The steep decline in the number of marriages in the U.S. among the population aged 25 to 29 has been a key factor in the slow recovery of the housing market, according to a report from John Burns Real Estate Consulting (JBREC).

The rate of consumer credit default in the U.S. inched slightly upward in September, and the mortgage default rate also marginally increased, according to the September 2014 S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices released earlier this week.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized minor changes to its mortgage rules designed to ensure expanded credit access, which has been a hot topic in recent weeks.

Ohio-based Safeguard Properties, the nation's largest mortgage field services provider, has announced the promotion of two employees in its IT department. Amitha Rao has been promoted to VP for client systems and data analytics and Rick Moran has been promoted to the position of assistant VP of application architecture at Safeguard.

New York-based real estate technology provider Ernst Publishing Company has updated the tax reporting capabilities of its patented closing cost and fee search engine technology to be compliant with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) new consumer disclosure rules which will go into effect in 2015.

Pennsylvania-based law firm KML Law Group, a firm devoted to mortgage foreclosure, bankruptcy, ejectment, REO closing, and other real estate matters for secured real estate lenders, has announced that John F. Goryl, Esquire, has joined the firm as senior counsel as of October 1, 2014.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro announced in a speech on Monday the points of HUD's "Blueprint for Access" meant to ease the risk of lenders while expanding credit.

A Wisconsin man once known as the "king of foreclosures" and his adult son were arrested at their home Monday and charged with bank fraud and bankruptcy fraud.

Foreclosure activity plummeted in New Mexico both in the third quarter and in September, according to RealtyTrac's Q3 2014 Foreclosure Report recently released.

The Wolf Firm, an Irvine, California-based financial services law firm, announced recently the addition of several new attorneys (alphabetically): Mark T. Domeyer, Robert J. Jackson, Scott J. Jackson, Parnaz Parto, and Sonia A. Plesset.