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The conservator of two government-sponsored enterprises that buy and securitize many mortgages originated in the United States said he's arranged some unusual talks between them to get their input on deregulation."In following President Trump's deregulation mandate, I ordered the executives of Fannie and Freddie to meet and provide me [with] regulatory changes," Bill Pulte, director of the renamed Federal Housing Finance Agency said in an X post on Thursday. "To my surprise, they hadn't been allowed to talk, despite being heavily regulated together."Pulte, who has rebranded the FHFA as U.S. Federal Housing, said there'll be "more to come" regarding information from those meetings, which he announced amid a flurry of other other activity this week.READ MORE: Pulte pushes Fannie, Freddie to count crypto assetsPulte's comments about his interest in bringing the two enterprises closer together follow an announcement about repositioning their existing joint venture, and may point to further exploration of collaborative reform.As evidenced by their existing JV, other efforts in which the FHFA has asked Fannie and Freddie to work collaboratively and frequent appearances at industry events together, Pulte's statement that Freddie and Fannie haven't "been allowed to talk" could be hyperbole. That said, there's been a distinction between projects they've collaborated on like the joint venture, and the competition between them to get the "best" loans mortgage lenders produce with some differences in criteria and process, so to that degree they have been at odds at times.Is a Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac merger likely?Some pundits say because the GSEs' existing JV was created to put their mortgage securities on equal footing, Pulte could be looking into finding ways to resolve their differences or identify the complementary strengths of each in preparation for a merger."With no real difference in the type of security issued or in price, product or service, or in business model, why should they be allowed to stay separate?" Clifford Rossi, academic director of the University of Maryland's Smith Enterprise Risk Consortium said in commentary earlier this year.Rossi, who also has been risk management executive for the GSEs and a regulator, said in his commentary that Pulte's earlier decision to name himself chairman of both enterprises' boards and the exit of Freddie's CEO without a permanent successor may point to a possible merger.Freddie's president and interim CEO, Michael Hutchins, recently "agreed to extend his tenure in the dual role." But if no permanent successor is named, his tenure as far as serving in both positions could end later this year, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.Fannie Mae CEO Priscilla Almodovar has remained in place through the post-election transition period and Pulte said in late April that he didn't foresee any further executive changes.Why Pulte's statements may not signal a Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac mergerPulte's move to chair both boards has raised some Democratic eyebrows, but others say it's not cause for concern."Under the conservatorship, the boards of the enterprises are not only not independent, they are forbidden from having a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders and have their sole responsibility to the conservator," said National Housing Conference President and CEO David Dworkin."This is why Director Pulte putting himself on both boards and taking on responsibilities of board chairs is really a distinction without a difference. Every FHFA director already had that authority. He's essentially made it more transparent," said Dworkin, who also is a former Treasury official.While Rossi said ending the GSEs' "duopoly" could head off a "race to the bottom" in loan quality as they compete, something NHC has also shown concern about, Dworkin said the enterprises' regulator also will need to be mindful of antitrust laws as it reforms the GSEs.

The potential for mortgage lending fraud accelerated over the past year, with risk related to undisclosed transaction details driving much of the surge, according to Cotality.In its latest report, the real estate data platform found fraud risk was up 7.3% year over year in the first quarter. Risk lessened over time, though, coming in mostly flat from the previous three-month period, with an 0.3% drop. Cotality's mortgage application fraud risk index score finished at 133 at the end of March, according to its quarterly published data. The reading surged from 124 a year earlier.  "While mortgage delinquencies are currently low across the U.S., the market is ripe for an increase in fraud because of the continuing high interest rates, slow housing market and other increasing costs of homeownership like insurance affordability," said Matt Seguin, Cotality senior principal, fraud solutions, in a press release.Of indicator categories tracked, Cotality found elevated risks in income, transaction, occupancy and property data. The largest growth emerged in transaction risk, which jumped 4.6% year over year. Examples of potential transaction-related fraud are hidden sales concessions, an undisclosed pre-existing relationship between buyer and seller or regular instances of home flipping not reported to the lender. "If market conditions continue to challenge sellers, risks like misrepresented down payments, inflated prices and straw buyers could increase dramatically," Seguin added.Property values not aligning to a borrower's age or market also contribute to transaction risk.In the occupancy category, the number of homes designated as a borrower's residence but later listed for rental grew 50% over the previous six months, but other factors brought down the potential for risk in the category overall, Cotality said.  Factors, such as high salaries inconsistent with length of time employed or mismatches with local geographies influenced income risk. Property risk entails higher-than-expected values for homes compared to the surrounding market or being resold in less than a year after its previous sale. Each dollar lost to mortgage-related fraud ended up costing $4.36 to fix the problem in 2023, according to a Lexisnexis Risk Solutions study from last year. Weeding out fraud has emerged as a top agenda item at the Federal Housing Finance Agency in the first few months of Director Bill Pulte's tenure. In April, the FHFA introduced a public fraud tip line for consumers to report suspected incidents but did not reveal who would investigate claims or what would be done with information received. Where fraud risk increased the mostFraud risk grew significantly in several Northeastern U.S. markets, according to Cotality's report. Of the 10 markets with the highest index scores, four were located in the region. The market surrounding Poughkeepsie, New York, landed on top with a reading of 416, with risk potential jumping 37% on an annual basis.Similarly, New Haven, Connecticut, which was in second place, saw risk potential up 30%. Lower on the list was Albany, New York, but the threat of fraud in the state's capital leaped 82%, Cotality said.

Atlantic Union Bankshares in Richmond, Virginia, sold a $2 billion portfolio of commercial real estate loans, completing a task it set for itself in October, when it acquired Sandy Spring Bank.American Banker/John Reosti UPDATE: This article includes a new comment by Atlantic Union.In a deal that closes the loop on its transformative acquisition of Sandy Spring Bank, Atlantic Union Bankshares said it sold $2 billion in performing commercial real estate loans to Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies. The $38 billion-asset Atlantic Union announced its intent to sell a CRE portfolio in October, when it struck its $1.3 billion deal for Sandy Spring. The subsequent loan sale, announced late Thursday, reduces Atlantic Union's CRE exposure while providing the means to pay down high-cost funding and add to the securities book.  John AsburyAmerican Bankers Association The episode "is another proof point of Atlantic Union's ability to execute and deliver on transactions that create long-term value for our shareholders," President and CEO John Asbury said in a press release. "[It] reduces our CRE concentration and frees up capacity for potential future growth." The Richmond, Virginia, bank will continue servicing the CRE loans it sold to Blackstone. Retaining servicing rights is crucial because it provides an opportunity to preserve the banking relationships with borrowers and, potentially, make new loans when the existing credits mature, Hovde analyst David Bishop wrote Friday in a research note. Atlantic Union had already marked the CRE portfolio to market, so there was no loss associated with the sale, even though the loans were sold at a discount, according to Bishop. Indeed, the deal might yield a small gain, he wrote. "We view this sale as a major first-step positive," Bishop wrote.Atlantic Union Spokesman Bill Cimino said the sale terms Atlantic Union received were better than it anticipated when it discounted the loans in April. "It shows there's an appetite for these loans among investors," Cimino told American Banker Friday. Banks selling off commercial real estate loans has become a recurrent theme as financial institutions look to limit downside vulnerability to a sector marked  by concerns about retail, multifamily and office vacancy rates. In December, the $62 billion-asset Valley National Bancorp in New York sold a $1 billion CRE portfolio to Brookfield Asset Management. The same month, HomeStreet in Seattle agreed to sell a $990 million CRE portfolio to Bank of America. HomeStreet, the holding company for HomeStreet Bank, later agreed to sell itself to the $16 billion-asset Mechanics Bank in Walnut Creek, California. Blackstone Real Estate Debt Advisors, which originates loans and invests in real estate-related debt for institutional and private investors, has completed several recent transactions involving bank CRE portfolios. In May 2024, Blackstone acquired $1 billion of loans originated by a German bank backed by multifamily, office and hospitality properties in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Five months earlier, in December 2023, Blackstone acquired a 20% stake in a joint venture holding $17 billion of CRE loans originated by the failed Signature Bank.  The Atlantic Union loan sale "demonstrates the breadth of our market-leading platform and deep expertise providing solutions to financial institutions for their commercial real estate portfolios," Tim Johnson, global head of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies, said in a press release. Atlantic Union closed its acquisition of the Olney, Maryland-based Sandy Spring ahead of schedule in April. The deal established the company as the largest regional bank in Maryland and Virginia. With Sandy Spring under its belt, Asbury said the company plans to pivot south and seek growth opportunities in North and South Carolina. "We push south and make the investment in the Carolinas over time. That will be the next big thing," Asbury said in a recent interview with American Banker.

It's a buyer's market, but homeowners are still recouping all-time high sales prices. Sellers are netting an average sales price of $400,266 over the four weeks ending June 22, according to Redfin. That figure is up 1.6% from the same time last year, in a housing market currently beset by near 7% mortgage rates and sluggish activity due to economic uncertainty. Inventory continues to pile up and more sellers could be feeling like they missed their best chance to sell. There's over 1.1 million active listings nationwide, the brokerage reported, and prices are falling in some of the most coveted markets in recent years. "Some homeowners feel they missed the prime selling window; many people who don't need to sell right now are holding off, either staying put or trying to rent out their house," said Kathy Scott, a Redfin premier agent in Phoenix, in a press release. The average asking price is $22,000 higher than the ultimate sales price, the brokerage found. And although buyers have a host of options in the national market, they're still facing median monthly mortgage payments of $2,820 with an average 6.81% rate. Which metros are heating up or cooling down?Redfin recorded the greatest year-over-year sales price growth in Newark, New Jersey, of 6.1%. Other Northeast cities, and snowbird destination Miami, also saw home prices grow around 5% from last spring. Homeowners in hot pandemic-era destinations are watching their values cool off, as home prices in Atlanta, Austin and Tampa all fell 2% or more in the past year. Oakland saw the largest dip in median sales price, fading 4.9% from last June. Pending sales statistics paint an even starker picture of the market's evolution. Imminent sales were down double digits in Houston, Miami, Las Vegas and San Jose, California. Fort Lauderdale, Florida was especially slow, with pending sales dropping 18.6% annually. Conversely, some mid-sized markets across the country saw modest gains in pending sales, led by Dallas (8.6%).Overall demand however could be turning at the summer equinox. Redfin's Homebuyer Demand Index, which tracks tours and other services by the company's agents, ticked up slightly in the past two weeks, and another metric shows house tours heating up faster than last June.

New reports show that the strategies used by three major government-backed mortgage agencies to help delinquent borrowers keep their homes make financial sense for the entities themselves.Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration save billions of dollars over time by giving loans a chance to reperform, Housing Risk and Policy Advisors found in an analysis of data from sources that included Recursion.The study the Housing Policy Council published could play a role in how policymakers view these entities' investments in distressed servicing strategies as officials consider housing entities in budget talks and look at ways to make the public sector more efficient.How the costs of disposition and retention compare"Home retention alternatives are not free for mortgage guarantors by any measure. However retention programs are designed to minimize the losses," HRPA President Khanav Bhagat noted in one of the two new reports.An analysis based on Department of Housing and Urban Development data for a two-decade period that included the Great Financial Crisis suggests home retention saved the FHA $23.2 billion on a net basis after expenses."The resulting reduction in post-intervention default rates and subsequent dispositions more than offset the cost of providing the intervention," Bhagat said in the report.A separate paper devoted solely to Fannie and Freddie estimates the average cost of a disposition is $43,337 per seriously delinquent loan, resulting in net savings of $18,670. When compared to a market-rate loan modification, which costs $38,933, the net savings is $14,266.This also adds up to billions of dollars in savings that grow exponentially during periods like the GFC when distress is more widespread, according to that study."At today's low rates of serious delinquency, the GSE home retention programs will save $1.5 billion by averting 30,000 dispositions," the report said. "Should the serious delinquency rate rise to the COVID-19 pandemic high, the GSEs would save $15.9 billion by averting about 320,000."Exceptions to the rule and getting rate relief right"The savings created by the GSE home retention programs relative to dispositions and market-rate modifications persist unless the mortgage rate quickly rises above 9.5% or loss severity averages a historically low 9%," Bhagat wroteThe loss severity scenario is "unlikely," according to the study, which notes that even during a period when home price appreciation is robust as it was between 2018 and 2024, loss severity was much higher at an average 28%.But ensuring home retention strategies work in all interest rate environments, which Bhagat suggests as a best practice in his broader paper, can be tricky as highlighted by some experiences in the market during the runup in rates that followed the pandemic.The sweet spot where rate cuts maximize reperformance based on their impact on borrowers' monthly obligations should be the goal in designing strategies that work in a broad range of markets, according to the report."Analysis suggests that payment reductions of between 20% and 30% are optimal — payment reductions of less than 20% are often insufficient to reduce redefault rates, while payment reductions beyond 30% have little marginal impact," Bhagat said.

Treasuries fell Friday but remained on course for a third straight weekly gain, with benchmark yields near the lowest levels since early May.Traders squared their positions to start the session, pushing yields up and snapping a five-day rally. Inflation gauges in US economic data were firmer than expected, leading traders to pare bets on interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year to 62 basis points from as high as 65 basis points on Thursday.READ MORE: Mortgage rates slide after FOMC meeting, Iran attackThe yield on the 10-year note was higher by about 3 basis points by mid-morning in New York. Still, the Bloomberg US Treasury index was up on the week and set to close out its best month since February. The advances have been driven by economic data that reinforced wagers on at least two rate cuts this year and speculation President Donald Trump will name a more dovish Fed chief. Fed governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman have also signaled in recent days they'd be open to lowering rates as soon as the next meeting."The market overshot a bit based on Waller and Bowman language and now we're taking some of this risk off into the weekend," said Ed Al-Hussainy, rates strategist at Columbia Threadneedle Investment.The market could well find further support from supply-and-demand factors including Monday's month-end index rebalancing, which has the potential to drive buying, and from a gap in the coupon auction calendar until July 8.READ MORE: May PCE inflation rises to 2.3%, supports Fed cautionTraders, who currently see a less than one in five chance of a July rate cut, will focus on plenty of fresh data next week, topped by the June employment report. The data is released Thursday ahead of the July 4 holiday. Job creation is forecast to ease to 120,000, down from 139,000 the prior month, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The unemployment rate is seen nudging up to 4.3%, and while still contained, such an reading would mark a fresh peak since 2021."There is a little bit of optimism that rate cuts are coming, most of that is driven by governors Waller and Bowman basically referencing that July is in play," Gennadiy Goldberg, head of US rates strategy at TD Securities told Bloomberg TV. He said the rest of the FOMC was split in two camps calling for either two or no rate cuts this year. TD expects the next rate cut to arrive in October as by that stage, the Fed will have enough data on inflation and the jobs market."It is going to be a drift lower in rates, and that's why our year-end forecast for 10-years is 4%," he said.Other tailwinds to Treasuries include proposed US changes to a key capital buffer, which Powell said should bolster banks' roles as intermediaries in the market. Meanwhile, the removal of the Section 899 "revenge tax" proposal that had been worrying Wall Street had little market impact, though it could improve sentiment toward US assets at the margin.READ MORE: First-quarter GDP revised lower; Fed has other data on deckTraders are also monitoring Trump's proposed 'big beautiful bill,' which is nearing a vote in the Senate. It has fueled concerns surrounding the US fiscal deficit, weighing on longer-maturity Treasuries.Wells Fargo strategists see the potential for the spread between US 10-year and 30-year yields to widen to 75 basis points by end-2025, in what they describe as a "fiscal blowout" scenario. The difference in yields is currently around 55 basis points."We expect very long duration bonds to continue lagging their five- and 10-year counterparts," a team led by Michael Schumacher wrote in a note. "The significant relative rise in 30-year yields is due to investor concerns about potential supply."

Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., left, and committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Bloomberg News WASHINGTON — Senate Banking Republicans can go ahead with cuts to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding after the Senate parliamentarian approved nearly halving the amount that the bureau can draw from the Fed's total operating budget. Last week, the Senate parliamentarian nixed GOP lawmakers' attempt to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding in the reconciliation package currently making its way through Congress. Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who acts as a sort of referee for Senate rules, said last week that a provision eliminating the funding that the CFPB could draw from the Fed didn't pass muster. The decision is part of a broader "Byrd Bath" process on the reconciliation bill, where the parliamentarian decides if provisions comply with the Byrd rule, which requires provisions included in spending bills are, at their core, related to spending. The parliamentarian doesn't release her rationale, which makes figuring out why she denied Senate Banking Republicans' initial proposal a matter of speculation. Her decision might suggest that she thought that zeroing out the CFPB's budget that it can draw from the Fed amounted to a policy decision rather than a spending decision, or was otherwise inappropriate to bypass Senate filibuster rules. "I guess the Senate Banking Committee's thinking was that the problem was that their number was zero, and another number would be OK," said Ian Katz, a managing director of Capital Alpha Partners. This latest attempt by Senate Republicans though, which came out in a proposal yesterday, would lower the amount the CFPB can draw from the Fed's operating budget to 6.5% from 12%. That measure passed muster with the parliamentarian. That's a big victory for Republicans, who have long sought to weaken the CFPB. This is the first time one of their attempts at a funding cut has crossed a major hurdle, and opens the door for future cuts. "After working closely with my colleagues on the committee and across the Republican conference, as well as the Senate Parliamentarian, we're in a position to advance legislation that helps deliver on President Trump's mandate to cut waste and duplication in our federal government and save hardworking taxpayer dollars," said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., in a statement. "The committee's language decreases the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) funding cap without affecting the statutory functions of the Bureau."But the issue is still very much a live one as lawmakers head into a vote-o-rama this weekend to try and iron out details to a major reconciliation package, which President Donald Trump has dubbed his "big, beautiful bill." They will have to contend with actually voting on the cut. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee who helped create the CFPB before she was elected to Congress, said that Democrats will introduce an amendment as part of this weekend's vote-a-rama on the budget package. "Donald Trump and Republicans tried to shut down the CFPB by gutting its entire operating budget to 0%. We fought back and won," Warren said in a statement "Now, Senate Republicans will bring to the floor a proposal that slashes the agency's available budget so they can hand out more tax breaks for billionaires and billionaire corporations. The CFPB has returned $21 billion to scammed American families — and Democrats will introduce an amendment on the floor to strip this out of the bill." With the amendment, Warren hopes to force a vote on CFPB funding, which despite its unpopularity with the financial industry, still polls well with the general public — even among Republican voters. "The whole distinction in the Senate is between, are we just doing budget or are we also doing policy?" Warren told American Banker before the parliamentarian approved the CFPB's funding cut in the Senate Republicans' proposal . Effectively killing the CFPB's ability to fulfill its obligations is "ultimately a policy decision. You know the one thing Republicans have never done, as much as they want to kill off that agency, they've never actually brought a bill to the floor and debated it."That 6.5% number could also change as the process continues. It closely mirrors the 5% draw limit in the House Financial Services Committee's version of the same bill, which will eventually have to be reconciled with the Senate version and go through the same process. That exact number is still up in the air to a certain extent as the two bills need to be brought together. A Democratic banking aide pointed out that the 6.5% cap is a 46% cut of the available budget as opposed to the 70% cut in the House bill. While the funding fight has the potential to hobble the CFPB for a long time, in the short-term, at least, the Trump administration has more powerful tools to make the bureau ineffective. Its acting Director Russ Vought, who also leads the Office of Management and Budget and is key to the Trump administration's thinking around drastically undercutting federal agencies, has effectively paused all non-statuatorily mandated work at the bureau (and potentially some statutorily required work, depending how a federal lawsuit about the Trump administration's dismantling of the agency shakes out) and requested zero dollars from the Fed just days after he arrived at the bureau. "The real focus is you have Russ Vought who has requested zero dollars for the most recent appropriations," said Peter  Idziak, senior associate at Polunsky Beitel Green who advises on CFPB issues. "It's unclear how much the max cap changing would really affect the day-to-day operations of the CFPB right now." 

UPDATE: This article includes additional information from an analyst.The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation index pulled further away from the central bank's 2% target, underscoring the central bank's wait-and-see-approach to lowering interest rates.Prices rose by 2.3% on an annualized basis in May, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis's Personal Consumption Expenditures report released Friday. That compares with a revised 2.2% increase in the index in April.Core PCE, which excludes food and energy prices and is the Fed's preferred inflation metric, was up 2.7% in May. Prices rose 0.1% from April and core PCE climbed 0.2%.Both readings were in line with the Consumer Price Index's 0.1% increase in May and some economists' expectations."This is not going to be at all surprising to [the Fed]," said Michael Redmond, a U.S. policy economist for Medley Global Advisors. "The overall message is still that we had very good readings after a very hot start to the year. January and February were uncomfortably hot, and then we had three benign readings in a row."The marginal uptick supports Fed Chair Jerome Powell's cautious approach to adjusting monetary policy, though, citing uncertainty surrounding the impacts of higher tariffs."The effects on inflation could be short-lived — reflecting a one-time shift in the price level. It is also possible that the inflationary effects could instead be more persistent," Powell said in a prepared testimony in front of the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday. "Avoiding that outcome will depend on the size of the tariff effects, on how long it takes for them to pass through fully into prices and, ultimately, on keeping longer-term inflation expectations well anchored."Fed Gov. Michael Barr backed Powell's stance at an event in Omaha, Nebraska, on Tuesday. Barr said he expects tariffs to increase inflation and that the Fed's monetary policy is "well positioned to allow us to wait and see how economic conditions unfold."The Trump administration's 90-day pause on its sweeping tariffs is set to expire on July 9, although White House Council of Economic Advisers chairman Stephen Miran said the administration would extend the deadline for countries negotiating in good faith, Yahoo Finance reported.President Donald Trump has finalized a deal with the United Kingdom and is in search of one with Canada, which threatened to increase tariffs on steel and aluminum. The European Union has also pledged to retaliate if the U.S. baseline 10% tariffs remain, Bloomberg reported. Trump has threatened up to 50% tariffs on European goods if no deal is made.Despite the uncertainty of the tariffs' impact, Trump has continued to berate the Fed and Powell to cut interest rates. The president said in a Truth Social post Tuesday that rates should be at least two to three points lower and that it would save the country $800 billion per year."What a difference this would make. If things later change to the negative, increase the Rate," Trump posted. "I hope Congress really works this very dumb, hardheaded person, over. We will be paying for his incompetence for many years to come."Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Brown and Gov. Christopher Waller have both suggested that it may be time to lower rates as well."I think it is likely that the impact of tariffs on inflation may take longer, be more delayed and have a smaller effect than initially expected, especially because many firms front-loaded their stocks of inventories," Bowman said in a speech Monday. "As we think about the path forward, it is time to consider adjusting the policy rate. As inflation has declined or come in below expectations over the past few months, we should recognize that inflation appears to be on a sustained path toward 2% and that there will likely be only minimal impacts on overall core PCE inflation from changes to trade policy."Waller also doesn't expect tariffs to significantly affect inflation and said in an interview with CNBC last week that the Fed could cut rates as soon as July.But Powell has remained firm in his stance to be patient."For the time being, we are well-positioned to wait to learn more about the likely course of the economy before considering any adjustments to our policy stance," he said.

Three fair housing organizations are asking to weigh in on a federal case where the Department of Justice is seeking to end a redlining settlement with Lakeland Bank — an effort the DOJ and the bank both oppose.The nonprofits — New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund, the Housing Equality Center of Pennsylvania, and the National Fair Housing Alliance — filed a proposed amicus curiae brief earlier this month contesting the DOJ's move to end the Biden-era redlining agreement early, saying the consent order has not yet delivered its full benefits to Newark-area residents.However, both the DOJ and New Jersey-based Lakeland Bank filed separate motions on June 23 urging the court to deny the fair housing groups' request to participate in the case. Both parties say the bank has implemented protocols that should satisfy any alleged wrongdoing relating to the settlement."There is no role for amici where, as here, a party has settled a case with a government enforcement agency, has complied with the terms of settlement, and the government agency exercises its enforcement discretion to terminate the order encompassing the settlement before the expiration of the order's full term," an attorney representing Lakeland Bank wrote in a filing.The bank, which was acquired last year by Provident Financial Services, criticized the nonprofits' request, claiming it reflects a broader disagreement with the DOJ's enforcement priorities rather than any specific concerns about the case itself."The amicus brief reflects a disagreement not over the specific circumstances of this case, but rather over the appropriate prioritization of Justice Department resources between fair lending and other enforcement priorities," Lakeland Bank wrote.In 2022, Lakeland was hit with claims by the DOJ that it failed to provide mortgage lending services to Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in the Newark, New Jersey, area between 2015 and 2021.The bank agreed to invest $12 million in a loan subsidy for residents of previously excluded neighborhoods over a five-year period. The firm also pledged more than $1 million toward community outreach, financial education, and partnerships. In its most recent filing, Lakeland described its compliance as "exemplary," noting that out of the $12 million loan subsidy fund commitment, it has invested $6.7 million to increase credit for loan applicants in Newark. It will invest the remainder of the required amount whether or not the consent order is terminated, it claims.Lakeland also detailed its internal compliance efforts, including employee training and efforts to open new branches — though it acknowledged delays in obtaining necessary permits.The DOJ filed its unopposed motion to terminate the consent order in early June, which remains pending before the court. The federal government has argued in its motion that Lakeland "has demonstrated a commitment to remediation and has reached substantial compliance with the monetary and injunctive terms" of the order. The consent order is currently scheduled to be in effect until at least September 2027.

Cenlar is closing its O'Fallon, Missouri office, calling it a difficult decision, a little over seven years after taking over the space from Citigroup.The workforce reduction impacts 93 people. The WARN notification was received by Missouri officials on June 20 and has a layoff date of July 22.The closure was first reported in the St. Louis Business Journal on June 23."While these situations are never easy, the closure of this location ensures we can fully focus our efforts on our other offices and position the company for continued long-term success," a company statement said. "Cenlar remains committed to growing our subservicing business and driving positive outcomes for our clients and their homeowners."Furthermore, the company has confirmed it is entering the warehouse lending and conduit business.In January 2017, Citi decided to deemphasize its mortgage segment, which had been headquartered in O'Fallon. It sold its Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage servicing rights to New Residential Investment, since rebranded as Rithm.Cenlar then was hired to subservice Citi's remaining MSR portfolio and moved into the O'Fallon office.Cenlar, which is primarily known as a mortgage subservicer, is chartered as a bank. Its headquarters are in Ewing, New Jersey. Besides its corporate headquarters and the Missouri location, Cenlar has two servicing sites in New Jersey and one other in Arizona, a November 2024 Fitch report said.Cenlar serviced approximately 2.2 million mortgages with an unpaid principal balance of $742.3 billion as of June 30, 2024, a 15% reduction by loan count from one-year prior, the Fitch report said."The current portfolio is further broken down as 1.51 million agency loans totaling $393.4 billion, approximately 599,500 loans serviced for others totaling $312.3 billion, approximately 104,000 nonagency [residential mortgage-backed security] loans totaling $36.2 billion, and 494 owned loans totaling $235.4 million," Fitch said.