SEC Probes Altered Credit Data at Bayview

The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an inquiry of a senior executive of Bayview Financial, Miami, who is accused of altering loan credit data that affected his sales commissions.A top official at Bayview told MortgageWire that the event "is not material" from a financial standpoint and said the company is cooperating fully with the SEC. The official said the executive in question -- who is described in SEC documents as a "senior salesperson, managing director and limited partner of the firm" -- has been fired. The official said the executive "had been manipulating data for years." Bayview says the salesman's actions -- which entailed altering FICO scores -- have caused the privately held firm to repurchase or substitute $66 million in residential loans, or about 3% of its book of business. Bayview Financial pools mortgages and then packages the loans into mortgage-backed securities. On July 14 Bayview received a letter from the SEC indicating that its staff had launched an inquiry into the matter.