Mortgage originations, whether new home purchases or refinances, have been booming over the last several months. The latest projections from Freddie Mac have $3.6 trillion for 2020, and 2021 is expected to produce $2.6 trillion. With all these purchases and refinances, why is now a good time to revisit your home equity program?
Insurance Salesman. Now that’s probably not exactly what my parents had in mind for me as they sent me off to college many years ago. After over 30 years in the financial services industry, I didn’t see this type of career coming either! A “sales” position in general carries a certain stigma with it. As a lending institution that has relationships with numerous vendors, do you think of your insurance agent and agency as just another vendor or a trusted business partner?
Last week I stopped in at a recreational vehicle dealership to browse travel trailers. As I spoke with the salesman, he mentioned they had been having a problem for most of the year.
There has been plenty of discussion over the last many months about how the community banking world might look when we come out of this pandemic. Speculation and opinions are all over the board. The economic fallout is of great concern, and community lenders find themselves juggling priorities and recalibrating for the future. On the consumer-facing front, digital banking and technology are hot topics, ‘strategic innovation’ is a focus, and customer relief and mediation tactics are a balancing act. Inside the lending operations, there are concerns about PPP loan forgiveness, increased delinquency and default impacting collections staff, and continued remote workplace struggles with administrative workload balance adjustments across operational teams.
Green energy incentives are financial rebates or rewards from the U.S. government or a local utility company designed to encourage property owners to incorporate energy-efficient products, water-conserving, renewable products, materials, or measures into their home or commercial building renovation projects or use them in new construction. The incentives take various forms. There are tax credits, rebates, tax deductions, grants, subsidy programs, and more. Examples of eligible upgrades include solar, geothermal, and fuel cells, certain types of insulation and roofing materials, and exterior windows with specific energy efficiency ratings.
Credit Unions as member-owned cooperatives have always kept their focus where it should be: their members. Credit Unions constantly make sure everything that is done is member friendly and that members know they are part of the family. More and more credit unions are re-evaluating internal programs to make sure they live up to the goals they set concerning member relationships. One product receiving a lot of attention is Collateral Protection Insurance (CPI or Force-Placed insurance) with outsourced tracking.
