The Mortgage Bankers Association and MBA NewsLink are accepting nominations for the MBA NewsLink 2020 Tech All-Star Awards. Nominations will be accepted through Friday, Jan. 10.

The Conference Board, New York, said its Consumer Confidence Index fell marginally in December, following a slight increase in November. The Index now stands at 126.5, down from an upwardly revised 126.8 in November.

Natural disasters have become seemingly commonplace, as every season seems to bring a major storm, flood, hurricane or wildfire somewhere in the country. These events obviously have devastating impacts on homeowners. But on one level or another, they have also revealed weaknesses among mortgage servicers and their ability to respond appropriately.

In this ongoing article series, we report on mortgage and credit union vendor marketplace events and trends, and we then share our viewpoints. Today we focus on a subset of vendors whereby each have an intriguing model adding value to clients – and substantially serving borrowers too. Technology is blurring the lines, enabling innovation and expansion of traditional business boundaries.

First American Financial Corp., Santa Ana, Calif., said its monthly Loan Application Defect Index showed a jump in mortgage fraud risk for purchase transactions, the first such increase since last March.

In 2019, with the confirmation of Mark Calabria to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the release of the Trump administration’s reform plans, housing finance reform took center stage again. Against that backdrop, MBA continued to assert its position as the thought leader on all elements of housing finance reform.

MBA NewsLink looks at 2020 with perspectives on mortgage technology from several industry executives: Pat Stone of Williston Financial Group; Mike Seminari and Seth Sprague, CMB, of STRATMOR Group; Raymond Eshaghian of Greenbox Loans; and Jane Mason of Clarifire.