Banks

Growing concern over the faltering housing recovery has inspired an unusual vote of confidence for housing’s fundamentals from two of Wells Fargo’s top economists. In a “special commentary” published in the bank’s web site, senior economists Mark Vitner and Anika R. Khan argue that too much progress has been made restoring growth to the overall economy for the recovery to ... Read More »

A survey of “mortgage industry leaders” by the Collingwood Group, a consulting firm led by several Washington insiders paints a grim picture for the mortgage industry in the year to come. One cause lost business is lending standards that have remained stubbornly high as a result of increased regulation and compliance requirements that have actually served to decrease loan volume ... Read More »

  Last week FICO announced it would no longer weigh medical debts, which account for about half of all unpaid collections, against debtors as heavily as it has in the past, a move that FICO said could raise some borrowers’ credit scores by as much as 25 points. The revisions, implemented following a study by the Consumer Finance Protection Board ... Read More »

  While everyone from the chairman of the Federal Reserve to millions of home sellers and buyers pleads for a little relief from tight lending standards, the nation’s leading banks are moving in exactly the opposite way. In the latest survey of senior loan officers by the Fed, during the first quarter requirements to get a mortgage became tougher for ... Read More »

Black Knight, formerly LPS Financial Services, reports that 2013 marked the fourth consecutive year of significant, sustained improvement in the nation”s inventory of delinquent mortgages, and the second consecutive year of significant improvement for those in foreclosure. Delinquencies were just 1.5 times their pre-crisis average, with foreclosures down to 4.6 times their pre-crisis levels (declining from more than eight times ... Read More »