"I didn't make it to the gym again today. That makes five years in a row." Speaking of streaks, ""Even if you played 60 million hands of poker for 70 years, 12 hours a day, and never made any mistakes, you still wouldn't be able to say with statistical confidence you were better than this program," said study author and computer scientist Michael Bowling." If you don't think computers are moving ahead, take a look at this story. Plenty of analysts and computers will be looking at JPM Chase & Wells Fargo's earnings tomorrow morning. Those in the residential lending biz will be particularly interested in lending volume, net interest income, noninterest income, and legal expenses. Speaking of which, the OCC indicates it sees some banks lowering overhead expenses by reducing control functions, exiting less profitable businesses, closing offices, and outsourcing critical control functions to third parties, without appropriate levels of due diligence. Be careful out there!

It isn't the first, and won't be the last. Impac Mortgage Holdings has reached a deal to acquire the mortgage operations of CashCall Inc. In 2013 CashCall's mortgage division was ranked by the Mortgage Bankers Association as the 31st largest residential mortgage originator with approximately $6.5 billion in total originations. In the fourth quarter of 2014, CashCall's retail direct mortgage division volume was approximately $800 million. Folks driving by that big building in Anaheim will still see the name: CashCall's mortgage operations will operate as a separate division of Impac Mortgage Corp. under the name CashCall Mortgage.

Digging a little deeper, CashCall Mortgage's operations are a centralized retail call center where loan applications are received and taken by loan agents directly from consumers and through the internet. Impac is buying some of the assets of CashCall, including CashCall Mortgage's call center and lead management technology, integrated with its highly customized loan origination system. "The acquisition is expected to unlock opportunities by expanding CashCall Mortgage's geographic footprint from 11 licensed states up to 42 states."

In spite of telling everyone it wants out of residential lending, the government is still buying well north of 80% of production, and I received this note. "Rob, With FHA making the move last week to reduce the annual MIP, it is a reminder that Agency guidelines are always subject to change. And as is often the subject in this blog, investor overlays are constantly in flux as well. Have you heard of any software that helps my staff remember or reference Agency guidelines or investor overlays?" I have heard of "The Rule Tool" by Take Three Technologies - designed to help mortgage bankers do so.

Speaking of changes, especially of the consumer-friendly type, Experian announced it is now offering its members FICO Scores through its direct-to-consumer products, "providing access to the credit scores lenders use most when determining applicant eligibility for new credit cards, car loans, mortgages or other lines of credit. The FICO Score is front and center as the first in a series of new product enhancements that will be integrated over the next 18 months. In addition to the FICO Score, key product features and enhancements include Score Factors (explaining the top factors that affect an individual's FICO® Score), Credit Timeline, Experian Credit Report, Identity Fraud Assistance, "Real" people (sad but true commentary on today's customer service standards - Experian customer care representatives are ready to talk with members who may have credit or product upgrade questions), and flexible access on any web-enabled device." For more information, please visit Experian.

Here is an interesting note. "If the CFPB ever begins entering broker shops it will be a miracle if many survive. They cannot handle the load being dictated by the regulators and many are just skating by. Can you imagine what a 3-5 person shop must spend for compliance, accounting, education, mock audits, processing etc.? Sure they are not responsible for a lot as a broker but.... they still must comply and I would bet most cannot keep up. The larger mortgage bankers are in better shape. Then you have the mid-size bankers who also may be struggling to keep up or simply ignore the rules. The answer is (in my opinion) some form of compromise and this can only happen with congress pushing back. Am I holding my breath?"

Joan Trice with Clearbox LLC sent, "I just wrote a white paper on Compliance with Fee Panel Management. Apologies in advance for the length of the paper but I feel so strongly that 'appraiser selection is the single most important part of the appraisal process' that I founded a company on that premise, Clearbox." Thank you Joan!

Walt Mullen, Chief Strategy Officer with Title Resource Group, contributed, "In regards to the CFPB and what will change the industry, take a look at our site. We have been running a campaign related to the changes since last August (1 year out) to educate Loan officers and Real Estate Agents in bite-sized pieces as to the various facets of the changes. We will have a piece a month on this site and distributed by our sales people nationwide in their local markets. We are working to be ready for it! And hoping to help others along the way.  Also for background we are the title and closing division of Realogy Holdings Corporation the world's Largest Real Estate company (NYSE:RLGY)."

It really is hard to keep up with all the changes in the industry, but people give it their best shot through training and conferences. I attended the Colorado Mortgage Summit yesterday in Denver, and the mood is definitely upbeat. In no particular order (and with more tomorrow)...

The Texas Mortgage Bankers Association is hosting Southern Secondary Market Conference

February 2-3 near Dallas at the Gaylord Texan Resort, Grapevine. Here is the registration link.

CohnReznick is hosting three events discussing the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure Rule: Best Practices for Assessing Compliance Readiness. Guest industry expert speakers will be in attendance at each event. For registration at an event near you, see below information:

Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at the University of Massachusetts Club - contact Joni Scanlon. Wednesday, January 14 at CohnReznick located at 7501 Wisconsin Avenue Suite 400E Bethesda, MD - contact Lisa Felipe. And Thursday, January 15, at CohnReznick LLP located at 4 Becker Farm Road Roseland, NJ - contact Joni above.

Arch MI has a variety of January webinars ready for registration: Seizing Market Share in a Purchase Market January 21, Analyzing Appraisals for Single-Family Residences January 21, Loan Processing: Using the 1003 as a Roadmap January 22, Underwriting: Foundations and Fundamentals January 22, Navigating and Evaluating Personal Tax Returns January 13, Understanding Self-Employed Borrowers and Business Tax Returns part 1 January 14 and Part 2 January 15.

Chase Correspondent is offering a multiple webinars to meet your company needs:

January 14- Underwriting Training: Analyzing Income
January 15- ChaseLoanManager Enhancements and Best Practices Training
January 20-  Chase Non-Agency Program Training
January 21- ChaseLoanManager Enhancements and Best Practices Training
February 18- Underwriting Training: Analyzing Assets
March 11- Underwriting Training: Analyzing Credit and Liabilities

Join Ellie Mae today, January 13, from 11:00am to 12:30pm Pacific Time for an online town hall Q&A webinar answering your most common questions about the upcoming RESPA-TILA Integrated Mortgage Disclosures regulation. Register now.

TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure Workshops are in the air!

Provided by the Inland Empire CAMP Chapter on Thursday, January 15th at the Sizzler Restaurant in Corona, CA Register here

Provided by the Southern Los Angeles County CAMP Chapter on Wednesday, January 14that The Grand in Long Beach, CA register here.

On January 15th and January 16th, 2015 join CFA Society Los Angeles for a 2-day intensive training program where students are instructed on mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. The program is designed to introduce participants to the broad variety of mortgage and MBS products, explain technical aspects of MBS performance, and demonstrate why and how different types of MBS structures are created. For additional information and registration, click here.

The Mortgage Collaborative 2015 Winter Membership Conference is scheduled for February 8th-10th. For details, email info@mtgcoop. com.

Ah, the markets. Yes, higher coupon Ginnie securities (made up of lots of FHA loans) have moved relative to other agency mortgage-backed securities. The supply and demand levels have been pretty steady, however, so there hasn't been a lot of MBS volatility. The Fed, however, announced more "readiness sales" in four older odd-lot amounts totaling $140 million. This isn't much, but the Fed is certainly giving the markets warning that it can and will sell assets - no one should be surprised if the sales pick up. Still, MBS prices improved about .250 in price.

For thrills and chills today we have... zip. Nada on the schedule. On the auction side of things we do have a $21 billion 10-yr T-note auction at 7AM Hawaii time. So overseas news dominates, and Japan's five-year government-bond yield has reached 0% for the first time as investors flee global markets roiled by falling oil prices. The yield on its 10-year note has hit a record-low 0.255%. In our markets the 10-yr., which closed Monday at 1.91%, is sitting around 1.88% and agency MBS prices are better by .125. (Fannie 3.5% securities are now above 105!)

 

Jobs and Announcements

Those looking for opportunities with bank owned lenders should make note that national mortgage lender PrimeLending recently ranked No. 8 among the 30 large-company winners in The Dallas Morning News' Top 100 Places to Work. It was the third year in a row that PrimeLending placed in the competition. "The Dallas/Fort Worth metropolis has so many top-notch employers, and we are proud to be counted among those companies," said PrimeLending CEO Todd Salmans. If you are an experienced loan officer or branch manager interested in a wide range of loan products, marketing materials and a caring culture, check out PrimeLending or e-mail careers@primelending. com.

Churchill Mortgage is hiring: "Where Top Talent Goes To Grow." Churchill is now looking for outstanding Home Loan Officers in the Orange County, CA Area. "Churchill Mortgage makes it a priority to help employees succeed. Although we are staffed with several of the industry's award winners, we never stop looking for new ways to help even our top talent take it to the next level. We believe in investing in our people and in marketing to help generate leads for our team. We also provide new technology, resources for healthy work life balance, community volunteer opportunities, and competitive compensation packages. Churchill has been in business over 20 years and is owned 49% by the employees by way of the ESOP Trust. It was selected as a 'Tennessean 2013 Top Workplace', and was a 'Best in Business' winner from the Nashville Business Journal. And it is the only mortgage lender backed by Dave Ramsey." Confidential inquiries may be sent to Brittani DeVore.

And an FDIC bank (with a branch is based in the Sacramento area) is searching for a Wholesale Customer Service Representative candidate. The person will be responsible for providing quality customer service regarding inquiries and requests on all loan files. "Able to  identify and resolve customer issues/problems while handling both inbound and outbound customer communications; performing policy interpretations based on knowledge of the organization, products, services, and policies. Responsibilities will include assessing customer needs; using computerized systems for tracking, information gathering, and/or troubleshooting; and supporting all products and Account Executive. The candidate will serve as a customer contact between the broker and Account Executive making it a smooth customer experience.  Must be able to maintain working knowledge of the organization, products, services, policies, and computer systems.  Encompass experience is a must; full benefit package." Confidential questions & resumes can be sent to me.