Category: Top National News

Mortgage Daily, Mar. 29, 2018The loans are just part of a $420 offering Freddie Mac announced on Feb. 15.

National Mortgage News, Mar. 28, 2018–Brad Finkelstein (subscription)Lenders should not get so desperate chasing volume by originating lower credit non-qualified mortgage products that they are inviting the next regulatory crackdown, said David Stevens, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s CEO.

New York Times, Mar. 28, 2018–Glenn ThrushThe Trump administration is attempting to scale back federal efforts to enforce fair housing laws, freezing enforcement actions against local governments and businesses, including Facebook, while sidelining officials who have aggressively pursued civil rights cases.

Mortgage Daily, Mar. 28, 2018Improvements to lending guidelines at Freddie Mac include expanded loan-to-value ratios and more flexible condominium requirements.

HousingWire, Mar. 28, 2018–Ben LaneEquifax announced Wednesday that it is naming Mark Begor as its next CEO. Begor will take over at the company on April 16, replacing Paulino do Rego Barros, who took over as interim CEO when Richard Smith retired in the immediate aftermath of the company’s disclosure of the breach.

Mortgage Daily, Mar. 28, 2018Residential loan servicers will soon be able to apply for licenses in the Keystone State as required by legislation that became law late last year.

Financial Times, Mar. 29, 2018–Ben McLannahan, Joe Rennison (subscription)Home loans to people with scratches and dents in their credit histories dwindled to almost nothing in the aftermath of the crisis, as litigation-weary lenders retreated to patch up their balance sheets. But over the past couple of years a group of specialist firms has begun to bring the loans back, navigating a dense web of new rules drawn up to protect borrowers and investors.

Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), Mar. 27, 2018–Alex DeMarbanThe missteps largely involve McKinley Mortgage in Redding, Calif., and an investment fund it manages, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But the problems extend to McKinley Mortgage in Anchorage and the man who founded the company in Alaska in 1989, Tobias Preston, 55, a former fisherman from Homer who is president of both companies.

Bloomberg, Mar. 27, 2018–Chris DolmetschFacebook Inc. was sued by civil rights groups led by the National Fair Housing Alliance claiming the social-media giant’s advertising platform allows landlords and real-estate brokers to exclude groups of people from receiving ads about housing based on characteristics such as family status or sex.

Bloomberg, Mar. 27, 2018–Sarah Mulholland, Scott DeveauBrookfield Property Partners LP’s deal to take over retail landlord GGP Inc. is “wholly inadequate,” “a negative for the sector” and “neither exciting for GGP shareholders nor a good read-through for mall asset values.” In fact, “investors should vote against the transaction as it does not offer sufficient value,” said Wall Street analysts.