Category: Top National News

Wall Street Journal, Aug. 30, 2019–David Harrison, Maureen Linke (subscription)The decadelong economic expansion has showered the U.S. with staggering new wealth driven by a booming stock market and rising house prices. But that windfall has passed by many Americans.

Reuters, Aug. 29, 2019–Jonathan StempelMichael Hild, 44, who was also Live Well’s chief executive, generated more than $24 million of compensation tied to the scheme, which ran from September 2015 to May 2019, according to federal prosecutors in Manhattan who announced the charges.

National Mortgage News, Aug. 29, 2019 (subscription)Federal bankruptcy Judge James Garrity Jr. rejected the plan after two days of hearing evidence and arguments earlier this month from lawyers for Ditech and a consumer creditor committee. The committee asserted the company shouldn’t be able to sell its businesses if it meant wiping out the ability of homeowners to correct what they say are errors related to their loans.

CNBC, Aug. 28, 2019Robert Broeksmit, CMB, Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO, joins “Squawk on the Street” to discuss the wave of mortgage refinancing as rates fall.

CNBC, Aug. 28, 2019–Diana Olick”Savings have increased significantly since before the Great Recession, so the household balance sheet is just in a better position,” said Bob Broeksmit, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association. “Perhaps the need to tap that equity is a little bit lower and there is a little bit more discipline among consumers.”

Wall Street Journal, Aug. 29, 2019–Lalita Clozel (subscription)Asset-depletion loans, also known as asset-dissipation loans, are part of a small but growing subset of the mortgage market that includes subprime loans and other riskier products. They assume borrowers draw from assets to cover a mortgage, rather than just income.

American Banker, Aug. 28, 2019–Kate Berry (subscription)Though advocates and industry are rarely aligned, they are starting to coalesce around a plan that would call for the elimination of the CFPB’s 43% debt-to-income limit as part of its qualified mortgage rule.

Wall Street Journal, Aug. 27, 2019–Yuka Hayashi (subscription)The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is looking for workers again, following departures during a hiring freeze and budget cuts by Trump administration officials that took over the agency in late 2017.

National Mortgage Professional, Aug. 27, 2019–Phil HallA new survey conducted by MagnifyMoney has found more than half of homeowners are making an early withdrawal into their retirement savings funds to pay down housing and personal debt.

HousingWire, Aug. 27, 2019–Kathleen HowleyThe share of first-time homebuyers using conventional mortgages that require private mortgage insurance, or PMI, to compensate for low down payments increased in the second quarter while the use of FHA loans fell, said Genworth.