Search engine giant Google recently launched a new mortgage comparison tool that allows borrowers and lenders to search for the lowest rates, a development that will be carefully watched for the simple reason that, well, it’s Google. The mortgage tool is a part of Google Compare, a service that allows consumers to compare options for various products, such as credit cards and auto insurance. Though the effort is branded with Google’s name, the company has teamed up with Zillow and LendingTree to introduce this service. Compare allows...

Are some mortgage underwriters using Facebook information to underwrite their credits? We heard one interesting story this past week...

Quicken Loans recently launched a new, TRID-friendly product dubbed the “rocket mortgage,” so named because “in the eight minutes it takes a space shuttle to reach orbit, Americans will now be able to receive a full mortgage approval online,” the lender says in its marketing pitch. “Rocket Mortgage simplifies the largest, most complex and important financial transaction most consumers experience in their lifetime,” said Linglong He, chief information officer for the lender ...

As part of his departure package, Raman will receive $600,000 in cash severance payments, payable over 52 weeks, but is walking away from unvested stock appreciation rights.

However, 40 percent of those lenders who do not offer a mobile app plan to make one available over the next 12 months.

Recent findings from a Fannie Mae survey suggest a substantial digital divide exists between the mortgage lending industry and younger, more tech-savvy borrowers who want to shop for a mortgage online via mobile technology, such as smartphones and tablets. For instance, roughly three out of four lenders surveyed recently by the government-sponsored enterprise do not offer a mobile software application to help consumers shop for a mortgage. “Larger and mid-sized ...

The OCC’s language was not as strong as earlier reassurances from the CFPB that it would not be taking a “gotcha” or punitive approach when it commences with TRID examinations…

At the end of fiscal year 2015 the two GSEs had combined REO holdings of 78,738 units, a 36 percent decline from the prior year…

Some believe the FHA MMIF minimum capital standard should be 4.5 percent, not 2.0 percent.

Seemingly small differences in monthly mortgage payments for borrowers in bankruptcy helped prompt an $81.6 million settlement between Wells Fargo and the Department of Justice late last week. The DOJ’s U.S. Trustee Program said Wells repeatedly violated federal bankruptcy rules that took effect in December 2011 and imposed more detailed disclosure requirements to ensure proper accounting of fees and charges for borrowers in bankruptcy. The main instance cited in the settlement agreement was...