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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.” billion in loans. billion in 2023, with most of it being conventional (74%) and purchase (65%) loans.

Banks 321
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“Last night, my Uber driver was a loan officer.”

Housing Wire

The steady drumbeat of dour news in the mortgage industry punctuated by headlines announcing layoffs and closures among the ranks of independent mortgage banks continues to play out, with several lenders over the last two weeks adding to the torrent of pink slips. Charting the loan officer exit.

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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.

Banks 395
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FHA does a solid for mortgage credit rejects. Will it move the needle for loan officers?

Housing Wire

Adrian Gastelum, a vice president and branch manager at Nova Home Loans, recently had a prospective borrower apply for a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage. Because Gastelum’s client started a new job within 30 days, an underwriter at Nova decided that there was no interruption to his income and approved the loan.

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Banks report tightened lending standards for nearly all residential mortgages: Fed survey

Housing Wire

Banks reported having tightened lending standards across almost all categories of residential real estate loans over the fourth quarter of 2023 amid an elevated interest rate environment. banks said they saw weaker demand for all types of residential real estate loans except for government (46.2%) and subprime mortgage loans (41.6%).

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Opinion: Do loan officers need more tech than they have now?

Housing Wire

Do loan officers need more technology than they currently have? Most loan officers do not believe they need more tech than they have now. Most loan officers do not believe they need more tech than they have now. I called a friend over at Bank of America to talk about this. Let that sit a second.

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AI will be a supercharger for loan officers: Blend CEO

Housing Wire

And, in the mortgage industry, AI will play an instrumental role in helping loan officers to be more efficient, according to Nima Ghamsari , Blend ‘s co-founder and CEO. Blend’s mortgage banking software processed 23.2% Imagine you’re a lender or an LO or a bank who is trying to serve the mass market.