Loan Think

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.)

As we wrap up another year, we look for innovative and fun ways to wish our clients, friends, referral partners, others we do business with, others we want to do business with, et al, a happy holiday season.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had so far limited its complaint process to just credit cards. But CFPB began taking complaints related to home mortgages as of Dec. 1.

By now most American investors have tired of the market whiplash caused by the Euro crisis. One day there's a deal, the next day there's not and Great Britain wants a say even though they're not on the Euro and forever glad they didn't join. Mortgage bankers are probably looking at the mess and wondering what it all means for them.