Paula Parisot who writes for Mortgage Daily.com, just wrote an article about our Loan Scenario RSS Feed, which is the first of its kind. Here is a portion of the article that appears in Mortgage Daily.com:
By PAULA PARISOT
Broker Network announced it has developed a software program that generates an RSS feed to subscribing wholesale lenders as soon as a broker submits a loan request, giving lenders instant access on their desktops and mobile phones.
Broker Network executive Julian Bond told MortgageDaily.com that for now the system is being offered free to lenders while it is still in the evaluation phase of development.
"I am contacting account executives and offering it at no cost for the first few months so they can start testing it," Bond said. "So far, everyone seems to like the concept."
Loan request data includes the pertinent information regarding the loan, such as: loan amount and type, property and occupancy type, loan-to-value, the applicant’s credit score, employment, income, property taxes and housing expenses.
As soon as the request form is completed, the lender is alerted by their news aggregator that they have received a new item from the RSS feed subscription.
Read more…
Yahoo and eBay have reached a multiyear advertising and business partnership to better compete against search leader Google, Reuters reports (via MarketingVOX and Search Engine Lowdown). Their joint efforts will begin this year. Yahoo will be the exclusive third-party provider of graphic ads on eBay’s auction site, and will provide sponsored search for complementary products on some eBay.com search results pages. The two companies also said they would work to jointly develop "click-to-call" ad technologies for their websites.
"This partnership with eBay provides us with a great opportunity to further extend our sponsored search and graphical advertising reach to one of the largest and most active communities on the web," Yahoo Chairman and CEO Terry Semel said in a statement.
Through this partnership, Yahoo said, it can add eBay’s online inventory, offering advertisers "an optimal marketing experience." Yahoo and eBay have also agreed to collaborate on ways to increase the quality and comprehensiveness of Yahoo search results for eBay listings. Yahoo search functionality and Yahoo site links will be integrated into a co-branded version of the eBay toolbar.
eBay President and CEO Meg Whitman said, "Yahoo offers an engaged online audience, which drives massive traffic through its rich consumer content and premium services. Working together, we can create more exposure for our properties, which in turn makes them more valuable to our users."
As part of the agreement, Yahoo has selected eBay’s PayPal to become the exclusive third-party provider of its online wallet, allowing customers to pay for Yahoo services from bank accounts, credit cards or balances associated with their PayPal accounts.
PayPal will be integrated into the Yahoo site - and it will be promoted as Yahoo’s payment solution for merchants and publishers, including the Yahoo Publisher Network, Yahoo Search Marketing, Yahoo Merchant Solutions and other small business services.
A U.S. appeals court in San Francisco ruled that California may force Quicken Loans Inc. to provide refunds to customers it allegedly overcharged on mortgage interest, media reports said Wednesday.
Monday’s decision by a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals may cost Livonia, Mich.-based Quicken, the largest Web-based direct mortgage lender, millions of dollars, reports said.
The outcome differs from a decision by another Ninth Circuit panel last August involving Wells Fargo, the No. 5 U.S. bank, media reports said.
That panel ruled that weaker federal laws applied to Wells Fargo because states could not regulate operating units of nationally chartered banks, according to reports.
Quicken Chairman Dan Gilbert told the Los Angeles Times that Quicken may appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, or lobby California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers to change state lending law retroactively, Reuters reported.
California law used to bar lenders from charging interest more than one day before mortgages were recorded in county offices, a process that could take weeks, media reports said.
The law was changed in 2003 to let interest accrue one day before a lender disburses loan proceeds, according to reports.
California, however, argued that Quicken had received interest payments that violated the earlier law, and sought refunds as far back as Oct. 14, 1999, according to reports.
The appeals court panel rejected Quicken’s argument that the state statutes were pre-empted by federal law, and amounted to an unlawful taking that violated the U.S. Constitution, reports said.
Thursday’s bond market has opened relative flat despite the release of weaker than expected economic news. The stock markets are showing gains with the Dow up 42 points and the Nasdaq up 9 points. The bond market is currently up 1/32, which will likely keep this morning’s mortgage rates at yesterday’s levels.
The Commerce Department reported this mornin g that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose at a 5.3% annual pace during the first three months of the year. This was an upward revision to the initial reading of 4.8%, but was much lower than the 5.8% that was expected. This is good news for the bond market and mortgage rates because the slower than expected economic growth may ease inflation concerns.
Also posted this morning was April’s Existing Home Sales numbers. The National Association of Realtors said that home resales fell 2.0% last month. This was close to analysts forecasts and has not had an impact on this morning’s mortgage pricing.
Tomorrow brings us the release of two important reports. The first is April’s Personal Income and Outlays data at 8:30 AM. This report gives us an indication of consumer ability to spend and current spending habits. An increase in income means that consumers have more money available to spend. Since consumer spending makes up two-thirds of the U.S. economy, this da ta can cause movement in the financial markets and mortgage rates. Current forecasts are showing a 0.7% rise in income and a 0.6% increase in spending.
The second report of the day and the last important data of the week will come from the University of Michigan who will update their Index of Consumer Sentiment for May. An upward revision may lead to slightly higher mortgage rates, while a downward change may help push rates slightly lower. The preliminary reading was 79.0
If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would…. Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days… Lock if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days… Float if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days… Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now… This is only my opinion of what I would do if I were financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers.
a la mode
