“Rob, the number of vendors at mortgage conferences seems to be growing. Any idea how many vendors (vs. lenders) there are?” I had no idea but turned to Ginger Bell who keeps up with such things. She replied, “We’ve counted more than 1,400 that are specific to residential lending! And that doesn’t even count those outside of the industry that lenders may use such as insurance, payroll, etc.” Good luck keeping up with them. If your company doesn’t have a dedicated vendor manager, who’s in charge of deciding if, why, where, and when to use certain vendors? The CEO? Does she have time for vetting them?
Vendor News
Block66 recently announced the creation of a platform that aims to reduce mortgage fraud by imbuing the mortgage origination process with a heavy dose of transparency and tamper-proofing controls. Block66’s blockchain technology will play the role of a mortgage hub, functioning as a one-stop shop where borrowers’ pay stubs, financial information, tax documents, and personal identifiers can be accessed by parties who require them. By deriving these documents from their original sources and storing them on the blockchain, the platform will represent an immutable, trustworthy, and interoperable resource that is far less vulnerable to fraudulent actors.
The American Bankers Association announced its endorsement of the comprehensive mortgage fulfillment solution that Promontory Fulfillment Services (PFS), a unit of Promontory MortgagePath, offers to community banks throughout the country. “PFS’s white-label mortgage fulfillment services are designed to give banks new and better options in terms of cost, compliance and customer experience, enabling banks to offer a full range of mortgage products—conventional, jumbo, non-agency and HELOCs without the need to build and maintain a mortgage operation. Through the mortgage fulfillment solution, PFS underwrites the loan using client-provided business rules then processes and closes the loan in the bank’s name. Ongoing compliance reviews are done throughout the process and post-closing. PFS then delivers the loan to the client or sub-servicer.”
LendingQB and BNTouch have completed a full integration between their two platforms. This combining provides mortgage lenders an easy solution to grow their mortgage businesses from lead generation through loan origination and funding, seamlessly connecting all parts of a lender’s business. The systems communicate through a custom API integration that passes more than 300 points of data between the two systems. A potential borrower completes an online loan application on a loan officer’s website and the 1003 is placed as a lead into the loan officer’s BNTouch CRM. Once the loan officer initiates the loan process in LendingQB, the API integration kicks in. Deep communication between LendingQB and BNTouch allows for real time automated marketing to take place between the loan officer and their borrowers without the loan officer having to lift a finger.
New Lender Products and Programs
Home Point Financial Corporation announced the launch of Home Point Rewards, a new home buying and selling program, powered by HomeStory. Home Point Rewards connects buyers and sellers with select real estate agents and Home Point loan officers. Upon closing of their property, participants can receive up to $6,500 in cash rewards. “Who couldn’t use cash rewards when buying or selling a house,” said Brian Brizard, Chief Business Officer of Home Point Financial. “We’re excited to offer this innovative program to our customers and real estate partners.”
The Preferred Medical Professional Program is tailored to meet the needs of residents, medical doctors within 10 years of residency, dentists, orthodontists and veterinarians. EverBank has designed its lending guidelines to maximize their money and even exclude student loan debt in certain cases and allow newly license medical students who are about to begin their new employment/residency within 60 days of closing the use of future income.
Royal Pacific Funding introduced its Royal Reverse Mortgage. Send an inquiry email to marketing@royalpacificfunding.com if you would like an AE to contact you with more information.
CoreVest announced an expansion of its term loan program for investors in single family rental properties. CoreVest will now offer a 7-year term to complement the company's existing 5- and 10-year term loan options. "After participating in the Freddie Mac rental finance pilot program, we realized investors wanted more options to suit their specific investment timelines. Adding the 7-year option will enable us to fully address the needs of investors who may have been considering a GSE loan and are looking for a comparable alternative," relayed Ryan McBride, COO of CoreVest.
The Lending Answer offers SIVA transactions with rates starting @ 4.75%. No Income Documentation of any kind is required. Available to Owner Occupied Borrowers and with financing solely requiring reserves to meet ATR guidelines.
Plaza’s AUS Non-Conforming Program “allows for AUS (Automated Underwriting System) documentation requirements to help cut down on all the paperwork that’s often required with these types of lending programs. With the AUS Non-Conforming Program, you get the combined ease of Desktop Underwriter® (DU®) findings with a non-conforming program for a more simplified origination and better pricing than with bank statement or other alternative products. The program is a great option for conforming loans that don’t quite meet certain GSE requirements.”
The state of Michigan has been added to the Plaza Home Mortgage Manufactured Housing Pilot program. The USDA Guaranteed Rural Housing program guidelines have been updated to include Michigan as an eligible property state.
Do you need to Qualify your borrower off a Verbal VOE or only just a Business License? Pacific Bay Lending Group has a starting rate of only 5.25% on a 7/1 Arm, Purchase or Rate and Term, Minimum 680 Fico, Max 70% LTV with Loan Amounts up to 2.5 Million. Owner, Non-Owner and 2nd Home Allowed. Available for SFR, 2-4 Units, and Condos. Available in CA and NV only.
Using bank statements for income is an excellent choice for Business owners with write-offs. Contact LoanStream Mortgage, inquiries@lswholesale.com to learn about its Fixed Rate, 5/1 and 7/1 ARM's up to $10,000,000. Interest Only options are also available.
Brett Vargo VP, Mortgage Operations at Iserve Lending (San Diego, CA) says, “DocProbe has very capably enabled us tackle one of the biggest ‘necessary evils’ in our industry: trailing docs. Gone are the days of carving out our valuable resources to chase down documents, of having mounds of paper piling up in a cubicle to scan and deliver. Most importantly, gone are the days of having to pay late fees for missing or delayed documents! DocProbe has delivered on every promise thus far and has provided us the benefits of improved efficiencies and cost savings. Plus, their team is top notch, delivering incredible service.” Richard Scudder and Tani Lawrence will be attending the MBA Annual in Washington DC in October. Reach out to learn why prestigious correspondents and investors from coast to coast, large and small, are using DocProbe to manage their Trailing Docs.
ReverseVision is now offering enhanced software functionality and professional services to help lenders launch proprietary reverse mortgage products. Proprietary reverse mortgage products fill borrower needs not addressed by HECMs and insulate reverse mortgage operations from the effects of HUD changes to the HECM program. Proprietary reverse mortgages can expand access to home equity for seniors with home values much greater than the HECM maximum claim amount of $679,650. Proprietary products also have more flexibility for condominiums than HECMs and provide opportunities to lend to borrowers younger than HECM’s minimum age of 62. Designers of proprietary reverse mortgages have even begun adding options like monthly term payments to their products. The process for setting up a new proprietary product in ReverseVision is simple. After designing the product and its accompanying document package, lenders should contact Wendy Peel.
Every mortgage company president, VP, and operations manager want their team to close more loans, cleaner and faster. Current customers of LoanCraft’s Tax Return Analysis have reported anincrease in their underwriter’s production by 35%. Their underwriters can review files much quicker, and less “bad deals” are making their way to the underwriting desk. Loan Officer’s love the service because they get quick answers on whether the income will work in the beginning of the process. Underwriters love it because they can focus on analysis, not compiling data and requesting returns. LoanCraft has developed a service that produces a report of your borrower’s income. Features in the report assist each department to help them identify areas of concern or potential for more income. Contact Lindsey Fougerousse at 248-897-0604 or visit LoanCraft.net for more information.
Capital Markets
Rates were unchanged yesterday after the release of an in-line August CPI and a worse than expected core CPI, which followed similarly disappointing PPI figures from Wednesday. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic spoke, saying he expects gradual rate hikes to take place over the "next handful of quarters.” Internationally, The Bank of England voted 9-0 to keep key rate and asset purchase program at their respective 0.75% and GBP435 billion. The outlook for Q3 GDP growth was increased to 0.5% from 0.4%. The European Central Bank made no changes to its interest rate path, and confirmed that monthly asset purchases will be reduced to EUR15 billion in October and continue through December
This morning we’ve had August Retail Sales (+.1%, weak) and August Import Prices ex-oil (-.6%, lower than expected). August Industrial Production (prior 0.1%) and Capacity Utilization (prior 78.1%) are both due out at 9:15 ET before July Business Inventories (prior 0.1%) and Preliminary September Michigan Sentiment Index at 10:00 ET. We also will have some Fed speak from Chicago Fed President Evans. Rates are a shade higher than last night with the 10-year at 2.99% and agency MBS prices worse a couple ticks.
Employment, Business Opportunities, and Promotions
As one of the largest outsource providers in the United States, Digital Risk, LLC, is looking for experienced professionals in Mortgage Business Development (Capital/Secondary Markets & Due Diligence). The ideal candidates will have established relationships in the financial sector, the requisite experience for the specified role and a proven track record of success. If interested in one of these roles, email Careers@DigitalRisk.com for more details or view our postings at http://careers.digitalrisk.com/business-development/.
Northpointe Bank is pleased to announce that Jason Lee has been named as Senior Vice President, Capital Markets. “In this leadership role, Lee will lead Northpointe’s pricing, trading, hedging, loan sale strategies, and is a member of the company’s executive loan committee. Lee has worked in the residential lending business for more than 20 years, with leadership positions at some of the nation's largest mortgage lenders. Most recently, he served as SVP of Capital Markets for Caliber Home Loans since 2011, overseeing over $45 billion in annual production at one of the country's largest mortgage origination and servicing companies. Prior to that, Lee led capital markets for Freedom Mortgage, and held management positions with Quicken Loans and US Bank Home Mortgage.
Towne Mortgage Company is looking for experienced Account Executives with a book of business throughout the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, Texas, Ohio, Northern Illinois, Western Pennsylvania and Iowa. This position will have access to multiple operation centers and a wide range of product offerings including FHA, 203K, Fannie Mae HomeStyle, HomePath, HomeReady, DU Refi Plus, VA, USDA, and Manufactured Programs. Towne is looking for a seasoned, high-energy, salesperson who can partner with Towne to expand their lines of business. We are looking to fill positions in our financial institution channel working with Banks, Credit Unions and AgBanks as well as our traditional broker channel. Delivery mechanisms include both wholesale and mini-correspondent relationships. Towne offers competitive compensation packages including Medical and 401K. Sound Interesting? Email Cassi Sluka.
The market is shifting, rates are on the rise, refinances are down and the competition is intensifying. Are you an Orange County Single Family Mortgage Banker or Broker looking to expand into new programs and products including Multifamily, Commercial, SBA and Bridge? An Orange County-based lender and broker of Multifamily, Commercial, SBA and Bridge is looking for a strategic relationship to capitalize on the best of both platforms. Send me a confidential note of interest.
Caliber Home Loans, Inc., one of the nation’s fastest growing mortgage companies, has promoted Jordan Licht to Chief Operating Officer, Production, replacing Phil Shoemaker. Jordan joined Caliber from Morgan Stanley and has a deep background in mortgages – and he’s highly respected in the industry. To continue Caliber’s growth in the Non-Agency segment, Danny Horanyi has been named the new Head of Non-Agency lending. Danny recently rejoined Caliber from loanDepot. Historically he’s been one of Caliber’s top producers in Retail and was a consistent Circle of Excellence winner. Caliber CEO Sanjiv Das said, “I’m delighted to recognize these individuals who have proven track records of leadership and success. I'm confident these changes will help us accelerate our growth, improve our competitiveness and continue to position Caliber as the most highly regarded non-bank lender in the industry”. If you’re interested in joining one of the industry’s most dynamic, high-growth teams, contact Jeremy DeRosa.
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