Grewal Mortgage Inc. | Lansing - Okemos - Mid-Michigan

MortgageDaily.com - Mortgage News Headlines

1. Purchase Financing Defies Overall Weekly Slump
   Although overall new mortgage activity was slower this week, purchase financing was up, albeit only slightly. Adjustable-rate mortgage activity also ticked higher.
   
   A 7 percent decrease from last week left the U.S. Mortgage Market Index from LoanSifter and Mortgage Daily for the week ended May 17 at 256. The index, which is based on average pricing inquiries per LoanSifter user, was up 9 percent from the same week in 2012.
   
   The year-earlier data was revised to reflect a change in data providers earlier this year.
   
   

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2. RESPA Violations Prove Costly for Bank, Builder
   A Texas bank has been fined, and a Texas builder has agreed to a settlement over alleged violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act tied to joint ventures.
   
   Stratford Mortgage Services LC was created in 1999 as a joint venture between Benchmark Bank and home builder Paul Bennett Taylor.
   
   Taylor and Benchmark each owned 50 percent of the venture. Taylor was a vice president of Stratford, and Benchmark Bank's president served as Stratford's president and chief executive officer.
   
   

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3. Company Ordered to Stop Servicing
   Regulators in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have ordered a mortgage company to stop servicing loans in the state as a result of mishandled escrow accounts.
   
   Mortgage Security Inc., which operates from East Falmouth, Mass., had been licensed in Massachusetts as both a mortgage broker and a mortgage lender.
   
   But an examination of the company in July 2008 by the state's division of banks led to a November 2009 order to show cause and notices of right to a hearing against Mortgage Security.
   
   

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4. Flagstar CEO Replaced After Less Than a Year
   After spending less than a year on the job, the president and chief executive officer of the eighth biggest residential lender has been replaced.
   
   In its third-quarter 2012 earnings report, Flagstar Bancorp Inc. disclosed that its board of directors had appointed Michael J. Tierney to serve as president and CEO of the bank-holding company and subsidiary Flagstar Bank, FSB.
   
   With $12.4 billion in residential originations, the Troy, Mich.-based company ranked as the eighth biggest U.S. home lender during the first quarter of this year, according to a Mortgage Daily analysis of production data from all of the largest lenders.
   
   

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5. Mortgage Rates Jump But Could Retreat
   Strong economic reports this week pushed mortgage rates higher. But Treasury market activity suggests that most of the increase could be wiped out in the next report.
   
   A nine-basis-point rise from last week left fixed-rate 30-year mortgages averaging 3.51 percent in Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ended May 16. Compared to the same week last year, 30-year mortgages have fallen 28 BPS.
   
   Pushing rates higher were stronger consumer spending and increased retail sales, Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft said in the report.
   
   

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