In some industry circles, mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Admin-
istration and the Veteran's Administration are jokingly referred to as being covered by the government's"subprime" program. Delinquency rates on FHA/VA loans are in nosebleed territory and according to figurescompiled by National Mortgage News, subprime delinquencies are actually lower than FHA/VA late payments.Meanwhile, according to research done by NMN, the Government National Mortgage Association (whichincludes FHA/VA) has been losing tremendous market share in recent years. For complete details see Monday's editionof NMN...
The Federal Housing Finance Board next week is expected to approve a final rule thatwill require the Federal Home Loan Banks to register a class of their securities with the SEC. SeeBrian Collins' story, also in NMN on Monday...
The industry is continuing to chatter about Alex Pollock's "surprise" departurefrom the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. Actually, some industry officials (particularly in Washington)say that Mr. Pollock had been telling confidants for months that he was looking for a new challenge. Don't forgetthat last year NMN broke the news that Mr. Pollock was coveting the CEO/chairman job at Freddie Mac. Speculationis that Mr. Pollock, who is joining the American Enterprise Institute, is setting himself up for a job atthe Treasury Department. Could he possibly want to be in charge of GSE policy? One lobbyist noted that Mr.Pollock is betting on there being a second Bush administration...
About two weeks ago, the National Housing Conference honored Countrywide chairmanAngelo Mozilo as its "annual housing person of the year." Held in Washington, the ceremony/dinnerwas attended by a number of industry heavyweights including MBS creator Lewis Ranieri, Freddie Mac chiefRichard Syron, former Fannie Mae chairman James Johnson (now involved with the John Kerrycampaign), and Mr. Mozilo's longtime friend Howard Levine, chairman of ARCS Commercial Mortgage.Messrs. Mozilo and Levine jokingly bantered back and forth about each others' foibles, with Mr. Levine revealingthat he was the first mortgage executive that Mr. Mozilo ever fired...
WASHINGTON NEWS: The new president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokershas called for an industry-government alliance at the state and local level to expose and prosecute predatory lenders.Bob Armbruster, a broker from Lawrenceville, Ga., outside Atlanta, envisions a system that would "greasethe judicial process" to bring bad actors to court more quickly." Speaking at NAMB's recent annual convention,Mr. Armbruster admitted his idea is "a little visionary" and said he's still not sure about all the legalwhys and wherefores, but he told National Mortgage News that if state and local authorities don't take some stepsto curb abusive lending practices, federal regulators will.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is saying goodbye to mortgage chief PeteWissinger, well sort of. Mr. Wissinger has been promoted by the bank-owned lender and will now be in chargeof coordinating its retail insurance businesses. Cara Heiden, head of national consumer lending, and MikeHeid, mortgage CFO, will assume Wissinger's mortgage responsibilities. Genworth Financial, the parentof GE Mortgage Insurance, has appointed three independent directors to is board: Frank J. Borelli,(former U.S. Senator) J. Robert Kerrey and Thomas B. Wheeler. Each has been appointed to serve aterm expiring at the 2005 annual meeting.
MORTGAGE DATA/RESEARCH NOTICE: NMN, for a limited amount of time, is offeringtwo of its mortgage technology white papers, "Transactional Retail Mortgage Website Report" and"Mortgage LOS Report," for the discounted price of $249 each. Order both and get an additional5% off. For more information contact Elizabeth Washington at (202) 434-0328 or e-mail:
@ThomsonMedia.com
