National Mortgage News articles from June 2005

National Mortgage News archives from June 2005

Inside Track.
June 6, 2005... EDITORIAL New Mexico Road Trip 4 OPEN FORUM Renting Versus Owning 4 STREET SMART Get Ready For A Refi Boom? 5 EQUITIES Banks Face Hurdles 11 TECHNOLOGY ID Theft...

IO Market Zooms to 21% Share.
June 6, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Two years ago, very few residential lenders were funding interest-only mortgages, but today these somewhat controversial loans account for 21% of the entire production market in the U.S., according to exclusive survey figures...

Residential Interest-Only Lenders in Q1 2005.
June 6, 2005... ($ in Millions) (part 1 of 2) Rk Organization Name Location 1 Countrywide Financial Corp. (E) Calabasas, CA 2 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage San Francisco, CA 3 Aurora Loan Services,...

Freddie Top Loan Purchaser.
June 6, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Freddie Mac, which has long been the "little brother" to "big sister" Fannie Mae, bought more loans than its cross-town competitor during April, the first time it has outpurchased its rival in about a decade. During the...

It's Official: Mudd Fannie CEO.
June 6, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Fannie Mae last week named one of its own, interim CEO Daniel Mudd, to be its permanent chief executive and president, a decision that caught some in the industry by surprise. As reported by National Mortgage News in mid-May,...

Freddie Buys Option Loans.
June 6, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Freddie Mac wants to start purchasing option-adjusted ARMs later this year as it tries to catch up with the market and the Wall Street conduits. These adjustable-rate mortgages offer borrowers several payment options,...

Study Finds No Racial Bias in HMDA Data.
June 6, 2005... NEW YORK -- Findings from a recent study have been released by Traiger & Hinckley LLP here disputing charges based on 2004 HMDA data that mortgage lenders exhibit a pattern of discrimination against minorities and women. The firm's...

New Push for Zero-Down FHA Loans.
June 6, 2005... WASHINGTON -- The Mortgage Bankers Association believes a major problem that prevented passage of a Federal Housing Administration zero-downpayment program last year has been resolved and it is urging the House to reconsider the bill. "We...

Promotion Spotlight: David H. Stevens.
June 6, 2005... Mr. Stevens, who was in charge of sales for Freddie Mac, has left the mortgage giant for one of its largest customers, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, San Francisco. A spokesman for Freddie Mac confirmed that Mr. Stevens had left the...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
June 6, 2005... The House Financial Services Committee on May 25 voted 65-5 to approve a bill that establishes a strong, independent regulator to oversee Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks. In the May 30 issue, NMN reported the vote was...

Legislation Creates Reporting Burden for Lenders in Chicago.
June 6, 2005... SPRINGFIELD, IL -- Both houses of the Illinois Legislature have passed a bill to establish a predatory lending database pilot program in certain areas of Illinois. If enacted, the law could keep lenders from making loans in Cook County. ...

A 1st-Rate Lender of Last Resort.
June 6, 2005... The Rural Housing Service, whose New Mexico state office recently invited us to tour some of the state's rural areas, is set up to be the lender of last resort. It does a first-rate job of it. RHS, a unit of the Department of Agriculture's...

Should Everyone Own a Home?
June 6, 2005... Mr. Retsinas, president of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, and Mr. Apgar, senior research scholar at the center, have contributed a commentary on homeownership, which is presented as our Open Forum. Take this...

Yields, Mortgage Rates Fall to Refi Levels, But It May Not Last.
June 6, 2005... The rate-indicative 10-year Treasury yield at press time last Thursday morning had fallen to a point close to 3.90%, a level thought to prompt prepayments. A move to 3.90% or lower could result in a "significant increase in refi activity,"...

Rep. Oxley Spars with NAR over Banking Powers.
June 6, 2005... WASHINGTON -- House Financial Services Committee chairman Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, and the National Association of Realtors are on a collision course over the issue of banks offering real estate services. The politically powerful trade group...

WaMu Drops Annual Fee from Home Equity Line.
June 6, 2005... SEATTLE -- Washington Mutual has dropped the annual fee for its Personal Equity Manager product and has lengthened the fixed-rate option up to a 30-year term, making it one of the most flexible home-equity and mortgage products currently...

REITs Become Bigger Short Play.
June 6, 2005... NEW YORK -- Short interest in real estate investment trust stocks, as a percent of equity float, went up to 3.4% as of May 15, increasing 0.4%, the largest single month increase seen by the J.P. Morgan REIT research team. The short...

NovaStar Tries to Block PMI's Counter-Claim in Ongoing Lawsuit.
June 6, 2005... KANSAS CITY, KS -- NovaStar Mortgage has filed a memorandum in opposition to PMI's motion to add a counterclaim against NovaStar, in which PMI accused the company of committing fraud in its representation of 6,300 stated-income loans. The...

PMI: Captive Reinsurance Passes Test.
June 6, 2005... WALNUT CREEK, CA -- The PMI Group Inc. here said a self-commissioned study found its deep cede captive reinsurance arrangements satisfy the risk transfer requirements of SFAS 113 because the probability of significant loss to the other party is...

Lenders Need Knowledge of Fraud.
June 6, 2005... LAS VEGAS -- Because of today's regulatory environment, it is imperative that lenders are compliant with all state and federal laws and free of fraud, according to speakers at the Subprime Symposium held here recently and sponsored by...

Servicing Sale Slated.
June 6, 2005... EDISON, NJ -- HanoverTrade, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hanover Capital Mortgage Holdings, is brokering the sale of servicing rights on a home loan portfolio with a principal balance of $193 million. HanoverTrade said it was accepting bids...

S&P Raises Cendant's Corporate Rating.
June 6, 2005... NEW YORK -- Standard & Poor's Rating Services raised its corporate credit rating on Cendant Corp., a travel and real estate services provider, to "BBB-plus" from "BBB." At the same time, S&P affirmed Cendant's "A-2" commercial paper...

ABC Offers Tips To Loan Brokers.
June 6, 2005... MELVILLE, NY -- For many mortgage wholesalers, one of the key issues was being able to drive market share growth during 2005, a year many expect to see volumes decline from the 2004 record year. At American Brokers Conduit, ABC for short,...

Biggest Banks Face Hurdles.
June 6, 2005... NEW YORK -- Analysts at Merrill Lynch see three potential threats hampering the profitability of the nation's biggest banks. First and foremost, the yield curve, a measure of the difference between long-term interest rates and short-term...

NovaStar Prices Stock Offering.
June 6, 2005... KANSAS CITY, MO -- NovaStar Financial Inc., a lender and investor in residential mortgage loans, has priced a public offering of 1.5 million shares of its newly issued common stock at $35 per share. The company has granted underwriters an...

CAIT's Auditor Quits Post, Citing SEC Regulations.
June 6, 2005... SAN FRANCISCO -- Capital Alliance Income Trust, a REIT traded on the American Stock Exchange, has notified the SEC that the company's former auditor, Novogradac & Co., has withdrawn from that role because it has decided to cease providing...

Data-Vision Enters the Loan Compliance Arena.
June 6, 2005... MISHAWAKA, IN -- Document delivery vendor Data-Vision here is taking all the issues surrounding compliance to heart. The company will release a versioning functionality to allow the user to check for compliance before going live. "We have...

National City Bank Targets Identity Theft with Online Program.
June 6, 2005... DETROIT -- Identity theft is a growing problem that plagues the customers of financial institutions across the country. Metro Detroit customers are getting some new ammunition in the war on identity theft. National City, Cleveland, is...

Downgrades for Commercial MBS.
June 6, 2005... NEW YORK -- Fitch Ratings has downgraded class G and upgraded class B of Commercial Capital Access One Inc.'s commercial mortgage series 3. Class B's rating has fallen to B-minus from B and class B's rating has risen to AA-plus from AA....

REITs Facing Challenges When Correction Comes.(Correction Notice)
June 6, 2005... NEW YORK -- Some U.S. real estate investment trusts and real estate operating companies could face challenges if a correction were to happen in the "frothy" real estate investment and capital market areas, according to Moody's Investors...

Commercial Transactions.
June 6, 2005... Extra Space Storage and Prudential Real Estate Investors are together acquiring Storage USA, an operator of self-storage facilities with 458 properties, from GE Commercial Finance for about $2.3 billion in cash. Prudential Mortgage has...

Counseling Can Bring First-Timers into the Fold.
June 6, 2005... NEW YORK -- Data confirm that homeownership education and financial counseling is a good investment that promotes affordable lending by bringing into the marketplace first-time, low-income and minority buyers, who represent a 34% lower loan...

RBC to Sell Certain U.S. Assets to New Century.
June 6, 2005... TORONTO -- The Royal Bank of Canada here has made plans to sell certain assets of its U.S.-based RBC Mortgage Corp. unit to Irvine, Calif.-based real estate investment trust New Century Financial Corp., the corporate parent company of one of...

Six Year-Plus Owners to Seek Home Equity Loans?
June 6, 2005... ANAHEIM, CA -- A new study put out by First American Real Estate Solutions here claims the next wave of borrowers, especially for home-equity products, will be the large amount of homeowners who have owned their property for six years or...

'HE Issuance Strong But Slower'.
June 6, 2005... NEW YORK -- Home-equity loan asset-backed securities issuance has remained stronger than expected in 2005 but it is moving at a slower pace than last year, Anthony Thompson, managing director, head of U.S. ABS and global collateralized debt...

SouthStar Move Boosts Submissions.
June 6, 2005... ATLANTA -- SouthStar Funding, a nonconforming wholesale lender, has received what it said have been record-breaking submissions after the release of its newest product, SimpleScore. "Developed in order to simplify the qualifying of subprime...

Reacting to HMDA Expansion.
June 6, 2005... LAS VEGAS -- As expanded HMDA data become available, there is a growing concern for lenders to have practices in place which adhere to fair lending laws, according to panelists at the Subprime Symposium held here recently. Early analysis...

NovaStar Completes Second 2005 MBS.
June 6, 2005... KANSAS CITY, MO -- NovaStar Financial subsidiary NovaStar Mortgage has completed its second securitization of 2005, the company said. Lead managers RBS Greenwich Capital, Wachovia Securities and Deutsche Bank Securities, with co-manager...

MBS Roundup: Alt A/MF Combined.
June 6, 2005... NEW YORK -- A number of nonprime mortgage securitizations have received ratings recently from, among them: * Moody's Investors Service has assigned ratings of Aaa to the senior bonds issued by Impac CMB Trust Series 2005-4, a securitization...

MA Issues Fair Lending Bulletin.
June 6, 2005... BOSTON -- The Massachusetts Division of Banks here has issued a regulatory bulletin under the Massachusetts Fair Lending Policy, according to the Washington law firm Lotstein Buckman LLP, which focuses on the need for licensed mortgage lenders...

Garner to Pitch Reverse Loans.
June 6, 2005... IRVINE, CA -- James Garner, most famous for his portrayal of Jim Rockford, the beleaguered detective in "The Rockford Files," has signed on to be the celebrity pitchman for Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corp. here. Mr. Rockford's most...

NHEMA, MARI See Shift in State Fraud Levels.
June 6, 2005... CHICAGO -- There has been somewhat of a shift in the states that have the greatest mortgage fraud problems, according to a periodic report from the National Home Equity Mortgage Association and the Mortgage Asset Research Institute that...

Delta Exec: Room for Growth Even After 2004's Record Volumes.
June 6, 2005... WOODBURY, NY -- In comments made at the company's annual stockholders' meeting, the head of Delta Financial Corp. here said even with record production in 2004, the nonprime lender has the opportunity to grow market share. "Despite the...

QuestSoft Allies With VueCentric.
June 6, 2005... LAGUNA HILLS, CA -- QuestSoft, a provider of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and Community Reinvestment Act compliance solutions, and geocoding services, has entered into a strategic alliance with Austin, Texas-based VueCentric, a provider of loan...

Regulators Want More Basel II Analysis.
June 6, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Four federal banking agencies have agreed that additional analysis is needed before publishing a notice of proposed rulemaking with respect to the U.S. implementation of the Basel II international capital standards. The Office of...

U.K. Buyers Favor a 'Debt Test'.
June 6, 2005... LONDON -- Nearly two-thirds of recent first-time buyers in the United Kingdom said that an online "debt test" designed to help them assess their future borrowing risk would be useful, according to research carried out by the Council of Mortgage...

Shared Equity Boosts Market.
June 6, 2005... LONDON -- The United Kingdom's Treasury and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister have begun working with the private sector to help expand affordable homeownership through a shared equity scheme, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. ...

People.
June 6, 2005... CALIFORNIA Carson-Document Systems Inc. has hired two new employees in its project management department. Michael Morford has joined DSI as integration services manager and Manoj Thakur will serve as technical project manager. Mr....

Rehabs Are Key To Revival in MI.
June 6, 2005... DETROIT -- A boarded-up home covered in chipped paint with an ailing foundation may seem like junk to some, but to the Detroit Catholic Pastoral Alliance, worn-down homes are precious gems. About two years ago, the organization began a program...

Zero Down from No Red Tape.
June 6, 2005... LOS ANGELES -- At least one executive believes that niche-market companies are a success formula. So faithful to its one-product-only style, jumbo and superjumbo loan wholesaler No Red Tape Mortgage here has launched Zero Down Mortgage, the...

Publicly-traded Subprime and Alt-A Related Firms.
June 6, 2005... B&C Stock Price Index: 231.5 Change: 9.9 (part 1 of 2) Company 52 wk/lo 52 wk/hi 6/2/2005 Aames (AIC) 2.05 12.00 10.04 American Business Fin. (ABFIQ) ...

Mortgage Industry Equity Composite.
June 6, 2005... MIEC Index: 160.8 Change: 2.1 (part 1 of 2) Company 5/26/2005 6/2/2005 Wkly. & Chg. Astoria Federal (AF) 27.75 27.63 0% ...

$1 Billion Security at Accredited.
June 6, 2005... SAN DIEGO, CA -- Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co. has closed a securitization containing approximately $1 billion of first- and second-lien residential mortgages through its real estate investment trust subsidiary, Accredited Mortgage Loan...

Ameriquest Downgrades.
June 6, 2005... NEW YORK -- Two certificates from an Ameriquest asset-backed securitization deal issued in 2001 have been downgraded by Moody's Investors Service. Class M-2 of ABFC Mortgage Loan Asset-Backed Certificates, series 2001-AQ1, was downgraded...

Bear Stearns Cut.
June 6, 2005... NEW YORK -- Two classes of Bear Stearns asset-backed securities, series 1999-1, have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. Class BF of series 1999-1 group 1 was downgraded from BBB-minus to BB-minus, and class BV of series 1999-1 group 2 was...

Tranche On Review.
June 6, 2005... NEW YORK -- Moody's Investors Service has placed one tranche issued by C-Bass 2002-CB5 on review for downgrade. "The certificates are being placed on review for downgrade based upon the poorer-than-anticipated performance of the underlying...

Subprime Downgrades.
June 6, 2005... NEW YORK -- Six classes of Chase Funding subprime mortgage loan asset-backed certificates have been downgraded by Fitch Ratings. The downgrades were as follows: Chase Funding series 2000-1 group 1, class IB, from BBB to BBB-minus; series...

Residents See Housing Crisis.
June 6, 2005... WASHINGTON -- New research sets the parameters by which residents will accept affordable housing in their communities. If new neighborhoods do not hurt property values, contribute to overcrowding or make traffic any worse, people are more...

Inside Track.
June 13, 2005... EDITORIAL The Broker Universe 4 OPEN FORUM The Fed On HMDA 4 STREET SMARTS Dollar Roll Squeeze Takes Toll 5 TECHNOLOGY Fair Isaac Tool 8 RATES DOWN, REFIS...

GNMA Issuance in Steep Decline.
June 13, 2005... WASHINGTON -- The current year is shaping up to be one of the worst in five years for the Government National Mortgage Association's single-family program - and the agency well knows it. "It's undeniable that we're off quite a bit this...

GNMA - A Business in Deep Decline.
June 13, 2005... ($ in Billions) The Total Res. GNMA GNMA % B&C B&C % Year Prod. (FHA/VA) of Total Vol. of Total 2005(e) $2,652 $92 3.5% $540 20.3% 2004 $2,790 $151 ...

GSE AH Set to Ramp Up.
June 13, 2005... WASHINGTON -- It is estimated that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would distribute $800 million in grants each year to fund housing projects for very low-income families under a bill passed by a House committee. The GSE bill approved by the...

WaMu Deal: Cross-Selling Is the Key.
June 13, 2005... SEATTLE -- Looking to put credit cards in the hands of its mortgage and home-equity (as well as its retail banking) customers, Washington Mutual here has agreed to buy Providian Financial, a credit-card provider based in San Francisco. The deal...

'New Heights' For Housing.
June 13, 2005... CAMBRIDGE, MA -- The 2005 State of the Nation's Housing Report foresees "new heights again over the next 10 years" on housing investment, despite the long-term risk and potential loan default associated with the recent boom in subprime lending...

Alt-A Volumes Continue Strong, with 80% Gain in First Quarter.
June 13, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Mortgage bankers funded $83 billion in alt-A credits in the first quarter, an impressive 80% gain from the same period last year, according to figures compiled by National Mortgage News. The nation's top 20 alt-A firms, as a...

Mortgage Froth Is Worrying Fed.
June 13, 2005... WASHINGTON -- The increasing popularity of interest-only loans, option ARMs and other "exotic" forms of adjustable-rate mortgages is raising eyebrows at the Federal Reserve Board. "The apparent froth in the housing markets may have spilled...

Interest Rates Hit Another Low.
June 13, 2005... NEW YORK -- The average rate on 30-year mortgage loans fell to 5.56% last week, the lowest level reported since April of 2004, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey of the mortgage market. One year earlier, the average 30-year rate had...

Maine Passes Bill to Regulate Escrow Accounts.
June 13, 2005... AUGUSTA, ME -- Gov. John Baldacci recently signed a House bill here, which applies to creditors, assignees or servicers that hold or control funds of a consumer in an escrow account for the payment of taxes or insurance premiums. According...

Good for Now.
June 13, 2005... As the national mortgage broker community meets this week in Minneapolis, it has reason to be happy about the prospects for the rest of the year. Subprime mortgages continue to gain market share, interest rates are staying obligingly low, home...

HMDA's New Data Requirement.
June 13, 2005... Gov. Gramlich recently addressed the National Association of Real Estate Editors in Washington. Excerpts of his remarks are presented as our Open Forum. In our society, homeownership is the most common step one can take toward accumulating...

Fannie 5 Dollar Roll Squeeze Takes Toll on Some in Market.
June 13, 2005... As the June/July settlement was approaching at press time last week, the Fannie Mae 5 dollar roll was being squeezed to the point where some trades could possibly fail, market participants said. As of last Tuesday, the dollar roll affected...

Delta Unit Prices $750 Million Deal.
June 13, 2005... WOODBURY, NY -- Delta Financial Corp. has priced a securitization backed by $750 million in mortgages through its subsidiary, Renaissance Mortgage Acceptance Corp. The deal is a senior subordinate transaction that utilizes...

Ginnie Expects More Hybrids.
June 13, 2005... WASHINGTON -- Ginnie Mae is expecting to see a boost in securitizations of hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages in July now that FHA lenders are originating a competitive 5/1 hybrid product. Federal Housing Administration 5/1 hybrids had a...

Thornburg Deal Nets $117 Million.
June 13, 2005... SANTA FE, NM -- Thornburg Mortgage here has priced a follow-on offering of 4,000,000 shares of common stock at $30.80 per share. Gross proceeds from the transaction were $123.2 million and will be primarily used to fund adjustable-rate loans...

Encompass Updates Business Management Tools.
June 13, 2005... DUBLIN, CA -- Ellie Mae here has updated its loan origination software tool, Encompass, to include more features geared toward business management with the new Version 2.7, which will be launched at the National Association of Mortgage Brokers...

Fair Isaac Offers New Fraud Tool.
June 13, 2005... Orlando, FL -- Fair Isaac Corp., a provider of analytics and decision technology, has released Falcon One, a new software solution designed to help financial institutions combat existing and emerging types of fraud at customer "touch points"...

Orion and Ernst Do Partnership.
June 13, 2005... Southlake, TX -- Orion Financial Group here, a mortgage industry document services provider, has partnered with Ernst Publishing Co., Clarksville, N.Y., a national authority on land recording offices, to record mortgage assignments and...

Fidelity Adds Comparable Sales Engine.
June 13, 2005... Jacksonville, FL -- Fidelity National Data Services, which shares a parent company with the nation's largest loan servicing automation bureau, has launched its Comp Locator system, a search engine for finding comparable home sales for...

Consumers Are Using FICO Scores.
June 13, 2005... Minneapolis -- Fair Isaac Corp., pioneer of the FICO credit score used by lenders to evaluate consumer credit risk, said that its myFICO consumer division and its partners have sold the 10-millionth FICO score to U.S. consumers. The milestone...

SourceMedia Partners with Frost On CloseMore.
June 13, 2005... NEW YORK -- Greg Frost's credentials in the industry as an originator and as a trainer are unparalleled. Once again, industry publications have him listed among the top 10 originators in the business, while last year he was the No. 1 Federal...

KeyCorp to Buy Malone Mortgage.
June 13, 2005... CLEVELAND -- KeyCorp is acquiring Dallas-based Malone Mortgage Co. in a move that is expected to expand the company's presence in the Federal Housing Administration financing and servicing areas. The terms of the acquisition, which requires...

Boykin Considering 'Strategic Options'.
June 13, 2005... CLEVELAND -- Boykin Lodging Co., which is based here, is looking at possible strategic options for the real estate investment trust with the help of UBS Investment Bank. Boykin Lodging, which focuses on upscale commercial and resort...

ING Clarion Acquiring Gables.
June 13, 2005... BOCA RATON, FL -- A private-equity partnership sponsored by ING Clarion Partners is acquiring Gables Residential Trust for a total price of about $2.8 billion and taking the multifamily real estate investment trust private. The subsidiary...

Flatter Yield Curve a Mixed Curse for Many Financial Stocks.
June 13, 2005... NEW YORK -- The recent flattening of the yield curve, with long-term interest rates declining despite the Federal Reserve Board's recent increases in short-term rates, will have mixed effects on financial stocks, according to a recent Merrill...