Servicing

Bimini Mortgage Management, Vero Beach, Fla., a real estate investment trust that invests in mortgage-backed securities, has agreed to purchase Opteum Financial Services, Paramus, N.J., a top-40-ranked mortgage banker.The deal, valued in excess of $100 million, includes the payment of Bimini common and preferred stock to Opteum's shareholders, a repayment of existing debt, and a cash earn-out of up to $17.5 million. A privately held company founded by former Chase Home Finance executive Peter Norden, Opteum is on track to fund $7.4 billion in residential mortgages this year. Bimini's adviser on the deal was Deutsche Bank. Classic Strategies, New York, advised Opteum. (See the Oct. 3 issue of National Mortgage News for more details.)

Fannie Mae shares rose 3.5% in morning trading Sept. 29 after falling almost 11% Wednesday in the wake of a critical news report.In heavy trading volume, Fannie Mae shares rose by $1.56 and stood at $43.27 shortly after noon. Almost 11 million shares had traded hands Thursday morning, making Fannie Mae one of the New York Stock Exchange's volume leaders. Dow Jones had published an article online Sept. 28 citing unnamed sources saying that Fannie Mae's accounting scandal might be more widespread than previously reported, touching off Wednesday's selloff of the stock.

Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp., Milwaukee, has announced a donation of $119,090 to the American Red Cross for hurricane relief.The amount includes $57,995 donated by MGIC employees, a matching amount from the company, and $3,100 from non-MGIC employees, the company reported. MGIC, the principal subsidiary of MGIC Investment Corp., can be found on the Web at http://www.mgic.com.

Fannie Mae has announced that it will extend the same mortgage relief provisions to victims of Hurricane Rita as it has in place for Hurricane Katrina.Donald M. Remy, a senior vice president and New Orleans native, is coordinating the company's response to the hurricanes. Under the relief measures, lenders make case-by-case assessments of the relief that is needed and may suspend mortgage payments for up to three months and reduce them for up to 18 months. Fannie Mae also announced a special volunteer policy to give employees more time and flexibility to help victims of the two hurricanes. Employees now have five additional days of volunteer leave that can be used exclusively to help with hurricane relief efforts, the government-sponsored enterprise said. Fannie Mae can be found online at http://www.fanniemae.com.

Freddie Mac has announced an easing of certain policies in order to purchase an estimated $300 million in single-family mortgages that were closed between June 1 and Aug. 29 and are secured by properties in areas heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina.The government-sponsored enterprise said the announcement is aimed at helping lenders with loans in their pipelines that may no longer be eligible for sale because of potential property damage or income loss caused by the storm, even though the lenders complied with Freddie Mac's seller/servicer origination guidelines. The loans will be purchased for Freddie's retained portfolio "to provide lenders with immediate liquidity relief," although none of the loans will be placed into mortgage pools backing Freddie Mac Mortgage Participation Certificates, the GSE said. The purchase offer expires Oct. 31. "By purchasing these loans we can expedite payments to our lenders, who need additional funds for storm recovery activities, while simultaneously protecting the loan pools backing Freddie Mac PCs from Katrina's impact," said Richard F. Syron, Freddie's chairman and chief executive officer. Mr. Syron thanked the GSE's regulators -- the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight -- for "expeditiously reviewing" the policy.

In response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, HUD will allow Federal Housing Administration servicers to advance up to 12 monthly mortgage payments to homeowners in disaster areas who are temporarily unemployed or who are living in rental housing while their homes are being repaired."It is FHA's equivalent of unemployment insurance that will allow [servicers] to keep mortgagors current who are not able to go back to work," said FHA Deputy Director Laurie Anne Maggiano. The monthly advances will be covered by a note that must be paid off when the property is sold. In addition to making advances, servicers can modify the loan and reduce the monthly payments if the FHA borrower has to accept a lower-paying job. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will be issuing a mortgagee letter soon that spells out the new advance and loan modification policy, Ms. Maggiano told an FHA conference sponsored by the National Real Estate Development Center.

Class B-5 of Mellon Residential Funding Corp. series 1998-A mortgage-backed securities has been downgraded from CCC to C by Fitch Ratings.Fitch also upgraded five classes and affirmed the ratings on 25 other classes in six Mellon deals. The downgrade resulted from higher-than-expected collateral losses that have exhausted credit support to that class, the rating agency said. The pool had incurred cumulative losses of 0.89% as of the August 2005 distribution, and approximately 4.14% of the remaining pool balance was more than 90 days delinquent. The collateral consists of alternative-A, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage loans secured by first liens on one- to four-family residential properties. Fitch can be found on the Web at http://www.fitchratings.com.

Community Capital Bancshares Inc., Albany, Ga., has announced the filing of an application to form a savings bank in Charleston, S.C., that would be named Atlantic Bank & Trust and would operate a recently acquired Charleston mortgage company as its mortgage banking division.In June, CCB opened a loan production office of its lead bank, Albany Bank & Trust, in Charleston, and that office would become the home office of Atlantic Bank, the company said. Albany Bank recently purchased East Bay Capital Mortgage, Charleston, which would become the mortgage banking division of the new bank. The new bank is being proposed by three Charleston-area bankers: Hal Cobb, previously of RBC Centura; Dean Lang, previously of SouthTrust Wachovia; and Chris Landers, previously of East Bay Capital Mortgage. Mr. Cobb would be president of Atlantic Bank, Mr. Lang would be its chief lending officer, and Mr. Landers would be its chief mortgage officer, according to CCB. The application was filed with the Office of Thrift Supervision.

Many nonprime lenders are suspending mortgage payments, waiving late payment fees, and ensuring that late payments will not damage credit ratings in order to provide short-term relief for hurricane victims, according to the National Home Equity Mortgage Association.NHEMA president Jeffrey Zeltzer said members are also working with secondary-market purchasers, insurers, government officials, and others to develop longer-term relief programs. Many have also made corporate donations, and "thousands of their employees" have done so as well, he said. The association urged borrowers to contact their mortgage lenders and other creditors as soon as possible to discuss their situation, and to contact the Federal Emergency Management Agency about applying for long-term housing if their home has been destroyed. Other advice offered by NHEMA includes warnings against rushing to sell property, borrow money (especially from contractors), or declare bankruptcy, and a reminder to beware of scam artists. The association can be found online at http://www.nhema.com.

Class B-3 of Bear Stearns Mortgage Securities Inc., series 1997-6, has been downgraded from BBB to BBB-minus by Fitch Ratings.In addition, the ratings on five other classes in the fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgage pools were affirmed. The downgrade of class B-3, part of the fixed-rate pool, reflects a decrease in credit enhancement relative to loss expectations, Fitch said. The high delinquency rate, especially in foreclosure and real estate owned, "puts this class at a greater risk of future losses," the rating agency said.