Salisbury Bank and Trust Company has promoted Andrea MacArthur to Vice President, Mortgage Advisor, the company announced. MacArthur has worked at Salisbury since 2002, beginning in the mortgage department with no prior experience. She is a graduate of the Connecticut School of Finance and Management. Her intelligence and willingness to learn allowed her to move up the ladder in the company to positions including Loan Processor, Closer, Closing Manager, and Retail Department Manager. Her most recent role was Mortgage Advisor in the Berkshire County market. “Your mortgage experience should be as painless as possible. I will work hard to ensure that all of your mortgage needs are met throughout the entire process and beyond the closing,” her Salisbury page reads.…
After a record-breaking year for independent mortgage banks, profits declined by 75 basis points in 2021, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Annual Mortgage Bankers Performance Report. Independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks made an average profit of $2,339 on each loan they originated in 2021, down from the record $4,202 per loan in 2020. Average production volume totaled $4.9 billion per company, up from $4.5 billion in 2020. But production expenses took a toll on profits, reaching their highest level since 2008, the first year of MBA’s report. Personnel expenses for sales, fulfillment, and production support all rose while revenues fell. “2021 was another stellar year for independent mortgage bankers, with production profits well above…
Better.com is losing another C-suite executive in the wake of its controversial layoffs. Chief Technology Officer Diane Yu is stepping back into an advisory role, TechCrunch reported after obtaining an internal memo circulated at the company. The memo states that the move gives Yu “more flexibility to spend more time with her family and additional time in Hong Kong.” It is signed by Better’s infamous CEO Vishal Garg. Better.com has seen rapid turnover of execs after firing 900 employees on a Zoom call last December. Garg told the employees that they were “part of the unlucky group that is being laid off,” and that their employment was “terminated effective immediately.” The employees were then locked out of their work computers.…
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…
Lenders don’t feel optimistic about their future profit margins, with 65% reporting they believe their profit margins will shrink in the next three months, according to Fannie Mae’s Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey. The share of lenders who feel pessimistic about future profits rose by 19% from Q3, citing competition from other lenders and changing market trends. If they prove right, next quarter will mark the fifth consecutive quarter of profit declines. “This quarter’s MLSS results suggest that the housing market may be poised to return to a more ‘normal’ state in the new year, following the boom experienced over the past two years due to historically low mortgage rates and pandemic-related changes in homebuyer behavior,” said Fannie Mae Senior Vice…
Delinquency fees charged to forbearance-holders, payment handling violations, and pricing discrimination are among the mortgage-related violations highlighted by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) latest Supervisory Highlights report. “Today’s report reveals that irresponsible or mismanaged firms harmed Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “We will continue to supervise firms to halt harmful practices before they become widespread.” The report, which did not name particular companies, outlined illegal actions the CFPB claims to have observed in the first half of 2021. The CFPB supervises banks with assets of more than $10 billion and some non-banks, including mortgage companies, private student lenders, and payday lenders. The report called out mortgage lenders for the following: charging delinquency-related fees to…
