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Inside Mortgage Trends

July 25, 2014

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Banks Report Substantial Increase In 2Q14 Mortgage Banking Income

Second-quarter bank earnings reports show a strong increase in overall mortgage banking profitability as new origination volume rebounded from historic lows set in the first three months of 2014. A new Inside Mortgage Trends review of earnings reports from 21 banks, including eight of the 10 largest banks in mortgage lending, reveals that the group generated $3.81 billion in second-quarter mortgage banking income. That was up 31.5 percent from ... Read More

Firms Offering Hefty Signing Bonuses for LOs

Not only are residential originations on the rise once again, but so are “signing bonuses” for top-flight loan officers who can bring in the volume. According to research from Garrett, McAuley & Co., signing bonuses being paid today range from $20,000 to $30,000, but “with some going much higher.” With production shifting toward purchase-money lending, LOs with deep ties to Realtors and homebuilders can fetch the most. But according to interviews ... Read More

Low Payments Won’t Deter Potential Movers

Concerns that rising interest rates will prompt current homeowners to stay in place are overblown, according to a number of industry analysts. A panel at Zillow’s latest housing forum this week focused on the issue of borrower lock-in, with most speakers downplaying the issue. Joseph Tracy, an executive vice president and senior advisor to the president at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said his research has found that rising interest rates ... Read More

Interest Rate Hedging in Fluctuating Environment

Lenders facing rising interest rates might be overlooking valuable hedging options, according to officials at Mortgage Capital Management. The firm offers pipeline risk-management services and is touting float-down locks, or put options on interest rates, which MCM claims will increase earnings stability and grow production. A float-down lock allows a borrower to receive a lower interest rate on their mortgage if rates decline between when ... Read More

Black Knight Tech Adapts to the CFPB’s TRID

Black Knight Financial Services – with a little help from its friends at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage – has repurposed some of its existing technology and combined it with some fresh capabilities to help lenders cope with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s TILA/RESPA integrated disclosure rule. It also will enable mortgage lenders to automate the numerous multi-party processes required to close a loan these days, the company said. The new ... Read More

Lenders Mum on Marketing Costs

Trying to find out how much money an individual mortgage company spends each year in marketing its products to consumers is no easy task. A quick survey of some of the nation’s largest lenders on advertising dollars conducted by Inside Mortgage Trends yielded the same exact response: “We don’t disclose that information.” Many large lenders don’t even engage in specific mortgage-related advertising, at least not on a national level. The one exception is ... Read More

Servicing Profits Held Up Better in 1Q14

Mortgage lenders generally earned more on their servicing operations than on production activity during the first quarter of 2014, according to an Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of earnings reports from firms that disclose such information. The 10 companies in the sample group reported a combined $850.4 million in production-related income during the first three months of 2014, compared with $1.33 billion in servicing income ... [Includes one data chart] Read More

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