Vaultedge Newsletter - Remembering 9/11, Personal loan in 10 seconds

September 12, 2022

More than two decades later, the nation still isn’t able to shake the spirit of terror and sadness on the fateful day of Sep 11th, 2001. The enduring power of the Sept. 11 attacks is clear: An overwhelming share of Americans who are old enough to recall the day remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. Shock, sadness, fear, anger: The 9/11 attacks inflicted a devastating emotional toll on Americans that is prevalent even today. 

I remember watching the twin towers burn from my office in Jersey City across the Hudson river. Initially I thought it was an accident, but soon it became clear that it was a terrorist act. I could see Americans coming together in a true sense of patriotism and brotherhood. Truthfully speaking, in many ways, 9/11 reshaped how Americans think of war and peace, their own personal safety, and their fellow citizens. 

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HDFC bank, one of the Top-3 banks in India has a 10-second personal loan product for its existing customers. Now it announced that it will extend this 10-second personal loan facility to all customers. Imagine, approving a personal loan and disbursing the money to a new customer (without an existing relationship with the bank) in just 10 seconds. That needs some serious innovation. Do you know HDFC uses Vaultedge APIs to underwrite mortgages for self-employed borrowers? It makes us feel proud to be associated with a customer that is at the cutting edge of technology and customer experience.

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Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index dropped for the sixth month in August as higher mortgage rates and other affordability constraints continued to weigh heavily on consumers. The 30-year fixed-rate average shot up to 5.89 percent with an average of 0.7 points. A point is a fee paid to a lender equal to 1 percent of the loan amount. It is in addition to the interest rate. Despite the slight dip, consumer sentiment faced volatility among four of its six segments, along with those measuring perceptions of home-buying and home-selling conditions and expectations regarding home prices and mortgage rates.

According to experts, mortgage rates rose as the market expects that the Fed Reserve will continue to wage war against inflation with aggressive interest rates. Mortgage rates escalate when inflation is high, and the August employment report underlined an inflationary trend: average hourly earnings were up 5.2 percent in one year. The Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates until wage growth slows down.

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Tappable equity, the amount a homeowner can borrow against while keeping a 20% equity stake in the home, hit its 10th consecutive record high in Q2 at $11.5T but appears to have peaked back in May. Home price declines are twice as pronounced on tappable equity levels. For instance, a 5% decline in home values, according to Black Knight's latest Mortgage Monitor Report, a 5% decline in home values nationally would equate to a 10% decline in tappable equity Mortgage Monitor Report. 

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According to the U.S. Foreclosure Market Report by ATTOM, U.S. foreclosures reached pre-pandemic levels nationwide in August. Two years ago, after COVID had set in, and after massive government intervention and mortgage-industry efforts to prevent defaults, foreclosure starts have almost returned to 2019 levels. The foreclosure starts for August were at 86% of the number of foreclosures starts in August 2019. The report also states that Lenders repossessed 3,938 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in August, up 28% from last month and up 59% from last year. 

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NEXA Mortgage, one of the largest brokerages in the nation and the biggest by MLO count, abandoned the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME) this week, claiming the association has allowed renegade cliques of brokers to “terrorize” larger broker shops. NEXA CEO Mike Kortas said Thursday he tried to get AIME to address the issue by creating an ethics committee but claims he “never heard back” from the organization. 

Home Point Capital officials have placed the number of people to be laid off in the coming days at more than 500 as the residential mortgage originator and servicer deals with worsening market conditions. The layoffs for the nation’s third-largest wholesaler were originally disclosed in an 8-K filing at the end of August as the company described its aim to save $100 million.

United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) has raised its conforming loan limits to $715,000 ahead of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s official announcement in November.

UWM’s maximum conforming limit for regular, one-unit properties will increase to $715,000. For special statutory provisions in Alaska and Hawaii, the baseline loan limit will be $1,073,000 for regular, one-unit conventional loans.

______________________________________________ We did a bit of research at our end and found out that people tend to compare products and prices whenever they decide to make a purchase. Keeping that in mind, we created a page for our visitors and clients that talks about Vaultedge Income Analyzer compared to our competitors. I am not blowing my own horn, but we have created an unbiased comparison that just states the facts. Take a look.

Other than that, the week was pretty ok. I am gearing up for the Five-Star Conference. The Five Star Conference embraces the evolution of professionals, technology, and solutions within the mortgage industry, and the 19th annual conference features new tools, updated thought leadership, and key resources and education you need to adapt to changing times. If you happen to be around, then let’s catch up!

Happy reading!

Along with giving loans to all in just 10 seconds, private lender HDFC Bank is also expanding its offers to self-employed who were not seen as creditworthy earlier. Now, the private lender is looking to increase loan exposure to self-employed customers who form only 5 per cent of the total market.

Homebuyers and sellers to remain on the sidelines. The net share of respondents who believed it is a good time to buy a home grew eight percentage points to 22%. Meanwhile, home-selling sentiment plummeted from 16% to 59% as the share of those who think it’s a bad time to sell increased from 27% to 35% in August.

U.S. foreclosures reached pre-pandemic levels nationwide in August, according to the latest U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released by ATTOM.

Annual home price growth shifted from deceleration to decline in July as the median home price dropped .77% from June, the largest single-month decline since January 2011. Additionally, more than 85% of the 50 largest U.S. markets “are at least...

It's a tremendously important and volatile time for the market and especially for interest rates. & nbsp; The biggest inflation surge in decades pushed rates to their highest levels in 14 years by mid-June. & nbsp; Since then, there are signs that things have leveled off, but no compelling evidence for a reversal.

Riskier cash-out refinance loans made up nearly three-quarters of refinance originations in Q2. The Milliman Mortgage Default Index (MMDI), which shows the latest monthly estimate of the lifetime default risk of U.S.-backed mortgages, found...

NEXA Mortgage, one of the largest brokerages in the nation and the biggest by MLO count, abandoned the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME) this week, claiming the association has allowed renegade cliques of brokers to “terrorize” larger broker shops. 

The lender is the latest to push up its loan limits. “UWM is singularly focused on giving mortgage brokers a competitive advantage in the mortgage industry,” UWM said in a statement.

The nation's third-largest wholesaler is struggling amid worsening market conditions. This week, a filing with Texas regulators following the Worker Adjustment and Notification Act, compelling a 60-day notice to layoffs, puts the number of workers displaced at 526 – a number not previously specified.