This past Thursday we got to spend some time on the phone with Bank of America’s top consumer sales executive for mortgages, Matthew J. Vernon, who has a message for the industry: B of A is committed to retail lending—and retaining its top LOs. Vernon said the bank also is actively recruiting LOs from other shops. (And as well all know, B of A has lost a few top producers itself). For the full story see the Monday edition of National Mortgage News. Don’t subscribe? Call 800-221-1809…
In a few weeks the new audit of the FHA reserve fund will be released, and from what we’re hearing it could prove to be quite interesting. One sticking point centers around future home values. If values continue to fall then FHA may have to revise upward its projections for future losses. Stay tuned and watch the NMN website daily for updates
Over the next month a ton of bank earnings reports will be released. A key data point to watch is the asset value of MSRs. On Friday JPMorgan Chase gave a hint at the MSR valuation carnage to come. The bank wrote down the asset value of its housing receivables by a stunning $4.1 billion in 3Q. With interest rates dropping significantly toward the end of the quarter it’s safe to say more damage is in the works…
And just which firms service the most loans? All that information is in the Quarterly Data Report. To see a sample of this Excel spreadsheet drop a line to
AppraiserLoft, an AMC, is no longer accepting new business. Back in August NMN’s Austin Kilgore broke the news about the vendor’s problems concerning payments to some of its appraisers. The company’s founder is Aman Makkar, who I believe has taken his information off of LinkedIn. If I’m mistaken let me know…
We understand that a subprime veteran or two is talking to Wall Street about raising money to start a new hard-money lender specializing in low LTV loans. If you have any information drop me a line at
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: MetLife is getting out of mortgage banking. John Robbins is getting back in.
MY TWITTER FEED: MBA chief and former housing commissioner David Stevens has signed up to be one of my followers.
REVERSAL OF FORTUNE: Hedge fund manager John Paulson who made billions of dollars a few years back shorting the ABX (subprime) index isn’t doing so well these days. His firm told investors this week that as much as one-quarter of its assets could depart in a "worst-case" scenario if all people who are eligible cash out by the end of the year. One of Paulson’s funds is down 47%. For awhile he was bottomfishing in B of A stock but bought at high prices. To catch a falling knife…
WASHINGTON NEWS: Examiners from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau soon will start knocking on the doors of megabanks to check on their handling of defaulted borrowers seeking loan modifications or entering the foreclosure process. "Our examiners will look at mortgage servicing practices when they conduct their routine examinations," said Raj Date, who heads the new bureau which does not yet have a Senate-confirmed director. (Reporting by NMN’s Brian Collins.)
IMPORTANT DATA STUFF: MortgageStats.com is alive and well. This exclusive data website soon will be updated with new HMDA information. MortgageStats boasts the nation’s top 8,000 lenders and 400 servicers, including hard volume numbers and contact information. It also includes exclusive monthly analysis from me. (You can’t get this information anywhere else.) For more information drop an email to
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NO LONGER WITH US: Tobyann Strachan, the widow of NMN founder Stanley K. Strachan. Our deepest condolences to the family.
