Sep. 20: Training, servicing, LO jobs; fraud, broker, LO products; corresp./wholesale changes

A mile is 5,280 feet. And Central Park Tower on West 57th St. in Manhattan now stands at 1,550 feet, about a third of a mile. I mention this because it is now the tallest residential building in the world, and if you’d like to pony up $6.9 million for a unit, now’s your chance. When the builder starts cutting prices, we’ll know that we’re in a slowdown, but until then the press can focus on overseas economies slowing, trade concerns, and persistently weak inflation in the U.S. possibly leading to a U.S. slowdown. Many believe that at some point all this talk of a slowdown or recession in this country will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It is interesting that President Trump wants the Fed to cut rates to zero, the sign of a stumbling economy which is not what we have. More below in the capital markets section.

Jobs

A full-time mortgage trainer is wanted in San Francisco Bay Area. JVM Lending is an extremely innovative and tech-centric mortgage company with a unique “no loan officer” model and a very strong focus on culture. JVM is looking for a full-time trainer to train newly hired Mortgage Analysts, Closing Specialists, and Business Development Officers. The JVM training program is already fully developed for each position, organized, and ready to go. Our trainer will be expected to keep the training programs up to date, continue to make improvements, collaborate with department managers and teams to manage its contents, possess current mortgage industry knowledge, and be willing to work in a fast-paced environment. JVM’s trainer will also be involved in management, hiring and retention decisions. To learn more, please contact Tiffany Nordgren.

 

“Hamilton Group Funding continues its double-digit growth trend, recently hitting record breaking lending volume in the company’s 16-year history. The company is seeking dynamic Servicing Manager and Closing Manager candidates to report directly to our EVP, Chief Financial Officer. These positions will be based in our Corporate office in Sunrise, Florida. HGF is proud to be named one of South Florida’s Top Workplaces for the third year in a row. We have an entrepreneurial and family-oriented culture and are licensed to offer residential mortgages in 24 states through 25 branch offices. Inquiries can be made to Brandy Meiteles.”

“Citi was named in LinkedIn’s Top Companies 2019 for where the U.S. wants to work now, and we are excited to announce that our mortgage business continues to grow. If you have consumer lending or mortgage experience, and are passionate about selling, then take a look at our Direct to Consumer sales positions in both our St. Louis and Dallas locations. Apply online here. We are also hiring industry leading Home Lending Officers in our Distributed Retail greater metropolitan markets of Tri-State (NY/NJ/CT), Capitol (DC/MD/VA), South Florida (Miami), Chicago, Southern California and Northern California. If you are a mortgage professional looking to join a world class global bank to serve the needs of home ownership and home financing across the U.S. search and apply here. For additional information on any of these opportunities, Contact Citi Corporate Recruiter Brendan Connarton (716-560-5739).”

Thrive Mortgage believes in technology that enhances the client experience and increases the efficiency of the Originator. Last year, Thrive launched iThrive, their Intelligent Mortgage Platform, to create a vastly superior lending experience.  Their drive to become the leader in lending innovation has led to impressive “Contract-to-CTC” times of lower than 14 days. Beginning in October, Thrive will implement the third phase of their iThrive platform adding advancements designed to bring the entire loan process into the palm of the borrowers hands all the way through closing. Dan Windell, Training & Development Manager, stated, “Borrowers benefit from an incredibly simplified interface and communication tools that update at every milestone. The LO manages their files more efficiently from prequals, to pricing options and locks, to disclosures. All of it handled through a single, interconnected app.” To learn more about available growth opportunities, please reach out to us at info@thrivemortgage.com.

 

Lender products & services

Have you seen the NewRez Wholesale enhanced Product & Pricing Engine (PPE)? “Busy brokers have enough to do. Our upgraded engine lets you lock, price, and compare loans – making the process quick, easy and convenient! Self-service tools serve to reduce cycle times, increase capacity, and enable you to lock or update locks all through the click of a button. Contact your AE today to learn more! See our new video highlighting the benefits of our enhanced PPE.”

“Caliber Home Loans, Inc. can help our wholesale business partners stand out in a crowded marketplace when they access our new and improved broker marketing platform, CaliberPRO! Approved business partners are invited to use our complimentary marketing materials hosted on CaliberProShop.com. CaliberPRO, Professional Resources On-demand, houses customizable marketing materials to help you promote products ranging from Conventional, Government, Jumbo, Non-Agency, and much more! To get login credentials contact your dedicated account executive. If you are not currently an approved business partner email us at newclientinquiry@caliberhomeloans.com to get started!”

 

FundingShield shared its latest market analytics on wire fraud & settlement risk where it reported an uptick of 32% of issues on the loans it reviewed during the first half of 2019 versus 2018. FundingShield co-sponsored the California MBA’s inaugural Mortgage Innovators Conference where Ike Suri (CEO & Chairman) & Adam Chaudhary (President) discussed API driven wire fraud prevention technology alongside other HousingWire Tech 100 2019 winners. The links to their interviews at the Mortgage Innovators conference by Shred Media and Mortgage Media (link) are available for view. The firm also presented on a panel at MBA’s Risk Management, QA & Fraud Prevention Forum in Chicago discussing strategies to prevent wire fraud. FundingShield will be attending Digital Mortgage in Las Vegas as well as presenting at the MBA Annual in Austin, please contact sales@fundingshield.com to set up a meeting or demo to see how FundingShield can prevent fraud while lowering operating costs.

 

Mortgage brokers, have you ever had a mortgage qualification question that you wished you could just ask Alexa or Siri about and instantly get the solution? That’s what QLMS provides with, “The Answer.” This tech tool is like having an underwriting sitting in your office at all times. You can ask it things like “What are the required waiting periods following the discharge or dismissal of a bankruptcy?” and get an instant answer 24/7/365. The response from the industry has been overwhelming. More than 100,000 questions have been asked, and answered, since it launched. Not only can you get an instant answer to questions like this, but you can get your clients approved quicker and focus on what matters most – growing your business. Reach out to your QLMS account executive for more details, or connect with QLMS here to learn how the lender can better help you serve your clients.

Marketing Managers, how difficult is it to produce compliant marketing that is targeted, localized, and customizable, while meeting your Loan Officer’s deadlines? Usherpa’s Launch Pad Custom Email Wizard and branded Marketing Portal were designed for corporate marketing teams so you can create materials that align with your unique company vision and brand strategies. Why switch between multiple systems to build content on demand when you can seamlessly design email campaigns within Usherpa CRM? Launch Pad is your one-stop shop to getting the right messages out at the right time, whether it’s a Lunch & Learn invitation for an individual LO, a companywide targeted drip campaign, or internal messaging. Effortlessly build a library of collateral that is directly linked to Loan Officers’ databases and Loan Origination System. Don’t hesitate, learn how Usherpa’s HTML email wizard leverages your efforts while saving an impressive amount of time.

Where can you get 11X return on every dollar you spend? There is only one place smart lenders go to get these returns consistently: Sales Boomerang. Why would you say no to 11X or better ROI? You can’t, and you shouldn’t. Believe me, your stake holders will thank you. “Now, we don’t let opportunities walk out the door thanks to timely notifications” Michael Guidotti from American Pacific Mortgage. Lenders get on average an 11X return but many are posting 15X, 20X, 25X and all the way up to 60X returns from every dollar invested into Sales Boomerang. “Sales Boomerang is a game changer for us, because we’ve never had access to such information before” Stephen Barton from Eustis Mortgage. If volume is not your problem today then profit and customer retention need to be at the top of your list. Check out the long list lenders already using Sales Boomerang

Correspondent & wholesale snippets

Wells Fargo Funding has updated its policy to reflect, effective September 24, loans using nontraditional currencies such as Bitcoin, digital assets, and other cryptocurrencies (including liquidated cryptocurrencies) for income, down payment, closing costs, or reserves are ineligible for purchase. Also noted, Wells is removing its insurance rating requirements for Non-Conforming Loans secured against cooperative (co-op) properties. (Gosh, banks thinking about cryptocurrencies and money laundering… should be a surprise to no one.)

Effective for Provident Funding loans uploaded on or after 9/9/2019, an appraisal waiver loan level pricing adjustment of .25% will be applied to any loan where the appraisal waiver (ACE/PIW) is exercised.

Plaza Home Mortgage^® has new updates to its Solutions Non-QM guidelines and pricing.

PRMG posted numerous updates in its TPO Resource Center updates 19-12. Topics include: Policies, Procedures and Information, Training/Instructional Material, General, FHA, and VA Forms plus Training/Instructional Material.

PennyMac issued an announcement regarding its policy on e-signing documents in both origination and closing processes.

Fifth Third has adopted a new email encryption process. For the first encrypted email you receive from Fifth Third you will need to complete a quick and simple one-time registration by downloading the attachment from the email. Once registered, you’ll use your new password to open any future secure emails from Fifth Third. Any issues such as locked accounts and password resets should be directed to support@res.cisco.com

Citadel Servicing Corporation (“CSC”) surpassed $3 Billion in servicing under management taking only 9 months to add $1 Billion to their already growing servicing portfolio. CSC is the only Vertically Integrated lender solely dedicated to the Non-QM / Non-Prime mortgage market. With their range of innovative products and the most competitive rates in the industry, CSC is once again showing why they are leaders in this niche market. “We are continuously looking at ways to improve what we do and how we do it. Working with our partners to find cost effective ways to service the needs of our customers. Over the past 12 months we have invested in systems which allow us to provide efficient and easier ways to service our customers.”, said Eric Friedman, SVP Director of Servicing.

Capital markets

We all know that lower interest rates don’t promote increased spending after a point, and that the ups and downs of the stock market are a dubious measure of a successful economy. Meanwhile, to remind folks, this week we learned that housing starts in the US reached a 12-year high (due to condo and apartment construction) and U.S. manufacturing production increased 0.5% in August. But the U.S. budget deficit for fiscal 2019 increased to almost $1.07 trillion in August, the highest amount in seven years, due to military spending and higher interest costs on government debt contributed to the gap as revenue fell short of expenses by more than $214 billion. Is anyone listening?

The Fed added a third dose of liquidity to U.S. funding markets Thursday, helping rates retreat as investors warned that fresh bouts of stress are possible, and U.S. Treasury prices improved/rates fell (the 10-year yield closing -1 bp to 1.77 percent) after several policy statements from central banks across the globe. Global growth momentum seems to be tangibly slowing, as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) lowered its 2019 global growth forecast to 2.9 percent from 3.2 percent, representing a post-global financial crisis low. The U.S. growth forecast was reduced by 40 bps for 2019, and the OECD’s global growth forecast for 2020 was reduced by 40 bps to 3.0 percent. Trade wars have slowed global growth momentum to a level last seen during the financial crisis, and governments aren’t doing enough to prevent long-term damage, as the group cut almost all of the economic forecasts it made just four months ago due to protectionist policies taking an increasing toll on confidence and investment.

 

In central bank news, the Bank of Japan made no changes to its policy stance, Norges Bank raised its deposit rate due to strong activity in Norway’s energy sector, the Swiss National Bank left its policy rate unchanged, and the Bank of England left its key rate and asset purchase program unchanged.

 

Domestic releases saw existing home sales in August beat estimates as they increased from the July reading. Total sales were 2.6 percent higher than the same period a year ago and at their strongest pace since March 2018 as low mortgage rates and a lower inventory of homes for sale offset each other to drive sales growth. The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index was unchanged in August, as known negatives including weaker manufacturing activity, declining stock prices, and a flattening/inverted yield curve hurt the reading. And the Philadelphia Fed Survey decreased in September but still beat expectations.

 

There are no major economic releases today although the Fed Presidents have resumed their speaking engagements. So we’ll hear from Boston’s Rosengren, New York’s Williams, Vice Chair Clarida, and Dallas’ Kaplan. We begin the day with Agency MBS prices little changed and the 10-year yielding 1.78%.

For those of you who like puns, you can thank Maria V. for this gem.

“I’d like to relish the fact that you’ve mustard up the courage to ketchup to my level!”

Visit www.robchrisman.com for more information on our industry partners, access archived commentaries, or to subscribe to the Daily Mortgage News and Commentary. If you’re interested, visit my periodic blog at the STRATMOR Group web site. The current blog is, “How Productive is Your Origination Team?” If you have both the time and inclination, make a comment on what I have written, or on other comments so that folks can learn what’s going on out there from the other readers.

Rob

(Market data provided in partnership with MBS Live. For free job postings and to view candidate resumes visit LenderNews. Currently there are hundreds of mortgage professionals looking for operations, secondary and management roles. For up-to-date mortgage news visit Mortgage News Daily. For archived commentaries, or to subscribe, go to www.robchrisman.com. Copyright 2019 Chrisman LLC. All rights reserved. Occasional paid job listings do appear. This report or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold or redistributed without the written consent of Rob Chrisman.)