With originations tepid of late, mortgage banking firms have been holding their payrolls steady, careful not to add overhead in what might prove to be a challenging market for the remainder of 2018. According to figures compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, mortgage banking firms employed 251,600 workers at the end of June, flat compared to the prior month. Companies that fall into the loan brokerage category employed 91,400 full timers at June 30, down 400 positions from May ...
Use of blockchain technology could help increase profits for lenders and servicers in fewer than 10 years, according to Andrew Weiss, a principal at Strategic Mortgage Finance Group. Weiss was an architect of Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter in the 1990s and likened the current skepticism about blockchain to lenders’ lack of faith in automated underwriting before such systems became ubiquitous. “How can any technology replace the years of training and experience ...
Successful homebuyers in the first half of 2018 pointed to large downpayments as one of the factors that helped close the transaction, according to a survey and analysis by realtor.com, a home listing site. More than 1,000 homebuyers who closed on their purchases in the first half of this year were surveyed on behalf of realtor.com, which is a subsidiary of Move and operates with a licensing agreement with the National Association of Realtors. Some 24 percent of respondents ...
Mortgage servicing is lagging behind other financial services in adopting digital capability and it is impairing borrower satisfaction, according to the results of the 2018 U.S. Primary Mortgage Servicing Satisfaction Study from J.D. Power. “The challenges the servicers have are the bar keeps rising and expectations rise particularly when it comes to digital interaction,” said Craig Martin, senior director of the mortgage practice at J.D. Power. “The majority of consumers coming in or ...
Mortgage environments run by artificial intelligence? Not yet – but close. Artificial intelligence and automation are helping mortgage servicers streamline servicing and reduce costs but may be costing some humans their jobs, according to analysts with Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings team. However, there is no cause for alarm because human power remains vital to the mortgage process. The day AI completely takes over mortgage servicing is still very far off, analysts said ...
The Mortgage Bankers Association recently asked the federal banking agencies to provide an update on a proposal to increase the amount of mortgage servicing assets that a bank may count to-wards Tier 1 capital. In a letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Federal Reserve, the MBA reiterated its support for the agencies’ proposal to raise a recommended 25 percent cap on the amount of mortgage servicing assets that may be ...
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