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Not long ago, a storefront sign was the most important marketing channel a retailer had. If you didn't have one, customers didn't know you existed. Today, for mortgage companies, that sign has been replaced by something else entirely: search. But with borrowers now turning to ChatGPT and other AI tools instead of Google, even ranking on the first page may not mean you'll be found.For 20+ years, Search Engine Optimization has ruled marketers' minds as they build websites, develop social media content, and identify online media opportunities.  From the good old days of backlinking to the copywriters' mantra, "Content is King."  Google's 1st page is the envy of every company.  It is the gold standard.  A survey found 77% of US respondents use ChatGPT for searches, and 25% say it's now their first choice. While that doesn't seem that daunting, in some reports, 58% of US searches end without a click. So what does that mean?  People are searching and relying on Large Language Models, like ChatGPT, to provide the answer. They trust that answer, and they don't engage further. People do not want to look through a bunch of search results or click through websites. They want the answer.  So, when someone is looking for information about mortgages, and you're not listed as a result, they will never know you exist.  Companies do not know what Large Language Models are saying about them. They do not know if they will show up at all when people ask pertinent questions about the products they sell. Just because you rank on the 1st page of Google, doesn't mean ChatGPT will cite your content as the source for the answer. So, what do businesses need to do to prepare for the new medium? Here are three recommendations to prepare.Identify the questions – In every buying journey, there are questions that signal where someone is in the process.  In short, there is Awareness, Consideration, and decision-making.   Example of awareness: "How do I get a mortgage?".   Example of consideration: "How long does it take to get a mortgage?"Example of decision-making: "Which mortgage company has the best rates?"Many SEO tools can help you find which questions are being asked and where your company ranks in the results. LLMs are conversational, and while a prompt is not the same as a Google search, the questions can mirror each other.  Track your web traffic – If you do not have Google Analytics, you need to get it set up. You want to filter out your organic traffic and track its trends. Most companies are already seeing a decline in organic traffic and leads. This is usually the most cost-effective and highest converting lead in the business. There is also a way to track if you are receiving any referral traffic from LLMs.   Produce relevant content – If you have not worked on Search Engine Optimization for your website, you can still turn it around if you are willing to start now.  AI writing apps have saturated the internet with content. So having a lot of content on your website isn't going to cut it anymore. Even if you have meta-tagged, titled, and had your AI bot do all the SEO things you are supposed to do. The content is either relevant or it is not. Relevant content would be something so good that it is shared, read often, backlinked, and answers the questions identified in the first recommendation.  Quality over quantity. If I go out of town to visit a friend, and ask them where I should eat, they may ask me, "What do you feel like eating?" I will always say – "A steak."  My friend is not going to give me a list of nine steakhouses and seven reviews to read.  He is going to tell me one or two places he would recommend.  While there may be 100 steakhouses where he lives, I will drive past all their storefront signs until I reach the steakhouse my friend suggested. That is what ChatGPT is going to do to commoditized businesses. If you aren't a part of the answer, you may not exist. 

As serious mortgage delinquency rates continue to rise, rising payment-to-income ratios across other credit products could serve as a canary in the coal mine for future problems in making monthly payments, a Transunion report said.Over two years, serious delinquencies, which Transunion defines as 60 days or more late, while still relatively low, have increased by 38 basis points, to 1.27% for this year's second quarter from 1.14% for the same time in 2024 and 0.89% in 2023. This trend has been seen in information from other sources as well, including the Mortgage Bankers Association.However, Transunion is making a case for rising PTI ratios for credit card loans, home equity lines of credit and student loans as an indicator that a mortgage borrower is at higher risk of becoming distressed. The products are different, although credit cards and HELOCs do have some similarities with each other regarding the ability to re-borrow those funds when a consumer pays off all or part of what is due. Credit cards and student loans are unsecured, while HELOCs are backed by the borrower's residence, usually as a second lien behind the first mortgage.How payment-to-income ratio changes indicate mortgage issuesRising PTIs for these non-mortgage credit products are "a strong and reliable signal that these borrowers are significantly more likely to experience mortgage delinquency in the future," said Jason Laky, executive vice president and head of financial services at Transunion, in a press release. "Moreover, evolving patterns in credit card usage may provide additional early indicators of emerging financial stress, offering valuable insights for lenders."But the analysis also noted that rising mortgage PTIs are also "strongly associated" with 60 day or more late payments on their home loans.Changes in credit card usage patterns, like delinquencies and aggregate excess payment (a measurement of the amount a consumer pays above the minimum due) among borrowers with a rising mortgage PTI ratio "may offer early insights into financial stress," the Transunion study said.It compared end-quarter credit card PTI in 2023, with 60-day mortgage delinquency rates one year later.For March 2023, the PTI was 2.18%, while 60-day mortgage lates 12 months later were 42 basis points.PTI rose by 7 basis points at the end of the second quarter of 2023, with the delinquency rate rising the same time in the next year by 4 basis points. But the gains in the third quarter were 6 basis points and 10 basis points respectively, while for the fourth quarter, they were 2 basis points and 7 basis points higher.Similar patterns of rising PTI and higher mortgage delinquencies were found for HELOCs and student loans, Transunion added.Transunion said it suggests as borrowers allocate a greater portion of their income toward paying those other forms of debt down, their ability to stay current on their mortgage is increasingly strained. Common wisdom is that consumers would pay-off their home debt ahead of unsecured loans, but if their stress is extreme, all payments are likely to cease.What should mortgage servicers be looking at for delinquency trendsMortgage servicers should be looking at trended cross-wallet data on their customers at least every quarter in order to be aware of any emerging delinquency risk even before the credit score changes, Transunion suggested.Both Vantagescore 4.0 and FICO 10T use trended data in their score model but Classic FICO does not. (Transunion co-owns the parent company of Vantagescore with Equifax and Experian.)"Trended credit data can play a critical role in identifying shifts in key attributes such as aggregate excess payment, non-mortgage delinquencies and debt-to-income ratios," said Satyan Merchant, Transunion senior vice president and auto and mortgage business leader.Having and using this information can allow servicers to pinpoint and contact customers at risk of defaulting, Merchant said.

Bloomberg News  Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook's lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's dismissal of her from her post earlier this week poses novel legal questions about executive power that could impact the shape of the federal government for decades to come. And it will likely hinge on the meaning of a two-word clause in century-old law.Cook's complaint, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that the Trump administration's purported termination of Cook from the Federal Reserve Board failed to meet the legal standard for "cause" to dismiss a board member. The Federal Reserve Act protects Fed governors from being dismissed by the president except "for cause" — a term for which there is little case law, but that has for decades been understood to mean dereliction of their official duties.Trump's social media post on Monday evening — which consisted of a screenshot of a letter to Cook informing her that she was thereby "removed" from her seat on the Fed Board — included his rationale for terminating Cook, which suggests that the White House believes the president alone decides what counts as "cause" for removal. Allegations that Cook claimed primary residence on two mortgages before joining the Fed Board are cited as the justification in Trump's letter. Cook has not been charged with a crime."The executive power of the United States is vested in me as President and, as President, I have a solemn duty to ensure that the laws of the United States are faithfully executed," Trump's letter said. "I determined that faithfully executing the law requires your immediate removal from office."Cook's suit argues that allegations of misconduct — particularly for alleged offenses that lay outside official duties and predate her assumption of official duties — cannot serve as the basis for for-cause removal."It would subvert the Federal Reserve Act, which explicitly requires a showing of 'cause' for a Governor's removal, which an unsubstantiated allegation about private mortgage applications submitted by Governor Cook prior to her Senate confirmation is not," Cook's suit said. Experts say the courts' interpretation of the "for cause" provision could either reinforce the central bank's independence or weaken protections that have historically shielded Fed officials from political pressure.Jeremy Kress, associate professor of business law at University of Michigan, said he's watching how the Trump administration responds to Cook's complaint because their legal strategy will reveal just how big of a threat this case poses to central bank independence."Does the administration stick to the president's initial rationale that mortgage fraud allegations constitute 'cause' sufficient to fire Governor Cook?" said Kress. "Or does the administration argue in the alternative that 'for cause' removal protections for Federal Reserve governors are unconstitutional?"According to Kress, the biggest threat to Fed independence would be if a court decides that the "for cause" removal protections as it relates to the Fed is unconstitutional, which would give "the president the ability to remove any governor of the Fed, including the chair." However, if a court issues a narrower ruling that treats the mortgage fraud allegations as sufficient cause, it could still pose a risk to central bank independence, Kress said, because "the claims are thin, but it would at least uphold the principle that the White House must cite some cause to remove someone from the Fed."Richard Horn, co-founder of Garris Horn LLP and former counsel to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said Cook's suit outlines that Trump's statements that she "may have" and "seemed" to have committed mortgage fraud do not satisfy the "for cause" provision, as the allegations are not backed by facts."[A] point she makes, which is an important one, is that if the courts allow these allegations that do not have factual support to be 'cause,' then future presidents could fire any board members they disagree with by concocting fake allegations," said Horn. "It will be very interesting to see how the courts handle this issue with respect to the Fed, because having the country's central bank controlled by the president could be a recipe for disaster."Cook's complaint, filed Aug. 28, argues that the central bank's ability to make sound decisions free from political pressures is essential to its role in stabilizing markets and the broader economy."The 'for cause' removal protection guaranteed by the FRA, which has been the bulwark of the Federal Reserve's independence for the past century, prevents the President from firing a Federal Reserve Board governor except 'for cause,' meaning instances of inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance in office, or comparable misconduct," the suit said. "Whether or not the FRA's 'for cause' removal provision is interpreted using the usual standard of 'inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,' it clearly does not support removal for policy disagreements."Aaron Klein, senior fellow at Brooking's Institute, said what he finds most troubling in the suit is that the Federal Reserve "will not answer the question of whether Cook is a governor today." As of Thursday, Cook is listed as a board member on the Federal Reserve's website. The Fed declined to comment for this story."How can a central bank call itself transparent when it won't tell you who its leaders are?" said Klein.

Federal Reserve Board chairman Jerome Powell's apparent pivot, widely seen as telegraphing a short-term rate cut in September, helped drive mortgage rates.However, the decline on the 30-year fixed rate mortgage was a mere 2 basis points, to 6.56% as of Aug. 28, the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey found.This compared with 6.58% for Aug. 21 and 6.35% for the same week in 2024. This product was at 6.54% for the week of Oct. 24, 2024. "Purchase demand continues to rise on the back of lower rates and solid economic growth," Sam Khater, Freddie Mac chief economist, said in a press release. "Though many potential homebuyers still face affordability challenges, consistently lower rates may provide them with the impetus to enter the market."Meanwhile, the 15-year FRM was unchanged week-to-week at 5.69%. For the week of Aug. 29, 2024, it was at 5.51%.The 10-year Treasury yield on Thursday morning was at 4.22%, its lowest point in two weeks. On Wednesday it closed at 4.24%, while on Aug. 21, it ended the trading day at 4.33%.Following Powell's speech, the 10-year closed at 4.26% last Friday.If anything, most of this week's reduction in mortgage rates was "right on the heels" of the speech, said Kate Wood, lending expert at Nerdwallet, in a commentary."There are still some significant data drops ahead of the Fed's September meeting, but so long as the signs continue to point to a rate cut it's likely that mortgage rates will meet that mark first," Wood said.Following Powell's speech, mortgage pricing remained steady throughout the week, a reminder of how sensitive this is to inflation data and Federal Reserve signals, said Samir Dedhia, CEO of One Real Mortgage, in a comment in anticipation of the Freddie Mac report."Investors are now increasingly confident that a 25-basis point cut is on the table next month, and some are even speculating that we could see a larger 50-point cut depending on upcoming economic data," Dedhia said. "This shift in sentiment is helping stabilize rates and boost borrower confidence."Meanwhile, Zillow's mortgage rate tracker had the 30-year fixed at 6.59% at 11 a.m. eastern time on Thursday. While that was up basis points on the day, it was lower than the previous week's average of 6.67%.Lender Price data on the National Mortgage News website showed the 30-year FRM dropped by 10 basis points to 6.48% at the same time, versus 6.58% one week earlier.In the wake of Powell's speech, Zillow kept to its forecast that further rate declines are unlikely and the 30-year FRM will end the year in the mid-6% range, Kara Ng, senior economist, said in a Aug. 27 commentary.Ng was also more bearish than Khater on home sales, noting that even with "modest rate relief," affordability remains an issue for consumers."More sellers have come off the sidelines this year, but the buyer pool has not kept pace, leading to a growing number of listings and record price cuts," Ng said. "In fact, 27.4% of active listings had price reductions — a new high in Zillow's data since 2018.First American Financial Senior Economist Sam Williamson's comments on July's pending home sales report, was in line with Ng's views.The "slight dip in pending homes sales, on both a monthly and annual basis, signals continued buyer caution despite recent improvements in mortgage rates, affordability, and inventory," Williamson said.Powell's comments are a sign of a more accommodative stance from the Fed that would help by easing borrowing costs and expanding the pool of qualified home buyers."But monetary policy moves slowly, and the impact won't be immediate," Williamson said. "For now, caution dominates the housing market, with prospective buyers waiting for clearer signs of economic and financial security before committing."But other Fed news, namely Pres. Trump's attempt to remove Lisa Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud, likely is not having an impact on the housing market."Trump's battle to fire Cook has an ironic twist related to housing policy, which we don't expect will reverberate to disrupt the flow of credit or raise mortgage rates, but it could spotlight potential mortgage fraud and the quality of lender controls and loan-level data," said Eric Hagen, an analyst at BTIG, in his weekly mortgage finance roundup released on Aug. 27.

TransUnion publicly disclosed on Thursday that a cyber incident last month impacted more than 4.4 million people in the U.S.The breach, discovered on July 30, stemmed from unauthorized access to a third-party application that occurred on July 28, TransUnion said in a filing with the Maine attorney general.The company said the unauthorized access involved personal data stored on a third-party application and did not involve credit reporting data. However, the company did not specify what kind of data was involved.A TransUnion spokesperson said the incident involved "limited personal information for a very small percentage of U.S. consumers."The spokesperson also said the company "quickly contained the issue, which did not involve our core credit database or include credit reports."State laws and federal regulators require any company that suffers a data breach to offer identity protection services to individual victims, often for one to two years.In this case, TransUnion offered victims of the data breach 24 months of free credit monitoring through its own service, myTrueIdentity Online.Potential link to attacks targeting SalesforceTransUnion did not name the specific third-party application involved in the breach, but it did say the application provided "consumer support operations."This matches the description of Salesforce, which has recently been the target of social engineering attacks that victimize Salesforce enterprise customers.When asked about the TransUnion data breach and whether Salesforce was the third party involved in the incident, a spokesperson for Salesforce said the company would not comment on "specific customer issues" and linked to a blog post by the company about protecting against social engineering.Google's Threat Intelligence Group said in a June analysis it was tracking a financially motivated threat actor, ShinyHunters, specializing in vishing campaigns.Google said ShinyHunters had successfully breached networks — including Google's own — by having its operators impersonate IT support personnel in telephone-based social engineering calls.This approach tricked employees, often in English-speaking branches of multinational corporations into actions that granted attackers access or led to the sharing of sensitive credentials, ultimately facilitating the theft of an organization's data, according to Google.These attacks often targeted Salesforce systems, according to Google, but the cybersecurity researchers pointed out that the threat actor fools employees at the victim organizations rather than exploits any vulnerability in Salesforce software.Salesforce emphasized this point in a status message about the ongoing social engineering campaigns, saying, "the Salesforce platform has not been compromised, and this issue is not due to any known vulnerability in our technology."A common ShinyHunters tactic involved deceiving victims into authorizing a malicious connected application, often a modified version of Salesforce's data loader, to their organization's Salesforce portal. This inadvertently granted ShinyHunters significant capabilities to access, query and exfiltrate sensitive information.Previous TransUnion incident allegedly involved weak passwordIn March 2022, a threat actor said a password set to "password" compromised a TransUnion South Africa server in a data leak they claimed included millions of personal records.At the time, TransUnion confirmed the security incident but did not acknowledge whether the company had used a weak password. The credit bureau said in a press release that cybercriminals used an authorized client's credentials to access TransUnion data.

The softening housing market is starting to show up in slightly smaller mortgage payments. Home buyers paid up to $45 less on mortgage applications in July compared to June, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. While some home loans are still more expensive than the same time last year, the trade group said buying power improved in part because of relatively lower mortgage rates.  The MBA's Purchase Applications Payment Index fell 3% in July from June, and 4.1% from the same time last year. A shrinking index represents improving affordability, while an increase reflects rising loan application amounts, rates or a decrease in earnings. Consumer median earnings are also up 3.7% annually. That should help buyers going forward despite mortgage rates forecasted to remain between 6.5% to 7% for the rest of 2025, said Edward Seiler, the MBA's associate vice president of Housing Economics and executive director at the Research Institute for Housing America. "While [rates are] still elevated, continued income growth and softening home-price gains should boost prospective buyers' purchasing power in the months ahead," he said in a press release. Nationwide home price appreciation has been miniscule in recent months and more major metros are reporting annual home price downturns, according to a recent Zillow report. Monthly payments for purchase loans have also decreased relative to rents, which rose quarterly to $1,494, according to U.S. Census Bureau data cited by the MBA.Which borrowers secured lower, or higher mortgage payments this summer?National median mortgage payments fell monthly in July in various categories, although some loans were more expensive compared to last summer: The national median of $2,127 was down $45 from June and down $13 from last year;The Federal Housing Administration median of $1,865 was down $16 from June but up $27 from last year;The conventional median of $2,160 was down $45 from June but up $20 from last yearThe new home median of $2,233 was down $40 from June.The MBA did not release a figure for the Builder PAPI for last July. Monthly payments on applications for the lower 25th percentile of mortgage amounts also fell $32 from June, to $1,468. White and Hispanic households also enjoyed more affordability in July, while the MBA's index fell monthly for Black households. Affordability was most strained in Nevada, the state with the highest PAPI. The metric which factors the mortgage payment-to-income ratio incorporates weekly federal earnings data. Louisiana had the lowest PAPI, followed by the traditionally pricier metro Washington, D.C., and New York state. 

US pending sales of existing homes fell for a second month in July as potential buyers balked at still-elevated prices and borrowing costs, consistent with a sluggish housing market. An index of contract signings slipped 0.4% last month to 71.7, around where it's lingered for much of the year, according to National Association of Realtors data released Thursday. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected a 0.2% drop in July. READ MORE: Mortgage insurers commit to using VantageScore 4.0Buyers have seen modest relief recently as rates slipped to a four-month low of 6.67% earlier in August, and have stayed close to that in recent weeks. Financing costs, however, remain double what they were at year-end 2021, a time when many homeowners refinanced their loans to take advantage of lower rates."Even with modest improvements in mortgage rates, housing affordability, and inventory, buyers still remain hesitant," NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement.Without a sustained drop in mortgage rates and more favorable asking prices, previously owned home sales will be hard-pressed to move much beyond 4 million this year — a pace they've been stuck at for the past two years.READ MORE: Refinances drive originations growth in Q2Meantime, the pace of price growth has at least moderated nationwide, rising by just 0.2% in July from a year ago. Prices have even fallen in once-hot housing markets in the West and South, where inventory has built up the most. "Rising mortgage applications for home purchase are an early indicator of more serious buyers in the marketplace, though many have not yet committed to a pending contract," Yun said.  Contract signings in the South, the nation's biggest home-selling region, eased slightly. Pending sales also fell in the Midwest and Northeast, while climbing 3.7% in the West.Pending-homes sales tend to be a leading indicator for previously owned homes, as houses typically go under contract a month or two before they're sold.

The U.S. Mortgage Insurers repeated its commitment for members to work with the Federal Housing Finance Agency to implement VantageScore 4.0.In an Aug. 27 blog post, the group said it welcomed FHFA Director Bill Pulte's announcement permitting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to accept loans using the VantageScore 4.0 algorithm and its members will also be ready to do so "in accordance with the [government-sponsored enterprises] timelines and guidance."Back in July, following Pulte's action, some analysts pondered whether the private mortgage insurers had the willingness, as well as the capabilities, to underwrite policies on loans that used VantageScore 4.0. The GSEs will not purchase mortgages with loan-to-value ratios over 80% without some form of credit enhancement.Back in July, USMI said it and its members were committed to working with the FHFA, the GSEs and others to navigate the operational considerations, in a statement for National Mortgage News.The group's own data found that approximately 800,000 conforming mortgage borrowers in 2024 needed private MI as a credit enhancement.VantageScore touts its model as being able to score more consumers than Classic FICO, until recently the only algorithm the GSEs would accept."The market is moving quickly to implement VantageScore 4.0 as directed by Director Pulte, and we look forward to assisting the mortgage insurers in any way possible," a statement from a VantageScore spokesperson said.In a 2024 USMI survey, "an imperfect credit history was cited by 20% of respondents as one of the biggest challenges that potential homebuyers face", the blog said."Including rental payment data could be consequential for prospective homebuyers seeking to put down roots and begin building equity, and modernized credit scores that include trended data can enhance the assessment of risk," the post continued.Like VantageScore 4.0, FICO 10T also allows for trended data in its model. FHFA says while it is an approved model for future use, only Classic FICO and VantageScore 4.0 are allowed to score mortgages sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."Pursuant to Director Pulte's announcement, USMI members will continue to actively work with the GSEs and update technology systems to implement this lender-choice credit score policy. USMI and its members support modernizing credit score models and will be ready to accept loans with VantageScore 4.0 credit scores in partnership with the GSEs," the conclusion of the blog post said.

William Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.Bloomberg News WASHINGTON — The Federal Housing Finance Agency, led by Bill Pulte, took an unusual step by reducing the number of Federal Home Loan Bank board director seats at most of the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks, with the steepest reductions at institutions located in heavily-Democratic cities. In doing so, the Trump administration is quietly shaping the direction of the institutions that have grown to be important backstops of liquidity for banks across the country. The FHLB board members steer the direction of the FHLBanks, including in selecting the FHLB CEO. Pulte has emerged as a particularly aggressive and divisive figure in the Trump administration, especially with respect to personnel that impact key economic and financial policy. He recently submitted a criminal referral to the Department of Justice for Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook related to allegations of mortgage fraud, alleging that Cook claimed two homes as primary residences on separate mortgage applications prior to her joining the Fed board. Pulte had already made similar allegations against New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.Trump sent Cook a letter saying he was terminating her from the Board on Monday, though Cook is expected to challenge the termination in court. That suit is expected to have profound effects on the central bank's future independence from the White House.Kathryn Judge, a law professor at Columbia Law School, said Pulte's moves against Cook and the reduced number of FHLBank directors should be viewed as part of a broader push to unseat Democrats or perceived opponents of the administration.    "This is an unusual move, and it's coming at a time and from an administration that is aggressively using its authority to restructure much of government and pushing constitutional bounds," said Kathryn Judge, a law professor at Columbia  who studies financial regulation. "So this move should not be seen in isolation." Pulte issued an order earlier this summer designating new board structures for 2026 that will downsize the governing bodies of 9 of 11 of the Federal Home Loan Banks, according to a document viewed by American Banker. The most dramatic cuts come in Democrat-leaning cities — areas where the Trump administration has threatened to send National Guard troops to quell purported crime problems. The Federal Home Loan Banks of New York, Chicago and San Francisco all face the steepest reductions in board size, with the FHFA eliminating four seats on each banks' boards. The San Francisco bank would have only nine board members, the smallest number of any of the institutions. The FHLB statute says that the banks  should have a board of 13 members, "or such other number as the Director may determine."Reducing the size of the FHLBank boards is an issue that has some measure of bipartisan support. Not only have some Republicans raised concerns about the compensation and size of the boards, progressive policymakers have long called for reforms to the system. "A charitable reading is that these boards have gotten big and bloated," said Aaron Klein, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "Which is not good from a corporate governance standpoint, and it's a way in which the Home Loan Banks have suddenly extended their power and reach." But Pulte's involvement complicates the issue. "Gutting the boards will reduce their political clout and presumably increase their bottom line a little bit," Klein said. "So the question becomes, why were the specific people targeted? This is one where Pulte's reputation has suffered of being the President's attack dog going after his enemies list on the Fed has lost him the benefit of the doubt in his real regulatory job." Most of the banks have 14 directors under the new FHFA order, made up of eight "member" seats, or those that represent FHLB member institutions, and six independent seats. The San Francisco FHLB is the only institution that falls below that threshold. The FHFA did not reduce any seats at just two of the 11 FHLBs: The Federal Home Loan Banks of Atlanta and Des Moines. The restructuring comes as the Trump administration has moved aggressively to reshape federal agencies and push constitutional boundaries in various arenas, including the Fed. Senate Republicans have previously taken aim at the FHLB of San Francisco in particular. In a letter addressed to Pulte, Republicans including Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., asked Pulte about FHLBank of San Francisco allegedly agreeing "to make a multimillion-dollar payment to a former Biden political appointee who had worked there only for a few months as part of a separation agreement," apparently referring to former Ginnie Mae President Alanna McCargo. McCargo became president of the bank in May 2024 and resigned at the end of January.The FHFA order does not say the names of the directors whose positions will be eliminated, but it does spell out seats that will not be filled. For many, there is only one person occupying the designated time slots. Only the FHLBank of Topeka spelled out the names of the directors whose positions will be eliminated in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The FHLBank's board of directors, according to the 8K filed with the SEC, determined that the Oklahoma member directorship held by Gregg Vandaveer, the Chairman of Sooner State Bank, and the independent directorship held by Carla Pratt, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma who writes about inequity, diversity and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, would be eliminated as of December 31, 2025. One of the Topeka bank's expiring Nebraska member directorships, held by Michael Jacobson, will also not be filled in the 2025 director election, the bank said. Jacobson is a Nebraska state legislator in the Republican party who was appointed to his term in the legislature by then-Gov. Pete Ricketts, who now serves as a U.S. senator from Nebraska and is on the Senate Banking Committee. Who the other directorship eliminations affect is not as easy to figure out. In some cases, the FHFA says that the FHLB must eliminate a seat that could include two or more current board directors. In those cases, it will be up to the FHLB boards to suss out who stays and who goes. Judge said that there may not be anything nefarious in reducing or increasing the number of FHLB board seats, but how those reductions play out and who is affected will elucidate the impact that the reductions might have on those individuals and the banks' credibility."The board size itself is not a magic number," Judge said. "The real question is who is allowed to continue to serve, who is removed." 

Mortgage originations increased in the second quarter led by a boost in refinances, but the numbers show signs of the challenges the housing market still presents to lenders, according to new findings from Attom. Total origination volume between April and July clocked in at 1.76 million transactions, jumping 19.4% from the first quarter's 1.47 million, the real estate data provider reported. On a year-over-year basis, activity increased 6.3% from 1.65 million, marking the first upturn for a second quarter since 2021.  On a dollar basis, the second-quarter total rose to $601.7 billion, reflecting growth of 22.8% from $490 million three months earlier and 10.3% from the $545.7 billion reported a year ago. Despite the positive numbers, they don't yet signify a breakthrough for a still-sluggish housing market, Attom said. "Mortgage activity perked up a bit in the second quarter, but it's not a clear signal that the market has turned a corner," said CEO Rob Barber in a press release.Lagging purchase numbers underscored some of  the business pressure lenders are still seeing, with originations dropping 5.3% compared to a year ago to 758,364 loans. On a quarterly basis, though, purchases grew 23.7%. Purchase dollar volume for the period came in at approximately $309 billion. On the other hand, refinance transactions drove much of the industry's upswing, with borrowers taking advantage of periodic rate dips to drive lending activity, especially in the latter stages of the quarter. Refis surged from both the first quarter and a year ago by 16.4% and 23.8%, respectively, to 689,217 originations. The dollar total came out to $232.8 billion.  "The increase in purchase and refinance activity reflects some buyer and homeowner response to marginal rate improvements, but underlying affordability and economic uncertainty continue to hold the market in check. This was a typical spring bounce, not yet a breakout," Barber said. . Dampening purchase demand are current home-price levels and economic worries that leave many buyers hesitant to enter the market. That, in turn, has led some prospective sellers to hold back on listing, Redfin reported this week. The effect has kept prices elevated even with the reduced buyer interest, the real estate brokerage said.Redfin's data showed the median home sales price in July clocked in at $434,189 — the highest on record for that month. Government lending, HELOCs also post higher numbersHelping to fuel overall growth were originations of Federal Housing Administration- and Department of Veterans Affairs-guaranteed loans, which also picked up in the second quarter, Attom reported. Total FHA-backed originations came in at 250,683. FHA volume increased 7.4% from the previous quarter and 10.6% on an annual basis.     Meanwhile, lenders originated 100,628 VA-guaranteed mortgages, up 24.1% quarter over quarter and 21% from 12 months earlier.With mortgage rates still more than double their levels from three years ago and settled in a 50 basis point range for much of 2025, lenders have turned some of their recent attention to home equity lending. Originations of home equity lines of credit rose to 307,046 in 2025's second quarter, rising 18.2% from the previous three months and 4.7% one year earlier.