When I was a kid I’d go the bank, and my parents’ favorite teller and I would swap my money for the silver dimes and quarters she’d saved for me. I still go into the bank – how else am I supposed to find $2 bills - but maybe I am bucking the latest trend in banking: people-less branches. You walk in and deal with someone via videoconference. Are bank branches being killed by the iPhone?

Attorneys for the Justice Department and Quicken Loans Inc. will meet today in a Detroit courtroom for a hearing on Quicken's request to dismiss the case regarding if Quicken Loans knowingly submitted claims for hundreds of improperly underwritten Federal Housing Administration-insured loans. The government's suit claims loans funded with inflated appraisals, poor credit risks and borrowers with insufficient incomes, and that Quicken gave "speed bonuses" to underwriters. The mortgage company failed to disclose the problems with the loans that cost the federal government millions of dollars when they went bad, federal lawyers contend.

Events/webinars/conferences

Digital mortgages have been a major topic over the past year, including sessions at MBA Annual 2016, Independent Mortgage Bankers Conference three weeks ago in CA, and the TMBA conference Jan 30-31. The electronic mortgage transaction process (both origination and closing) has been talked about for nearly 15 years, with the first eNote transaction in early 2000's. In 2016, MERS eRegistry recorded 5,212 eNote registrations, with New York Community Bank as the leader. 

Originators and Warehouse Lenders recognize an electronic mortgage process is within the realm of possibility. The CFPB Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure being moved from a paper process to a digital process, opening the door for greater efficiency, which is less labor intensive. Street Resource Group has been hosting a monthly eWarehouse Workgroup to support industry and education, and broaden the investor market for acceptance and purchase of eNotes by facilitating warehouse lender adoption. SRG encourages collaboration and participation from all the counterparties to develop industry standards for eWarehouse business processes, based on the electronic exchange of data and documents, and identify issues and problems which are barriers to adoption. If you are interested in participating, please contact info@ewarehouseworkgroup.com or Brenda Clem.

MBA Education is hosting a call on February 15th to discuss the release of the newly revised standard Ginnie Mae Acknowledge Agreement, a contract among a Ginnie Mae issuer, Ginnie Mae, and a warehouse lender for a Ginnie Mae MSR collateralized financing if the parties want Ginnie Mae recognition of the pledge. This call will feature Michael Drayne, SVP of the Office of Issuer & Portfolio Management at Ginnie Mae who will discuss specific section changes to the Acknowledgment Agreement and the reasons for the changes. Click here to register for the event.

There is a critical new Uniform Closing Dataset (UCD) mandate is coming this September. Join Ellie Mae and Fannie Mae representatives on February 23rd to find out exactly what's changing, when, and how to prepare your business to stay efficient and compliant.

On Thursday, February 16th, National MI is offering its Multicultural Outreach to Provide Homeownership to the African American Community, an educational seminar that will be presented by Kristin Messerli of Cultural Outreach Solutions and Risha Grant, CEO and Founder of DiversityConneX.com. This special presentation is brought to you by our MI University, with a commitment to delivering high quality educational content to our customers.

National MI is also hosting a March 2nd webinar session on Self-Employed Borrower and Tax Analysis, led by Teresa Ferman of Indecomm. This special presentation is brought to you by our MI University, with a commitment to delivering high quality educational content to our customers. This 2-hour session is designed for originators, processors and underwriters - or anyone who wants to know the most important facts about calculating income from a tax return.

If you're near Michigan the MMLA, Southeast Chapter you can register now for the luncheon on March 6th. The guest speaker is State Representative Peter J. Lucido who will provide information on what is happening in Lansing and other initiatives he is working on. As a regular guest on Sunday Morning news segment "Let It Rip", and frequent guest of the Frank Beckman WJR radio show, Rep. Lucido is a very dynamic member of the Michigan legislature.

Join MMLA on March 16th and get the motivation and information you need to for the Spring Sales Season to take your production to the next level. Join more than 250 expected attendees at the 2017 Symposium.

Shifting proverbial gears, Adam Smith defined "capital" as, "That part of a man's stock which he expects to afford him revenue." As for "market," you can figure that one out.

Although January issuance was off 11% from December's pace, Ginnie MBS outstanding is at an all-time high. And with only 24 employees! Okay, just kidding about that, but as of Jan. 31, there were $1.7865 trillion in GNMA mortgage-backed securities outstanding. (And there are all of 140 employees.)

Friday U.S. Treasuries and other fixed-income securities, like those backed by mortgages, took minor losses - I guess because they had gains earlier in the week. The same institutions were out there selling and other institutions were out there selling, so the big news was probably that Federal Reserve Governor Tarullo, the Fed's head of bank supervision, announcing his resignation, effective April 5. That leaves a total of three seats open on the Board of Governors. (Governors always vote on monetary policy decisions.) Rates seem to be treading water for the last few weeks, which is fine for many as borrowers grow accustomed to these levels. We don't need them to have sticker shock. As a refresher, the 10-year note closed .125 lower to yield 2.41%; 5-year notes and agency MBS prices were nearly unchanged or down/worse a couple ticks.

But this is a brand-spankin' new week. What do we have for scheduled news? There is zip today and nada on Friday. Tomorrow things kick into gear with reads on inflation: January PPI and Core PPI, along with several Fed speakers. Wednesday, we have the MBA's reading on applications for last week, but also January CPI and Core CPI, February Empire Manufacturing, January Retail Sales and Retail Sales ex-auto, January Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization, December Business Inventories, and February's NAHB Housing Market Index. Thursday are January Housing Starts and Building Permits, Initial Jobless Claims, and February Philadelphia Fed.

We start the week with rates slightly higher: the 10-year is hovering around 2.44% and current agency MBS prices are worse .125.


Jobs and Announcements

Axia Home Loans welcomes Erin Leck, Area Manager, to its family. As Axia's newest management addition, Erin will be putting his initial focus in helping the company grow and establish a brand in the Minnesota markets. Gellert Dornay, President & CEO of Axia Home Loans, sees something special in Erin, "This guy is on fire! Erin has great passion for serving homebuyers and loan advisors. His sincere concern for the well-being of others combined with our employee owned model and advanced tech platform will have a substantial impact in the greater Twin Cities market!" SVP of Business Development, Shelly Schwieso, noted, "Erin's combination of drive, instincts, and experience in the Twin Cities area is a formula for success. Looking at his past results, you see a man who knows how to create an environment in line with Axia's core beliefs. Being from Minnesota, I understand what it takes to become successful there and Erin exudes those qualities."

In Southern California City National Bank is searching for a Manager of Mortgage Operations who will lead, direct, and coordinate Residential Lending Operations in a Private Client and often complex mortgage lending environment; the person will also set up an East Coast Operation Department. Duties include, "Sets and meets business goals and objectives, organizing and directing execution of operational and strategic business plans while managing exceptional client satisfaction scores, managing and maintaining effective and efficient origination and fulfillment processes, including a Fulfillment team of 150-250 professionals composed of mortgage processing, underwriting, closing, pricing/rate lock and operational risk, compliance and quality control." Basic qualifications include a, "Minimum 10 years' experience in the mortgage banking industry, with at least 5 years of experience in managing a highly-automated mortgage operations unit, a minimum of 10 years' of management experience, and a minimum 10 years' experience with compliance regulations specifically with mortgage lending. For full details or questions, or to send a resume, contact Teresa Hoffman, SVP Executive Recruiting Manager, 213.673.9111.

Are you a mortgage matchmaker? You should be! This latest episode of America's Mortgage News presented by Credit Plus is all about cultivating relationships. After all, it is almost Valentine's Day! 2017 is expected to be a purchase market. Given that, you really need to nurture your relationships with prospects planning to buy homes. Watch this short video now to find out how. Click here.

In retail job news Address Mortgage, a purchase-focused division of American Financial Network (a 2016 "Top Mortgage Employer"), is searching for "market-leading purchase loan originators and full branches to service our real estate partner in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Tampa, Florida. Gary Fioretti, Division Executive for Address/AFN highlights that, 'As a leading mortgage solution for Century 21 Affiliated, the single largest C21 franchise in the world with more than 100 office locations and more than 2,500 licensed real estate agents, this opportunity can provide the right candidate a $15-20M or more annual boost to their present loan production.' And to increase and diversify the MLO's existing referral partner base, 'the selected candidates will be directly aligned with multiple C21 agents in their geographic market - a clear game changer for the MLO.' Proven, purchase oriented mortgage originators seeking to expand their loan production are encouraged to submit their resume directly to Gary Fioretti. With a fully reimbursable education and licensing process, originators exempt from licensing and working in a commercial banking environment are also encouraged to apply.

In wholesale job news, after a record-breaking end to 2016, Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions is continuing its aggressive growth into 2017. To help support this extraordinary growth, its management company, Angel Oak Companies, recently added four new executives to its leadership team. Al Stanley was hired as Chief Information Officer, Steven Winokur as Chief Marketing Officer, Nick Mantia as VP of Training and Matt Henson was named Chief Human Resources Officer. Kicking off 2017 with a bang, Angel Oak has already added 4 additional Account Executives. Aron Thielen joined in Minnesota, Ryan Burchfield in Northern California, and both Ralphael Wilson and Martin Espitia in Texas. Recognized as the leaders in the non-Agency space, Angel Oak is continuing to hire AEs in markets across the country and underwriters/support staff in its Atlanta headquarters. Email careers@angeloakms.com immediately for consideration.

On the M&A front, "Rob, I am seeing an aggressive push for retail platform growth by mid-size lenders - lenders in the $600M/year to $1.5B market segments, as they present a more personal, less corporate experience than the larger enterprise mortgage lenders struggling to replace 30-40% of their mortgage volume lost with the recent rate hikes in Q4 2016", says Dr. Rick Roque, founder of Menlo, a leading M&A and Retail Mortgage Banking growth firm. "It is an exciting time for the retail LO Team closing $5M/month or more, or an independent mortgage bank looking to be acquired - the demand is serious - especially for companies or groups closing $60M to $300M per year". If you have a FHA Full Eagle Licensed in CA, NC or any other state, contact me for possible buyers interested in your company (principals only please).

In other personnel news, Quicken Loans revealed the promotion of three members of the company's senior leadership team. CEO Bill Emerson, who has been there 24 years, will move to the role of Vice Chairman of Rock Holdings, Quicken Loans' parent company. Jay Farner, who has been with Quicken Loans for 21 years, is the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company. And Bob Walters, Quicken Loans' Chief Economist and rookie of the bunch with "only" 20 years at Quicken, will now serve in the dual capacity of President and Chief Operating Officer. (If you're keeping track, Quicken employs 16,000 across the country, with more than 10,000 located within downtown Detroit.)