August 2025

Chase formally reenters HELOC business after five years

Chase Home Lending has resumed offering home equity lines of credit after a five-year absence from the product, the company announced. While parent JPMorgan Chase has participated in HELOC securitizations, it did not originate or service the loans. In April 2020, just as the pandemic entered full swing, Chase paused taking new applications for HELOCs […]

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Lisa Cook

Cook firing takes the Fed into the unknown

Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook.Bloomberg News President Donald Trump’s unprecedented move to fire Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook Monday is likely to kick off a high-stakes legal battle over the exact contours of the central bank’s independence, and that battle will likely hinge on whether past actions can disqualify a board member from their current

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CFPB

CFPB to further curb its ability to supervise nonbanks

Bloomberg News WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing a new rule that would limit its ability to oversee nonbanks, according to a notice published quietly in the Federal Register Tuesday.  The CFPB said it plans to adopt a new definition of “risks to consumers with regard to the offering or provision of

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Judge denies motion to dismiss case against HEI platform

A Massachusetts judge denied a home equity investment platform’s request to dismiss a state lawsuit filed against it in a case that could provide clues to how products from such companies might ultimately be defined.  State Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell originally sued HEI platform Hometap in February, putting forth multiple claims, including allegations that

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Mortgage-Treasury spread at narrowest point in three years

Mortgage spreads reached their narrowest point in three years on Aug. 22, but were still wider than their historic average, Redfin reported. The normal spread, which in this case measures the difference between the 30-year fixed rate mortgage and the 10-year Treasury yield, is in a range between 150 basis points and 200 basis points.

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Fed bank presidents face risk of removal on Trump’s maneuvers, Brainard says

(Bloomberg) — Former Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard suggested there’s a real risk of multiple Fed district bank presidents getting removed from office next year as a result of politically charged maneuvering by President Donald Trump. Brainard, who served on the Fed board from 2014 to 2023, spoke a day after Trump moved to

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Knock closes $100M securitization, says it’s reached profitability

Knock, a real estate technology company that helps homeowners to buy before they sell, on Tuesday announced the close of its inaugural $100 million securitization. Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. served as the initial purchaser and bookrunner for the transaction, which closed on Aug. 14 and generated strong demand from well-established institutional investors in residential mortgage-backed

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Why agents are the front line in fighting rental fraud

The single-family rental (SFR) market is no longer a niche corner of real estate. It now makes up a significant share of the rental housing sector, fueled by years of steady growth. While institutional investors have entered the space with purpose-built communities and large portfolios, the majority of these properties are still owned by individual

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Trump fires Lisa Cook in latest move to pack Federal Reserve with supporters

President Donald Trump fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook Monday evening after calling for her resignation last week over allegations of mortgage fraud. The move further consolidates Trump’s power at the Fed, which has traditionally been an independent organization shielded from overtly political actions. Cook, who was appointee to the seven-member Federal Reserve Board by

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Knock hits profitability with $100M loan securitization

Led by financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald who also served as initial purchaser of the bonds, the issuance is expected to help Knock deliver $900 million worth of additional originations of its bridge loan product. The deal closed on Aug. 14 and was 75% pre-funded, garnering strong demand from institutional investors operating in residential mortgage-backed

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