The Lede

The Mortgage Reports, Aug. 26, 2019--Peter MillerYou might be delaying your plans to apply for a refinance. And that could be a mistake. (MBA mention)

Mortgage Professional America, Aug. 26, 2019--Kimberly GreenPlanning the same conference for more than two decades could put an organizing committee in a bit of a rut. Rather than featuring the same old panel discussions on industrial, multifamily, and office, however, the California Mortgage Bankers Association organizing committee behind the annual Western States Commercial Real Estate Finance conference listened to their members on the ground.

National Mortgage News, Aug. 26, 2019--Steve Smith (free article)The author, with Finicity, says not only is digitization poised to get loan officers the information they need faster than ever before, but it can also reduce errors or fraud stemming from manual data entry and extraction.

HousingWire, Aug. 26, 2019--Kathleen HowleyThe average credit score of borrowers who refinanced mortgages in July with loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rose to a six-year high, according to an Ellie Mae report. The score was 750, up from 742 in June.

The Hill, Aug. 26, 2019--Juliegrace BrufkeRep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., announced on Monday he is resigning from Congress after being elected to his fifth term in 2018, citing family issues.

Wall Street Journal, Aug. 27, 2019--Andrew Ackerman (subscription)The Trump administration is close to releasing a blueprint for overhauling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two companies that back half of the nation's $10 trillion mortgage market. The firms have been in government conservatorship since the 2008 financial crisis, and administration officials say it is time to return them to the private sector.

National Mortgage Professional, Aug. 26, 2019--Phil HallZeroDown, a San Francisco-headquartered startup that aims to helps potential homebuyers to acquire property without making a downpayment, closed more than $100 million of debt capital from Credit Suisse.

American Banker, Aug. 26, 2019--Neil Haggerty, Joe Adler (subscription)When lawmakers return from their late-summer break on Sept. 9, there are a host of unresolved financial services issues facing them, including efforts to let bankers serve the marijuana industry to reforms of anti-money-laundering requirements.