Loan Think

Only two million or so households have enough equity in their homes and high enough credit ratings to be viable candidates for home equity lending, according to a new analysis from Lender Processing Services.

On May 28 PHOENIX RESIDENT PAIGE KINNEY, AKA JAIMELEE LAWLER, 42, pleaded guilty in two separate cases in federal district court. In one case, Kinney admitted to her leadership role in a $40 million mortgage fraud involving Countrywide Home Loans, and in the second case, she admitted to committing bankruptcy fraud, bank fraud, and mail fraud.

I had an interesting conversation on Friday with one key industry player in the risk retention debate. Without giving away any hints on his identity, he relayed this scenario, which I paraphrase for you

The initial news from the data division of National Mortgage News doesn’t look particularly bright for loan brokers: their market share fell to an all-time low of 6.9% in the first quarter, the lowest reading ever.

Now that Ocwen has inked a deal to buy Litton Loan Servicing from Goldman Sachs, the big question on the minds of rank and file workers at Litton is this: just how many servicing jobs will be lost to India?

For some strange reason American International Group has stopped reporting the mortgage insurance activity of its MI subsidiary, United Guaranty Inc. of Greensboro, N.C. to National Mortgage News.

The rumor mill has been active lately with reports that a large correspondent buyer of home mortgages may be heading for the exits. Again, we can only stress that it’s all talk at this point. We won’t name the firm and chances are it’s what we in the news/rumor business call a “false positive.”

Not everyone is cut out to be either a sales person or an entrepreneur. I speak from personal experience. I have worked in a number of positions in my life where I was involved with sales functions (but not a salesman myself) or had the opportunity to acquire a business. But I was not ready or willing to take the risk.

The Federal Reserve published for public comment a proposed rule amending Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) to implement amendments made by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

If uber investor George Soros is selling gold these days that tells us something. Or does it? The recent not-so-great reports on housing and employment are hardly encouraging.