Stearns Lending has appointed Steve Smith to the role of president, in which he will focus on growth opportunities for the 12^th largest non-bank lender in the U.S.

Smith will work with David Schneider, chief executive officer of the company, and will continue in his current role as chief financial officer. Also, he has been appointed to the Operating Committees of Stearns’ Preferred Partnerships Certainty Home Loans and Citywide Home Loans.

“In my new role, I look forward to continuing to explore opportunities for growth including ways we can continue to engage our employees, customers and partners with new advances in technology that are changing the mortgage landscape,” said Smith.

His appointment is the second at Stearns in recent days. Jim Linnane was promoted to national retail president and will report to David Schneider, CEO of Stearns Lending. He will focus on increasing Stearns’ national presence and volume while expanding the business into new territories. Linnane had served as the division president for the central and eastern regions of Stearns Home Loans.

Since joining the executive team three years ago, Smith’s strategic focus on digital technology has created efficiencies and increased cost containment, while also ensuring that Stearns Lending stays ahead of the technology curve. A seasoned mortgage veteran with three decades of finance, mortgage-banking and real-estate industry experience, Smith worked at Caliber Home Loans and Bank of America.

“Success in today’s mortgage industry requires a strong leadership team focused on our employers, customers and partners,” said Schneider. “In his dual roles as president and CFO, Smith and I will work closely together as we continue to identify growth opportunities for Stearns while remaining focused on serving our customers, business partners and most importantly our team.”

TIAA Bank plans to eliminate the branch-based retail home-lending business—and concentrate on originating home mortgage loans through existing digital mortgage capabilities.

“We understand that borrowers today need fast, convenient and cost-effective solutions,” said Blake Wilson, chairman and chief executive officer of TIAA Bank. “The changes we’re making will enable us to deliver

[caption id="attachment_10244" align="alignleft" width="150"] Wilson: Eliminating retail, to focus on direct and  correspondent channels.[/caption]

mortgage solutions to even more people, using digital technologies that enable clients to work with us efficiently and easily, anywhere and at any time.”

As part of the strategic realignment, TIAA Bank has reached an agreement with U.S. Bank that will allow U.S. Bank to extend offers of employment to a number of experienced TIAA Bank staff and assume the leases on TIAA Bank’s retail home lending offices in some markets across U.S.

TIAA Bank will exit the remainder of its retail branch home lending offices as it focuses on serving clients using its existing retail-direct and correspondent lending businesses.

For TIAA Bank clients with pending home mortgage loans or applications in process, TIAA Bank loan officers will continue to provide hands-on, individual service throughout the process. Clients with home mortgage loans serviced by TIAA Bank will not be impacted by the changes.

TIAA Bank serves home lending clients in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, providing a wide range of residential mortgage products including home-purchase loans and home equity lines of credit. As the banking unit of TIAA, the nation’s leading provider of financial services to the not-for-profit sector, TIAA Bank also serves nearly five million TIAA participants and their families, and more than 15,000 non-profit institutions.

The composite S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices rate rose one basis point from last month to 0.90 percent.

The bank card default rate rose eight basis points to 3.42%. The auto-loan default rate fell four basis points to 0.99%. The first mortgage default rate was two-basis points higher at 0.69%. The indices represent a comprehensive measure of changes in consumer credit defaults.

Three of the major metropolitan statistical areas showed higher default rates compared to last month. The rate for Miami increased 26 basis points to 2.19 percent while the rate for Dallas rose four-basis points to 0.89 percent. The default rate for New York was up three-basis points to 0.99 percent. The rate for Chicago was unchanged at 0.88 percent, while the rate for Los Angeles decreased three-basis points to 0.49 percent.

S&P/Experian Consumer Default Composite Indices (by MSA)

Following a month where default rates for all loan types increased, the January 2019 data shows default rates little changed from the prior month. The longer-term trend shows that default rates have stabilized. The composite rate has fluctuated within a narrow band, and the last time this rate was more than 10 basis points off of the current level was nearly four years ago in March 2015.

The table below summarizes the January 2019 results for the S&P/Experian Credit Default Indices (non-seasonally adjusted)

“Despite continuing uncertainty about economic policy, two factors favorable to the economy persist: low inflation and a strong labor market," said David M. Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "These trends should support the economy and limit any increase in consumer credit default rates. The risks facing the economy in the first half of 2019 are in trade where tariffs or Brexit could upset things, and in the financial sector where worries about corporate earnings and anxiety of possible Fed rate hikes could spook the markets.”