A recent white paper from VantageScore Solutions claiming that millions of potential mortgage borrowers have been restricted from receiving loans due to “conventional” credit scoring models has prompted a strong response from officials at Fair Isaac. Joanne Gaskin, a senior director in Fair Isaac’s scores and analytics group, published a “truth squad” post on a FICO-related website addressing VantageScore’s claims. “Scoring sparse and old data may give more ...

Mortgage lenders are beginning to harness the power of big data to improve the increasingly expensive and often inefficient loan origination process, according to experts speaking on a panel at the recent Mortgage Bankers Association annual convention. Loan officer productivity has declined overall and varies greatly, according to Garth Graham, senior partner at the Stratmor Group. The top 40 percent of LOs generate 78 percent of mortgage originations, according to ...

The FHA can be more flexible in insuring condominiums without increasing risk to the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, according to a new analysis from the Urban Institute. The FHA proposed a rule in September that would give it more flexibility in formulating its condo rules. Specifically, FHA proposed to establish a permissible, minimum owner-occupancy range of 25 to 75 percent, while keeping the option of setting a minimum threshold within that range as ...

Through three quarters this year, Quicken Loans was the top lender of FHA mortgages and Freedom Mortgage was the top VA mortgage originator.

Average prices on non-distressed properties sold in October were down 1.8 percent from the September and off 4.1 percent August.

Eight of the top 10 jumbo lenders had declines in jumbo originations on a quarterly basis in the third quarter.

The CFPB’s appeal asserts that the court’s ruling on the constitutionality of the agency’s structure ought to be reconsidered because it “sets up what may be the most important separation-of-powers case in a generation.”

There were 159,523 active users of Ellie Mae's Encompass loan origination system in the third quarter, up 18.0 percent from a year ago.

Mortgage originations account for a large portion of the $2.50 billion increase to the $30.00 billion “community development plan.”

Investors are trying to make sense of the new political/economic landscape following the election of Donald Trump to be the next president, and how best to navigate his uncertain, and at times contradictory, signals during his campaign. Much of the conversation over the last week has focused on the likely effect the new regime will have on the Federal Reserve and its chair, Janet Yellen. Trump, who has been a fierce critic of the U.S. central bank, has indicated he won’t outright replace Yellen, but neither will he nominate her for a second term. And of course, what happens with the Fed will spill over, one way or the other, into the financial markets. “The Fed will normalize...