Editor’s Note: The Mortgage Mix is RISMedia’s weekly highlight reel of need-to-know mortgage-industry happenings. Watch for it each Friday afternoon.
- Florida-based Freedom Mortgage Corporation is in hot water with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) after the lender allegedly “provided kickbacks to real estate brokers and agents” in exchange for mortgage loan referrals. The CFPB fined Freedom $1.75 million for allegedly violating the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). The agency also fined Realty Connect USA Long Island for its alleged involvement. The penalty will go into the bureau’s victim relief fund.
- In other company news, the CFPB is looking to crack down on data brokers. According to The Hill reports, the agency is considering new rules that would bring firms that harvest and sell consumer data under the purview of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
- The surge in mortgage rates continued this week, jumping to their highest level in 20 years, according to the latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey® from Freddie Mac. The 30-year fixed-rate averaged 7.09%, climbing from 6.96% the week prior, which Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater attributed to the rising 10-year treasury yields.
- As the upward trajectory in mortgage rates persists, so does the decline in mortgage applications, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Recent MBA data shows that the volume of applications was down 0.8% this week, down from last week’s dip of 3.1%, and the fourth consecutive week of decreases.
