for risk amid rising uncertainty around monetary policy. View the full article

Federal Reserve Gov. Michael Barr Thursday warned against efforts to shrink the central bank's balance sheet, saying that effort could undermine financial stability and disrupt money markets. View the full article

Standard & Poor's found modeled foreclosure frequency and loss coverage to be in similar ranges as classic FICO but showed concern about potential bias. View the full article

The House passed housing legislation that includes a slightly pared-down institutional investor housing ban, as well as a raft of community bank measures. View the full article

Berkshire Hathaway's banking-related investment strategy is murky, after the arrival of new leadership and the sale of its stakes in Visa and Mastercard. View the full article

Homebuyers applying for Federal Housing Administration loans in community property states are facing hurdles that current market conditions have heightened. View the full article

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., moved to consider the housing package next week, but it's not clear what version of the bill senators will be voting on as the House, Senate and White House are still negotiating priorities. View the full article

The average annual premium is projected to increase 4% to about $3,057 this year, after jumping 12% in 2025, according to Insurify, an online insurance comparison site. View the full article

New jobs in health care largely drove the gains, while the federal workforce and finance continued to shrink. View the full article

"Wildfire risk is not just an occasional catastrophe, but a recurring cost embedded in the state's economy," said the report issued this week by the California Earthquake Authority. View the full article

An uptick in problem loans within the heavily scrutinized office sector pushed down share prices at Rhode Island-based Washington Trust and Bank OZK in Little Rock, Arkansas, even though both banks reported solid profits. View the full article

Rocket Cos. gave generous stock awards to its leaders for a busy year, while Better Home & Finance awarded raises to leaders after a difficult stretch. View the full article

Post-pandemic rule changes also have driven the Department of Veterans Affairs' number higher too but not as much as the Federal Housing Administration's. View the full article