Loan Think

Apparently, Wells Fargo & Co. is so hungry for 5/1 Freddie Mac LIBOR ARMs that it’s paying brokers two points (on top of the going) rate for the product. But there are strings attached: for condos and co-ops the loan must have a minimum LTV of at least 70%. Wells is telling its approved loan brokers that the 2% offer is for a limited time only. Meanwhile, it appears the yield on the 10-year Treasury has stabilized at 3.7% or so. But will the Federal Reserve continue to buy MBS to keep rates low? A new report from Deutsche Bank notes “Treasury purchases may have run their course in a matter of months, but MBS purchases should be around for longer”...

Wow! I am amazed again at the number of responses that I received from the readers of this column regarding the use of credit repair services. However, the numbers are not yet sufficient to draw conclusions from and I want to keep this subject open for one more week.

Paul Muolo is out of the office. We're running this story in place of his usual column.The nation's top five residential servicers, as a group, are continuing to increase their market share grip on the servicing business but there are tentative signs that barring another large M&A deal the trend could be slowing.

Last week, we started discussing the three reasons people don't buy from you and how to overcome them. The first reason was they don't want what you are offering and I thrashed out the problems as well as some solutions. (LINK TO PREVIOUS ARTICLE)

On June 3rd, Microsoft launched its new online search engine, Bing. It’s spending an estimated $80 million -$100 million on a campaign to position Bing.com as a “decision engine” for consumers. Did Microsoft finally develop a legitimate contender to threaten Google’s Web search dominance? Or is this a great deal of Microsoft hype with little substance?

So, you've been reading in some publications and blogs that perhaps very few sales of non-performing loans (NPLs) are occurring. We understand some deals are indeed getting done but the buyers and sellers have purposely not publicized the sales. Also, a handful of large NPL portfolios are now out for bid, one that includes loans that belonged to recently bankrupted subprime lender Accredited Home Lenders of San Diego. For the full story see the Monday, June 22 print edition of National Mortgage News. The story will not be available online. Only in the "paper" edition where several trees were sacrificed, allowing us to go to press…

TECHNICAL VIOLATION OF TILA IN NOTICE OF RIGHT TO CANCEL DOES NOT EXTEND RESCISSION PERIOD FOR BORROWER (AT LEAST ON THE EAST COAST)

This past week, as I do once per quarter, I conducted a reverse mortgage continuing education class for Realtors at my local real estate board in Baltimore. It's always well received and I always get a least one deal from the presentation. This time, it looks like I got two, perhaps three. The topic is of course timely and our real estate partners are looking for ways to increase their business. This is just one strategy I teach in the Reverse Mortgage Success course, but what makes it particularly beneficial to the reverse mortgage originator is how the course is structured. And what I do afterward as well.

Connie Bruck, who penned one of the best books ever written about junk bond king Michael Milken ('Predator's Ball') is working on a story for The New Yorker about Countrywide Home Loans founder Angelo Mozilo. The article is supposed to hit the newsstands next week but a researcher at the magazine contacted National Mortgage News about a few fact-checking items. It appears that Ms. Bruck may have some of her numbers wrong as to when Countrywide became the nation's largest residential lender. Then again, that's a tricky one to answer. Readers of NMN might recall that CFC dominated the residential servicing and origination market for many years until earlier in this decade when Wells Fargo and Washington Mutual (now defunct) both went on a bank/non-bank buying spree, pushing Countrywide down in the ranks. Eventually, though, CFC became number one again -- thanks to its aggressive use of loan brokers and correspondents and its ties to Fannie Mae. Mr. Mozilo was recently sued (along with two other former CFC executives) by the Securities and Exchange Commission which accused him of insider trading and civil fraud. Research being conducted for the paperback version of 'Chain of Blame, How Wall Street Caused the Mortgage and Credit Crisis' reveals that former CFC president Stanford Kurland tried to steer Countrywide away from high LTV subprime lending but Mr. Kurland lost the battle and eventually left the company…

For those looking for hard numbers about the importance of social media in a business' marketing plan, one needs merely to look at a report from Experian Marketing Services, Schaumburg, Ill.