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Banks, FBI assessing hack of SitusAMC
The hack of a technology vendor for real estate financiers left major American banks and mortgage lenders working Sunday to assess whether they were affected by the data breach. The vendor, SitusAMC Group Holdings, LP, said in a statement Saturday that someone compromised its systems and took client data including "accounting records and legal agreements." The company said it learned of the intrusion on Nov. 12 and that it's still assessing the scope and impact of the breach with outside experts and federal law enforcement. SitusAMC said it sent letters to customers on Saturday saying that the firm is fully operational, that the breach "is now contained" and that it "did not involve encrypting malware."READ MORE: More lenders suffer data breaches, face consumer lawsuitsJPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. were among the banks that received such notices, according to two people familiar with the matter. They spoke on condition that they not be identified discussing the ongoing examination of the breach, which is also being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.Representatives of Citi and Chase declined to comment on whether or how their banks were affected. The breach and following notices to the banks was first reported by the New York Times. READ MORE: How AI is changing the cost of a data breach"The FBI is aware of a cyber incident involving a third-party provider within the financial services sector," according to an FBI statement attributed to Director Kash Patel. "While we are working closely with affected organizations and our partners to understand the extent of potential impact, we have identified no operational impact to banking services."SitusAMC notified all of its residential mortgage customers that they may be affected but doesn't yet know the full extent of the breach, another person familiar with the matter said. The company confirmed it was hacked on Nov. 15 and began notifying customers last week, the person said.READ MORE: Cloudflare disruption hit SoFi, Varo, other banksSitusAMC Chief Executive Officer Michael Franco said that the breach is contained."We remain focused on analyzing any potentially affected data and will provide updates directly to our clients as our investigation progresses," Franco said in a statement issued through a representative.
Fannie, Freddie shares mimic meme-stock mania with wild swings
Bill Ackman lit the fire and Bill Pulte supercharged it.Their influence helped drive retail traders to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose shares have soared more than 500% since Donald Trump's election a year ago. But now, as equity markets are gripped by volatility and crypto assets suffer their worst rout in years, those same investors are fleeing.Thursday's wild selloffs, and further losses Friday, were a reminder that the fervor of retail traders — whipped up in part by Federal Housing Finance Agency head Pulte — can quickly turn sour. Ackman, a billionaire hedge fund manager, sent out a social media post this week blaming forced liquidations and margin calls in the cryptocurrency market for the sagging prices on the mortgage giants.READ MORE: What Bill Ackman thinks should happen to the GSEs"I underestimated how much exposure Fannie and Freddie ('F2') have to crypto, not on balance sheet, but in their shareholder bases," Ackman said on X.Ackman's theory for the pullback — that leveraged cryptocurrency investors facing margin calls had to sell other assets to raise cash — was echoed by some on Wall Street who saw the stocks drop by more than 10% on Thursday. It happened as Bitcoin was on track for its worst monthly performance since a string of corporate collapses rocked the sector in 2022. "There was clearly a lot more leverage to take out in crypto and the recent high-flyer equities themes," Charlie McElligott, a cross-asset strategist at Nomura, wrote in a note to clients Friday.Shares of the pair are up six-fold since just before Trump's election on bets Pulte will help oversee a process to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after almost two decades of government control. The Trump administration has said it's a priority, though has been mum on specifics and timing.Pulte has frequently promoted the idea, with stock traders studying his social media posts for clues about what's likely coming next.It all has echoes of the first meme-stock phenomenon that emerged during the pandemic, when bored young people stuck at home and flush with stimulus checks started speculating in the stock market, driving wild runs in shares of GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. among others.Fannie and Freddie have been on a similarly tumultuous ride over the past year, including a drop of almost 40% since a Sept. 11 peak when Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick talked up the prospect of taking them public. The volatility is also driven in part by the fact that the stocks have traded over the counter since they were delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in 2010, limiting the potential investor pool and stock liquidity.READ MORE: What Pennymac wants prioritized in GSE reformChunky swings are commonplace for both Freddie and Fannie. For the stocks to experience a two-standard deviation move — something that occurs only 5% of the time — they need to jump or fall by at least 10%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. By comparison, such a move would register at just over 2% for McDonald's Corp. and at roughly 3% for Microsoft Corp.Ackman, the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, has long promoted buying Fannie Mae and rival Freddie Mac, saying the stocks are cheap and will rally when the US government unwinds its massive stakes. While Ackman has been a proponent of taking the pair of companies public in recent months and weeks, he said Tuesday that it will take "significant time" for the government to "deliberately execute."
Fairway Home Mortgage Launches Credit Card That Rewards You for Making On-Time Mortgage Payments
Things are getting more interesting in the mortgage world, at least when it comes to earning rewards.One of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders, Fairway Home Mortgage, has launched a credit card.Known as the “Made for Home Card,” it rewards cardholders for simply making their mortgage payment on time each month.In addition, you can earn bonus points in a variety of home-centric categories that can eventually be redeemed for mortgage-related costs.The new card will initially be marketed through select Fairway Home Mortgage loan officers, and will get a nationwide launch in January 2026.Made for Home Card HighlightsEarn 1X points for simply paying your mortgage each month3X points on gas, EV charging, groceries and utilities2X points on home improvement, furniture, and home maintenance1X point on all other purchases throughout the monthPoints can be redeemed toward closing costs or mortgage rate buydownsNo annual feeHow You Earn Points for Paying the Mortgage Each MonthWhile it might sound like you can use the credit card to make your mortgage payment, that’s not how it works.Instead, you pay your mortgage the same way you always did, but earn one point per dollar of the payment each month.Once you get approved for the card, you need to connect the bank account you use to pay your mortgage to the Fairway/Made Card app via Plaid.Plaid is a tech company that allows you to connect bank accounts and other financials to specific apps.Connecting the accounts allows them to track your payments and reward you in the process.Apparently it’s just a few clicks, and once connected, you’ll automatically earn bonus points on your mortgage payments going forward.This is similar to other programs that have been announced, including Mesa Mortgage an Bilt Card 2.0.Both will let you earn points for on-time mortgage payments, but you must still pay with a bank account or other acceptable form of payment.How Many Points Can You Earn for Paying the Mortgage?Now let’s see if this is worth it. After all, there are plenty of other credit cards out there vying for your spend each month.This new Made for Home Card earns 1X on mortgage payments, which seems to be the industry-standard now that we’ve got a few players in the nascent space.The cool thing is it includes the full principal, interest, taxes, and insurance (PITI), and even HOA dues, yet another argument to go with impounds on your mortgage.For example, if your monthly housing payment is $2,500 per month, you’ll get 2,500 points each month.Over a 12-month period, that’s 60,000 points, which is a decent haul to earn on a recurring basis.And since you typically don’t earn anything making mortgage payments from a bank account, there’s no real opportunity cost.However, other options like Mesa and Bilt require you to make other non-mortgage transactions during the month to earn the points on the mortgage.Not sure if that’ll be the case here, but time will tell. I couldn’t find anything in the fine print.Fortunately, on top of the points you can earn for mortgage, the card earns 3X points on gas, EV charging, groceries, and utilities.And 2X points on home improvement, furniture, and maintenance, and 1X point on all other purchases.So there’s a lot of opportunity to earn a lot of points beyond just the mortgage.The biggie though, at least for me, is how you can redeem. Points are only as good as what they can be used for.In terms of redemptions, you can use your points towards your next Fairway Home Mortgage loan.That includes options to lower your closing costs and/or buy down your rate via mortgage discount points.Or you can redeem for standard stuff like statement credits, gift cards, etc.Personally, I would want travel partner redemptions, such as airlines and hotels, since those are always the most lucrative.Why Is Fairway Home Mortgage Offering a Credit Card Anyway?As for why Fairway Home Mortgage decided to launch a co-branded credit card, it’s all about customer retention.Mortgage lenders have wised up in the past couple years, realizing to stay relevant they need to reach a little further into the customer’s world.This is why UWM has invested in Bilt, and why Rocket acquired Redfin. It’s not enough to just be a mortgage company anymore.You don’t want the homeowner to use you once and forget about you. This new credit card gives the customer a call to action to use Fairway again for a subsequent home purchase or mortgage refinance.After all, if they can redeem points to reduce closing costs or get a lower mortgage rate, they might be more apt to use Fairway over other options.But if you’re the customer, make sure it’s actually in your best interest to do so.Discounts and perks are nice, but you’ve got to do the math and compare alternatives (after factoring in the rewards points) to ensure you don’t miss out on something better. Before creating this site, I worked as an account executive for a wholesale mortgage lender in Los Angeles. My hands-on experience in the early 2000s inspired me to begin writing about mortgages 19 years ago to help prospective (and existing) home buyers better navigate the home loan process. Follow me on X for hot takes.Latest posts by Colin Robertson (see all)
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