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Republic First Bank closes, sells to Fulton Bank 

Housing Wire

Pennsylvania-based Fulton Bank, National Association of Lancaster, has agreed to assume most of the deposits and assets of Republic First Bank , which state regulators seized on Friday to “protect depositors.” The bank had 766 loan officers as of Monday, according to the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS).

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First Federal Bank to acquire Watson Mortgage Corp.

Housing Wire

Florida-based First Federal Bank announced on Thursday that it struck a deal to acquire Watson Mortgage Corp., First Federal Bank has 25 branches in the Southeast and operations in the Midwest, including mortgage centers in Jacksonville, Florida ; Alpharetta, Georgia; Madison, Wisconsin; and Overland Park , Kansas.

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Rocket launches loyalty program, gives discount for closing costs

Housing Wire

In the first phase of the program, customers can use points to get discounts on their closing costs when purchase a home through the subsidiary Rocket Mortgage. To start, customers will receive a 7,500-point welcome bonus on their first reward activity – or $75 in savings on closing costs.

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Virtual notary adoption surges as businesses rush to close transactions remotely

Housing Wire

This article was written for FinLedger, HW Media’s new fintech focused news brand designed specifically for financial services professionals in banking, payments, insurance and proptech. A signer such as a customer closing on a loan appears before a notary on a video call and they complete, sign and notarize the document, he said.

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Qualia integrates RON product into its platform for contactless closings

Housing Wire

This article was written for FinLedger, HW Media’s new fintech-focused news brand designed specifically for financial services professionals in banking, insurance and real estate. Qualia announced Wednesday that it has extended the capabilities of its real estate closing platform with the launch of a remote online notarization product.

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Flagstar Bancorp cuts 20% of its mortgage staff

Housing Wire

parent company of Flagstar Bank , has reduced its mortgage staff by 20% since the calendar turned to 2022, laying off 420 employees amid a significant drop in origination volumes and margins. Overall, the bank’s net income in the first quarter of 2022 dropped 60.4% Flagstar’s mortgage division will also preserve the brand.

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Jim Linnane tapped to lead retail mortgage lending at Flagstar

Housing Wire

Jim Linnane, the former head of retail at Stearns Lending , has joined Flagstar Bank as the president of the company’s distributed retail mortgage division. In the fourth quarter of 2021, Flagstar originated about closed $10.7 The deal was supposed to close by the end of 2021, however, it has not yet received regulatory approval.

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