Industry Briefs Dec. 23, 2022: Guild Mortgage Launches Payment Advantage Program
Guild Mortgage Launches Payment Advantage Program
Guild Mortgage, San Diego, introduced Payment Advantage, a new conventional loan program to help homebuyers save on their payments as rates continue to rise.
The Payment Advantage program allows homebuyers to lock in a conventional mortgage and Guild will pay 1% of the borrower’s interest rate for one year with a lender paid temporary buydown. After the first year, the borrower will have a predictable payment increase and may be eligible to refinance with Guild through programs such as the Payment Protection program which has no lender fees.
CFPB: Household Financial Health Declining after Several Years of Increased Savings
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a new Making Ends Meet report covering the financial health of American households. Data from early 2022 revealed a decline in several key measures, as well as a rapid deterioration in financial health for Hispanic consumers, consumers under the age of 40, and low-income renters. In addition, while unemployment remains low, more than 37% of households were unable to cover expenses for longer than one month if they lost their main source of income.
The report said many consumers are not financially prepared for a disruption to their main source of income, even as unemployment remains low. Nearly 37% of households report that they could not cover expenses for longer than one month, even with accessing savings, borrowing money, selling assets, or seeking help from family and friends. The report also finds that, in 2022, 1 in 8 households also experienced lost income from unemployment or reduction in work hours, and roughly one-third of households experienced a major unexpected expense, including vehicle repair, unexpected medical expense, or a household repair.
The report also found while racial and ethnic groups applied for credit at similar rates, Black and Hispanic consumers were more likely to be turned down or not receive as much credit as they requested. Black and Hispanic consumers were also much less likely to apply for credit in the first place because they believed they would be turned down.
Among renters, 31% missed at least one rental payment in the previous year and approximately 8% were not current on their rent as of February 2022. Yet only 6% of renters had received rent payment or flexibility since the pandemic began.
Nearly 18% of student loan borrowers have annual incomes under $125,000 and loan balances under $10,000. Under the Department of Education’s proposal for student debt relief, currently on hold due to pending litigation, borrowers with federal student loans who meet these criteria would have their entire student debt balance forgiven.
Exceleras Receives SOC 2 Certification
Exceleras, Glencoe, Ill., received its first American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Service Organization Control 2 Type 2 Report. SOC 2 is a compliance standard for service organizations that replaced SAS 70 in 2011 and is the result of an audit by a third-party audit firm.
SOC 2 was designed to focus on the criteria by which organizations should manage customer data. The certification requires auditors to find evidence of five trust service principles: security, privacy, confidentiality, processing integrity and availability. Through these criteria, the reports attest to the trustworthiness of services offered by an enterprise.
Coastal Credit Union Chooses DocMagic Total eClose
DocMagic Inc., Torrance, Calif., announced Coastal Credit Union chose its Total eClose platform for paperless electronic mortgage loan closings and completed its first eClosing ceremony using Remote Online Notarization in North Carolina.
The credit union’s management took advantage of the industry downturn to focus their attention on future proofing their organization by implementing Total eClose. Coastal was under an emergency order during COVID that allowed use of RON. Afterward, as North Carolina was completed its RON Authorization legislation, the company reverted to IPEN (in person electronic notarization) using an eNotary agent. Coastal can now close electronically in either manner.
STRATMOR: Banks Have an Opportunity to Win Market Share from Non-Banks
Market conditions today likely give banks an edge over non-banks when it comes to offering certain mortgage products, according to analysis by Jim Cameron, senior partner for mortgage advisory firm STRATMOR Group, Greenwood Village, Colo.
Conditions are favorable for leading banks to win back some mortgage market share lost to non-banks during the refinance boom, Cameron writes in STRATMOR’s December Insights Report, in his article, “In Times Like These, It’s Good to be a Bank.”
“HMDA data shows that bank share has dropped from 76% in 2010 to 37% in 2021, and there are many reasons for this shift,” Cameron said. “But in today’s extremely challenging market, banks may have an opportunity to regain some market share from non-banks by leveraging their liquidity and capital to offer products that non-banks are simply not able to offer.”
There are a variety of factors that tilt the scales in favor of banks, according to Cameron. Key factors include the level of interest rates, the trend line for rates, the regulatory environment, capital requirements, and the mortgage servicing rights market, just to name a few. Cameron identifies several products that create advantages for banks in the current market. In many cases, banks are just better positioned to deliver the loan products customers need now.
The issue can be downloaded at https://www.stratmorgroup.com/insights-report/.
Fannie Mae: Economy Expected to End 2022 on Positive Note Ahead of Modest Recession in New Year
Following an upward revision to third quarter real gross domestic product and stronger-than-expected incoming personal consumption data to begin the fourth quarter, the economy is now expected to eke out positive growth of 0.4 percent in 2022 before entering a modest recession in the new year, according to the December commentary from the Fannie Mae (FNMA/OTCQB) Economic and Strategic Research Group.
The forecast views the current rate of personal consumption growth as unsustainable, given the combination of a low personal saving rate and an elevated ratio of consumer debt to personal disposable income. With many cyclical indicators continuing to point toward economic contraction, including an inverted yield curve, the ESR Group forecasts 2023 GDP growth to be negative 0.5 percent, an improvement from last month’s forecast of negative 0.6 percent; the ESR Group then expects the economy to begin expanding again at a 2.2 percent annual growth rate in 2024. Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, decelerated again in November, and the ESR Group expects the Federal Reserve to closely monitor historically stickier wage growth metrics to help determine how long it should continue its restrictive monetary policy regimen. With a recession predicted beginning in the first quarter of 2023, the ESR Group notes as plausible a scenario in which the Federal Reserve begins once again cutting the federal funds rate in mid-2023.
“The economy caught its breath in the second half of 2022, but that doesn’t change our expectation that it will run out of air in early 2023 via a mild recession,” said Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “While uncertainty still exists, a growing set of signs, including an inverted yield curve, weakness in the Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index, and a slowdown of manufacturing activity, support our ongoing contention that the economy is likely to contract next year.”
Total Expert Launches New Capabilities for Banks and Lenders
Total Expert, the CRM and customer engagement platform purpose-built for modern financial institutions, launched new capabilities to help banks and lenders deliver on every financial milestone in a customer’s journey, regardless of the market condition.
To help customers respond and maximize growth, Total Expert launched features in its Customer Intelligence and sales productivity platforms and announced new integrations and additions to its leading FinServ ecosystem.
New in this release, insights notify Total Expert’s Customer Intelligence users when any of their monitored contacts passes an equity threshold, allowing them to find the perfect moment to engage and educate on various financial products, such as cash-out refinance, HELOC, reverse mortgage, and other methods for leveraging equity. These insights build on Total Expert’s vision of a comprehensive financial profile for every customer so that financial institutions are empowered to engage with their customers at just the right moment with offerings that support their unique financial journey.
FHFA Publishes Third-Quarter Uniform Appraisal Dataset Aggregate Statistics
The Federal Housing Finance Agency published its third-quarter data for the Uniform Appraisal Data Aggregate Statistics Data File.
FHFA also launched a new “Top 100 Metro Areas Dashboard.” The Dashboards are visual “front ends” into the aggregate statistics, displaying the aggregate statistics through customized maps and charts. They provide the public with user-friendly visualizations and access to a broad set of data points and trends found in appraisal reports.
For more information on the UAD Aggregate Statistics Data File and Dashboards, visit https://www.fhfa.gov/DataTools/Pages/UAD-Dashboards.aspx#Datasets.
CrossCountry Mortgage Partners with SimpleNexus
SimpleNexus, Lehi, Utah, announced CrossCountry Mortgage is implementing CompenSafe to manage incentive compensation for its loan originators.
CompenSafe integrates with lenders’ loan origination systems to automatically calculate compensation as loans fund. Flexible enough to process draws, guarantees, tiers and quality-related payments, the platform enables lenders to reliably produce payroll more quickly and accurately than spreadsheet-based incentive compensation management methods. CompenSafe gives loan officers, branch managers, processors, underwriters and employees greater transparency into their commissions, bonuses and overrides by outlining how compensation is calculated and when it will be dispersed. A cloud-based portal enables employees to view compensation updates, submit questions to payroll and manage compensation disputes, all in one place for complete audit and compliance.
Redfin: Just 3 in 100 Pandemic Homebuyers Would Fall Underwater With Next Year’s Projected 4% Home-Price Decline
Redfin, Seattle, said only 3.4% of U.S. homeowners who bought in the past two years would be underwater on their mortgage if home values were to fall 4% by the end of 2023.
Redfin said the typical home bought over the last two years will have gained $27,000 in value, even with prices falling 4% next year as Redfin economists predict. Prices would need to fall by double digits in 2023—a highly unlikely scenario—for the typical pandemic home purchase to lose value.
If home prices fall 8% in 2023—more than the expected drop—still just 6.3% of new homeowners would be underwater. Prices would need to fall about 12% for the share of underwater homeowners to reach double digits.
“Even with anticipated price declines, next year’s housing downturn won’t come anywhere close to the foreclosure crisis we saw during the Great Recession in most parts of the country,” said Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari. “Recent homebuyers have enough equity—both because they’re likely to have made relatively large down payments with a low rate and because values rose so much so fast—that most aren’t at risk of owing more than their house is worth. Even if a homeowner is at risk of falling behind on their mortgage payments next year—say they lose their job and inflation has claimed a big chunk of their savings—having equity means they could sell instead of face foreclosure. It’s also worth noting that not many Americans are expected to lose jobs next year, as even if the U.S. does enter a recession it’s expected to be mild.”
