Loan Think

Ken Lewis says Bank of America's credit losses may've peaked in the third quarter but who really knows for sure? Keep in mind that when BoA bought Countrywide Financial Corp. in July 2008 it inherited roughly $80 billion in whole loans (residential mortgages) that were (to put it kindly) problematic. (CFC kept the loans on its balance sheet because it could not sell them. Not even Fannie Mae, CFC's 'BFF,' would buy them.) And let's not forget that BoA also bought Merrill Lynch and its far-flung mortgage units: First Franklin Financial, Wilshire Credit Corp., and the investment banker's jumbo lending unit in Jacksonville, Fla. We don't hear much about J-ville division anymore. For years, executives at Merrill Lynch Credit Corp. refused to answer National Mortgage News' regular quarterly lending/servicing surveys. On one occasion someone at the company filled in the survey, faxed to us, and then called to tell us that they had done so mistakenly and didn't want us to publish their numbers. (Too bad for them -- we published them anyway.) That Merrill unit originated mostly jumbo loans to its brokerage clients basing loan decisions (in part) on their stock portfolios. Meanwhile, former HUD attorney Howard Glaser -- now with Scott Stern's Lenders One group -- was on CNBC late this morning defending the Federal Housing Administration and its underwriting policies. But CNBC host Larry Kudlow wasn't buying his arguments. Also on the show was Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) who recently introduced legislation requiring FHA borrowers to make downpayments of at least 5%...

What is the difference between marketing and selling? In my world, marketing is knowing what to do or finding out what to do and selling is executing on the marketing plan.

THIS JUST IN: Wells Fargo & Co. reorganized its MBS and loan trading desk. The action went down in St. Louis a few days ago. For the full details on who's in and who's out see the Monday, Oct. 19 paper edition of National Mortgage News. Don't subscribe? Call 800-221-1809...

Time is running out on the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit and lenders and Realtors are letting their clients know this ASAP. In a recent advertisement in The Washington Post, Navy Federal Credit Union shopped a 4.625% 30-year fixed rate loan, telling the reader that "time is running out" on the tax credit. The FTHB expires November 30 and lobbyists from the housing and mortgage industries are camped out in Gucci Gulch (the halls of Congress) this week and next, pleading with their elected officials to extend this "benny" at least for six more months. Some groups want the credit to be offered to all home buyers -- first timers or not. (We'll see about that.) To date, the FTHB has cost the U.S. Treasuryabout $15 billion. As the old saying goes: It's only money...

Last week we spoke about smiling and how important the way you feel determines the success of your sales efforts. I told you about a little trick I use - a mirror - and using it because they way you look is the way you sound on the phone. If you look grumpy than you probably sound grumpy on the phone. No one wants to do business with someone who is grumpy.

Ed Pinto, the former Fannie Mae credit officer, is keeping up his assault on the Federal Housing Administration's finances. In a follow-up to his recent Congressional testimony, Mr. Pinto noted that 1.2 million FHA-backed loans that were written from 2005 to 2008 will go into foreclosure. In a new email he says his projection for a 20% overall default rate on the government's $725 billion portfolio is "most reasonable" based on "new information disclosed" by the agency itself. Some lenders have been emailing me, saying that they believe (in time) FHA will have a 50% market share. Right now it's at about 25%. Meanwhile, today on Capital Hill lawmakers are taking up legislation to create the 'Consumer Financial Protection Agency' which will have oversight over mortgage instruments, credit cards (and one would assume) auto loans. See the National Mortgage News website later today for an update...

In a follow up to my previous piece, let’s look at what we as reverse mortgage originators can do to be proactive about how we and the reverse mortgage product are perceived in the market place. What can you do today right in your town to improve your standing in the community and your profession? It’s probably a bit out of the box but you CAN do it. And it will elevate you to a new level and bring you more credibility.

Here's a bit of 'on-the-ground' intelligence from one title company vendor attending the annual Mortgage Bankers Association show in San Diego (edited, in part by me for clarity and grammar): "I'm in the convention hall, talking to the folks in the booths (as I would think the average mortgage lender would) about readiness for the RESPA rule and am, candidly, nervous. In one discussion with a vendor about a nuts and bolts question, she told me 'We'll have to talk to our compliance lawyer about that -- we hadn't thought of it the way you are portraying the question.' In another booth, when I asked to speak to the person who would know why the software treated a question the way it did I was told 'We left him back at the office.'

CALIFORNIA MAN GETS 100 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON

I will admit it: I am a big fan of certain reality television shows. And one of my very favorites used to be Jon and Kate Plus 8. I am of the opinion that neither should be making their divorce case on the talk show circuit. It doesn't make either look good. There is one expert who says there are lessons for those who give presentations on what not to do from watching Jon Gosselin.