The Lede

Washington Post, Aug. 16, 2018--Kathy OrtonAccording to the latest data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate average dropped to 4.53 percent with an average 0.5 point. It was 4.59 percent a week ago and 3.89 percent a year ago.

Sacramento Bee, Aug. 16, 2018--Bryan AndersonOrganizations representing the banking industry are pushing for changes in California's newly passed consumer privacy law. Dustin Hobbs, communications director for California Mortgage Bankers Association, said the industry is just making an effort to "button-up some issues" the original bill didn't address.

Tech Crunch, Aug. 16, 2018--Frederic LardinoisCredit Karma, the service best known for providing free credit score monitoring and other financial advice (mostly to millennials), is getting into the mortgage business. The company today announced that it has acquired Approved, a mortgage platform that brings modern technology to a process that even today often still involves faxing documents back and forth.

Tribune News Service, Aug. 16, 2018--Jessica R. TowheyThe company created NewDay University to teach the material in-house with their own instructors, their own textbook, and their own classes. They hire about 200 people per year, breaking that up into monthly cohorts of no more than 50 people per class. The average age of new hires is 23.

CNBC, Aug. 16, 2018--Diana OlickAfter several years of rich home price gains, the market appears to have found a limit to what people can afford. Sellers are finally responding by lowering prices more often.

Mortgage Daily, Aug. 17, 2018Monthly refinances of government-sponsored enterprise loans sank to the lowest level on recent record. Refinances of Freddie Mac suffered most.

Scotsman Guide, Aug. 16, 2018--Victor WhitmanForeclosure starts on residential mortgages dropped to the lowest point in 31 years at the midway point of 2018, but mortgage delinquencies have ticked up compared to last year, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported.

National Mortgage News, Aug. 16, 2018--Hannah Long (subscription)The Federal Housing Administration is revising its foreclosure prevention options to assist struggling borrowers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands affected by last year's hurricanes.

HousingWire, Aug. 16, 2018--Caroline BasileMortgage lender Ditech Financial announced on Thursday it is closing its Rapid City, S.D.-based call center at the end of 2019, leaving more than 450 of its employees without jobs.

HousingWire, Aug. 16, 2018--John VongThe author, with ComplianceEase, says recent action by the California Department of Business Oversight is one more example of state regulators filling the void left by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

MISMO®, the mortgage industry's standards organization, seeks participants for two new groups designed to help improve risk management of third parties while reducing costs for all parties.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's annual Summit on Diversity and Inclusion takes place Nov. 27-28 at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's annual Summit on Diversity and Inclusion takes place Nov. 27-28 at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's annual Summit on Diversity and Inclusion takes place Nov. 27-28 at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C.