Is the idea of legislating a flat guarantee fee (g-fee) for all Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac seller/servicersgaining traction on Capitol Hill? Former Colorado Sen. William L. Armstrong, chairman of Cherry CreekMortgage, has been talking up the idea in Washington. Mr. Armstrong told us that he has discussed the flatg-fee idea with half-a-dozen or so senators. "The worst reception I've gotten is that, 'This is interesting.'"He told us. "The best is that I thought they were ready to stand up and cheer." For the full story readthe Monday March 14 edition of National Mortgage News. Don't subscribe or you let your subscriptionlapse? Call (800) 221-1809...
Also in Monday's edition, reporter Lew Sichelman writes about Countrywide's Angelo Mozilopredicting a major shakeout in the subprime market. Mr. Mozilo believes too many lenders are funding way too manystated-income mortgages...
Meanwhile, for the month of February, Standard & Poor's took rating actions on 58 nonprime RMBS classes.There were 50 upgrades for the month and eight downgrades. S&P says 48 of the 58 actions affected subprimeMBS...
At close of business Friday the yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 4.535%, the highest level in seven months.How's this affecting lenders? Scott Janike of The Lincoln Lending Group of Nebraska reports thathe hears consumers complain about a 6%, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, but that "doesn't keep them from buying."Scott's a loan broker. He thinks the 10-year could be back down to 3.95% within 12 months...
Credit card giant Capital One -- known nationally for its "barbarians attacking" TV commercials-- is buying Hibernia Bank, a top-ranked residential lender in New Orleans. Will CapOne use Hibernia toexpand nationally into residential lending? It's too early to say but it'd be neat to see some barbarian mortgagecommercials...
A small mortgage brokerage shop in Fairfax, Va., is closing its doors because the owner said he couldn't affordthe cost of complying with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements for protecting customers' personaland financial information. Nationwide Mortgage Group president John Eubank said it would cost $60,000to meet the security requirements the FTC expects as part of a settlement. Last year the FTC alleged that NMG failedto protect consumer information adequately as required by a 1999 privacy law. The FTC, however, did not cite anyspecific incidents of lost or stolen information...
Delta Financial has priced a securitization backed by $750 million of mortgage loans through its subsidiary,Renaissance Mortgage Acceptance Corp. Meanwhile, Aames Investment Corp., has closed a $1.18 billionnonconforming deal...
Remember the LendingTree, the mortgage rate shopping service for consumers? Well, apparently it has somemore competition. A company called NexTag is advertising on Yahoo promising consumers they can getfour rate offers for free -- and within 60 seconds...
Title insurance giant Fidelity National Financial said it will pay its previously announced $10-a-sharedividend on March 28, to stockholders of record as of March 21, 2005. That's one heck of a dividend...
Buyout king Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is reportedly looking at acquiring Toys R US which owns aton of real estate. KKR also owns private-label funder Nexstar, which never discloses its loan productionor anything else for that matter...
Greenwich Capital has once again cut its recommended allocations on MBS to "underweight" from"neutral."
MORTGAGE STOCKS: Genworth Financial, which owns a top-ranked mortgage insurance company, keeps seeingits stock go up, up, up. Moors & Cabot last week initiated coverage of Washington Mutual, callingit a "buy." Meanwhile, Jefferies & Co. downgraded the nation's largest mortgage banker, CountrywideFinancial, to "hold" from "buy."
WASHINGTON NEWS: The Senate last week passed a consumer bankruptcy bill by a 74-25 vote, clearing themeasure (which addresses some foreclosure issues) for quick action in the House. The 500-page bill (S. 256) containslanguage that prohibits bankruptcy judges from reducing the amount of a debtor's mortgage. This cram-down provisionreinforces a Supreme Court decision, but it could become controversial if housing prices start to decline.One provision sought by the Mortgage Bankers Association would remove a $4 million cap on single-asset bankruptciesso that owners of large commercial properties cannot drag out the bankruptcy process and delay foreclosure at thelender's expense.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., the ranking minority member on the Senate BankingCommittee is retiring -- but not until 2006. Next in line for the Democrats? Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut.Impac Mortgage has named Jim Dickinson SVP of warehouse lending, and Don Currie SVP, directorof national sales. Patrick Mize has been named chief financial officer of MortgageTree Lending, anational mortgage banking company based in Modesto, Calif.
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