Trepp LLC, New York, said life insurance company mortgage returns dropped steeply during the first quarter as declining interest rates could not offset growing credit concerns.

Paul Fischer is Director of Professional Services with Paradatec, Cincinnati.

Planet Home Lending LLC, Meriden, Conn., promoted Kathy Keller to SVP of Strategic Initiatives and hired Mike Eckrote as SVP of Quality Control and Christopher Joles as SVP and Enterprise Risk Officer.

Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, Charlotte, N.C., closed a $35.4 million refinance loan secured by The Arrow Apartments, a multifamily and student housing community in Minneapolis, Minn.

The financial services and mortgage industries have not felt the full impact and unintended consequences of COVID-19 and the governmental interventions. The result will be that innovation disruption moving forward will be not be kind, will not be benevolent, and will not be industry friendly.

Jina Choi is Vice President of Enterprise Innovation with loandepot.com

Mortgage applications edged up for the second straight week, driven by strong purchase application activity, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported in its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 8.

Necessity is the mother of all invention, so the saying goes. No, not exactly true here. RON was already being deployed in pockets across the industry pre-coronavirus. Therefore, its more appropriate to proclaim, “perplexing problems produce instant popularity where past procrastination persisted.” Said more plainly – nothing is more white-hot than RON right now, and everyone suddenly cannot live without it. Demand far-outstrips supply by a factor too large to contemplate.