Loan Think

Although some mortgage lenders — such as GMAC and Flagstar — are still actively recruiting new loan officers, we're beginning to hear rumblings that certain top ranked lenders are carefully taking a head count, and plan to make job cuts during the next few weeks unless new applications begin to pickup steam.

One of the biggest questions Sue and I get from our subscribers at www.reversemortgagesuccess.com is “Please tell us what your 'best' reverse mortgage marketing strategy is?” or “If you could only do one thing to get new business what would it be?

We heard an interesting story the other day about poor servicing practices on payment option ARMs and the Internal Revenue Service. The story, not yet confirmed, goes like this: a servicer down in Texas is processing POA loans, improperly reporting to the IRS how much interest a consumer is paying on his mortgage. Why might this be a problem? Answer: mortgage interest payments are tax deductible and if a servicer is incorrectly reporting interest paid that means the U.S. Treasury could be coming up a little short (or maybe getting paid too much) in revenue. Will this be the next 'shoe to drop' in the national mortgage servicing scandals? Will a powerful House or Senate Committee chairman take this issue by the horns and launch a full scale investigation into POA servicing practices? Don't hold your breath…

No matter what your view is on New Year's resolutions—last week I related part of an interview I saw with Suze Orman on the topic—the best way to success is to set achievable, realistic goals.

It has been a few days since Massachusetts' highest court repudiated two foreclosures in the state, sending servicers (and financial journalists) into a frenzy trying to figure out what it all means. According to one press report the ruling "could scuttle other foreclosure cases statewide and may portend similar blows to the industry elsewhere."

The Federal Reserve Board is publishing an interim rule amending Regulation Z, which implements the Truth in Lending Act. This interim rule revises further certain requirements of the Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act of 2008.

THIS JUST IN: Are employees of the U.S. Treasury moonlighting as loan officers to make extra cash? We can't say for sure, but we know of at least one Treasury official that's preparing to take his state test. And no, it's not Tim Geithner…

I'm beginning to hear more complaints about bank lenders getting sloppy with their 'Good Faith Estimate' disclosures. One LO who works the Connecticut market told me that she's running into more and more customers who aren't being served a GFE until three to four weeks after application.

By now you've heard about the recent fish kills in the Chesapeake Bay, birds dying in Arkansas and Kentucky, and crab corpses washing up on beaches in England. These random events are fanning the flames of religious fanatics who think the 'Big Guy' (and I don't mean Clarence Clemons) is on the way very soon (and it's not even 2012.) Of course, if the world will end soon the obvious thought for consumers is this: why keep paying the mortgage?

First, let's state the obvious: few inside the private sector really know what's going to be in the White House's master plan to revamp Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which is really a plan to reshape all of housing finance in America because let's face it: Fannie and Freddie buy/guarantee 70% of every home mortgage in America.