We're told that even though production volumes are slipping, some account executives are still making a killing."The compensation of loan officers is too much," one warehouse official said. "AEs are making 40to 50 basis points on subprime," he said. "Those numbers need to come down"...
A major mortgage banking firm is apparently on the auction block. To find out which one read the Monday editionof National Mortgage News. Don't subscribe? Call: (800) 221-1809...
Meanwhile, nonconforming lender MILA Inc. is talking to two Southern California-based lenders about buyingtheir shops, industry sources told us...
We continue to hear tales that the subprime industry's loan buyback problem isn't getting any better. As alreadyreported by NMN, Bear Stearns has been identified as being one of the more aggressive Wall Streetfirms in terms of buybacks. One joke making the rounds goes like this: Bear Stearns doesn't buy loans -- it rentsthem...
IndyMac grew its earnings by a modest 3% in the most recent quarter, but its market share jumped. Fordetails see Ted Cornwell's story in Monday's NMN...
Morgan Stanley on New Century's earnings: "3Q06 EPS of $1.12, well short of our $1.89 estimateand consensus. The shortfall was due to weaker gain-on-sale margins due to losses on loans sold at a discount andrepurchase costs." Morgan noted that the subprime lender expects negative gain-on-sale trends to persist inthe fourth quarter...
According to Friedman Billings Ramsey, the credit performance of securitized non-agency mortgage loansweakened in the 361 metropolitan statistical areas from August 2005 to August 2006. Default rates (90-day or longerdelinquencies, foreclosures and real estate-owned) rose year-over-year among prime, alternative-A and subprimeloans...
The average credit score for home equity borrowers in 2006 held steady at 730, compared to 727 in 2005, accordingto a survey conducted by the Consumer Bankers Association. CBA, which measures lending activity at 46 institutions,said lenders have not relaxed their underwriting standards in the face of higher interest rates or cooling housingmarkets...
MORTGAGE MEETINGS: SourceMedia, the publisher of NMN, will host its annual "SecondaryMarket Conference" Dec. 6 in New York at the Le Parker Meridien Hotel. I've been asked to moderatea panel called "Mergers & Acquisitions: Why is Wall Street Buying Mortgage Loan Companies?" Speakerson the panel include Bernd Amlung, managing director, Deutsche Bank AG; JeffreyM. Levine, managing director, Milestone Advisors; Jon Peskoff, senior vice president, FriedmanBillings Ramsey; and Brenda White, managing director, Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance.To register visit
WASHINGTON NEWS: Tuesday, of course, is the World Series of politics, or as most of us call it, ElectionDay. As readers of this column know, political commentary is not my forte, but my associate Stephen Pizzoalways has something interesting to say. Check out his regular blog at
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Fifth Third Mortgage has named Bob Lewis president. Mr. Lewis joined FifthThird in 2005 as senior vice president and director of the residential mortgage wholesale channel. New YorkMortgage Trust (which is for sale) named Steven R. Mumma chief financial officer. He succeedsMichael I. Wirth who resigned.
DATA NEWS: Looking for a great contact directory on mortgage bankers, servicers, brokers and loan officers?That would be the Mortgage Industry Directory which is available online as well as in print. TheMID/eMID also has exclusive rankings on lenders and servicers that you cannot get elsewhere. The onlineversion also provides recent news articles on lenders and servicers ranked in the book. For more information e-mail
