Despite reports to the contrary, Sunset Direct Lending is still in business. Company CFO Frank Frazzittatold us the wholesaler hopes to start funding loans possibly next week. But Mr. Frazzitta said there is one problem:Wall Street investors are paying just 95 (par is 100) for loans right now. "It's ridiculous," he said."They're trying to crush us." He was particularly incensed by one investor that offered a bid of 95 ona mortgage where the customer had already made two payments. "They offered 95 and there's nothing wrong withthe loan," he said...
Meanwhile, late last week, rumors were circulating that at least one large Wall Street correspondent buyer mightbe exiting the business. This rumor could not be confirmed at press time. We're told that some Wall Street tradingdesks have tightened up their underwriting guidelines so much that purchase volumes have trickled to a crawl...
If you're a subprime lender and you'd like to sell loans to Bear Stearns be forewarned: Bear is runningevery mortgage through an automated valuation model. If you don't like it, don't sell to Bear. For the full storysee Monday's National Mortgage News. Don't subscribe? Call: (800) 221-1809...
In Monday's NMN you will see Brian Collins' story about Sen. Chuck Schumer of NewYork pushing a bill that would force "suitability" standards on lenders. We know the Mortgage BankersAssociation won't like this idea...
Speaking at MBA's recent subprime conference was Bill Dallas, the former CEO of Ownit Mortgage Solutions,which went bust in December. According to our correspondent Lew Sichelman, Mr. Dallas spoke on a panel entitled"Strategic Planning in the Subprime World -- Making the Right Moves"...
If you need to find out which firms are among the top prime and subprime funders in the U.S., read the QuarterlyData Report. For more information e-mail
Alt-A lender Impac Mortgage Holdings of California has formed a new unit, Arch Bay GroupLLC, that will purchase delinquent loans and properties with an eye toward fixing them up for resale. Theunit will be managed by Shawn Miller and Steve Davis...
This past week rumors were flying fast and furious that subprime giant New Century Financial Corp. wouldfile for bankruptcy protection. But at press time no such filing had occurred...
ATTENTION LOAN BROKERS: NMN is conducting its annual survey of brokerage firms. To participate,visit
LO SURVEY NOTICE: Loan officers take note -- NMN's annual survey of LOs also is now ready. Visit
WASHINGTON NEWS: The Securities and Exchange Commission has created a 25-member enforcement teamto investigate whether subprime mortgage-backed securities issuers made fraudulent disclosures to investors. SECchairman Christopher Cox told a congressional panel about the new investigative team last week but did notdisclosure the identify of any companies under investigation.
OTHER MATTERS: As a rule, I don't send readers to other websites to look at non-mortgage content butthis commentary on the state of TV media is right on. Visit
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Bob Dart has been named chairman of LendingForms.com, a provider of printedand electronic mortgage forms.
Friedman Billings Ramsey has named as a director its president and chief operating officer, Rock TonkelJr. Former Fannie Mae president Larry Small has resigned as the head of the Smithsonian.
MORTGAGE MEETINGS: It's one of the best subprime shows in the business -- that would be SourceMedia's5th annual "Nonprime Lending Symposium" May 17-19 in Las Vegas. Speakers include EMC's JohnVella. For more information call: (800) 803-3424.
DATA NEWS: According to new 4Q edition of the Quarterly Data Report, mortgage bankers funded $795billion in loans during the quarter. Subprime production fell to $143 billion from $176 billion in 3Q. The QDRoffers complete rankings on the top 100 mortgage funders and servicers with breakouts on loan channels, subprimeand much more. For info on the product e-mail
