by Ryan Smith29 Apr 2018 Mick Mulvaney’s recent comments about giving preferential treatment to political donors has come back to bite him. Mulvaney recently said that when he was in Congress he gave preferential treatment to lobbyists who donated to his campaigns. Now Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is asking Mulvaney if he’s favoring the same …
America’s housing shortage “far more severe than originally believed”
by Paolo Taruc29 Apr 2018 America saw a shortage of 7.3 million homes between the years 2000 to 2015, according to a recent study of 22 states and Washington DC. A joint report by the Up for Growth National Coalition, ECONorthwest, and Holland Government Affairs found California had the most severe shortage, as the state …
Shareholders slam Wells Fargo over scandals
by Ryan Smith 24 Apr 2018 Wells Fargo shareholders slammed the bank Tuesday at its annual shareholder meeting for the bank’s continuing record of scandals and abuses. However, shareholders’ concerns didn’t keep them from reelecting all the bank’s directors and approving CEO Tim Cook’s compensation package. Demonstrators also gathered outside the meeting in Des Moines, …
CFPB considers ending public access to bank complaints
Mulvaney is dismantling CFPB piece by piece and getting rid up transparency… The WSJ’s Yuka Hayashi reports that CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney addressed his intention of eliminating access to the database on Tuesday during an address at the American Bankers Association’s conference, saying it contains information the government hasn’t fully vetted. “I don’t see anything in here that …
Wells Fargo extends deadline for $142 million fake-accounts settlement
by Ryan Smith23 Apr 2018 Wells Fargo has extended the deadline for customers to participate in a $142 million class-action settlement over its fake-accounts scandal. The settlement is meant to compensate Wells Fargo customers who had unauthorized accounts opened in their name. It was revealed in 2016 that Wells Fargo employees, in an effort to …
Sean Hannity linked to property empire aided by foreclosures, HUD: report
Fox News host who said Trump’s fixer ‘knows real estate’ has a portfolio that includes support from Department of Housing and Urban Development, a fact he did not mention when interviewing secretary Ben Carson last year When Sean Hannity was named in court this week as a client of Donald Trump’s embattled legal fixer Michael Cohen, the …
Affordability has worsened in more metros than have improved
by Steve Randall19 Apr 2018 Issues surrounding supply levels and affordability in many US metros is getting worse, with more showing a decline than an improvement. A new joint-study by the National Association of Realtors and Realtor.com shows that, out of the metros analyzed, affordability worsened in 45 and improved in 34. The study looked …
Real estate is in good shape but residential is challenged
by Steve Randall19 Apr 2018 Things are looking positive overall for the real estate industry but there are some concerns over the residential sector. A new study says that the changes to taxation give a boost to the latest economic forecast for the industry from the Urban Land Institute, based on a survey of 48 …
Banking group slams Mulvaney, demands stronger CFPB
by Ryan Smith18 Apr 2018 An advocacy group made up of bank workers and community and consumer advocates has slammed the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for cutting back on the agency’s regulatory enforcement. The CFPB has not taken a single enforcement action since Acting Director Mick Mulvaney took the helm, the …
Consumer caution in Q1 weighs on Fannie Mae’s 2018 growth outlook
by Francis Monfort18 Apr 2018 Fannie Mae has slightly lowered its full-year 2018 economic growth outlook on cautious consumer spending during the first quarter following an unsustainable fourth-quarter pace. Growth for the year is still expected to be strong at 2.7%, but the new forecast is down by one-tenth compared to the previous 2.8% prediction, …