A federal judge in Utah said at a hearing last week that he would be granting a motion to delay the implementation of the Federal Housing Administration’s down payment assistance rule changes as a debate over the new guidance rages on in federal court. According the lawsuit filed against HUD on behalf of the Cedar Band of Paiutes, HUD’s new guidance "unlawfully targets American Indian tribes and bands by prohibiting them from participating in home-purchasing assistance programs."

Traders in futures markets have signaled a 77.5% probability of a quarter percentage point cut at next week’s Federal Reserve meeting and a 22.5% chance of a half percentage point cut, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool. In an unusual move, Trump’s intended nominee for Fed board is pushing for the bigger reduction.

The servicing industry is in dire need of a technology update, and one expert explained blockchain could be the key the industry is missing.

Each week, HousingWire interviews financial services experts who can help make sense of the latest headlines, sponsored by our partners at Blend. This week, Ben Lane, the newly appointed managing editor of HousingWire’s editorial team, discusses his experiences in covering the housing economy for the last five and a half years. Additionally, Lane touches base on the massive mortgage partnership between State Farm and Quicken Loans, and Fannie Mae’s recently updated mortgage forecast.

Equifax, one of the nation’s top three credit reporting agencies, agreed to pay up to $700 million to settle federal and state investigations into the 2017 hack that exposed Social Security numbers and other personal data of almost half the population of the U.S. "Equifax failed to take basic steps that may have prevented the breach," FTC Chairman Joe Simons said. Click the headline to read more.

A federal judge in Maryland denied a motion Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit brought against Bank of America and Safeguard Properties Management by the National Fair Housing Alliance, 19 fair housing organizations and two homeowners for alleged fair housing violations. According to the judge, the facts presented allow for a “reasonable inference that the defendants violated anti-discrimination provisions of the Fair Housing Act.”

Earlier this month, Oregon’s legislature passed House Bill 2001, a measure that will require cities of more than 10,000 people to permit duplexes in areas currently zoned for single-family usage. The bill, which received bipartisan support, is set to go before Gov. Kate Brown, D-OR, who is expected to sign it, therefore positioning Oregon as the first state to ban single-family-only zoning. If passed, Redfin claims the measure could have a significant impact on Portland's housing market.

Chris Heller shocked the housing world last year when he stepped down as CEO of Keller Williams to become the CEO of mellohome, loanDepot’s attempt to serve as a true one-stop-shop for “buying, financing, and improving homes.” But now, less than 18 months later, Heller is leaving mellohome and loanDepot behind for OJO Labs, a real estate technology start-up whose flagship product is an AI-based conversational assistant that is currently being used in the real estate industry.