Southern Trust sues Movement Mortgage for "abetting" ex LO
National Mortgage News
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Southern Trust Mortgage is suing one of its former loan officers and her current employer, Movement Mortgage, for pocketing customers and a massive amount of data prior to leaving. Southern Trust accuses Grace White, currently an LO at Movement, of flouting her noncompete agreement and stealing company trade secrets. Movement, also included as a defendant in the suit, is being accused of aiding and abetting the breach of White's fiduciary duty for its own benefit. Per the complaint, White, who worked at Southern Trust from 2022 to 2024, copied 5,109 files containing confidential documents, including customer leads, onto a thumb drive before leaving for Movement Mortgage on Oct. 16, 2024.
Anniemac Home Mortgage did not protect customer data as it was legally required, a proposed class-action lawsuit argues. The complaint, filed by Franklin Montenegro, a current Anniemac customer, comes shortly after the mortgage lender disclosed it was hit by a cyberattack, which exposed the personally identifiable information of 171,000 current and former Anniemac customers in late August. "Given that [Anniemac] was storing the personal information of plaintiff and class members and knew or should have known of the serious risk and harm caused by a data breach, the defendant was obligated to implement reasonable measures to prevent and detect cyberattacks," litigation filed in a federal New Jersey court said.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency boosted the conforming limits for 2025 by over 5%, exceeding the annual gain in its Home Price Index used to determine the amounts. The HPI rose in the third quarter by 4.3% year-over-year. This is the data the agency uses to make its determination as required by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act. The new limit for one-unit properties in most areas will be $806,500, an increase of $39,950 or 5.2% from 2024. Last year, the index rose by 5.5% in the third quarter, and FHFA boosted the conforming limit by 5%.
Home affordability reversed course this fall, with median payments up for the first time since April due to higher mortgage rates. The median monthly payment on new-purchase mortgages increased 4.2% to $2,127 in October from $2,051 a month earlier. Still, the current payment level moderated from one year prior, coming in 3.3% lower from the October 2023 mark of $2,199, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. This was the first rise in six months and finished at its highest mark since July, the industry trade group said.
Home affordability reversed course this fall, with median payments up for the first time since April due to higher mortgage rates. The median monthly payment on new-purchase mortgages increased 4.2% to $2,127 in October from $2,051 a month earlier. Still, the current payment level moderated from one year prior, coming in 3.3% lower from the October 2023 mark of $2,199, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.?This was the first rise in six months and finished at its highest mark since July, the industry trade group said. "Homebuyer affordability conditions declined notably in October as rapidly rising mortgage rates pushed the national median mortgage payment up $86 from September," said Edward Seiler, MBA's associate vice president, housing economics, and executive director of Research Institute for Housing America, in a press release.?
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