Worries about Europe’s economies have, in most part, subsided. But rumors swirl regarding The Land of Lincoln. Illinois, it seems, isn't doing too well financially. Underwriters don't have crystal balls, yet must weigh income from Illinois pensions and government worker income, and the like. Concerns are growing that the US Virgin Islands could slide toward the kind of financial collapse that hit Puerto Rico since the USVI's government has struggled to meet obligations since a refinery closed in 2012, simultaneously doing away with the biggest private-sector employer and a crucial source of tax revenue.

Lender news

In job-related news, Nationstar Mortgage recently completed the transition to move all its customer service call center operations back to the U.S., "creating 500 new jobs and bringing customer service closer to the company's more than 3 million customers. Moving all call center operations onshore represents one of the key investments the company is making to improve the customer experience and addresses direct feedback we received from our customers."

In transition news, Eric Bradley's Huron Valley Financial completed the acquisition of Home Point Financial Corporation's reverse mortgage division. "The transaction combines Home Point's nationally-ranked reverse mortgage division led by Joshua Shein, with Huron Valley Financial's 1st Nations Reverse Mortgage division, led by Mike Gruley."

Rumors about lenders continue, this time about Planet Home Lending laying off a portion of its West Coast operations staff last week, impacting both the retail operation in Nor Cal as well as the wholesale operation in So Cal. Michael Dubeck, CEO and President, stated, ""Planet right-sized within its portfolio retention line of business, and a few other areas, to align with current volumes. The company continues to invest in its nationwide distributed retail and wholesale divisions and is hiring for sales and support positions throughout the country."

A clarification to yesterday's commentary note about bank's stress tests. ("The tests are designed to measure whether the 34 largest banks will be able to maintain a minimum 3% capital level, even in periods of severe economic downturns.") Thank you very much to Seyhun Hepdogan for pointing out that the, "3% limit is not capital level, it is for supplementary capital ratio (SLR) and only advance approach banks (Basel Capital Rule Banks, 8 BHCs in total I believe, not 34) are tested for it. The JPM's presentation page 2 below shows the limits, 4.5% for CET1, 6% for Tier 1 and 8% for Total cap (3% is for SLR)."

Upcoming events & training

Back by popular demand - the Certified Military Home Specialist Course. National Mortgage Professional Magazine is bringing you this complimentary 2-hour course via live webinar on Thursday, June 29th at 2 PM EDT, sponsored by REMN Wholesale and presented by Beverly Frase, Founder of BootsAcrossAmerica.com. Attending this webinar qualifies you to receive an e-mail with a link to access the Power Point presentation, the workbook and to take the exam online at your convenience to become a Certified Military Home Specialist. Upon passing the exam online you immediately receive a link to print your personalized certificate designating you as a Certified Military Home Specialist. All at no cost to you! Click here to sign up for this FREE Webinar! Register early - last webinar was filled to capacity.

The implementation of most of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act's (HMDA) updated provisions are likely to bring continued challenges to the Reverse Mortgage industry in 2018. ReverseVision is releasing several new features in and adding more new fields over the next several months that are required for HMDA. Join the July 12th webinar to hear from industry experts QuestSoft about how HDMA will impact your business as well as how to work with these new forms in RV Exchange (RVX) that are required for HMDA.

Fannie Mae has a new online course: "Overview of the Adjustable-Rate Mortgage." This course reviews the different types of ARMs, major indices, how to determine the borrower's ability to repay the loan, and scenarios for real-world application. Check out this course as well as other ARM-related resources.

The MGIC July training calendar is available to view and register now. Brush up on evaluating appraisals, income, tax returns, assets, plus fundamentals of the mortgage process and detecting mortgage fraud.

Reserve your seat for the July 11th Unique Bank Accounting GAAP webinar. This bank compliance session introduces and explains how bank accounting "rules" are made in the US. It also includes discussions of recent accounting trends.

Plaza's July training calendar has been published and is ready for registration. Plaza's Rapid Plus Mortgage/Day 1 Certainty - 3rd party origination and Plaza's Rapid Plus Mortgage/Day 1 Certainty - Best Practices are among the options for July webinars.

Join the NMMLA July Luncheon on the 13th with guest speaker Steve Richman "That MI Guy". Topic of discussion will be the Commodity Conundrum.

On November 6th and 7th, TMBA's Annual Educational Seminar & Marketplace will bring together hundreds of real estate finance professionals to listen to dynamic speakers from the industry.

Capital markets and the economy

Good loan officers keep one eye on the economy. They know that the Fed sets short term rates. So yes, the FOMC raised its short-term target rate 25 basis points to a range of 1.00-1.25 percent, and published an addendum to assist in normalizing the Fed's balance sheet despite a recent weakening trend in inflation. May's headline and core consumer prices both came in weaker than expected, and though the Fed has traditionally been "data dependent" they suspect that recent sluggish inflation has been a result of "one-off reductions", which therefore justifies the high probability of a third rate hike this year.

The recent election in the U.K. and the recent U.S. economic data does little to calm already unsettled nerves: retail sales declined even more than expected with a 1.6 percent drop, and CPI inflation rose to 2.9 percent, the fastest rate in four years. Chinese moderation continues as industrial production and retail sales have held steady, and Australia's economy added a net 42,000 jobs in the month as the country's unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent, its lowest since 2013. It's a global economic village!

Shifting gears to the currently mundane bond market, we had a little rally Monday after a weak durable good number, but then gave it back after a weak $26 billion 2-year note auction by the Treasury. Nonetheless, agency MBS ended tighter as treasuries gained, price-wise. Of course, there some minor relative price moves based on maturity, coupon, and security type, but nothing much a borrower would see. The 10-year note price improved slightly and it closed yielding 2.14% - the same as Friday.

Today we've had, and will have, some Fed presidents speaking, including Ms. Yellen, probably saying nothing new. Coming up is the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for April at 3AM Hawai'i time, along with Consumer Confidence and some regional numbers. And if you have some spare green backs, feel free to bid on the $34 billion 5-year T-note auction. We start the day with the 10-year at 2.16% and agency MBS prices worse .125 versus yesterday's close.

Jobs & CRM product

Pacific Union Financial, LLC is growing the Western region of its retail division, opening a new Distributed Retail branch in Salt Lake City, Utah. The branch will service homebuyers in the Salt Lake City Metro Area with home purchasing and refinance needs. Branch Manager, Kris Duffield, a Utah native, has over 30 years of industry experience. Kris will be a tremendous asset, helping to grow Pacific Union in the Salt Lake City market. Are you a loan officer looking to join a strong Distributed Retail team that's primed for growth?  If so, contact Todd Carter  to learn more about joining the Pacific Union Distributed Retail team.

In wholesale job news Ditech Wholesale is hiring talented experienced AEs in key markets across the country. "Today's Account Executive needs as many loan officer outlets as possible to grow their business. Gone are the days of limited territory size and pigeon holing AE's into small markets. To that end, expansion into non-delegated correspondent and small banks allows Ditech's Wholesale AE's to create a large footprint into their geographic area, while not sharing with a crowded field.  We are currently looking for seasoned AE's and offer a unique blend of wholesale values overlaid onto correspondent disciplines. (says Wells Constantine, National Sales Manager). We are focusing on NC, VA and Tampa, FL for the Eastern Seaboard, led by Tony Petronio; NV, CO, Dallas & Houston, TX and San Diego & Los Angeles/Ventura Counties in Southern CA for the Southwest, led by Zeenat Zonte; UT, OR, MO, ID/WY/MT and Sacramento, CA for the Northwest, led by Michelle Thiebaud" Click here to review the job description and apply today or contact Owen Welch in HR with questions.

"A Southern California-based Wholesale Mortgage Executive team is seeking a mortgage lender that is interested in expanding into the wholesale business. The executives have over 50 years combined experience in successfully starting, scaling and managing multiple profitable wholesale platforms from inception to maturity, and have the necessary start-up capital financing already in place. They and their team are originating $100mm+ wholesale business per month (60% purchase) with approx. 70% in the west coast (CA, AZ, WA and OR). The ideal partner would have Fannie, Freddie and GNMA approvals and state mortgage banking licenses in their origination footprint, and is interested in expanding into wholesale with minimal start-up costs. If interested or for more information, please e-mail us with contact information and inquiries to continue the conversation."

Interested in joining a stable and secure lender with a 30+ year history of success? Embrace Home Loans is looking for self-sourced, purchase focused Branch Managers, Sales Managers, and Loan Officers. With remarkable growth in the company and continuous recognition in the Scotsman Guide as a top lender in the nation, Embrace offers an excellent career option. For 10 straight years Embrace has achieved a 98% Customer Service Rating and has been recognized by Fortune no less than seven times as one of the Top 25 Mid-size Companies to Work for in America. Licensed in 46 states plus DC, Embrace ranks as one of the top private mortgage lenders in America. If you're interested in working with a supportive, dynamic, and productive company, contact Patrick Mullen, Director of Recruiting, or check out Embrace Home Loans. Embrace your future - join our team today!

In retail job news, "American Bancshares Mortgage is a reliable, time-tested retail Mortgage Banker. For more than 22 years, we have empowered our partners, assisted our communities and expanded our footprint across the nation. We are direct seller/servicers with a retail channel focus. Our superior centralized platform is a fully integrated solution that covers the entire loan lifecycle. Our corporate culture is based on an environment of creative and collaborative communication, always keeping our core values of commitment, integrity and transparency as the pillars of our organization. As we continue to reach our goals and expand our nationwide presence we are looking to add Regional retail managers to our team. Current openings are in the North East, South East United States and Texas. If you are ready to join our dynamic fast-growing organization that focuses on empowering and inspiring you, contact Sandy Garcia for a confidential conversation to discuss our many benefits and opportunities!"

In the wholesale channel, "recognized as a leader in the non-Agency space, Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions is continuing their aggressive hiring spree by looking to add Wholesale Account Executives in markets across the country, specifically in Baltimore, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Portland, Northern CA and Northern VA. To continue to deliver an extraordinary customer experience while realizing record monthly volumes, they are also hiring underwriters and other operations positions in their Atlanta headquarters. If you've been thinking about making a move into the fastest growing segment of the mortgage industry, there's no better time. Come join the nation's top Non-QM lender by emailing careers@angeloakms.com to start the conversation or learn more about what it's like to work for Angel Oak by watching the Top Mortgage Employer's interview from the Mortgage News Network."

"Unify Keeps Growing! Our newest clients to go live are Central Bank and Mortgage Financial Services. Dan Coyle of Central Bank said about UNIFY: 'Central Bancompany needed a CRM system capable of performing in our unique 13 charter environment. We chose UNIFY among the 6 systems we evaluated for our needs because of its unique capabilities, user friendliness, and cost benefit.' John Hudson of MFS said: 'At Mortgage Financial Services, we dream BIG! and believe in delivering the very best tools and technology mortgage professionals need today to maximize their growth and exceed their goals. We partnered with Unify CRM because we feel it optimizes a producer's communication and marketing with built in accountability.' Unify is an all-in-one system that you can use to manage every aspect of your business from lead management to retention marketing. Contact Scott Benson at 314.223.2886 and Matt Zabbo at 618.610.5868 or Schedule a PRODUCT DEMO."