National Mortgage News articles from February 2007

National Mortgage News archives from February 2007

Inside Track.
February 5, 2007... EDITORIAL MTC Stats 4 OPEN FORUM The Fed on the GSEs 4 STREET SMARTS Reg AB Implications 5 COMMERCIAL MORTGAGES CFC's Program 6 AFFORDABLE HOUSING Loans to Hispanics 7 SERVICING Hedge...

Another Equity Funder Closes.
February 5, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Second-lien originator DeepGreen Financial, Cleveland, has closed its doors, according to mortgage officials close to the situation. Owned by Lightyear Capital, an investment fund managed by former PaineWebber CEO Don Marron,...

Servicers at 12/31/2006 (Sample).
February 5, 2007... (Dollars in Millions) Servicing Volume % Rk Organization Name Location 12/31/06 12/31/05 Change 1 America First CU Riverdale, UT...

BoA Won't Buy Countrywide.
February 5, 2007... CALABASAS, CA -- Countrywide Financial Corp. here reported slightly lower fourth-quarter earnings compared to the same period last year, but also revealed a huge jump in accumulated negative amortization on its payment-option ARM portfolio. ...

Online Firms Eye Retail.
February 5, 2007... TEMPE, AZ -- At SourceMedia's Mortgage Technology Conference just concluded here, the biggest buzz came following keynote speaker Lori Collins' remark that LendingTree was "thinking" of opening brick-and-mortar offices. That remark was...

WaMu Targets Middle Ground.
February 5, 2007... NEW YORK -- Washington Mutual appears to be reacting to the mortgage market's recent challenges by striking a middle ground that will allow it to focus on relatively high-margin products without taking on too much risk while cutting back market...

Fremont Cuts 8,000 Brokers.
February 5, 2007... SANTA MONICA, CA -- Fremont Investment & Loan here - one of the nation's largest subprime wholesale funders - has trimmed 8,000 brokers from its network, saying they were responsible for some of the highest delinquency rates in the nation. ...

'GAO, Study Foreclosure'.
February 5, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Three major trade groups are trying to convince at least one law maker to ask the Government Accountability Office to look into the causes of what is supposedly a marked increase in foreclosures. Historically, the main reasons...

Citi May Make Ameriquest Bid.
February 5, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Officials from Citigroup have been inspecting the offices of Ameriquest Mortgage in California, and may be preparing to make a bid on the subprime giant, industry sources told National Mortgage News. One source said Citigroup...

GAO Takes FHA Off Risk List.
February 5, 2007... WASHINGTON -- After 13 years, the General Accountability Office has finally removed the Federal Housing Administration single-family insurance program for its list of "high risk" government programs, citing the FHA's improved oversight of...

Congress Moves on Funding HECMs.
February 5, 2007... WASHINGTON -- House and Senate appropriators have included a provision in a continuing funding resolution that should keep the Federal Housing Administration reverse mortgage program running without disruption until Sept. 30. However,...

Tech Spending Hits All-Time High.
February 5, 2007... TEMPE, AZ -- The lending community realizes the benefit of automating in a down market as technology spending is at record highs, according to research shared by Jordan Brown, chief executive officer at consulting firm MarketWise Advisors, at...

GOP Senators Take Aim at Fannie CEO's Pay Package.
February 5, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Three Senate Banking Committee members have criticized Fannie Mae and its regulator for approving a 25% pay raise for the GSE's president and chief executive, Daniel Mudd, who received $14.3 million in total compensation last...

MBA Sees Downside to 'Suitability' Rule.
February 5, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The Mortgage Bankers Association is warning Congress that a suitability standard might sound like a practical way to prevent abusive lending, but it would create great uncertainty in the mortgage market and possibly result in a...

VantageScore Appears to Pass Muster with Federal Regulators.
February 5, 2007... WASHINGTON -- VantageScore, the alternative credit scoring algorithm developed by the three major credit repositories, has apparently passed federal regulatory antitrust inspection. A statement from Experian Group Ltd., Costa Mesa, Calif.,...

State Bancorp Settles Island Mortgage Suit.
February 5, 2007... NEW HYDE PARK, NY -- State Bancorp Inc. here has settled outstanding litigation with a Texas-based firm regarding the failure of Island Mortgage Network. Island Mortgage Network had its licensed suspended by the New York State Banking...

Editorial: What the Borrower Wants.(Editorial)
February 5, 2007... We heard some interesting things about homebuyer online usage at last week's Mortgage Technology Conference in Tempe, Ariz. According to Pete Bonnikson, senior vice president of E-Loan's First Mortgage unit, Internet buyers now account for...

Open Forum: The GSEs: Where Do We Stand?: Mr. Poole's remarks before the Chartered Financial Analysts of St. Louis are presented as our Open Forum. (First of two parts.).
February 5, 2007... Although the housing GSEs are less obscure than they used to be, they are not much discussed in recent months. A year ago I would have noted that it was not unusual to find stories about the GSEs on the front pages of major financial...

Securities Regulation Help May Be on the Way: There are hundreds if not thousands of these types of vendors and that could mean a lot of reporting.
February 5, 2007... Help may arrive soon for mortgage market participants who have requested assistance in gearing up for Regulation AB's April 2 deadline, according to Tom Deutsch, associate director of the American Securitization Forum. Mr. Deutsch said...

Countrywide Unit Leverages Residential Success.
February 5, 2007... NEW YORK -- Leveraging off the reputation of its gargantuan residential mortgage-lending counterpart, Countrywide Commercial Real Estate Finance is ramping up quickly. After starting off in the business with about $300 million in lending...

Hispanic Association Teams Up with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.
February 5, 2007... SAN DIEGO -- The Hispanic National Mortgage Association, a for-profit organization dedicated to increasing homeownership among Latinos and other immigrant borrowers, has entered into a joint venture partnership with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage....

AMCORE's Originated MSR Sale Aids in Positioning for Expansion.
February 5, 2007... ROCKFORD, IL -- AMCORE Financial here is in the process of selling its originated mortgage servicing rights in a move the company says will better position it to grow its mortgage origination business and stabilize mortgage earnings through...

Hedge Costs PHH $20 Million.
February 5, 2007... MOUNT LAUREL, NJ -- PHH Corp., amidst a major accounting review, said that poor performance of its mortgage servicing hedge depressed its overall operating performance in the fourth quarter of 2006. It also said it has undertaken a major...

'Disappointed' IndyMac Still Growing Volume.
February 5, 2007... PASADENA, CA -- At a time when many lenders were reporting lower volumes, IndyMac produced record quarterly loan production of $26 billion, up 44% compared to one year earlier. For the full year, IndyMac produced $90 billion of home loans,...

Asset Increase Boosts Thornburg.
February 5, 2007... SANTA FE, NM -- Thornburg Mortgage increased its earnings by growing its asset base 24% last year while maintaining strong credit quality, the company said. Thornburg, a jumbo, adjustable-rate portfolio lender, grew its asset base to $52.7...

Downey's Net Income Declines: Bucking a trend in the industry, Downey saw a higher interest rate spread during the fourth quarter.
February 5, 2007... NEWPORT BEACH, CA -- Downey Financial Corp. saw its net income slide 5.6% in 2006 as lower gain-on-sale revenue from the sale of mortgages and mortgage-backed securities hurt the company's bottom line. The company saw net income of $205.2...

MSRs, Subprime Challenge Regions.
February 5, 2007... BIRMINGHAM, AL -- In what has generally been a quiet earnings season for mortgage servicing rights, Regions Financial recorded impairment to the value of its MSRs during the fourth quarter. During the fourth quarter of last year, Regions...

Delinquency Rise Fails to Hold Back American Home's Revenue.
February 5, 2007... MELVILLE, NY -- Despite seeing delinquencies rise during the period, American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. saw its earnings soar during the fourth quarter of 2006. Fourth-quarter revenue was $257.7 million, up 71.3% from $150.5 million for...

Servicing Impairment Affects Astoria.
February 5, 2007... LAKE SUCCESS, NY -- Astoria Financial Corp. here earned net income of $37.1 million in the fourth quarter, down from $57.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2005, with impairment to the company's mortgage servicing rights factored into the...

KeyCorp's Continuing Ops Income Rises in Wake of Champion Sale.(Financial report)
February 5, 2007... CLEVELAND -- After selling its subprime mortgage portfolio later in the year, KeyCorp revealed in its fourth-quarter and full-year 2006 earnings that its income from continuing operations rose to $311 million in the fourth quarter from $284...

Acquisitions Help At Capital One.
February 5, 2007... MCLEAN, VA -- Fourth-quarter earnings for Capital One Financial Corp., the parent company of GreenPoint Mortgage, were $390.7 million, up from the $280.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2005. According to Capital One's earnings statement,...

Mortgage Banking Hurts SGFC's 4Q.
February 5, 2007... MOULTRIE, GA -- Fourth-quarter earnings for the Southwest Georgia Financial Corp. were in decline from the year-earlier period, due in part to lower revenue from mortgage banking. DeWitt Drew, president and CEO of Southwest Georgia, said,...

Radian Stands Out Among Reporting MI Firms: One mortgage insurer's earnings came in above one company's estimate but were below the consensus.
February 5, 2007... NEW YORK -- Of the three publicly traded holding companies whose main business is private mortgage insurance and which have released earnings, only Radian has topped consensus estimates. MGIC came in above Friedman Billings Ramsey's own...

Bank in Virginia Pulls the Plug on Mortgages.
February 5, 2007... RESTON, VA -- Millennium Bankshares Corp. here said that as of the end of last year it wound down its mortgage banking operations. In a statement, chief executive Carroll C. Markley said, "Although the mortgage banking business was...

MLN 'Savior' Backs Out?
February 5, 2007... MIDDLETOWN, CT -- Marathon Asset Management, New York, which had considered investing in the struggling Mortgage Lenders Network, has pulled out of talks with the company, according to one MLN source. Marathon, which has $9.3 billion under...

Fannie Expects Home Prices to Decline: Credit losses amounted to about 1 basis point of the total portfolio last year.
February 5, 2007... NEW YORK -- Fannie Mae's CEO, Daniel Mudd, knows that housing has been on a roll in recent years, but he thinks the market may be sliding backward this year. Speaking at an investors conference sponsored by Citigroup, Mr. Mudd said that...

Mortgage Industry Equity Composite.
February 5, 2007... MIEC Index: 140.2 Change: 0.3 Company 2/1/2007 1/25/2007 Wkly. 52 52 % Chg. P/E % Chg. wk/lo wk/hi Ratio American Home (AHM) 34.91 32.32 8%...

Publicly traded Subprime and Alt-A Related Firms.
February 5, 2007... B&C Stock Price Index: 181.4 Change: 0.3 Company 52 wk/lo 52 wk/hi 2/1/2007 Wkly.% Chg. % Chg. P/E Ratio Delta Financial Corp (DFC) 7.89 11.22 10.89 -1% 38.02% 8.98 HSBC Holding (HBC) ...

Impairment Charges Hurt, but Loan Growth Helps at FNB United.
February 5, 2007... ASHEBORO, NC -- FNB United Corp., the holding company for First National Bank & Trust Co. and Dover Mortgage Co., said its full-year and quarterly earnings were partially affected by impairment charges incurred by its subsidiaries. Despite...

Net Loss Seen At MDC Holdings.(Financial report)
February 5, 2007... DENVER -- MDC Holdings Inc. took a net loss in 4Q06 of $6.4 million vs. net income of $197.5 million for 4Q05. Quarterly revenue was $1.34 billion vs. $1.74 billion for the same period in '05. Net income in '06 was $214.3 million vs. net...

Internet Leaders Showcased at MTC: E-Loan's back office - like MILA's - is 98% paperless today.
February 5, 2007... TEMPE, AZ -- Mortgage professionals attending SourceMedia's 10th Annual Mortgage Technology Conference got a review of state-of-the-art Internet-based lending, as keynoters Pete Bonnikson of E-Loan and Joe Dahleen of MILA followed LendingTree...

Lead Incubation Pays Off for GM Mortgage.
February 5, 2007... TEMPE, AZ -- When nonprime lender Aegis Lending selected Intellidyn for mortgage lead incubation, it knew that GM Mortgage was already putting up some remarkable conversion numbers with leads that generally go in the trash can. At the 10th...

Special Report: Servicing Preconvention.
February 12, 2007... Leaders of the mortgage servicing industry will gather in San Diego next week to talk about how a changing market creates new opportunities to profit from loan administration. Highlights of the event will include a golf outing at Torrey Pines...

MGIC/Radian Will Have 38% of MI.
February 12, 2007... MILWAUKEE -- The proposed merger of MGIC Investment Corp. here and Radian Group would create a combined unit that holds 38% of mortgage insurance in force. The terms of the transaction call for MGIC to exchange 0.9658 shares of its common...

MGIC and Radian - Policies-in-Force.
February 12, 2007... ($ in Millions) MI Firm MI Policies- Policies-In- MI Policies- Name In-Force Force Mkt. Sh. In-Force Rank MGIC $173,421 22.63% 1 Radian Guaranty $115,261 ...

Top Commercial Lenders in 3Q 2006.
February 12, 2007... ($ in Millions) Organization Name Location 3Q 06 Vol. 3Q 05 Vol. % Change Wachovia (E) Charlotte, NC $12,000 $11,000 9% Capmark Finance/GMAC (E) Horsham, PA...

Now, CRE Credit Worries.
February 12, 2007... SAN DIEGO -- There is a lot of capital chasing commercial real estate deals, which has led to a relaxation in underwriting standards, according to panelists at a session on credit quality at the MBA's Commercial Real Estate Finance/Multifamily...

Mexican RE Now Online.
February 12, 2007... AUSTIN, TX -- Two U.S. companies have brought a Mexican mortgage broker in a small but promising North American cross-border vacation home market online for what appears to be the first time. Making the system work cross-border was somewhat...

MLN Bankrupt Owing $92MM.
February 12, 2007... MIDDLETOWN, CT -- The ailing Mortgage Lenders Network here - once a top 15 ranked subprime lender - filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week, owing unsecured creditors $92 million. The filing came a few days after National...

HSBC Increases Reserve.
February 12, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Hammered by losses - and anticipated writedowns - on adjustable-rate second-lien subprime loans, HSBC Holdings last week increased the bad debt reserve on its B&C division to $10.56 billion, a stunning 125% increase from its Sept....

Fannie, FHA Eyeing ADC.
February 12, 2007... Fannie Mae met late week with its safety and soundness regulator about restarting its controversial acquisition, development and construction loan purchase program. At the same time, the Federal Housing Administration is said to have some...

Consumer Groups Chide GSEs for Subprime Loans.
February 12, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Some of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's friends are raising concerns about the GSEs' purchases and investments in subprime securities, particularly when the securities are backed by 2/28 ARMs. These short-term hybrid...

FHA Expects to See Loss Next Year.
February 12, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The Federal Housing Administration single-family mortgage program is projected to incur a loss next year - the first time in the program's 70-year history - due to rising defaults and declining originations. Budget proposals...

White House Wants 'Clarity' on Where Primary Market Ends.
February 12, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's new fiscal budget relents on the issue of portfolio limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but calls for greater "clarity" on where the primary mortgage market begins and ends. Released early last...

Brokers Backpedal On 'Mentor' Status.
February 12, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The National Association of Mortgage Brokers quickly erased the word "mentor" from its website after a senator pointed out that they were marketing themselves as "trusted advisors." Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris...

Editorial: Still Standing.(Editorial)
February 12, 2007... Will the commercial mortgage market suffer the same slow rollback most expect the residential market to exhibit in 2007? The most recent tally of commercial/multifamily originations by the Mortgage Bankers Association shows an increase of...

Open Forum: The GSEs: Where Do We Stand?: Mr. Poole's remarks before the Chartered Financial Analysts of St. Louis are presented as our Open Forum. (Second of two parts.).
February 12, 2007... Congressional hearings were held, and GSE reform legislation was passed in oversight committees of both houses of Congress in 2004 and 2005, although no final legislation has been enacted as of this time. I'll have more to say about reform...

Hone Credit Models to Offset Curve's Pressure: With all the sophisticated tools out there, why has subprime risk been so misjudged?
February 12, 2007... I'm interested - and I'm pretty sure a lot of mortgage market participants are, too - in what folks are doing or can do about the inverted yield curve that's been challenging the real estate finance business. So I jokingly said to one of...

Freddie Sets June 8 as Meeting Date.
February 12, 2007... MCLEAN, VA -- Freddie Mac has scheduled its annual shareholders meeting for June 8, when shareholders of record as of March 30 will be electing 13 members to the company's board of directors. The terms of current directors will expire on the...

Irwin Reports Home Equity Gain.
February 12, 2007... COLUMBUS, IN -- Irwin Financial Corp. saw improved fourth-quarter results for its home-equity segment from the previous quarter, although a slight deterioration in consumer mortgage credit quality. The home-equity segment earned $1.2...

Bancorp South Grows Net 6.8%.
February 12, 2007... TUPELO, MS -- BancorpSouth earned $1.57 per diluted share last year, up 6.8% from 2005, despite taking a modest impairment charge in the fourth quarter. BancorpSouth said the pretax, negative impact from a decline in the value of its...

Servicing Sales Help Flagstar Bank Cope with Challenging Conditions.
February 12, 2007... TROY, MI -- Flagstar Bancorp here faced plenty of headwinds that held back earnings in the last year, but a gain from the sale of mortgage servicing rights helped offset some of the problems. Still, Flagstar posted fourth-quarter earnings...

Farmer Mac Will Buy Back Stock.
February 12, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The board of the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp., better known as Farmer Mac, has authorized the company to continue its share repurchase program, with a view toward repurchasing up to an additional one million shares of Class...

Alliance Revamps Mortgage Operation.
February 12, 2007... CHANTILLY, VA -- After Alliance Bankshares Corp. reported fourth-quarter 2006 earnings of $554,000 compared to $1.1 million for the same period last year, Thomas A. Young Jr., president and CEO of the company, pointed out that its 4Q06 results...

E-Lending Transition Takes Time.
February 12, 2007... TEMPE, AZ -- While talk of electronic mortgages and the benefits they will bring this industry are not new, there are still common misconceptions about e-mortgages that lenders should be aware of when going down this path. At the 10th Annual...

HomeTeam Profits from TV Presence.
February 12, 2007... SEATTLE -- HomeTeam, producer of the nationally syndicated "cause" television program of the same name, reported a prosperous 2006, including the addition of key executives, a second season renewal, and the successful beta launch of its...

PA Bank is First to Fail in Two Years.
February 12, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has arranged the takeover of a small Pittsburgh bank, making Metropolitan Savings Bank the first bank failure in over two years. Metropolitan had $15.8 million in assets and $13.2 million in...

Mortgage Insurance Volume Dips.
February 12, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Private mortgage insurers did $252.1 billion of primary new insurance in 2006, down slightly from production in 2004 and 2005. Members of the Mortgage Insurance Cos. of America wrote $212.6 billion of primary new insurance...

Franklin Shifts Portfolio Assets.
February 12, 2007... HOUSTON -- As a means of improving its interest margins, Franklin Bank Corp. is planning the restructuring of approximately $580 million, or 20%, of its single-family loan portfolio from held for investment to held for sale, according to its...

Root Markets Acquires LeadROI: Root allows LeadROI to be 'agnostic' in providing its services to mortgage originators.
February 12, 2007... NEW YORK -- Root Markets Inc. here, the lead exchange platform whose chairman is Lew Ranieri, has acquired LeadROI, a mortgage lead management and customer relationship management system provider headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif. Terms of the...

Merrill Paying $1.8 Billion for CA Bank.
February 12, 2007... SAN FRANCISCO -- Moving from one end of the credit spectrum to the other, Merrill Lynch, New York, has agreed to acquire First Republic Bank, San Francisco, in a deal valued at $1.8 billion. First Republic specializes in working with high net...

$250 Million New Mexico Land Sale Is Rich in History: The buyer, SunCal, plans to pursue residential, business and recreational development opportunities.
February 12, 2007... ALBUQUERQUE, NM -- It's not every day a company purchases a single piece of property twice the size of Boston. Add the fact the land was part of a 17th century land grant handed down to Spanish settlers in what is now New Mexico by King...

Managers Called Key to Improving Performance in Loan Sales.
February 12, 2007... LOS ANGELES -- It is one of the classic "chicken or egg" questions in the mortgage business: Who is more important to loan production, salespeople or their managers? According to Patricia Sherlock, a 20-year industry veteran who now heads...

Lender Embraces Builder as Client.
February 12, 2007... LOS ANGELES -- How do mortgage companies instill the disciplines of planning and focused execution in their loan production departments? For Sue Stewart, president of Cornerstone Home Mortgage, Washington, it's a fairly easy task. Because...

MBA Designing New Consumer Disclosure Form.
February 12, 2007... LOS ANGELES -- A legislatively imposed suitability test "would set fair lending back 25 years," according to the chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association, which is advancing the idea of a "simple, plain English" disclosure form as an...

Roundup: Early Delinquencies Land JPM Deal on Ratings Watch List.
February 12, 2007... NEW YORK -- Class M-11 of J.P. Morgan Mortgage Acquisition Corp. asset-backed pass-through certificates, series 2005-FRE1, has been placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings. Fitch also affirmed the ratings on 18 other classes in the...

Ace Classes Downgraded.
February 12, 2007... NEW YORK -- Four classes of Ace Securities Corp. mortgage-backed securities have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings, and three classes have been placed on Rating Watch Negative. The downgrades were as follows: series 2002-HE3, class M-2, from...

CSFB Deal Downgraded.
February 12, 2007... NEW YORK -- Class DB3 of CSFB Mortgage Securities Corp. mortgage pass-through certificates, series 2002-22 (groups 3 and 4), has been downgraded from B to C/DR6 by Fitch Ratings. Fitch also affirmed the ratings on 59 classes from 16 CSFB...

GSAMP Classes on Review.
February 12, 2007... NEW YORK -- Five classes of GSAMP Trust series 2006-S3 mortgage-backed securities have been placed under review for possible downgrade by Moody's Investors Service. The affected certificates are classes M-5, M-6, M-7, B-1 and B-2. ...

HarbourView Deal in Default.
February 12, 2007... NEW YORK -- The Class A notes issued by HarbourView CDO III Ltd., a collateralized debt obligation that includes mortgage-backed securities, have been downgraded from B to A-minus by Fitch Ratings. Fitch also lowered the Distressed Recovery...

Homestar Deal Downgraded.
February 12, 2007... NEW YORK -- Class M-5 of Homestar Mortgage Acceptance Corp. asset-backed pass-through certificates, series 2004-3, has been downgraded from Baa2 to Ba3 by Moody's Investors Service. The downgrade was based on deteriorating credit...

MAST Deal on Review.
February 12, 2007... NEW YORK -- Class M-10 of Mortgage Asset Securitization Transactions Asset Back Securities Trust mortgage pass-through certificates series 2005-FRE1 has been placed on Rating Watch Negative by Fitch Ratings. Fitch also upgraded 28 classes...

Meritage Deal on Review.
February 12, 2007... NEW YORK -- Two classes of certificates from Meritage Mortgage Loan Trust 2004-1 have been placed on review for possible downgrade by Moody's Investors Service. The class M-8 and B-1 notes are backed by average subprime collateral,...

Morgan Classes Downgraded.
February 12, 2007... NEW YORK -- Two classes from Morgan Stanley ABS Capital I Inc., series 2002-HE3, have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service. Class B-1 was downgraded from Baa2 to B1, and class B-2 was downgraded from Baa3 to B3. The downgrades...