Insurance giant American International Group has been in the news the past year because it was on thewrong side of New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer. But now its residential division, American GeneralFinancial Services of Indiana, is making mortgage news. About two weeks ago AGFS shuttered its correspondentdivision. One of its key products was a 100% loan-to-value ratio prime mortgage, said one executive who was sellingthe loan to AGFS. The company, by the way, did not return several telephone calls placed to it by NationalMortgage News. For the full story see Monday's edition of NMN. Don't subscribe? Call: (800) 221-1809...
The new 1Q 2006 edition of the Quarterly Data Report will be out next week. Among the report's findingsis that U.S. housing debt is on the verge of passing the $8.5 trillion mark. For more details about the QDR e-mail
Meanwhile, the top residential servicer in the U.S. continues to be Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. This rankingis based on number of units -- not dollar volume...
Former OFHEO chief Armando Falcon Jr. said Fannie Mae officials pulled a "Keating Five"in their attempt to discredit his investigation of the mortgage giant. In a speech last week, Mr. Falcon said theGSE's behavior reminded him of the K5 scandal of the late 1980s when five U.S. senators pressured thrift regulatorsto go easy on his rogue S&L. In the Fannie saga, the K5 role was played by Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo.As the chairman of VA-HUD appropriations subcommittee, Sen. Bond included language in OFHEO's $60 million budgetthat penalized the agency if Mr. Falcon remained at the helm. Why did Bond do this? Because Fannie executives askedhim to. Did Sen. Bond receive campaign donations from Fannie officials? Are the Mets in first place? Oneof Bond's donors was current Fannie CEO Daniel Mudd. For the full story see Brian Collins' storyin Monday's NMN...
WASHINGTON HEARING TO WATCH: On Tuesday, June 6, acting OFHEO director James B. Lockhart willtestify before the Capital Markets Subcommittee about the agency's new report on the Fannie Mae scandal.
WASHINGTON NEWS: OFHEO has sent to the Federal Register for public comment a proposed regulationrequiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to establish and maintain a "record retention" program. Theproposed regulation is designed to ensure that complete and accurate records are readily accessible to OFHEO forexamination and other supervisory purposes. The regulation also requires the GSEs to establish internal controls,procedures and training programs to ensure the adequacy and effectiveness of the record retention program.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Lime Financial has named Rebecca Crumb vice president and Northeast regionalsales manager. Home Savings Mortgage of California has named Dixon Judd senior vice president ofmarketing and business development.
MORTGAGE DATA & RESEARCH: NMN's "Annual Data Report" is still available.If you want detailed rankings on the nation's top 100 lenders in 2005 including breakouts on channels, servicing,plus subprime e-mail
