National Mortgage News articles from October 2007

National Mortgage News archives from October 2007

An Industry in Crisi.
October 1, 2007... * Payment-option ARM fundings plunge * Bottom-fisher wins bid for BK servicer * New home sales fell 8.3% in August * HSBC closes B&C wholesale unit * Nationstar exits wholesale * CFC may modify 25,000 loans this year ...

AmHome Servicing Sold.
October 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Investor Wilbur Ross Jr., a bottom fisher who made millions investing in ailing steel plants, was picked as the winning bidder to purchase the mortgage servicing platform of American Home Mortgage, Melville, N.Y. The sale,...

Residential Option ARMs Lenders in Q2 2007.
October 1, 2007... ($ in millions) Opt ARMs % Market Rank Organization Name Location Q2 2007 Q2 2006 Change Share 1 Washington Mutual (E) Seattle, WA $8,442 $11,256 -25% 16.89% 2 Countrywide Financial Corp....

Subprime Rates and Delinquencies.
October 1, 2007... Time Avg. Rate Avg. Delinquency Rate Period on B&C ABS on B&C Securitized Lns. 2007 (*) 8.36% 10.1% 2006 8.37% 22.6% 2005 7.75% 28.5% Notes: Late payments reflect only subprime residential...

Two More B&C Wholesalers Exit.
October 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Two more top-ranked subprime wholesalers are heading for the exits, shuttering their broker/table funding platforms amid a wrenching correction in the nonprime secondary market. Both firms - HSBC Holdings and Nationstar Mortgage...

Bill Would Aid Loan Mods.
October 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Key members of the House Financial Services and Judiciary Committees are sponsoring a bill that repeals the home mortgage exception in the bankruptcy code so homeowners filing for Chapter 13 relief can get their mortgages...

Option ARMs Plummet 41%.
October 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Originations of payment-option ARMs - a loan pilloried by many housing activists - fell 41% in the second quarter, according to exclusive survey figures compiled by National Mortgage News. The nation's top 20 originators of...

GSE Settles For $50 MM.
October 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Freddie Mac has agreed to pay a $50 million civil money penalty to settle government charges that it engaged in securities fraud from 1998 to 2002. The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that the publicly traded GSE...

Mortgage Industry Crisis Threatens Investment in Fremont.
October 1, 2007... SANTA MONICA, CA -- A proposed investment by an entity controlled by Gerald J. Ford into Fremont General Corp. here is the latest transaction to hit a snag as the result of the problems in the mortgage industry. Mr. Ford, the former...

OOMC Parent Borrows on LOC.
October 1, 2007... KANSAS CITY, MO -- H&R Block here, the publicly traded parent of subprime giant Option One Mortgage Corp., last week drew down $250 million on existing credit facilities it has with a consortium of banks. In total, H&RB has borrowed $1.45...

Panel Approves Debt Forgiveness.
October 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The House Ways and Means Committee unanimously approved a bill that removes a tax penalty on homeowners involved in a mortgage restructuring or foreclosure and extends for seven years a tax deduction on mortgage insurance...

FDIC Chair 'Frustrated' by B&C Loan Servicers.
October 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chair Sheila Bair said mortgage servicers have a lot of latitude and support for restructuring subprime loans to prevent foreclosures, but she is disappointed with the servicers' performance so far....

Editorial: A New Start.(Editorial)
October 1, 2007... This week National Mortgage News begins its 32nd year of providing comprehensive, independent coverage of the mortgage business. And while anniversaries are usually occasions to celebrate, this one must be a somber party. The mortgage...

Open Forum: How the GSEs Can Help Out.
October 1, 2007... Mr. Syron's recent testimony before the house financial services committee is presented as our open forum. He told legislators Freddie Mac is taking steps to assist the mortgage market work through the current liquidity crisis and credit...

Long-Term Rates Rise After Fed Cuts - But That Could Change.
October 1, 2007... Long-term mortgage rates at press time were heading upward again, as often happens after the Fed cuts short-term rates, and the long-term rate indicative 10-year Treasury yield. The benchmark yield was at 4.6% as of last Thursday morning...

Star Shines amid Mortgage Morass.
October 1, 2007... ORLANDO, FL -- Not everyone is laying off workers right and left. At least one firm is hiring by the boatload. In what just may be the feel-good story of an otherwise dismal year to date for the mortgage sector, Digital Risk, a technology...

Midland Helps with Cost Control.
October 1, 2007... MEMPHIS, TN -- Personnel costs to originate a commercial loan are higher than on the residential side. To address that problem Midland Loan Services has given itself the task of keeping itself and its users fully empowered with the technology...

Flexibility Is Key to Choosing a Doc Provider.
October 1, 2007... DALLAS -- As investor requirements adjust and loan products roll back to more conventional paper, lenders need a flexible and fast document provider to keep them agile. "We realized that we needed to partner with a special doc company that...

B&C Crisis Renews Focus on Loan Disclosures: Policy makers praised a GSE disclosure form for helping consumers find the cheapest loan product.
October 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- Rising defaults and foreclosures are forcing policymakers and regulators to focus once again on providing consumers with clear and simple mortgage disclosures. Even presidents, cabinet secretaries and senators are talking...

More Downward Ratings Pressure to Come; More Downgrades.
October 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Citing rising six-month default rates, Moody's Investors Service says the fallout from aggressive mortgage underwriting and a prolonged housing downturn will produce downward ratings pressure on subprime and alternative-A tranches...

Commercial/MF Debt Rises to over $3.1 Trillion: 'Investors continue to invest heavily in commercial/multifamily mortgage debt during the second quarter.'.
October 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding was up 3.4% in the second quarter, reaching a level of over $3.1 trillion, the Mortgage Bankers Association reports, based on an analysis of data from the Federal Reserve Board....

CDOs Can Be Effective Financing but Must Be Used Correctly.
October 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- The collateralized debt obligation securitization format is now viewed with suspicion following the subprime market meltdown, but it is actually a useful financing vehicle if it is not abused. At a RealShare investment and...

Big Homebuilder's Loss Grows as Sales Plummet in 3rd Quarter.(Financial report)
October 1, 2007... RED BANK, NJ -- For the quarter ended July 31, homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises here reported an after-tax loss of $80.5 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2007. Total revenue decreased 27.1% to $1.1 billion for the third quarter...

Builders Adding More Incentives.
October 1, 2007... IRVINE, CA -- As the housing industry adjusts to current economic conditions, many builders are rethinking the way they do business and are looking for innovative ways to entice their buyers and restore their homebuying confidence. In...

Hotline Assistance to the Rescue for Borrower Resets: 'We don't believe it is in anyone's best interest to be making untested changes to the FHA charter.'.
October 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Telephone hotlines and the Internet are coming to the rescue of lenders responding to growing customer need for immediate assistance on resetting or refinancing their subprime mortgage loans and personal finance tips. One such...

Hispanic Realtors Fight Predatory Loans with Code of Trust.
October 1, 2007... ORLANDO, FL -- The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals has taken action against unethical lending, requiring its members to abide by a new code of trust and set of basic principles on how to conduct business. "Our...

Roundup: Flagstar Expects Lower Margins At a Glance at bottom goes with "RAIT Faces..." item.
October 1, 2007... TROY, MI -- Flagstar Bancorp here dramatically lowered its estimated gain-on-sale margins for this year, saying it will probably have to report a loss from mortgage-related gain-on-sale activity in the third quarter. But in a conference...

Northern Rock On Watch List: 'The Board believes that it would not be appropriate to make any interim dividend payment.'.
October 1, 2007... LONDON -- A closely watched British mortgage lender's ratings had been placed on CreditWatch with "developing implications" by Standard & Poor's at press time last Wednesday following the company's disclosure that it "has received a number of...

Two Mass. Lenders Join Forces: Mr. Gardiner will bring over 15 years of mortgage and lending experience to the company.
October 1, 2007... DANVERS, MA -- Mortgage Network Inc., an independent mortgage company headquartered in New England, has teamed up with Partners Group Unlimited, a full-service mortgage lender and brokerage firm in Waltham, Mass. "I have had the pleasure...

Bill Adds Regulatory Powers.
October 1, 2007... WASHINGTON -- The House Financial Services Committee unanimously approved a bill last week that would give all the federal banking regulators the authority to adopt consumer protection rules that prohibit depository institutions from engaging...

CFC May 'Modify' 25,000 Loans This Year.
October 1, 2007... CALABASAS, CA -- Countrywide Financial Corp. expects to complete 25,000 loan modifications this year to help borrowers who are behind on their payments. Countrywide, the nation's largest residential lender, is actively working with...

Is Subprime Crisis Misnamed?: 'I think that's the big unknown going forward. What is the home price path?'.
October 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- It's being billed in the media as a "subprime mortgage meltdown," but some analysts think it would more aptly be described as a housing crisis. Last week, a trio of housing finance experts from Marsh & McLennan Cos. here sat...

Survey Notes Potential for Disaster: Less than one in three lenders right now have a system to assess rate and pipeline risk.
October 1, 2007... GUILFORD, CT -- The mortgage banking industry's response to dealing with tightening margins was to attempt to grow its way out of it by moving into subprime. But this increased competition from firms with little experience in that line of...

Mortgage Industry Equity Composite.
October 1, 2007... MIEC Index: 87.7 Change: -2.7 Company 9/27/2007 9/20/2007 Wkly. 52 52 % Chg. P/E % Chg. wk/lo wk/hi Ratio Astoria Federal (AF) 26.83 26.95 -0% 22.47 31.49...

Publicly traded Subprime and Alt-A Related Firms.
October 1, 2007... MIEC Index: 107.5 Change: 1.6 Company 52 wk/lo 52 wk/hi 9/27/2007 Wkly.% Chg. % Chg. P/E Ratio Delta Financial Corp (DFC) 3.06 13.60 4.90 -5% 60.13% 5.54 HSBC Holding (HBC) 84.66 98.56 93.00...

People.
October 1, 2007... CALIFORNIA Pasadena - IndyMac Bank has added new members to its mortgage bank. Melissa Hernandez joins IndyMac as a business development manager for the wholesale lending division's Ontario, Calif., region. Alexandra Hoffman joins...

Sherman's Management Takes Stake.
October 1, 2007... NEW YORK -- Even though the proposed merger of MGIC Investment Corp., Milwaukee, and Radian Group Inc., Philadelphia, collapsed, the two parties went ahead with their plans to divest themselves each of a portion of their joint venture in...

S&P Affirms Radian's 'AA' Mark.
October 1, 2007... PHILADELPHIA -- Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has removed Radian Group Inc. here as well as its mortgage insurance subsidiaries from CreditWatch with negative implications. S&P affirmed the "AA" insurer financial strength rating for...

Robbins' Rough Ride Ends Safely.
October 3, 2007... John Robbins feels like a rodeo rider after jumping safely off a bad bull. The outgoing chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association is sore all over. Nevertheless, he's walking away with his head held high without hardly a scratch and with...

Lenders Seek Strategies.
October 3, 2007... Given current market conditions, speculation about attendance at the MBA annual this year continues to be a hot topic. But regardless of how many people do attend, lenders all agree that they are looking for more real-world strategies and less...

Among the Scheduled Events for the MBA Annual Are ...
October 3, 2007... Please see the Mortgage Bankers Association's website for more complete and up-to-date information. SATURDAY, OCT. 13 MBA Convention Registration Location: Hynes Convention Center, Prefunction Hall A, Plaza Level 9:00...

Conference Is Easily Accessible by MBTA.(Conference news)
October 3, 2007... This year's Mortgage Bankers Association annual convention will be held at the Hynes Convention Center, which is easily accessible by the city's subway system. Boston was the first city in the United States to build a subway. The line,...

Convention Centered in the Back Bay.
October 3, 2007... The great perk about Boston is that, because it's so compact, it's an easily accessible town. Visitors can cover a great deal of ground within Boston, even if they're in town for a short while. Attendees of the MBA annual can and will find...

Boston Has Five Pro Sports.
October 3, 2007... For the sports fan, the city of Boston is a smorgasbord of choices of teams to watch, if you can get the tickets. There is a team for each of five professional sports leagues: baseball, football, basketball, hockey and soccer, plus three...

In Defense of Countrywide Financial's Angelo Mozilo.
October 3, 2007... If the secondary market for nonprime hadn't cracked up, Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide Financial would be working with his biographer writing his memoirs. His life story, in a sentence, is this: Italian-American, the son of immigrants, creates a...

Visit the Home of 'No Taxation without Representation'.
October 3, 2007... "No taxation without representation." Few rallying cries can claim as much resonance in America as this famous doctrine. But do you know where it was formulated? According to FaneuilHallBoston.com, it was given birth at Faneuil Hall, when...

Follow Freedom Trail to Revolutionary War History.
October 3, 2007... The Freedom Trail, a walking tour along a red-colored path connecting 16 historic Boston avenues associated with the Revolutionary War, offers a quintessentially Bostonian look at history. Besides offering a feel for American history, the trail...

For Comfortable, Hip Music Try Boston's Middle East.
October 3, 2007... Visitors to Boston with a desire to hear live music in a comfortable yet hip environment should check out a few unique venues with the Middle East positioned at the top of the list. Located at 474 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge, the Middle...

Concert by Singer-Songwriter Features Long-Awaited CD.
October 3, 2007... One of America's great songwriters will be playing near Boston as the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual convention opens - and she's just released her first new solo album in 20 years. Karla Bonoff has written hit songs for major artists...

ClubMBA Dinner Continues Tradition of Hilarity and Music.
October 3, 2007... One of the most exciting ticketed events at the MBA annual is the ClubMBA Dinner and Show, which always showcases the most hilarious comedians and stellar music acts. This year, ClubMBA is bringing in "Saturday Night Live" alum Martin...

Walden Is Touchstone of Area Literature.
October 3, 2007... Feel like getting out of Boston and visiting one of the nation's most famous literary and environmental sites? Walden Pond, where Henry David Thoreau wrote his famous account about living self-sufficiently off the land in a cabin he built...

Executive Learned Nontraditional Loan Lessons Early On.
October 3, 2007... Franklin American Mortgage Co., Franklin, Tenn., is a privately held mortgage banker that concentrates on government and government-sponsored enterprise product and, as such, it is one of the lucky survivors of the recent market shakeout that...

AFT Marshals Analytics to Unclog the Secondary Market.
October 3, 2007... SAN FRANCISCO -- How can mortgage investors get beyond the near-panic over subprime that made them reluctant to buy loans and any but government-guaranteed mortgage securities? "Demand evaporates when people are afraid," said Michael...

VisiRelease Provided for Commercial.
October 3, 2007... Visionet Systems, Cranbury, NJ, is making available a commercial version of its VisiRelease, a residential mortgage lien-release and assignment software, which currently performs approximately 1.5 million releases a year. VisiRelease is a...

IMS Adding Web Services for Servicers.
October 3, 2007... As the number of adjustable-rate mortgage resets climbs, so do defaults and foreclosures. Lenders and servicers need creative default management strategies in order to maintain business and hold onto a positive public image. As a means of...

Loan-Level Analytics For MSRs Offered.
October 3, 2007... Loan-level capabilities and ease of use: These are the lifts Compass Analytics LLC hopes servicers and investors will look for in the mortgage servicing rights analytics it has just released. The MSR analytics fully integrated into its...

Warren Group Executive: Crisis Started in Massachusetts.
October 3, 2007... Drawing on his market data from New England, Tim Warren, CEO of The Warren Group, Boston, sees the housing crisis extending for at least another couple of years. As to how New England compared to the rest of the Northeast and the national...

ProVest Helps Track Down Borrowers and Mitigate Default Loss.
October 3, 2007... Delinquencies and foreclosures are on the rise. Not only are they increasing, but homeowners are also getting more adept at dodging servicers and attorneys (especially since many people have cell phones and not land lines). As a means of...

Processing More Securely at a Fast Pace.
October 3, 2007... Zoot Enterprises, a provider of instant credit decisioning and loan origination solutions, will launch an increased level of data security, an encrypted network that provides total encryption while maintaining the speed required to process...

DocuTech to Tout E-Mortgage Adoption at the MBA Annual.
October 3, 2007... As lenders look for increased efficiency at this year's MBA annual, DocuTech believes that moving toward a complete e-mortgage will be part of that discussion, which is why this document preparation vendor has updated its product to do a...

Due Diligence Firm: Expect Liquidity Talk.
October 3, 2007... Given the lack of liquidity and a viable secondary market beyond just the GSEs, due diligence vendor MDMC, Sussex, Wis., expects originators to talk a lot about the health of the market at the MBA annual. "Those who can afford to go to the...

Ellie Mae Pushes for Move to Web Systems.
October 3, 2007... Dublin, Calif.-based Ellie Mae has launched Encompass Anywhere, the Web version of its broker loan origination software Encompass some time back. Now the origination vendor will Web-enable its banker version of Encompass at the Mortgage Bankers...

Vendors Bring Business Intelligence to Midtier Lenders.
October 3, 2007... In the current turbulent market, keeping an eye on business analytics to turn them into action plans is key. To serve this need Lydian Technology Group, Jacksonville, Fla., and Intelli-Mine, Newport Beach, Calif., have formed an alliance to put...

Case Study: Guild Mortgage Allies With Lender E-Source.(Case study)
October 3, 2007... More and more, the importance of mortgage companies seeking outsourced service providers for such services as regulatory compliance and investor guidelines is becoming widely acknowledged within the industry. Having an in-house staff trying to...

Recap Advisors' Smith Says Sometimes Risk Takers Win.
October 3, 2007... At the conference, CEO of Boston-based Recap Advisors LLC, David A. Smith, is looking to see whether other people agree or not with his view on market dynamics. "I'm always interested in that. Comparing notes, however, is just one thing....

Secondary Executive Finds Working for a Big Fish Helps.
October 3, 2007... As a secondary market executive, it may not hurt to be a sports junkie or a tarpon fisherman to get your mind off the industry's trouble from time-to-time - or to have a major company behind you. "We do enjoy having the deep pockets of a...

Residential Jumbo Lenders in Q2 2007.
October 3, 2007... Jumbo % Market Rk Organization Name Location Q2 '07 Q2 '06 Change Share 1 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage San Francisco, CA $22,742 $21,627 5% 12.41% 2 Countrywide Financial Corp. (E) Calabasas, CA $15,392...

Wolters Kluwer Tackles Fraud Prevention with Education.
October 3, 2007... Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, through its PCi line of compliance analytics solutions, has launched a new mortgage fraud prevention program that can help lenders reduce the number of fraudulent loans they inadvertently originate, which is...

Mortgage Cadence Upgrades to Let Lenders Do More with Less.
October 3, 2007... As lenders at the MBA annual look to utilize technology to gain efficiency and do more with less, Denver-based LOS vendor Mortgage Cadence will launch at the show its latest version 5.0 to introduce data-driven processes and workflow. "As...

Salem Offers 'Witches,' Etc.
October 3, 2007... The small town of Salem near Boston symbolizes nothing less than witches. Its downtown, considered one of New England's top tourist destinations, is rich in shops, restaurants and many famous museums and attractions, including the Peabody Essex...

Boston's Unique Museum of Bad Art Offers Just That.
October 3, 2007... Interested in bad art, anyone? And I really mean not good. "Art Too Bad to be Ignored" is currently available in a unique publication showcasing art from MOBA, the world's only Museum of Bad Art. Housed eight miles south of Boston by the...

First Houston Plans to Celebrate Its 10-Year Anniversary.(Company overview)
October 3, 2007... First Houston Mortgage, a mortgage banking firm licensed in 18 states, is celebrating a company milestone, its 10-year anniversary, at the MBA annual. Founded in 1997 by Dana Gompers and David Zugheri as a mortgage broker, First Houston...

LendingPatterns Adds Intelligence to HMDA Data.
October 3, 2007... AllRegs, an online publisher of mortgage compliance information and a provider of industry training, Eagan, Minn., is now making a new Web-based HMDA data mining and analysis tool available to lenders. The LendingPatterns product, developed...

ChoicePoint Shares Marketing Tips.
October 3, 2007... Rick Schlegelmilch, vice president/market sector manager, ChoicePoint Precision Marketing, an Atlanta-based provider of direct marketing and database solutions, knows the importance of targeting a company's marketing dollar so as to get the...

Zenta Executives Hope to Help Attendees in Many Ways.
October 3, 2007... Residential and commercial mortgage outsourcer Zenta plans for the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual convention include hosting a cocktail party on Monday night for invited guests, Nick Woodcock, vice president of residential services at...

FNC Seen as Fast-Growing.
October 3, 2007... FNC Inc., a provider of collateral management systems to major mortgage lenders, has been recognized as one of the nation's fastest growing private companies by Inc. magazine's website. FNC made Inc.com's inaugural Inc. 5,000 list recently. The...

'Internet Lead Generation Is Not Just about Generation Y'.
October 3, 2007... In using the Internet for lead generation, the target audience that first comes to mind is the Generation Y cohort and other younger people that grew up using the Internet. However, Diane Holmstrom, CEO of Bellevue, Wash.-based Netupdate, a...

Imaging's Benefits Can Be Stretched.
October 3, 2007... While imaging is widely seen as a way to cut hard costs out of the process, an imaging application can be stretched to provide broader efficiencies, according to a survey of underwriters conducted by Advectis. According to the survey, 108...

Partners Promote One-Stop Shop.
October 3, 2007... As lenders look for more one-stop shop technology at this year's MBA annual, Lenders First Choice, a national provider of mortgage closing solutions including title insurance and settlement services, has formed a strategic relationship with...

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Showcases Americana.
October 3, 2007... The Gardner Museum is a unique piece of Americana that follows into this country's best tradition of democratizing art and culture. At the same time it is an art lover's treasure in its own right. Situated in a Boston townhouse, it resembles...

Mortgage Bankers Association Schedules Other Events.
October 3, 2007... For more information on these events, visit the section on the Mortgage Bankers Association's website dedicated to conference listings. This can be found on the Internet at http://www.mbaa.org/ConferencesEvents/ConferenceEvents.aspx. The...

MBAdvisory Offers Arbitration on EPD/Repurchase Claims.
October 3, 2007... MBAdvisory Services, a mortgage banking consulting firm in San Francisco, has created a program to resolve early payment default and other repurchase claims between secondary market investors and mortgage originators. EPDs and repurchase...

'Sox, Like Industry, Face Challenges'.
October 3, 2007... The day the Boston Red Sox's president and chief executive officer, Larry Lucchino, spoke at the New England Mortgage Banking Conference last month, the Red Sox were reeling after giving up most of their division lead in the American League's...

Boston Restaurants Evolve Beyond Seafood.
October 3, 2007... If you haven't been to Boston in recent years, you may not realize that its restaurant scene has evolved far beyond the city's Beantown nickname, and even its reputation for great seafood. In fact, Boston was recently ranked among America's...