Mortgage firms of all types continued to add to their payrolls late this spring, with many firms reporting they’re searching for technology workers. Overall, nonbank lender/servicers added 1,400 full-time positions in May, bringing total sector employment to 242,900 positions, the best reading since December 2007, according to figures compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Separately, loan brokerage companies also added 1,400 jobs during the month, bringing their employment ...
Scams aimed at stealing homebuyers’ closing funds persist, according to a warning last week from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The warning follows similar notices in recent years from the Federal Trade Commission. “The scammers attempt to steal the homebuyer’s closing funds – for example, their downpayment and closing costs – by sending the homebuyer an email posing as the homebuyer’s real estate agent or settlement agent (title company, escrow officer or attorney),” according to Davida Farrar, counsel in the CFPB’s consumer education and engagement division. In a post on the CFPB’s website, Farrar said...
There's a race on to see who will be the first to deliver a best-in-class lending automation product that the consumer trusts, said consultant Paul Hindman...
loanDepot would like to see more digital closings, according to Dominick Marchetti, the firm’s chief technology officer. The loanDepot official said there has been very little use of e-closings since he first witnessed one over a decade ago in 2002. “It’s fairly disappointing, actually,” Marchetti said, adding that fewer than 100 digital mortgages are closed per month. Only 1,600 of the nation’s 3,800 counties are equipped to handle digital closings, he added. The slow adoption rate ...
Sindeo, a mortgage technology-centric company billed as a “disruptor” in some quarters of the industry, closed its doors earlier this month, spurring new talk that making headway via innovative software isn’t so easy – especially in a challenging origination market. As one veteran mortgage consultant put it: “There are no Amazons in this industry,” a reference to the online giant that has profited by causing a wave of destruction in the traditional retail space, including clothing stores and book outlets. Regarding Sindeo’s collapse, Jordan Brown, CEO of MarketWise Advisors, added...
The VA condominium-financing process can be difficult for both veteran borrowers and lenders, according to experts at a recent VA lender conference. The big issue for borrowers is finding a condo development that has VA approval or one that can obtain approval quickly enough to complete the loan process in the shortest time possible. A development that has a high number of foreclosures, a significant number of condo owners that are behind on their association dues, or pending litigation against the homeowner association is unlikely to win VA approval, experts said. Such factors could put the VA and the lender at risk. As such, securing VA approval for a development is crucial. In 2009, VA stopped accepting HUD/FHA condo project approvals in lieu of a VA project review, said Phyllis Chilton, valuation officer at VA’s Phoenix regional loan center. Condo projects that were accepted previously by ...