Some industry executives are telling us there's a growing wave of refinancings sweeping certain segments ofthe business. Which segment? Here's a hint: servicers of payment-option ARMs, watch out. Apparently, all the negativepublicity surrounding POAs is starting to hit home with consumers and they're opting to get out of their ARMs.A recent report by Sandler O'Neill notes, "We recently heard from one mortgage REIT that ARM prepaymentsare surging"...
Was it any surprise that investment banker Bear Stearns wound up buying Encore Credit? Not really.Bear was both warehousing and buying loans from the non-depository subprime firm. Sometime in the past there wereloan "buyback" issues between the two parties, but a spokeswoman for Bear assured us the matter was settledlong ago. For the full story see the Monday edition of National Mortgage News. Don't subscribe? Call:(800) 221-1809...
Also, in Monday's NMN, a story about POA volumes dropping dramatically at Countrywide. For a rankingof the nation's top POA lenders (plus interest-only, alt-A, jumbo and more) order the Alternative Products QuarterlyData Report. For info e-mail
Not only can you get a ranking of the nation's top 400 residential funders (subprime and all others) in theMortgage Industry Directory but if you buy the Web-based version of the book, you can get FREE allrecent stories written on these firms by NMN's MortgageWire, an online daily. For more infoe-mail
LendingTree has been slapped with a lawsuit, accusing it of false advertising to generate leads for itswholly owned direct-lending division. The lawsuit further alleges that LendingTree secretly diverts many LendingTree.comleads to its subsidiary, where unsuspecting borrowers are sold loans at inflated prices based on the materiallyfalse representation that "competition" has occurred among lenders...
Bankrate.com recently settled a lawsuit accusing it of false advertising. The plaintiff was AmericanInterbanc LLC. Some lenders have a problem with the way the BankRate.com website ranks firms by mortgage ratesand closing costs...
It's official: Golden West Financial, parent of World Savings, one of the last of the "oldtime" S&Ls -- and a payment-option ARM giant -- has been swallowed up by Wachovia Corp. GWF's stockis no longer listed on the NYSE. Happy retirement to World's Herb and Marion Sandler...
Chase Home Loans, a $600 billion servicer that is ranked No. 4 four by the Quarterly Data Report,has picked Fidelity National Information Systems to provide the company with servicing technology. Chasehas been using old, legacy systems. FNIS includes the former "Alltel" mortgage technology operation.I'm only guessing but it's likely a huge contract...
More bad news for homebuilders: late this past week, Centex, which recently sold its subprime unit, reporteda 28% drop in orders and a huge uptick in home purchase cancellations...
Morgan Stanley initiated coverage of Accredited Home Lenders, calling the subprime company an"underweight." Accredited recently saw its loan buyback requests surge. Morgan, of course, is in theprocess of buying MortgageIT, a lender...
WASHINGTON: The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight has named Edward J. DeMarcodeputy director and chief operating officer of the agency. Before James B. Lockhart was picked by the WhiteHouse to head OFHEO, Mr. DeMarco's was mentioned as possible candidate for director job. He has deep GSE credentials.At Treasury, he served as director of the agency's "Office of GSE Policy," managing a congressionallymandated report on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He also worked at GAO, evaluating, among other things, GSEs.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Patrick Weaver, who recently departed as senior vice president of First CollateralServices, has been named president of Quality Home Loans of California. Rod Colombi has beennamed executive vice president of corporate development at Option One Mortgage. Timothy A. Mazzettihas joined Cohen Financial, a Chicago-based commercial real estate lender, as executive vice president.
UPCOMING SHOWS: It's the best mortgage fraud conference in the industry. That would be SourceMedia'sannual mortgage fraud conference. This year it's being held at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas,Dec. 11 and 12. To register call: (800) 803-3424.
DATA NEWS: NMN has just released its annual Home Mortgage Disclosure Act database of everylender in the U.S. The database has detailed production information on more than 8,000 funders, including theirhigh-cost loan volume, loans sold to Fannie and Freddie, and much more. For pricing plans, e-mail
