The Lede

Reuters, Mar. 21, 2018--Richard LeongA gauge of U.S. mortgage applications to buy a home climbed to a six-week high as 30-year home borrowing costs lingered at four-year peaks, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.

Associated Press, Mar. 21, 2018Financial services firm UBS has agreed to pay $230 million to New York state in a legal settlement stemming from the firm's handling of mortgage-based securities in the lead up to the 2008 financial crisis.

National Mortgage News, Mar. 21, 2018--Brian Collins (subscription)The bill, sponsored by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., would reverse a 2016 rule by the Federal Housing Finance Agency that had expelled captive insurance companies from FHLB membership.

National Mortgage News, Mar. 21, 2018--Kate Berry (subscription)The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau handled 84,500 debt collection complaints in 2017 and consumers viewed or downloaded information 838,255 times from the agency's web site last year on how to negotiate a settlement with a debt collector.

HousingWire, Mar. 21, 2018-Kelsey RamirezDuring the company's weekly sales meeting Wednesday, United Wholesale Mortgage President and CEO Mat Ishbia announced the end of its 1% down mortgage program.

Bloomberg, Mar. 21, 2018--Elizabeth DexheimerThe proposals approved by the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday include a Volcker Rule tweak that would put the Federal Reserve solely in charge of enforcing the Dodd-Frank Act ban on proprietary trading instead of the five agencies now assigned to the task.

Star-Tribune (Minneapolis), Mar. 21, 2018--Nicole NorfleetWells Fargo & Co. wants to build a six-story parking ramp on its Wells Fargo Home Mortgage campus in south Minneapolis, allowing that office to accommodate 1,250 more workers.

Mortgage Daily, Mar. 21, 2018Ellie Mae reported conventional mortgages accounted for more than two thirds of all loans closed during February, widening from a 63 percent share in the same month last year.

HousingWire, Mar. 21, 2018--Ben LaneCagney helped found a new lending startup called Figure, which will apparently be specializing in home equity lending with blockchain serving as a key component of the company's business plan.

GlobeSt.com, Mar. 21, 2018--Betsy Kim The public market is saying something bad is going to happen to private real estate pricing.