Mortgages

Applicants for credit cards, auto loans and mortgages are more frequently being told "No," and the reason appears to be more about lenders' new marketing efforts than stricter underwriting or weaker credit profiles.

Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati has expanded its community development pledge to $30 billion.

Banks already have a difficult time collecting data on mortgage lending to minorities. New data requirements scheduled to take effect in early 2018 could lead to even more mistakes — and financial penalties — not to mention higher compliance costs and longer delays in closing loans.

The Home Equity Mortgage Conversion program experienced a huge swing in its net worth during the fiscal 2016 year, plummeting from a value of $6.8 billion in fiscal 2015 to negative $7.7 billion.

As the Justice Department winds down its Mortgage Fraud Task Force and a new administration prepares to enter the White House, the number of False Claims Act cases brought against Federal Housing Administration lenders is expected to dwindle.

Commercial mortgage lenders, and investors in their bonds, have been more eager than the residential market to embrace Property Assessed Clean Energy loans even though those loans hold a superior-lien position. Here's why.

The Federal Housing Administration's insurance fund saw its fourth consecutive annual boost in its ratio of reserves to insured mortgages, reaching 2.32% in fiscal year 2016, the Department of Housing and Urban Development said Tuesday.

The Trump transition team is said to have recommended that Steven Mnuchin be nominated Treasury secretary. A Goldman Sachs alum, he is known as a successful change agent for his roles in the transformation of the failed IndyMac into OneWest and the revamping of CIT, but some community reinvestment advocates remain critical of him.

The president-elect faces major questions about credit access, affordable housing, the future of Dodd-Frank, and the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the extent to which he will act upon them remains unclear.

Facebook has disabled so-called ethnic affinity filters from housing, credit and employment advertising following mounting criticism that the practice allowed marketers to discriminate against minorities in violation of fair housing and civil rights laws.