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President Barack Obama announced at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and in his State of the Union address that cybersecurity will be a priority in 2015. He unveiled his plan to introduce legislation on data breach notification, as well as a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.

President proposes cybersecurity legislation

He said the CFPB posted a mortgage shopping tool that violates the mortgage disclosure requirements that they have put in place for lenders to follow in order to protect and fully disclose the full costs of a mortgage to a consumer.

Nearly half of borrowers don’t shop for mortgages, says CFPB report

Corporation Service Co. (CSC), a provider of eRecording services nationwide acquired the eRecording submitter business of PropertyInfo Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart Title Co.

Old Republic International Corp. reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2014. Pretax operating income for both periods reflected much lower year-over-year general insurance earnings. Title insurance operating income in 2014’s fourth quarter gained significantly compared with results for the same period of 2013, while performance for the full year was eroded to some degree by transitory weaknesses in housing-related markets.

Title Alliance partnered with RE/MAX Realty Group to open a location in Maryland through the name Crown Title Services, LLC. Keep reading to learn more.

Solutionstar Holdings, LLC, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. closed the acquisition of Experience 1 Inc., the holding company for Title365, Trusted Sighing and technology subsidiaries.

Title365's Michael Tafoya discusses acquisition

Southern Title opened an office in Jacksonville, Fla. Keep reading to learn more.

Freedom Mortgage Corp., a privately held, full-service mortgage lender licensed in 50 states, is hiring as many as 500 new employees to accommodate anticipated volume growth following President Barack Obama’s plan to reduce Federal Housing Agency’s (FHA) mortgage insurance premiums.

FHA makes homeownership more affordable

Old Republic International Corp. announced that it was sponsoring the formation of a joint underwriting venture with certain principals long associated with specialty insurance. The new venture, Old Republic Specialty Insurance Underwriters, Inc. will focus its operations on two distinct segments of the general insurance market place. 

Black Knights has added an industry veteran to its ranks to develop and deliver additional products and services and expand the company’s offerings to the real estate industry. Read on to learn more. 

Alan Cohen has joined the law firm of Stahl, Bernal, Davies, Sewell & Chavarria as a senior attorney. Keep reading to learn more about him.

RealtyTrac, added a data industry veteran and product management innovation executive to its ranks as senior vice president of data products. Keep reading to learn who.

Counsellors Title Agency, Inc. added John DeSantis Jr. to its agency’s sales and marketing team of licensed title producers as regional account manager. He brings a broad and distinguished knowledge of the title insurance industry, representing over a quarter century of professional title experience.

LenderLive Network Inc.’s CEO Rick Seehausen said growing the company’s due diligence business is a top priority in 2015. To that end, he has appointed an expert as a president of the division.

Indecomm Global Services appointed a vice president of sales to spearhead the company’s sales efforts in outsourcing, risk management, learning and software services to the mortgage industry. Read on to learn more.

Harris County, Texas resident and title company employee Maria Eliza Garza was ordered to prison following her conviction in conspiring to defraud seven different Houston-area banks for more than $2 million in 2007 and 2008, announced United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson. Garza pleaded guilty Sept. 4, 2013.

Jeffrey Charles Leroy Taylor was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra to 36 months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $350,470.00 in restitution in a loan modification scheme.

Fitch Ratings views these results as consistent with WFC’s credit profile, with ratings that remain among the highest in the world, supported primarily by its superior earnings profile. WFC’s more commercial bank-focused business model continues to help set itself apart from its large bank peers, with less exposure to volatile capital markets revenues and, while not immune, much lower litigation-related expenses than other large bank peers.

KPMG, LLP, an audit, tax and advisory firm, released its 2015 M&A (mergers and acquisitions) Outlook Survey Report “The Boom is Back: M&A Reemerges as Leading Growth Strategy.” It said respondents plan on doing multiple deals in 2015, reporting considerably more expected acquisitions than in previous years.

Acquisitions boom as companies look to expand

RealtyTrac, a source for comprehensive housing data, released its Year-End 2014 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. Read on to see how foreclosures in 2014 matched up to previous years.

A Belvidere, N.J., man admitted he concealed a mortgage fraud scheme carried out by his wife, a former real estate title agent, in which they obtained seven loans, totaling more than $3.7 million, on two properties located in Belvidere and Wood-Ridge, N.J., U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Umatilla County, Ore., has implemented eRecording documents such as deeds and mortgages to save money and provide better customer service. Keep reading to learn more.

As of November 2014, approximately 567,000 homes nationally were in some stage of foreclosure, compared with 880,000 in November 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 35.5 percent, according to the November National Foreclosure Report released by CoreLogic. Keep reading to learn more.

A former real estate title agent admitted to carrying out a mortgage fraud scheme in which she obtained seven loans, totaling more than $3.7 million, on two properties located in Wood-Ridge, N.J., and Belvidere, N.J.

Reports from the 12 Federal Reserve Districts suggest that national economic activity continued to expand during the reporting period of mid-November through late December, with most Districts reporting a “modest” or “moderate” pace of growth according to the “Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District,” otherwise known as the Beige Book.

President Barack Obama spoke at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Jan. 12 regarding his recent initiatives to curb the threats to cybersecurity. He also unveiled plans to introduce legislation on data breach notification, as well as a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.

Carrington Mortgage Holdings appointed a new institutional business liaison for its real estate and mortgage divisions. The industry veteran possesses a rich history of managing business growth and developing key relationships within the housing sector. Read on to learn who was appointed.

Mortgage applications increased 49.1 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Jan. 9, 2015. Read on to learn more.