By KIMBERLEY HAAS Bank of America has granted the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Center for Health Equity $1 million to launch a program that promises to improve children’s overall health in West Philadelphia. Tyra Bryant-Stephens, MD, Chief Health Equity Officer of the Center for Health Equity and Medical Director of the Community Asthma Prevention Program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, talked in an interview with The Mortgage Note about how residential segregation and economic inequality have left some neighborhoods so run down they are unhealthy for children to grow up in. In West and Southwest Philadelphia, more than one-third of children live below the poverty line, according to a press release. “Because of systematic practices there have been homes that…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS At least four industry leaders will cover the travel expenses for employee abortions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday. The New York Times named Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Zillow in a Tweet on Monday. There were 4,307 Retweets, 705 Quote Tweets, and over 17,300 Likes as of Tuesday morning. The media relations departments at Bank of America and JPMorgan put out press releases about their stress test results on Monday. Bank of America announced plans to increase its quarterly common stock dividend beginning in the third quarter of 2022. “Our responsible growth strategy over the last decade has put us in a strong position to support our clients…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS The CEO of Comey & Shepherd in Cincinnati says there is something to be said for working with realtors and mortgage lenders in person at a time when it seems like more and more of the home buying process can be done from a cell phone. Scott Nelson collects data about what is happening in their market, where the median buyer is 47 years old with a $98,750 annual income. His realtors have been helping people navigate the process of looking for a home through the market’s changes in Ohio, where potential buyers who would use a traditional mortgage are losing out due to a high percentage of cash offers. Nelson estimates that 30% of home purchases…
Good Morning! Today is Wednesday, February 23. U.S. truckers plan to embark on a 2,500-mile cross-country drive to DC in protest of coronavirus restrictions. Germany put a stop to an $11 billion Russian natural gas pipeline that would link the two countries. The Supreme Court will hear a case from a web designer who objects to providing services for same-sex marriages. The Mortgage Note Reports Getting A Mortgage Online: Leaders at Bank of America say home loan applications initiated through their Digital Mortgage Experience accounted for 81% of total mortgage applications in 2021. That is up from 45% in 2020. FHFA HPI: Home price appreciation cooled slightly in Q4 2021, with prices rising 17.5% YOY and 3.3% from Q3 2021.…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Leaders at Bank of America say home loan applications initiated through their Digital Mortgage Experience accounted for 81% of total mortgage applications in 2021. That is up from 45% in 2020. Last year, Bank of America funded $53.7 billion in first mortgage loans through the Digital Mortgage Experience, 2.5 times their 2020 volume. People can use the digital tool to prequalify for loans, apply for a new mortgage, and refinance their existing mortgage. “Clients expect fast, smart digital tools that help make their banking, investing, and lending experience easy and convenient,” Matt Vernon, Retail Lending Executive for Bank of America, said in a statement. Vernon said that the combination of digital capabilities and support from lending specialists…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS The National Fair Housing Alliance and 20 fair housing organizations throughout the country have reached a landmark $53 million agreement to resolve claims that Fannie Mae treated homes it owned in majority-Black and Latino communities unfavorably. Lisa Rice, President and CEO of NFHA in Washington, D.C., said in a statement that Monday’s settlement brings hope to underserved neighborhoods in 39 metropolitan areas. “Black and Latino consumers were actively targeted by predatory subprime mortgage lenders in the run-up to the 2008 Financial Crisis and, as a result, homes in Black and Latino neighborhoods were respectively 2 and 2.5 times more likely to be foreclosed than homes in White communities. Millions of homeowners in Black and Latino communities lost their homes,…
Seriously delinquent mortgages dropped by more than half year-over-year (YOY) at seven national banks, according to a report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Though the findings are optimistic, the banks in the study– Bank of America, Citibank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, PNC, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo– were handling almost 1,900 fewer loans YOY, complicating the final picture. Overall, the banks serviced about 12.5 million first-lien residential mortgage loans, totaling $2.59 trillion in unpaid principal balances. This is 23% of all U.S. residential mortgage debt. In Q3 2020, $2.866 trillion or 14,393 loans. The share of mortgages that were current at the end of Q3 2021 was 95.6%, up from 92.5% in Q3 2020. The seven banks…
Fortune released its Top 100 Places to Work list Monday, with four mortgage/real estate companies making the list – led by Rocket Companies at No. 5. Here are the four companies that made the list (Cisco was No. 1): 5. Rocket Companies 8. Camden Property Trust 22. Bank of America 47. Zillow Group “Everything we do is framed by our culture and by our ISMs. Over the past year, we have been guided by the ISM ‘We’ll Figure it Out’ as we navigated the challenges introduced by the pandemic while still creating the best possible experience for our team members,” said Jay Farner, Rocket Companies’ CEO and Vice Chairman. “When COVID-19 began spreading across the country in the U.S., we rapidly launched…
Longer loan processing times, infrequent communication and challenges using digital tools adversely impact customer experiences with mortgage originators, but overall customer satisfaction with their lenders increased this year, according to a survey released by J.D. Power on Monday. The J.D. Power 2020 US Primary Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study found that customer satisfaction increased by six points this year, largely driven by low interest rates amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Specifically, the study found: Average refinancing time took 42 days from application to closing, up from 39 days in 2019 – with customer satisfaction about wait time declining accordingly.Satisfaction with the application and approval process declined 10 points this year.Customers using self-service channels for applications and approvals climbed five percentage points, while…
