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The mortgage industry is up in arms about price increases for credit score pulls."By now, half the mortgage industry has seen the proposed increases for accessing consumer credit," a LinkedIn post from NFM Lending Managing Director Greg Sher said. "It's anywhere from 40-100% - this is on the heels of 700% increases over the past few years."Bob Broeksmit, the president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association also commented on LinkedIn as well as in a statement.He reiterated his call for mortgage lenders to be allowed to use a single repository report rather than the current standard of a tri-merge.Time to end the tri-merge"Today's news only strengthens our call to move away from the tri-merge credit report structure," Broeksmit said in the statement Friday. "Single-file reports are used safely in nearly every other consumer finance market, and extending them into the mortgage market would provide price relief for American homebuyers by injecting real competition, lowering closing costs, and streamlining the mortgage process, all without compromising sound risk management."His LinkedIn post was more direct, stating that when he first heard the news, he hoped it was April Fool's Day, but instead it felt more like Groundhog Day, the latter a reference to the Bill Murray movie where he played a weatherman experiencing Feb. 2 over and over again.When did credit score prices first rise?In late 2022, FICO announced plans to segment its customer base into three tiers based on volume, with the largest grouping receiving a 400% price hike for 2023.A year later, the tier price plan was scrapped but all lenders once again had a rise in costs, which one anonymous stakeholder said pushed those up by between $2.50 and $3.While FICO sets the royalty price to the credit bureau for its scores, the retail price and credit file data pricing is set by those bureaus, which FICO does not control, a company spokesperson said in a statement."If lenders experience cost increases for credit in 2026, it will be a result of the bureaus increasing costs of the credit file data (regardless of what they call it or their attempts to characterize their data fees) to compensate for the lost revenue they previously received as distributors of the FICO Score," the spokesperson continued. "The credit bureaus were charging on average a 100% markup on the FICO product, an increase not seen in any other market. It should be noted, they could do this because of the lack of competition in credit reports in the conforming mortgage market."In October, FICO announced a program that will allow mortgage resellers to bypass the three bureaus to deliver scores directly to lenders, which it claimed would bring down costs.The Consumer Data Industry Association termed the direct license program as "another price increase."The current state of credit score modernizationWhen credit score modernization was rolled out by the Biden Administration, then-Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Sandra Thompson proposed a bi-merge report, requiring two pulls using both FICO and Vantagescore.When revamped by the current director, Bill Pulte in July, the immediate use of Vantagescore 4.0 was allowed, but Classic FICO was maintained for use; the updated 10T score is not available for conforming loans at this time.Pulte also restored the tri-merge requirement.Weeks before the Pulte announcement, in June, Broeksmit first called for going to a single pull, using just one of the three repositories — Equifax, Experian and Transunion — to generate a score. At the time Broeksmit said any gaps in coverage between the three appear to have been closed, although some have disputed that.Further adding fuel to this fire is that those three repositories are the joint owners of the parent of Vantagescore.The bureaus have not provided transparency on how they price their data, the FICO spokesperson said."Selective transparency, disclosing pricing of their Vantagescore, and renaming the credit file data bundles, while keeping the true elements and pricing of their product and services hidden, doesn't serve lenders, borrowers, or the mortgage ecosystem," the spokesperson continued. "True transparency must apply to both credit scores and credit data."Meanwhile the credit bureaus will also be dealing with the financial fallout from the trigger leads ban set to go into effect next March.CHLA says this is not the last of the price hikesThe Community Home Lenders of America, which represents independent mortgage bankers, agrees with a lot of Broeksmit's comments, said Rob Zimmer, head of external affairs.But the whole chain of increases started with that 2022 price raise by Fair Isaac. This is not likely the end, either. "CHLA today is saying this will happen again in 12 months," Zimmer said.In May, after Pulte made an X post about FICO, CHLA recommended the director take a series of steps to address the rising credit report prices:Establish a task force to review the issueFreeze current pricing and ban further increasesAccelerate plans to allow use of competitor Vantagescore  Mandate release of historical FICO data for comparisons to other scoresMake references to required scores generic rather than specific to FICO or Fair IsaacDirect the GSEs to create more competition via new units that measure creditworthinessBroeksmit said his trade group will redouble its efforts on Capitol Hill to get a legislative solution."MBA once again urges lawmakers and federal housing regulators, as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission, to end the government's involvement in driving up these consumer credit transaction costs," his statement ended.

Bloomberg News What's at Stake: The court filing comes after Vought said last week that he will not request funding for the CFPB and that the agency will run out of the money in early 2026.Key Insight: The district court issued a broad preliminary injunction in March that prohibited the Trump administration from mass firings and canceling contracts, among other issues.Expert Quote: "The plaintiffs therefore seek this Court's clarification that the defendants may not justify a violation of the preliminary injunction by refusing to request that funding," – Jennifer D. Bennett, an attorney at Gupta Wessler LLC  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's union has asked a district court to rule on whether the agency's acting director, Russell Vought, violated a preliminary injunction by refusing to seek funding for the bureau. Vought has said that the CFPB is likely to run out of money in early 2026, and that the language in the Dodd-Frank Act prohibits him from requesting funding for the CFPB from the Federal Reserve System. On Sunday, the National Treasury Employees Union filed a motion seeking clarification from Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Jackson issued a broad preliminary injunction in March that banned the Trump administration from mass layoffs and prohibits firings except for cause. "Because the defendants have announced that they intend to stop complying with the Court's injunction, clarification is appropriate," the NTEU's attorney Jennifer D. Bennett stated in the three-page motion. Though a panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the injunction in August and allowed the CFPB to conduct mass firings, the preliminary injunction remains in effect while the court considers the union's appeal. The situation is fluid because the appeals court could rule any day now on whether to rehear the case. Vought has taken a novel interpretation of the statute governing the CFPB's funding in the Dodd-Frank Act. Last week the CFPB also informed the court that the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel had determined that the CFPB may not legally request funding because the Federal Reserve is not profitable.  In the union's motion to clarify, Bennett wrote that "neither the CFPB, the Federal Reserve, nor any court has ever adopted," the view. "The Federal Reserve has billions of dollars in 'combined earnings,' so there is no basis for the defendants' assertion that it lacks 'earnings' to fund the CFPB," the motion reads. Vought, who also heads the Trump administration's Office of Management and Budget, has been vocal in saying he intends to shut down the CFPB. Though only Congress has the authority to shut an agency, the CFPB has become a crucial test of the limits of President Trump's power.Last week at an all-hands meeting, the CFPB's acting director of enforcement told staff that all of the CFPB's active litigation would be transferred to the Justice Department along with work done by the legal division. Enforcement attorneys were told they may be furloughed because the CFPB is going to run out of money by year-end, according to several people on the call. At issue before the district court is whether the recent actions violate the March injunction.  Vought, a key architect of Project 2025, the conservative policy blueprint for overhauling the federal government, was sued in February by the NTEU and several consumer groups that claimed the Trump administration was dismantling the CFPB without authorization from Congress. The groups include the National Consumer Law Center, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Virginia Poverty Law Center, Ted Steege, and the CFPB Employee Association.Vought also had notified the court last week that the CFPB "anticipates … exhausting its currently available funds in early 2026." He refused to request additional funding from the Federal Reserve, which the union stated needs to be addressed to "ensure the Bureau's continued operation in compliance with this Court's preliminary injunction."Notably, in a separate case on Friday, a Rhode Island district court found that the Trump administration cannot dismantle federal agencies responsible for, among other things, funding museums and libraries, mediating labor disputes, supporting minority-owned businesses, and preventing and ending homelessness. In that Rhode Island case, the district court addressed a similar question regarding how wide a berth the executive branch may be given in interpreting a Congressional statute. In that case, the district court ruled that the administration overstepped those bounds. The Rhode Island district court ruled in favor of 21 states that had sued the Trump administration and the court determined that the Trump administration "acted without constitutional or statutory authority," and it issued a permanent injunction to stop the administration from dismantling federal agencies.

The rally that powered the US bond market toward its best year since 2020 has now left investors in suspense to see whether Treasuries can hold their impressive gains.US 10-year yields declined last week, sending the benchmark back toward 4% as spasms in stocks and crypto sparked demand for bonds. Fresh commentary from John Williams, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, added to the bid, reviving expectations for an interest-rate cut next month. READ MORE: Mortgage rates likely to remain stable for the rest of 2025Heading into the Thanksgiving holiday-shortened week, the benchmark Bloomberg Treasuries index is on track for a small gain in November after rising in eight of the prior 10 months. And yet, while the tone is still generally upbeat, the market is mired below October's price highs and yields are range-bound. Absent a fresh bout of risk-off buying, and with no major economic data to speak of until after the Fed's December meeting, that's likely how things will stay for the foreseeable future, market watchers say. The 10-year yield was two basis points lower at 4.05% on Monday. "For a meaningful rally, the market is going to need some hard data," said Kathy Jones, chief fixed-income strategist at Charles Schwab.READ MORE: Fed's Miran: Banks should hold more Treasuries, less reservesThe $30 trillion US bond market has been confined to a trading band in recent weeks as a lack of clear signals on jobs and inflation — complicated in part by distortions from the recent government shutdown — divided Fed policymakers and made a third consecutive rate cut less of a sure thing."Certainly there's no catalyst for the 10-year to go below 4% again," said Kevin Flanagan, head of fixed income strategy at WisdomTree. Across the yield curve, Treasuries are "stuck in the mud," he added.The lack of conviction is showing up in a measure of bond market volatility. Market swings remain near historical lows after picking up from last month's four-year low.Official US employment data for September was finally released on Thursday, but it revealed a mixed picture that did little to settle the debate about the central bank's likely path. On Friday, though, odds for a December cut climbed back near 65% after New York Fed President Williams said he sees room to lower interest rates in the near term as the labor market softens.Ahead of Williams' remarks, Michael Feroli, the chief US economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co., changed his call for a rate cut next month, citing the jobs numbers. He expects the Fed to skip a reduction in December, but sees cuts in January and May.Still, economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. expect a rate cut next month, followed by two more reductions in March and June. "The risks for next year are tilted toward more cuts," Jan Hatzius, the US bank's chief economist, wrote in a client note. "The news on underlying inflation has been favorable and the deterioration in the job market — especially for college-educated workers — might be difficult to contain via the modest cyclical growth acceleration we expect," he said.Making matters trickier however, the government scrapped reports on October jobs and consumer prices, owing to the shutdown. November figures won't be released until after policymakers meet in mid-December.Several Fed officials urged caution about additional cuts before Williams spoke. Fed Governor Michael Barr said the US central bank needs to proceed with caution in considering additional interest-rate cuts. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee signaled that he's still apprehensive about delivering another rate cut next month. To be sure, zooming out, investors remain optimistic that the Fed will eventually lower rates over the next year to about 3% from just under 4% today, which would favor bonds. Net-long positions are holding near their highest level since April, according to the latest JPMorgan Chase survey, which came out before the release of the September employment report.The lack of near-term data clarity, bond bulls say, merely delays, rather than derails, the Fed's easing cycle as the labor market continues to cool. Traders are fully pricing in a quarter-point cut at the January meeting and 0.9 percentage points of easing over the next 12 months."If the Fed does not cut in December, we think it is likely they counterbalance that decision with a somewhat dovish message that leaves open the potential to reduce rates in January," Deutsche Bank's economists, including Matthew Luzzetti, wrote in a note. "In this way, December and January could be viewed somewhat interchangeably for the Committee at this point."A further selloff in equities could be a tailwind for bonds, prompting a flight to safety, according to Kelsey Berro, executive director for fixed income at JPMorgan Asset Management. The S&P 500 has fallen about 5% from its October peak amid concerns about a hawkish Fed and lofty valuations.Otherwise, with no major catalyst on the immediate horizon, there's scant incentive to go bold.George Goncalves, head of US macro strategy at MUFG Securities Americas Inc., said he expects a Fed cut next month and a small rally in Treasuries by year-end, with more gains for US bonds expected next year as the central bank continues its reduction cycle. But for now, the proximity of year-end makes it hard to have "enough conviction to put on trades that matter." 

Whether they take photos, change locks or serve legal documents, mortgage inspectors and other field personnel need to plan for unexpected and dangerous situations on the job. The nature of the work means personal security can't be compromised. "I've been in this game for a while now, and I totally agree that safety is No. 1 priority," said Jaylana Hinson, a commercial and former residential field inspector, whose experience includes field work in Connecticut, Georgia and Florida. "In mortgage segments, just based on my experience, I know it can be dangerous out there, and this was years ago. I can just imagine what it looks like now," continued Hinson, who estimated that she might have visited several dozen properties on any given day during the height of the Great Financial Crisis. Even though they are aware that assignments can be fraught with different types of challenges, many like Hinson were left particularly shaken after the mid October incident in Northern Virginia that led to the shooting and death of one of their peers. Contractor Michael Dodge had been assigned to change locks on what was supposedly a vacant foreclosed home when he encountered an individual on the premises who attacked and killed him. The event highlighted the type of risks field workers face on their rounds, throwing the difficulties of encounters into the spotlight.  "My contractors — I had one actually held at gunpoint and all of their equipment stolen from them a couple years ago," said Talia Ramirez, president of field services provider Spectrum Solutions. "I do believe it has gotten more dangerous. I didn't used to hear stories like this in the field." It's why the businesses like Spectrum place safety first, Ramirez continued."One thing about us and a lot of our competitors is we will never take a job where we're being forced to put our contractor in harm's way. We always tell our contractors, 'If you approach your property and it doesn't feel safe, don't approach it. Drive away.' We never want something to happen to them."Often, as was the case in Northern Virginia incident per news reports, the potential threats don't come from homeowners themselves, especially in situations where vacant units are involved. "We never know what we're walking into," Hinson said. "I've run into situations where the home was not secured. I've run into situations where the home appears to be secured — the door's locked, bars on windows. I go inside and there are squatters."About the mortgage field services employeeMortgage field services personnel consist almost entirely of independent freelance or contract employees who operate in a model that some compare to the gig-work economy. Assignments range from capturing internal or external photos to occupancy checks, preservation work or tasks requiring personal contact, such as legal process servers.  "It's a range of folks that might not have any kind of license, all the way down to Realtors, appraisers, home inspectors," said Luke Tomaszewski, founder and CEO of Proxypics, a real estate technology platform that provides photos to servicers and valuation companies, about his contract employees. "Some of our clients do request somebody that might have a state credential," he added.Certain types of contractors, such as legal process servers, may also be mandated to hold licenses per state or local regulations. While field service companies might have salaried personnel who can perform the occasional inspection or site visit, the reliance on contractors is tied to the unpredictability of the work, where demand varies by season or region. The varied types of assignments makes local knowledge crucial to performing the job well. "You have to know the local ordinance," Ramirez said. "You want the guys on the ground living in those areas that know the local ordinances, know the laws, know the rules, so we can make sure that we're always following them."Local inspectors or process servers tend to know the local rules that shape what they can disclose and whether they're allowed to record or document a meeting, and their familiarity with the community helps them recognize when extra vigilance is needed.During the height of the Great Financial Crisis, many neighborhoods had scores of foreclosed homes. "You'd have to get out to those properties early in the morning, say a 6, 7 a.m. inspection, so you could avoid potential headaches," according to Tomaszewski. "If the servers know where they're going, they know which parts of town are going to be rough and which parts of town are not," added mortgage industry veteran Bill Newland, who is now vice president, business development, at 360 Legal, a firm providing official document delivery across various industries.Understanding a community's culture and routines, combined with investigative work, also can help servers get a step ahead of individuals they need to reach.In a past instance, a contractor was able to serve papers to an individual trying to dodge him by approaching him at church, Newland said. "Being around a bunch of people — that makes it a little bit safer, because you got a whole lot of people around. Typically, people won't act out at that time," he said. Whether they occur by plan or chance, interactions between current struggling borrowers and field employees may turn unpleasant, but housing leaders well versed in working with distressed homeowners stress that avoidance and highly charged situations involving the latter group are not typically fueled by outright hostility. "I think there's a mix of emotions," said Heather Bowman, director of homebuyer education programs at the Idaho Housing and Finance Association, a federally approved housing counseling agency. "They've gotten their notifications from their servicers but maybe they're scared to talk to them, they're afraid of telling their story."  Helping borrowers understand loss assistance measures servicers provide before a mortgage gets to latter stages of delinquency can ease some of the burden on homeowners, who may see the bearer of bad news as an adversary.  "They want to work with them and see what options are available to help them," Bowman said, referring to servicers. "Really, education is the key to helping homeowners in those situations."How field staff can best prepare themselvesWhile local expertise can help them handle or avoid difficult situations, other guidance and training are available to field staff, leaders advise.  Wearing bright colors, name tags or clothing with company logos on them can add a look of professionalism that would lead residents or onlookers to believe that "you're not someone that's just randomly breaking into a home," Ramirez said. At Proxypics, contractors who perform interior inspection assignments are required to complete internal training, Tomaszewski said. The trade group National Asset Management and Field Services also makes safety training videos available to its members. "If I go in the field, I never go alone," Ramirez added. "We highly encourage our contractors to have someone else with them," she continued, while acknowledging that what is classified as allowable expenses by government agencies and enterprises limits how much companies can pay for personnel.While working in teams is a good safety precaution, it's not common practice, Hinson said.  "Some people are taking their partner with them because they want to be safe, but for the most part, from my experience, most people are doing it solo," Hinson added. She emphasized, though, that those working alone should always keep others informed of their location, which can become difficult when trying to complete several assignments in a day. Some legal process servers go as far to use GPS-location trackers that show where they are visiting according to Newland. "People should always know where you are," Hinson said. The different challenges of urban and rural field workDistressed properties have no boundaries, which also can add wrinkles to the work being conducted, simply based on a home's location, industry leaders advise. Neighborhoods in cities with a high number of foreclosed properties may have been struggling to begin with, and the flight of residents only exacerbates safety and crime concerns.  "We would have instances where you'd request a police escort in some neighborhoods to actually get into the house," Tomaszewski said.Meanwhile, rural work often requires long drives to remote properties where the nearest neighbor could be miles away, highlighting some of the perils of solo inspections. "There was a long driveway, and I get to the house that was supposed to be vacant," Hinson described a past rural property visit. "I get to the house and there's a pitbull inside, and somebody was in the house. And I was by myself" At that point, Hinson elected to promptly leave the scene. Rural assignments also carry risks of trespassing violations that jobs in large population centers might not, which make task completion impractical if not impossible, Ramirez pointed out. "What we run into a lot in rural areas is plotline issues where you have to go through the neighbor's road to get to the house behind it," she said. While the neighbor might have been fine with the former resident crossing through, "now some random person going to do a lock change and preservation work — they don't want them driving through." Regardless of where a supposedly empty property might be found or its condition, employee safety should be a priority for any business that asks an individual to enter the space, no matter what type of company they work for, Ramirez emphasized. The range of people requiring access could range from utility company employees, cleaners to real estate agents. "Anyone going into a property — they've just been sent to an address. You're putting yourself in harm's way," Ramirez said. 

New securitizations of loans made outside the qualified mortgage definition set multiple records in the third quarter, according to a recent Morningstar DBRS report.The study, which analyzes data from CreditFlow, shows issuance of non-QM residential mortgage-backed securities climbed to $20.9 billion in the third quarter from $10.6 billion during the same period a year ago based on pricing information. Non-QM RMBS issuance had clocked in at around $17 billion based on pricing data in the second quarter.This year's volume through the end of September exceeded that of last year as a whole at $52 billion compared with $41 billion in 2024. September's $8.5 billion marked a record for a single month, according to the rating agency. Broader trends in the mortgage industryGrowth looks likely to persist with larger lenders showing more interest in getting involved in the sector as long demand continues. Notable examples of this include PHH Mortgage's introduction of a new non-QM suite and Rocket's recent launch of debt-service coverage ratio products."Origination volumes in the broader conventional mortgage space were similar to volumes in the same period last year while non-QM and other nonconventional product volumes continued to accelerate," authors Mark Fontanilla, Mark Branton, Corina Gonzalez and Quincy Tang wrote.The report also notes that non-QM has relatively higher delinquency rates than other RMBS types. So stakeholders may want to keep an eye on performance risk that's still historically low but is rising for some vintages.What non-QM performance and underwriting have been likeThe average 30-year delinquency rate for all 2019-2025 prime jumbo and non-QM vintages inclusive of bankruptcies, foreclosures and real-estate owned was 3.63%, Recursion and MBSData in the report show. For non-QM, the delinquency rate was 5.66% for the same period.Delinquencies in older vintages up to 2022 have been decelerating while they are accelerating at a relatively faster rate in the 2023-2024 loans, likely driven by a slight rise in historically low unemployment rates and flatter home prices.Weighted-average underwriting indicators include loan-to-value ratio of 69.9% and an average FICO credit score of 747. Debt-to-income ratios for the sector are "in the low to mid-30 range," according to the study. Most non-QM loans still have fixed rates. The adjustable-rate mortgage share, while low at 5.5%, has been growing, according to the report.

Home prices continue to tick up in all price ranges across the country, but none saw more significant change than luxury homes, which hit a record high for the month of October this year.Luxury home prices in the United States rose 5.5% year over year to a median $1.28 million, according to a new report from Redfin. That's roughly three times higher than nonluxury prices, which increased 1.8% to $373,249.Price growth at the high end has outpaced the middle of the market for the last two years, as wealthy buyers are more equipped to withstand the price pressures of the current market."Luxury buyers are still able to move forward in ways that many typical buyers can't right now, whether that's because they're paying in cash, benefiting from stock-market gains, or taking out smaller loans," said Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari in a press release Friday. "Those advantages make them less sensitive to high mortgage rates, which helps keep demand at the top of the market steadier," he added. "In contrast, a lot of middle-income buyers are holding off until monthly payments come down or their financial outlook improves."Luxury homes are those estimated to be in their top 5% of their metro area's price range. Nonluxury homes fall in the 35th-65th percentile, the report said.Despite the sharp rise in prices, luxury sales were up 2.9% year over year and nonluxury sales climbed 0.7%, although both were still close to decade-low levels.Pending sales also grew for luxury and nonluxury homes, increasing 2.1% and 1.4% from last year, respectively."The luxury market has been a little more protected over the past year, compared to non-luxury or starter homes," said Jonathan Buch, a Redfin Premier Agent in West Palm Beach, Florida, in the release. "Affordability challenges have made it more difficult to sell homes priced under $800,000, but high-end properties are still moving."While affordability issues persist, the situation improved for the fifth consecutive month in October on the back of year-low mortgage rates, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.As a result of the high prices and relatively low sales, nonluxury home inventory rose 9.5% year over year, the highest level since October 2019, compared to a 6.4% jump to a five-year high for luxury homes. New listings of luxury homes were up 2.3% from a year ago, while nonluxury homes dropped 1.7%. Still, the number of homes for sale in both categories remain well below prepandemic levels.Higher prices have also made buyers more selective, and thus homes are selling slower. The typical luxury and nonluxury home took six days longer to sell compared to a year ago, at 58 days and 45 days, respectively.Early-contract activity slowed as well, with the share of luxury listings going under contract within two weeks falling 0.6 percentage points from last year to 26.7%. The share of non-luxury homes going under contract in less than two weeks decreased 2.9 percentage points to 31.3%, the report said.Regionally, Midwest metro areas saw the largest price hikes, with Warren, Michigan, and Milwaukee experiencing 14.9% and 13.5% increases, respectively. The only declines were in Tampa, Florida, 2.9%, and Oakland, California, 2.4%.Sales rose the most in Nashville, Tennessee, 20.3%, and fell the most in Philadelphia, 15.4%.

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.

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."

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)

Al Drago/Bloomberg Key Insight: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new "Humility Pledge" is mandated for all supervisory examiners, with a focus on pressing threats to consumers, particularly service members and veterans. What's at Stake: The CFPB said it wants to avoid duplication of supervision with state regulators and reduce the 8-week exam cycle.  Expert Quote: "Starting today, Supervision Division Examiners will be reading a 'Humility Pledge' to each supervised entity before conducting exams," the bureau said.The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it is requiring supervisory examiners to take a new 'humility pledge,' which must be read out loud to examined institutions before conducting exams.On Friday, the CFPB sent a copy of the 'humility pledge' in an emailed press release and immediately received pushback from current and former CFPB officials. The CFPB described supervision under former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra as "thuggery" and a "weaponized arm of the CFPB." "Starting today, Supervision Division Examiners will be reading a 'Humility Pledge' to each supervised entity before conducting exams," the bureau said in the emailed release. "Where these exams were previously done with unnecessary personnel, outrageous travel expenses, and with the thuggery pervasive in prior leadership, they will now be done respectfully, promptly, professionally, and under budget."Of major interest to banks, the CFPB pledge states that the agency will "avoid, where possible, duplication of supervision, where States or other regulators are already doing that job."To be sure, the CFPB has not conducted any supervisory or enforcement exams this year, according to several lawyers that represent banks and the bureau's union. Moreover, lawyers representing financial firms said it is unclear that acting CFPB Director Russel Vought has said the CFPB will likely run out of money by year-end and he hopes to shut the agency down.Current and former CFPB employees said the oath was one way for the Trump administration to get employees to resign. Vought has broadcast that his goal is to terrorize federal employees. The CFPB's union sued him in February and a district court issued a preliminary injunction in March prohibiting mass layoffs. However, an appeals court ruled that Vought can lay off up to 90% of the bureau's staff, though that ruling is on appeal. Going forward, the CFPB said it will focus its supervision resources "on pressing threats to consumers, particularly service members and their families, and veterans, and in the areas that are clearly within the Bureau's statutory authority." Joann Needleman, a member of the law firm Clark Hill, said industry clients are questioning whether there will be any exams next year.  "My experience in the last two years was that the CFPB examiners were more than accommodating," she said. "I had no issues with examiners."As part of its criticisms of the Biden-era agency, the bureau said it will no longer ask supervised banks for "expansive data sets or other information which may seem unrelated to the exam or include information inconsistent with Bureau priorities."Supervisory examiners, the bureau said, will no longer "ask invasive and irrelevant questions, demanding expansive information they do not need." The one-page pledge says the 2026 examination cycle "is going to be fundamentally different from the prior ones under the former Director Chopra." For example, exam times will be cut from the current eight weeks, and examiners "will be encouraged and incentivized to complete the work promptly and under budget."The CFPB's press release referred to a former supervision director, Lorelei Salas, as a "former Soros activist," a reference to billionaire investor and Democratic Party stalwart George Soros, long a target for the Republican base. "Today, the CFPB made changes to how the Supervision Division conducts exams," the emailed release said. "Previously, under the leadership of Director Chopra and Biden's Director of Supervision Lorelei Salas, a former Soros activist who was put on leave in February 2025, this division was the weaponized arm of the CFPB."Tyler Creighton, a CFPB union member, called the pledge and press release "incredibly disrespectful." "Supervision's workers have always conducted examinations professionally, efficiently, conscientiously, and with a focus on remedying consumer harm," he said. "We will continue to do so, just as soon as Donald Trump and Russell Vought end the nearly 10-month suspension of examinations and let us get back to work for the American people."Mike Pierce, executive director at Protect Borrowers, an advocacy group for student loan borrowers, and a former CFPB senior advisor, said the intent of the pledge appears to be to embarrass CFPB staff. "The only people they're embarrassing are themselves," Pierce said. "If anyone should be taking a humility pledge, it's Russell Vought and his team of minions at the CFPB, who have intentionally put the watchdog on ice while the economy crumbles around them."