Scaling from Freelancer to Business Owner

Newly minted doctors want to buy homes but because of student debt and job history, likely can't even meet the wider jumbo underwriting criteria without help. View the full article

Bills in Congress, capital rules, GSE reform and credit modernization hold a mix of benefits and risks for Independent Community Banker of America members, Senior Vice President Ron Haynie says. View the full article

Former Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Randal Quarles, who served during President The President's first term, said members of the Fed board should be removable by the president, but that the decentralized structure of the Fed will ensure that monetary policy decisions remain sound. View the full article

The setback pared a weekly gain for US government bonds sparked by an April 8 ceasefire agreement, which caused oil prices to tumble from near multiyear highs. View the full article

The industry reported $275 million in losses from internet crimes last year, a 59% annual increase as losses nationwide surpassed $20 billion. View the full article

A Colorado couple filed suit after realizing they might owe as much as $279,000 on a home equity investment contract used to obtain $88,000 in 2018. View the full article

Economists surveyed by Wolters Kluwer are scaling back rate cut expectations as Iran conflict-driven energy costs push inflation higher, complicating the Fed's path forward. 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

A 21.2% spike in the price of gasoline was the biggest contributor to a 0.9% increase in the Consumer Price Index in March, according to a Friday report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The agency said other price increases were largely contained. View the full article

Jumbo loans demand more scrutiny and documentation, but automation is streamlining the process — and lenders who master the product stand to gain in a moderately bullish market. View the full article

LoanDepot will integrate Figure's proprietary credit and loan underwriting engine into its own proprietary mello technology platform and point of sale system. View the full article

It doesn't have to be all or nothing, but all paths are complex, capital markets and policy experts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York say in a new report. View the full article

The 30-year fixed fell to 6.37% after a two-week ceasefire tempered war-driven volatility, but economists warn the spring housing market faces continued turbulence. View the full article

The Mortgage Bankers Association found gains in March for conforming, jumbo and government-sponsored loan indices for the third consecutive month. View the full article

An appellate court reversed part of an $8.5 million award for attorneys who secured a $38.5 settlement against the lender in 2023 in a False Claims Act case. View the full article

Fintech Candid says its AI-powered newsletter platform can scrape social media and public data to help loan officers send hyper-personalized outreach at scale. View the full article

Conforming loan limits are determined using a home price index. A congressman is proposing a switch to an income-based metric, creating more jumbo mortgages. 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 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

The California-based lender announced Wednesday the addition of One Goal Mortgage, a branch serving the Omaha, Nebraska, metro area and Southwest Iowa. View the full article

Better is focusing on its U.S. mortgage unit, which reported higher-than-expected preliminary loan volumes and priced a stock offering. View the full article

A new Basel III proposal offers mixed results for warehouse lending, with some risk-weight relief for banks but tougher terms that could crimp credit availability for nonbank mortgage lenders. 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

A Iran ceasefire sparked a $20 oil drop and Treasury rally, narrowing the rate-cut window from 18 to 15 months, but key technical resistance levels and a potentially ugly Friday CPI report could still reshape the outlook, according to the head of correspondent business development at AD Mortgage. View the full article

In other news, Better Mortgage completed warehouse renewals and Wolters Kluwer provided a new form of access to its digital vault platform for secured parties. View the full article