Loan Think

After reading bits and pieces of the Securities and Exchange Commission's complaint against the former heads of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac one thought comes to mind: what exactly is a subprime loan again?

It's that time of the year again: one in which financial services columnists wax poetic and ponder the Bailey Building and Loan and how if it existed today (it doesn't really) regulators would sue George Bailey (and Uncle Billy and 'Old Man' Potter since he sat on the board) for fraud to go after the D&O insurance.

We've all heard the cliché quote about death and taxes. But for the small business owner (which defines many mortgage company owners), getting ready to do their taxes (and we can skip the cliché about render unto Caesar as well) is something that falls to the bottom of the list as the year ends.

During the week of Dec. 5, three conspirators in a Valley mortgage-fraud ring say a Mesa minister with a worldwide following masterminded the scheme. A former loan officer, escrow agent and straw buyer who have pleaded guilty as part of a deal with federal authorities SAY THEY HELPED CLINT ROGERS launder millions of dollars through his ministry.

Just imagine what a 10 basis point guarantee fee hike would do to the market for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans. Well, apparently, the mortgage insurance industry has done quite a bit of imagining and has managed to get language added to the payroll tax bill that seeks parity between g-fee hikes for Fannie/Freddie, and GNMA.

When word leaks out that your company is for sale top producers – the smart ones at least – start weighing their options. Readers of this column and the National Mortgage News website have been kept abreast of all the LOs walking out the door at Bank of America.

Perhaps, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers should license the Aretha Franklin song "Respect." As most industry professionals know, brokers have taken their fair share of blame for the mortgage/housing collapse while retail LOs at many shops have escaped scott free.

A healthy mortgage/housing market relies on two key factors: low rates and robust employment. We have the former, but the latter seems to be lacking - big time. Or is there true hope on the horizon?

Wednesday morning we were greeted with the news that an affiliate of Newcastle Investment Corp. – a publicly traded REIT – has agreed to pay almost $44 million to Nationstar Mortgage in exchange for receiving 65% of the interest payments on a $9.9 billion pool of MSRs.

In case you missed the story broken by National Mortgage News on Monday here's the summary: FHFA's Office of Inspector General is looking for a firm to evaluate mortgage servicing rights. It won't give a reason but industry advisors familiar with the issue say the IG's office is investigating Fannie's purchase of $74 billion of MSRs from Bank of America. (A spokeswoman for the FHFA IG had no comment.)