The latest credit scoring model from VantageScore Solutions includes credit scores for up to 30 million consumers who haven’t been scored by other providers, according to the company. In an attempt to ease adoption of the score among lenders, the company also changed its scoring range to conform with the range of scores offered by FICO. Sarah Davies, a senior vice president of analytics and product management at the company, said VantageScore 3.0 can score 15 million more potential borrowers than ...
What does it take for a community bank to be considered for an award for innovation? It would seem a lot in the case of Seattle-based HomeStreet Bank. Perhaps, it may also be due to the fact that HomeStreet Bank has gone from “troubled institution” to “well-capitalized institution” in four years. In fact, in March last year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions terminated a 2009 cease-and-desist order for the bank and ...
Mortgage Master, a Walpole, MA-based super-regional lender and one of the largest privately held mortgage companies in the United States, is actively expanding into some key markets in the country, while out-racing behemoth competitor Wells Fargo to the top of the ranking of mortgage lenders in its home state. And the keys to success nationally and locally are the same: strong recruitment of top-notch originators and consistent exceptional service. “I think we’re out-running them [Wells Fargo]. They have ...
Freddie Mac is still owed $1.2 billion from the bankrupt Lehman Brothers and likely will not be reimbursed anytime soon due to the fact that the GSE is an “unsecured” creditor, according to a new report by the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General. The report notes that the loan was made in August of 2008, not long before Lehman went bust and Freddie was placed into government conservatorship. The loan was described by Freddie officials as a “Fed Funds” transaction available to Lehman on an overnight basis. However, the limit on such transactions was $250 million, according to the OIG Report.
Freddie Mac’s real estate sales unit is looking to bring in more lending partners to widen the reach of its financing program implemented last year specifically to move the GSE’s real-estate owned properties. Since the company rolled out its Homesteps Financing program during the second half of 2012 in four select states, the new financing option for both owner-occupied and investor purchase of REO properties has yielded promising enough results to prompt expansion, says a Freddie…
Contrary to what critics claim or what other studies purport to say, the majority of appraisals support the home-sale contract price, thanks to appraisers’ due diligence in developing a market-value opinion on the underlying collateral, according to the American Enterprise Institute. Citing data from a 2012 study by FNC, Inc., on how appraisal valuations respond to stressful local market conditions, the AEI said that a separate real-estate industry study claiming that low appraisal values are ...
Fannie Mae is having internal discussions regarding how it might change the way it holds mortgage seller/servicers responsible for losses when a deficiency is discovered on a delivered loan. A spokesman for Fannie told Inside The GSEs that under one scenario, a lender might take the “credit loss” on a mortgage with Fannie agreeing to keep the loan as opposed to forcing a buyback. A deficiency might include a mistake made during the underwriting process, such as borrower information being incorrectly punched into a computer. “If data were punched in wrong, there might be a pricing change,” said the spokesman.
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