Friday's news carried one item worth your Saturday. A federal judge in the Western District of Missouri let the core RESPA claims against Veterans United survive a motion to dismiss, and the counts that survived are the ones every originator with a referral relationship should read. Judge Willie J. Epps Jr. dismissed the state consumer-protection claims and knocked out most of the RESPA counts as time-barred under the one-year limitations period, but kept Section 8(a) referral-kickback claims alive for two borrowers and Section 8(b) unearned-fee and fee-splitting claims alive for three. The allegation is specific: agents inside the Veterans United Realty referral network paid roughly 35% of their commission — about 1.05% of the sale price — back to Veterans United Realty and affiliated entities, with the plaintiffs contending nothing of value was performed in return. The same day, Zillow's third amended complaint in the Taylor suit landed, narrowed to five plaintiffs and stripped of its RICO allegations but still pressing RESPA claims and citing a study estimating $2,881 in higher costs on a Zillow Home Loans loan. Two defendants, one theme: Section 8 exposure is being tested in private litigation, not only in supervision.
Yesterday's brief led with Redfin's July cancellation rate at 14%, the highest since November 2023, alongside FHFA data showing GSE refinances down 29.9% month over month. Both numbers age straight into today's picture. Fallout is high because buyers have leverage and are using it, and refinance volume has nowhere to go while rates sit where they are.
MBA's updated forecast connects the two. The trade group now sees the 30-year averaging about 6.7% through the fourth quarter and across all of 2027, up from the 6.5% it published in July, with 10-year Treasury yields ending both 2026 and 2027 at 4.7%, up from 4.5%. It cut its 2026 refinance forecast to $713 billion from $747 billion and its 2027 number to $655 billion from $684 billion, while nudging 2026 purchase volume up to $1.43 trillion. That is the second major forecaster this week to move its rate path higher — Fannie Mae did the same on Wednesday — and it turns "wait for the refi wave" from a plan into a bet against the only two published curves your borrower could look up.
On rates themselves, the week ended quiet. Bankrate's 30-year sits at 6.72%, unchanged from yesterday, down two basis points over the past week and up seven from a month ago: rates have stabilized in the high-6s rather than broken lower. Freddie Mac's survey printed 6.65%, its second straight weekly decline — the same market seen through a different measurement window, so don't let a client anchor on whichever number they happened to see first. The 10-year finished at 4.69% after Thursday's 4.65%, and Mortgage News Daily's Friday recap described a data-free session where thin summer liquidity, not news, did the moving. Next week has real catalysts: new home sales early in the week, Case-Shiller Tuesday, jobless claims and Freddie's survey Thursday, and core PCE Friday. The September 15–16 FOMC meeting carries a Summary of Economic Projections, so the dot plot is a September event — nothing between now and then changes the target range.
On the industry side, Fannie Mae dismissed roughly ten senior officials this week across multifamily, economics, and senior finance, reported by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed as involuntary, with an official attributing some of the eliminations to expanded AI capability. The practical read-through for originators is continuity, not headlines: if a seller-servicer or multifamily relationship runs through a named individual, verify who owns it now before your next escalation. Two consolidations also cleared their final hurdles. Two Harbors received final regulatory approval for the CrossCountry Mortgage transaction, with shareholders due $12 per share in cash plus a stub dividend recalculated off the $0.34 quarterly rate; Real Brokerage won Canadian court approval for the REMAX deal, targeting an August 24 close after the DOJ ended the HSR waiting period early, with cash electors expected to receive about $4.33 plus 0.3535 shares following the ten-for-one consolidation. Separately, loanDepot received an NYSE notice for trading below $1 and has six months to regain compliance.
pull your referral agreements and marketing-services agreements and confirm every dollar that moves maps to a service actually performed and priced at fair market value. The Veterans United ruling turned on whether anything of value was delivered in exchange for a 35% commission share. That is the same question a plaintiff's lawyer will ask about your arrangements, and it is a much cheaper question to answer on a Saturday than in a deposition.