Fairbanks Capital's ex-president Mark Finston is talking to investigators for the Departmentof Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Trade Commission about the servicing scandal at hisformer company. Sources familiar with Mr. Finston's story, say he warned Fairbanks' board that it was growing toofast and was not prepared to take on more servicing portfolios and platforms. A source told us that Mr. Finstonwas okay with Fairbanks' purchase of ContiMortgage's platform and servicing portfolio, but was against thefirm's purchase of servicing-related assets at New Century and Equicredit. (The New Century dealfell apart at the 11th hour.) A source told us that Mr. Finston gave the board a choice: go with him and oust thenchief executive Tom Basmajian. But the board chose Basmajian and then asked Finston to resign, the sourcesaid. He left the company in February 2001. Basmajian, who founded the company, was fired this past spring. TheHUD/FTC probe into Fairbanks' servicing practices is ongoing. A spokeswoman for Fairbanks (employed by the PR firmof Powell Tate) could not be reached for comment...
Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight nominee Mark Brickell got slapped around prettygood last week at his confirmation hearing. Why? Because it became clear during the hearing -- thanks to SenatorsSarbanes and Reed -- that he's against tough regulation and even lobbied against FAS 133 (accountingfor derivatives.) When the hearing was over, Mr. Brickell, accompanied by his wife and children, had an anguishedlook on his face, to say the least. Brickell also made one major factual error during his testimony: that TimRyan (a pal of his at J.P. Morgan) was the top S&L regulator during the "height" of theS&L crisis. Actually, the height of the S&L crisis occurred during the watch of Edwin Gray, whoeventually emerged as a hero for his efforts to reign in fraud and abuse. M. Danny Wall saw quite a bitof action too. (During the thrift crisis, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board was the nation's S&L regulator.The agency was later morphed into the Office of Thrift Supervision where Mr. Ryan served)...
The Financial Services Roundtable has written a letter to Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snow,supporting the transfer of OFHEO to the Treasury Department. The letter was sent in response to the proposed futureregulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...
FOR THE RECORD #1: In the June 16 edition of National Mortgage News we reported that moreheads would roll at Freddie Mac and that the company wanted to release the "Glenn Diaries" written byfired president David Glenn. We also reported that investigators were under the impression that the companywas smoothing out earnings. Last week Freddie Mac released its internal audit of the accounting scandal. Its findings?That the company was smoothing out earnings. Also, last week Freddie admitted that five more people have been fired(than previously known) because of the scandal. And it released part of the Glenn diaries...
FOR THE RECORD #2: At one point last week, the 10-year Treasury was yielding 4.2%. A month ago the yieldwas 3.2%...
The National Association of Mortgage Brokers has recognized First Magnus as "Affiliate ofthe Year." According to the trade group, First Magnus received this honor as a result of its efforts, "topromote the goals, projects, activities and functions" of NAMB...
David L. Baboon & Co., which is a member of the MassMutual Financial Group, is looking tohire a commercial loan producer for its Washington, D.C. office. The company wants someone who can underwrite andclose loans between $10 million and $100 million in size...
E-Loan's shares fell 14% on Thursday and continued to fall on Friday. The stock is now under $5 a share.Speculators believe rising rates and an eventual end to the refi boom will hammer its bottomline. Maybe so, butthe company beat second-quarter profit estimates by a penny...
WASHINGTON NEWS: The Senate Banking Committee held a confirmation hearing for Alicia Castanedato be a member of the Federal Housing Finance Board. Sources say the two Freddie Mac directors who havetaken a lead in investigating the scandal include George Gould (already known) and Tom Jones (notknown)...
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Wesley R. Edens has resigned as chairman, chief executive officer, and presidentof Capstead Mortgage Corp., Dallas. He is succeeded by Paul M. Low as chairman, and Andrew F.Jacobs as CEO and president. Meanwhile, Robert I. Kauffman has resigned as a Capstead director...
MORTGAGE DATA: National Mortgage News has released its new "Mortgage Broker Database"which provides information on the top 400 broker producers and their top loan officers. For more information email:
