Westcor Land Title Insurance Company ® Partners on Fannie Mae Title Acceptance Pilot
Westcor partnered with Mortgage Connect LP, a policy issuing agent, in the creation of this solution. This initiative is distinct in the marketplace as it includes a title insurance-backed product. While this policy departs from the traditional title insurance model in scope, it retains the core benefits and legal assurances that are the hallmark of the industry. This approach ensures that both borrowers and lenders are protected while supporting efforts to deliver real savings at the closing table.
At Westcor, innovation and consumer protection go hand-in-hand. The underwriter's participation in this program reflects its long-standing mission to evolve the title industry with practical, forward-thinking solutions that preserve the foundational protections buyers, lenders, and investors have come to rely on.
'We're proud to support the GSEs' modernization goals while continuing to uphold the core value of title insurance — protecting property rights,' said Mary O'Donnell, CEO of Westcor. 'This pilot proves that innovation and consumer protection can go hand in hand.'
While the title industry continues to evolve, Westcor believes this new model strikes an important balance. It brings meaningful efficiencies to the closing process without eliminating the safeguards that consumers and lenders have long relied on. In doing so, it also offers lenders a compelling alternative that is ready to deploy today.
'We're grateful to Director Pulte and his team at FHFA and Fannie Mae for recognizing that innovation in title can both lower costs and preserve protections while fostering competition,' O'Donnell added.
Westcor is the largest independent title insurance company in the nation and remains committed to serving its agent network and protecting consumers in every transaction.
About Westcor Land Title Insurance Company ®
Founded by title agents, Westcor is the number one independent title insurance underwriter in the nation. Westcor's technology-driven products and services and sound underwriting help agents and their customers close real estate transactions faster and with peace of mind. Westcor is rated B+ (Sound Financials) by Kroll and A' (A Double Prime) by Demotech Rating Inc. Based in Maitland, FL, Westcor has regional offices throughout the United States. Westcor is part of the Ardán family of companies. Ardán makes real estate closings faster, simpler, and safer through technology-driven, innovative solutions, sound underwriting, and exceptional customer service.
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Politico
2 hours ago
- Politico
FICO ramps up lobbying amid Pulte attacks
With Daniel Lippman FICO LOBBIES UP AGAIN: Fair Isaac Corp., the financial analytics company that produces FICO credit scores, brought on a new outside lobbying firm last week after pouring a record amount into lobbying efforts during the second quarter of the year, amid a volley of attacks from the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. — John McMickle of North South Government Strategies began lobbying for FICO on July 24 on issues related to competition in credit scores, according to a disclosure filing. The firm joins a lobbying operation that spent $460,000 from March through June, an all-time high for FICO and more than double what FICO spent on federal lobbying during the first quarter of the year. — FICO's surge in lobbying expenditures came as top Republicans in Washington have ramped up their attacks on the company — whose scores inform the vast majority of consumer credit decisions — over its dominance of the credit score market. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) in April renewed an earlier call for the Justice Department to launch an antitrust probe after FICO raised its prices again. — But one of FICO's biggest critics over the past few months has been Bill Pulte, who took over in March as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and installed himself atop Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. When he hasn't been agitating on X for the firing of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Pulte has been whacking FICO over its price hikes and deriding the company as a 'monopoly who has ripped off Americans for decades.' — Earlier this month, Pulte announced that for the first time, mortgage lenders could choose to accept either a FICO credit score or one from a competitor known as VantageScore 4.0 when originating loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. VantageScore is a product of the three leading consumer credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax and Transunion — which supply the underlying data for both credit score models. — The move fulfilled a yearslong campaign to inject more competition into credit scoring, with the goal of increasing access to credit by weighing alternate data such as rent and utility payments in credit ratings. The change also came amid record lobbying spending by VantageScore, which dropped $160,000 on influence efforts last quarter, up from $115,000 in Q1, disclosures show. — Even as FICO has said it welcomes competition in the space, the company argues that VantageScore 'lowers critical and time-tested credit scoring criteria.' That could increase the likelihood that lenders, which are currently able to choose which score to accept, opt to maximize loans by relying on a riskier scoring model, FICO said in a blog post. — 'The 2008 financial crisis taught us the cost of racing to the bottom with lax origination standards,' FICO wrote, echoing a point made by the Wall Street Journal's editorial board days earlier. — A recent white paper published by FICO contends that its newer scoring model, which incorporates similar alternate financial data but hasn't yet been implemented by FHFA, outperformed VantageScore — a development cheered by Pulte. — 'Why is our score the industry standard? … It's really the best system,' FICO CEO Willam Lansing argued last week in an interview on CNBC. Lansing maintained that the pressure from Washington was only a 'hiccup' that would eventually be sorted out. Happy Tuesday and welcome to PI. Before you head out on your August recess adventures, drop me a line with influence tips to chase while the city quiets down. Add me on Signal at caitlinoprysko.17, email me at coprysko@ and be sure to follow me on X: @caitlinoprysko. 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'The President should secure commitments to end discriminatory digital regulations, ensure equal treatment for American firms, pause new EU measures that disproportionately impact U.S. interests, and demand a pledge to stop targeting American businesses in the future.' — The ads from NTU, which has received funding from tech giants like Amazon, Google and Meta, urge President Donald Trump to 'get the deal right' and 'stop Europe's unfair attacks on American innovation.' The spots are also running in targeted locations across D.C. and Scotland, where Trump spent the past five days and announced the broad trade agreement with the EU. FIRST IN PI II: Federal Hall Policy Advisors will merge with Goldstein Policy Solutions, enhancing FedHall's deep expertise on digital asset and financial services policy and bringing on new tech, trade and telecom capabilities. 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Vox
13 hours ago
- Vox
The Trump administration attack dog you should pay attention to
is a senior politics correspondent at Vox, covering the White House, elections, and political scandals and investigations. He's worked at Vox since the site's launch in 2014, and before that, he worked as a research assistant at the New Yorker's Washington, DC, bureau. Bill Pulte is the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, tasked with overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty The Trump administration's loudest attack dog of late holds an unlikely position: director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The FHFA's 37-year old director, Bill Pulte, has been pounding the drums to get Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell fired. He's publicly pressured Powell on social media, he gave Trump a draft letter that would have ordered Powell's firing, and he's tried to establish a pretext Trump could use to fire Powell. But Pulte has also played a broader role in Trump's retribution campaign. He's used his position to try and get two of Trump's Democratic enemies — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and New York Attorney General Letitia James — prosecuted for mortgage fraud. Some of his allies hope this is just the start, and that even bigger things lie in Pulte's future. 'Bill Pulte would be an exceptional pick to run the Federal Reserve,' venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya posted on X last week. 'Attack dog' is an unusual role for the director of the FHFA, who is charged with overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the government-backed companies crucial to the functioning of US mortgage markets. (Vox requested comment from Pulte through the FHFA for this story, but received no response.) The Logoff The email you need to stay informed about Trump — without letting the news take over your life. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. But it's a good fit for Pulte. The grandson of the founder of a major home-building company, Pulte has demonstrated a remarkable knack for getting attention and building his public profile. He has 3 million followers on X, and his posts there have started to move markets, according to Bloomberg. Pulte has his enemies in the administration; the Wall Street Journal recently reported his anti-Powell campaign has 'irritated' some senior officials. One person is quite happy with him, though. After that Journal story was published, Trump posted that Pulte was doing an 'outstanding job,' and added: 'KEEP MOVING FORWARD, WILLIAM, DON'T LET THE RADICAL LEFT WEAKLINGS STOP YOU!' Who is Bill Pulte, and how did he get millions of social media followers? Housing is the Pulte family business. Pulte's grandfather, also named Bill, founded what eventually became one of the largest home-building companies in the US, PulteGroup. The younger Bill was barely done with college when, in 2011, he founded a Michigan-based private equity fund focused on the housing industry. The board included such local luminaries such as Rick DeVos (son of future Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos) and Scott Romney (brother of Mitt Romney). Grandpa Pulte died in 2018. The following year, then-31-year-old Bill got his first taste of national fame by going viral for giving people money. Pulte gave or offered to give sometimes hundreds of dollars, sometimes thousands or even tens of thousands, and he posted on Twitter about it. He called this 'Twitter Philanthropy.' (He insisted he was not giving away his inheritance money, but rather money he'd independently made.) Some of the giveaways were for people posting stories about why they needed help, others were purely random — but the common thread was that, if you wanted a shot at the cash, you needed to follow or retweet him on Twitter. (Following him was necessary so he could send you a direct message if you won, he explained.) In July 2019, Pulte said he'd give $30,000 to 'a veteran on Twitter' if President Trump retweeted him, and the president did so. All this proved highly successful at increasing Pulte's Twitter following, which rose from the low tens of thousands to 2 million in early 2020. But his relationship with the company his grandfather founded deteriorated. He lost his seat on PulteGroup's board of directors, after the board unanimously voted not to renominate him. The meme stock saga and online feuding With the novelty of Twitter Philanthropy worn off, Pulte found a new focus for his self-promotion: the meme stock craze. Pulte particularly cultivated the beleaguered Bed Bath & Beyond investors, many of whom hoped this wealthy and successful philanthropist would somehow find a way to get them back the money they'd lost. In January 2024, Pulte released a statement saying the 'Pulte family' would purchase Bed Bath & Beyond bonds so they could 'demand answers' for wiped-out retail shareholders. The Pulte Family Charitable Foundation, which he is not involved with, wanted to be excluded from this narrative, and released a statement distancing themselves from him. Pulte fired back with an X post calling his aunt, Nancy Pulte Rickard, who heads the foundation, 'a fake representative of the Pulte Family.' He added that his aunt 'is angry she wasn't in my grandpa's will when I, the namesake, was in the will.' As it became clear that there would be no miraculous recovery for $BBBY shareholders, Pulte amassed his share of dedicated online haters, who mocked him as 'Ploot' and chronicled what they saw as his strange behavior on subreddits like /r/GME_meltdown. These haters would soon watch agog as Pulte, who they viewed as a 'fraud and weirdo,' suddenly scored a powerful position in the federal government. This, one Redditor wrote, was 'an absolutely wild plot twist.' Pulte and the Federal Housing Finance Agency Through all this time, Pulte's public persona hadn't been particularly political. But he figured out a good way to gain entry into Trumpworld — by, again, giving people money. He gave $500,000 to a pro-Trump Super PAC in 2022. He'd also donated to Turning Point USA, the young conservatives' group co-founded by Charlie Kirk. (Kirk is a close ally of Donald Trump Jr.) After Trump won in November 2024, the New York Post floated Pulte as a potential Housing and Urban Development secretary, quoting a 'source' calling him 'probably overqualified' and stressing those past donations to vouch for his loyalty to Trumpworld. Trump nominated him for FHFA director instead, and before his confirmation hearings, he deleted tens of thousands of his old tweets, to Senate Democrats' annoyance. Shortly after he was confirmed in March, Pulte posted on X: 'You didn't really think I'd stop tweeting did you'. The FHFA job is a consequential one. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed under government conservatorship during the 2008 financial crisis, but the Trump team is now planning to reprivatize them. It is unclear how involved Pulte is in these discussions (one report claimed he'd been 'largely cut out'). Pulte has, however, been quite quick to use his position to go after Trump's enemies — specifically, James, the New York attorney general, and Sen. Schiff, who have for years been leading figures in Democrat-led investigations of Trump. Pulte took public credit for the Schiff investigation, posting on X: 'Fannie Mae's Financial Crimes Division concluded that Mr. Schiff has engaged in a sustained pattern of possible Mortgage Fraud.' A confidential Fannie Mae memo alleging misconduct by Schiff — a memo addressed to Pulte — was provided to the Washington Post earlier this month. Both Schiff and James have denied any wrongdoing and said they are being targeted politically, and it remains to be seen whether DOJ will charge them. Federal prosecutors pursuing complex corruption cases against public officials have long found the mortgage fraud statute to be a useful tool — it's relatively easy to prove, and it carries a steep, 30-year maximum sentence. (According to David Simon, federal prosecutors in Baltimore called it the 'Head Shot.') But it's not yet clear whether they have enough to make and sustain either case. With Powell having earned Trump's ire for his reluctance to lower interest rates, Pulte started going after him, too. For the past two months, he's been publicly criticizing the Fed chair and urging him to resign. Since the law only permits Trump to fire Powell 'for cause' — meaning 'inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office' — Pulte has been laying the groundwork for that. He's been arguing that the expensive renovation of the Fed's headquarters is a 'scandal' that merits Powell's firing for misconduct. 'I remain optimistic Jerome Powell will do the right thing, and as early as next week,' Pulte posted Friday on X. Could Trump be considering replacing Powell with Pulte himself? So far, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett is said to be the frontrunner. And a Pulte nomination may not be received kindly by the Senate or the markets. But maybe Pulte can post his way into the job. After all, social media has gotten him this far.
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump Eyes Moving U.S. Economy Further Into Crypto Via Mortgages, 401(k)s
With crypto policy now representing one of President Donald Trump's most concrete achievements in his second term, the White House is reportedly gearing up toward further moves to affix digital assets into a more prominent role in the U.S. economy. Trump is widely expected to soon issue an executive order that calls for American's retirement plans — the 401(k)s that represent a vast segment of U.S. investing — to open further to less traditional assets, which reportedly may include cryptocurrencies. If that comes to pass, it could ease a major portion of the investing public into digital assets, though it remains a market that still lacks formal U.S. rules. His administration's report on crypto demanded under Trump's January order on digital assets policy is also set to emerge on Wednesday, and it's expected by crypto insiders to be lengthy and wide-ranging. The industry will be looking closely for updates on the federal formation of crypto reserves — including the so-called Bitcoin Strategic Reserve — and information on other initiatives, potentially including crypto tax matters. Trump's director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, William Pulte, also recently ordered government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make plans to include a borrower's crypto holdings among assets that can back up their mortgage. That move has now drawn opposition from Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, who have steadily opposed Trump's crypto maneuvers. "Expanding underwriting criteria to include the consideration of unconverted cryptocurrency assets could pose risks to the stability of the housing market and the financial system," according to a letter to Pulte from several Democratic senators alongside Warren — the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee. The letter cited crypto's high volatility as a danger in the underwriting of mortgages. If crypto found entry into everyday retirement savings, mortgage lending and became a significant reserve in federal fiscal policy, the shifts could dramatically expand usage and appetite for crypto in the U.S., which the president has vowed will become the world capital for digital assets. Opposition Democrats had suffered a crushing setback in this month's congressional actions that saw a major segment of their party support crypto initiatives. However, the larger test is still coming, when the Senate tries to move forward on its bill to establish rules for U.S. crypto markets. Now that the stablecoin oversight has been established with the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act with which Trump marked a first big win during this month's Crypto Week, the Senate needs to get sufficient support for its legislative effort on market structure, seen in partial draft form last week. Though the House of Representatives approved a similar bill known as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the Senate is working on its own legislation that will need to again clear more than 60 yes votes, which means a repeat of GENIUS' hefty support from Democrats. The industry is facing a deadline next week of Aug. 5 to give the lawmakers some feedback on the discussion draft, though that date is beyond the Senate's August recess in which lawmakers will generally be away from Washington for their summer break. House lawmakers already began their recess. In the absence of Congress, Washington tends to wind down to a slower pace, but crypto is expected to continue its position near the top of the federal agenda through the rest of in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
