Loan quality risks amid ongoing mortgage market challenges are continuing to emerge, according to the newest QC Industry Trends Report from ACES Quality Management, which tracks post-closing quality control data from its platform. The overall critical defect rate in the first quarter of 2025 climbed to 1.31%, ending two straight quarters of improvement and up […]
Income eligibility defects drive mortgage quality decline Read More »
Mortgage applications decreased 1.4% from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending Aug. 15. Without taking seasonal adjustments into account, the index decreased 2% compared with the previous week. The refinance index decreased 3% from the previous week but was 23% higher
Mortgage applications shrink as VA loan demand declines Read More »
Having spent decades navigating the ups and downs of the mortgage industry, I’ve learned that challenging market conditions offer two choices: stand still and hope for improvements or go on the offensive and invest in positioning your company for long-term success. Today’s market represents one of those pivotal moments, with recent data indicating slower home
4 steps to take before the next mortgage market shift Read More »
Bonus Homes, a real estate technology and investment firm, announced on Tuesday plans to open its headquarters in the Greater Phoenix area after raising $65.5 million in seed funding. A press release from the company said that the seed funding is from Solyco Capital, Redwood Trust, Nextview Ventures, Operate Ventures and Alpaca VC. With the
Bonus Homes lands in Phoenix, unveils home equity release option Read More »
Clifford Rossi speaks from the vantage point of someone who has been inside the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). In different periods during the 1990s and 2000s, he served as a senior financial economist at Fannie Mae and as senior director of single-family risk management at Freddie Mac. Rossi was among the earliest advocates of merging the
Ex-GSE risk chief makes case for Fannie-Freddie merger Read More »
Housing market dynamics have grown more favorable for buyers and sellers in August, and it’s possible that the fall of 2025 could see even better conditions if mortgage rates return to 6%. But they haven’t approached that level in nearly a year and haven’t been consistently below that threshold since late 2022. Rates have been
Mortgage rates continue their slow march toward 6% Read More »
A Georgia couple lost their longtime family home after a forged deed led to a reverse mortgage they claimed they never signed, according to reporting from WSB-TV. James and Lucretia Klucken said they began receiving notices in 2019 about repayment on a $50,000 reverse mortgage tied to James’ family property. After reviewing the documents, James,
Forged deed and mortgage fraud cost Georgia couple their home Read More »
It isn’t news that ICE Mortgage Technology had planned to shut down some of its older tech systems — mainly the Encompass SDK — by Oct. 31, 2025. Users were supposed to switch to newer, API-based technology called Encompass Partner Connect (EPC) by that deadline. Now, the Halloween deadline has been pushed. Instead of 2025,
Why are some vendors dragging their feet on the ICE SDK transition? Read More »
Independent mortgage banks (IMBs) delivered a pretax net production profit of $950 per loan in the second quarter of 2025, rebounding from a $28 loss in the prior quarter. The improvement was fueled by seasonality, cost reductions and higher average loan balances. The data, released on Tuesday, comes from the Mortgage Bankers Association report covering
IMBs swing back to profitability in Q2 with $950 per-loan gain Read More »
With all eyes now firmly focused on the second half of 2025, mortgage servicers throughout the U.S. face an important period for property tax management. More than 60% of all property tax bills are due between July and December, making the second half of the year extremely critical for the mortgage industry. Data from FRED
Common pitfalls: Where mortgage servicers often stumble in the second half Read More »