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.
- Good news for prospective buyers as Redfin reports that the last few months of sinking rates has translated into almost $400 of savings on monthly mortgage payments.
- Falling rates have yet to translate into a sustainable increase in demand, however, as mortgage applications continue to see-saw. This week, applications fell 9.4%, with both refinances and purchase loans down.
- The back-and-forth legal battle between South Carolina-based Movement Mortgage and former employees continues to grow messier, according to the National Mortgage Professional, with former Movement sales executive Deran Pennington now claiming the company promised him uncapped commissions before reneging on the deal when he made “too much money.” Pennington and other former employees are accused of stealing confidential information and giving it to their new employer, Summit Funding, which Movement is also suing.
- Although Wall Street continues to expect several rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year, minutes from the central bank’s December meeting offered a less rosy outlook, as Fed members cautioned that the current economic recovery is still “uneven” and left the door open for higher rates.
- Rocket, which continues to be the largest lender in the country, is shaking up its branding efforts with a newly created chief marketing officer position, according to National Mortgage News. Jonathan Mildenhall, who has held leadership roles with Peloton and Airbnb, will fill the new role.
- A mortgage subservicer owned by Fidelity National Financial disclosed that 1.3 million customers had their data exposed in a cyberattack back in November. LoanCare admitted in a filing this week that it did not discover the breach for a month, but immediately began working with law enforcement to “contain the incident.” This attack was only a few weeks separated from a much larger breach of Mr. Cooper, which saw 14 million customers compromised.
