What We're Hearing

Even though some mortgage and financial services firms are moving call center jobs to India and elsewhere overseas, Countrywide chief Angelo Mozilo says he won't do it. In a recent interview with National Mortgage News, the industry veteran said, "I feel it is Countrywide's responsibility to create jobs in the U.S. -- not outside the U.S. You need a job to buy a house here. It's a conflict for me to do it." He noted that Countrywide has used some software programmers overseas, but that's the extent of the company's outsourcing labor to cheaper foreign markets. He called the shifting of white-collar jobs to foreign lands a "fad" and "problematic." Now, if only other mortgage firms would listen...

The Mortgage Bankers Association 's annual convention opens in San Diego this weekend. During cocktail hour, topic "A" likely will be that the trade group no longer supports the direction HUD is taking on RESPA reform. (See National Mortgage News ' convention issue for the details.) In case you're wondering how mad this policy change made HUD secretary Mel Martinez , the answer is very mad, sources said. Very, very mad. Not only did he cancel his speech at the convention, but another senior HUD official Alfonso Jackson , pulled out of the convention as well. You can probably guess that MBA's PAC won't be supporting Mr. Martinez when he runs for the Senate in Florida. Then again, maybe it will. Meanwhile, industry lobbyists say HUD, under this administration, has been one of the least open, least likely to share information in a long, long time...

Bert Ely, that financial services industry rabble rouser, is at it again. Fannie Mae is less than $83 billion away from becoming the first $1 trillion holder (on-balance sheet, that is) of mortgages in the universe. So the timing couldn't be better for the American Enterprise Institute , a conservative think tank, to begin a year-long research project into privatizing Fannie and Freddie Mac . And guess who's speaking at AEI's upcoming Oct. 27 forum on the issue? Bert Ely, who happens to speak or attend many of AEI's GSE related events. Bert was also at Thursday's Women in Housing and Finance luncheon where Rep. Richard Baker was speaking about proposed legislation to make Treasury the Fannie/Freddie regulator. Bert, and not a woman (whatever happened to chivalry?), asked the first question during the Q&A session: will a bill pass by year-end? Baker: the odds are 50-50. Back to Bert: In April 2001, National Mortgage News reported that Bert predicted that Fannie and Freddie would take "the initiative to privatize." Fannie Mae chairman Franklin Raines said recently that he has no plans whatsoever to privatize, at least not during the next five years...

Treasury secretary John Snow wants his department to have oversight of Fannie, Freddie, and now the Federal Home Loan Bank System. Right? Right. But he's also open to it being outside of Treasury. Right? Right. Huh? Yes, that's what he told senators last week. Stay tuned...

If on Sept. 11 you had taken the investment advise of Oscar Gruss & Son (in regard to Countrywide), right now you'd be Oscar the Grouch . It was on that day, a day when Countrywide was trading for $68, that Gruss analyst Louis Meyer issued a "reduce" rating on the company's stock, saying, "The decline in origination volume will have a greater impact on CFC's earnings than its diversified financial services competitors." This past Friday, CFC was selling for $94...

Subprime lender Saxon Capital saw its share price reach a new 52-week high this past week. The non-depository will report third-quarter earnings after the market closes on Thursday, Oct. 23. Saxon's brand names include Saxon Mortgage and America's MoneyLine . It has a network of 4,000 brokers, 400 correspondents and 27 retail branches...

Also E-Loans shares have been rising of late...

MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Former Household executive Rudy Orman has been hired as first vice president of business development for Full Spectrum Lending , a division of Countrywide. He said he will be "selling" business process outsourcing. "My group (somewhat de novo) will be approaching retail lenders who don't originate subprime and/or alt-A and we will fulfill their customers for them," he said. One of Boston investor Thomas H. Lee 's funds has bought a significant stake in ResMAE, a new upstart wholesale subprime firm headed by Jack Mayesh . Jack and his partners sold Long Beach Mortgage to Washington Mutual almost four years ago. Master Financial has named Alice Sorenson senior vice president in charge of loan administration. Prior to joining Master she worked for Ameriquest Mortgage .

WATCH ON THE 10-YEAR: As we went to press, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 4.38% on Friday, compared to 4.25% last Friday.