Loan Think

Ask anyone in the mortgage lending business today—the industry is all about managing risk. Why then, has the mortgage business been the culprit for one of the worst risk failures in our country’s history? Where did the system break down?

Richard Cordray made his first appearance on Capitol Hill this past week in front of the Senate Banking Committee.

Sometimes opening an appraisal report can feel like being on a bad 70s game show. Door #1 opens to reveal your prize and it's a car, not a coffee cup. Everything's great for two seconds. Then you learn that the car may have a problem that could render it worthless. Then again, it may not. What do you do? Cut your losses and choose Door #2, or invest more time and bank on Door #1?

The White House's restructuring of the U.S. auto industry appears to have worked - for now. If you saw yesterday's Super Bowl you witnessed an awe inspiring commercial from Chrysler featuring everyone's favorite 'punk' killer Harry Callahan, a.k.a. Walt Kowalski, a.k.a. Clint Eastwood.

Origination News is now collecting data for its annual survey of top loan producers, the results of which are scheduled to appear in the April issue.

FACTS Kenneth A. Swanger, a real estate investor, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento to conspiring with a group of real estate speculators who agreed not to bid against each other at certain public real estate foreclosure auctions in San Joaquin County.

Wholesale lending is back! OK, not exactly. Citigroup announced its exit from the channel this past week and some trade journals - not knowing their stuff - seemed to think it was the biggest story since the Hindenburg disaster. Wholesale only accounted for 9% of Citi's production.

The end of Google Advisor Mortgage is another missed opportunity by a larger technology player trying to make its mark in the mortgage industry.

It's good news for the nation (and a certain president in particular) that the U.S. economy added 243,000 jobs in January. (Of course, when the numbers get revised next month...) And I'm sure the president's GOP revivals have already tried to deflate the job gains, noting that the decline in unemployment to 8.3% is tied to so many people leaving the workforce.

The mortgage industry needs to push back-hard. For the better part of the last four years, politicians have been pounding on banks and lenders as the source of all that ails our economy. The most recent example was the State of the Union address, where still more regulation, oversight and government involvement with lending practices were promised.