Lending

DURHAM, N.C. – Generations Community CU is teaming with Roanoke Electric Cooperative to offer low-cost loans for energy efficiency projects to electric consumers in underserved rural communities in North Carolina.

WASHINGTON – Showing that bipartisanship is not impossible in the critically split Congress, a group of Republican and Democratic House members called on the Federal Housing Finance Agency this morning to maintain--not lower--the conforming loan limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because of the potential harm it would cause the mortgage market.

With the clock ticking down to January implementation of several Consumer Financial Protection Bureau mortgage regulations, one expert attempted to bust eight myths about the rules during a Tuesday webcast during the CUNA Mutual Online Discovery conference.

Mortgages may be a vital growth product for CUs, but are not a sector of the financial services market to be entered into lightly.

In Las Vegas where the housing market has experienced breathtaking highs and lows in the last decade, one issue at the the American Credit Union Mortgage Association's recent annual conference seemed especially relevant.

Despite a predictable drop in refinance activity as interest rates rise, Patelco Credit Union is posting strong mortgage numbers thanks to an increased emphasis on jumbo mortgage products.

At the American Credit Union Mortgage Association annual convention last week, Credit Union Journal asked the following attendees: "Now that interest rates are going up and the refi boom is drying up, what proactive steps is your CU taking to generate more purchase mortgages?"

WASHINGTON – Regulators' plan to unite two separate mortgage standards mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act is deepening the focus on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's ever-expanding role in the mortgage sphere.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA on Friday reported it has approved another 69 credit unions for its low-income designation – including dozens of the nation’s biggest credit unions – enabling them to skirt congressional limits on member business loans and to raise secondary capital, as enabling legislation in Congress appears dead.

MILWAUKEE – Richard Jungen, the founder of Central States Mortgage Co., which grew to become Wisconsin’s biggest mortgage company, along with three associates was charged in a federal indictment unsealed last week with a scheme to defraud the CUSO’s 25 credit union investors by siphoning more than $9 million to themselves.

WASHINGTON – Average mortgage rates retreated again for the third week in a row, amid declining consumer confidence and the partial shutdown of the federal government, according to Freddie Mac.

SANTA ROSA, Calif. – Redwood CU and Community Action Partnership Sonoma rolled out a collaborative lending program that aims to provide up to $1 million in loans to microbusinesses and start-ups for graduates of CAP Sonoma’s microbusiness development program.

WAUSAU, Wis. – Connexus CU said it has purchased Financial Institution Lending Options LLC, a company that provides financial institutions with auto loans through pool sales, participation pools or whole loan flow sales.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco will recommence participation in the Mortgage Partnership Finance Program and again purchase conventional, conforming, fixed-rate mortgage loans and FHA/VA-insured mortgage loans from member credit unions and banks in California, Arizona and Nevada.

ORLANDO, Fla. – A federal court here awarded Sperry Associates FCU a $4.5 million default judgment in a four-year-old suit over loan participations the New York credit union purchased from CU Business Capital LLC, the member business loan CUSO owned by defunct Eastern Financial Florida CU.

MADISON, Wis. – Filene Research Institute is readying an incubator to develop products aimed at low- and moderate-income consumers.

WASHINGTON – The Small Business Administration said it is waiving all fees on loans made through its guaranteed 7(a) Loan Program in the amount of $150,000 or less starting Oct. 1.

WASHINGTON – Mortgage rates declined for the fourth week in a row to nine-week lows, after climbing to two-year highs in August, according to Freddie Mac.