Lost in the press release about Citigroup buying Ameriquest's servicing portfolio (and wholesaledivision, Argent) is the even bigger news that the sale effectively ends the mortgage career of RolandArnall. Mr. Arnall, as a technical matter, was no longer managing the day-to-day operations of Ameriquest/Argent.(He owned both lenders through a holding company.) Instead, he's been hosting state dinners, playing the role ofU.S. ambassador to the Netherlands. (It pays to donate money to President Bush.) Three or so decadesago, Mr. Arnall took his S&L charter at Long Beach Savings and told the Federal Home Loan Bank Boardthat it could “stick it” (my words). He converted Long Beach into a nonprime lender, sold part of the businessto Washington Mutual and then grew the remainder into Ameriquest and Argent. Back in 2005 the two(combined) reportedly earned $1 billion, but that was before the subprime meltdown. Arnall had hoped to take hismortgage empire public but bad publicity (and bad loan practices) hit him like a tsunami. Anyway, it's all historynow. (If you have any good Arnall stories send me an e-mail at
Who is to blame for the mortgage fraud crisis in America? Answer: loan brokers. According to the FBI,most mortgage fraud occurs during the application process -- and that would mean loan brokers. An FBI agent spokethis past week at the annual convention of the New York Association of Mortgage Brokers. The show was heldin Melville, N.Y., headquarters of the now-defunct American Home Mortgage. Fraud was not the reasonfor AHM's demise -- Wall Street was but don't get me started on that topic
This just in: According to Dow Jones, Citigroup's First Collateral unit will no longeraccept any new warehouse customers
The carnage in the subprime industry has caused financial damage worldwide -- but now the mess is spreading(that's right) to the art world. So says The New York Times, which recently quoted homebuilder andbillionaire Eli Broad predicting that the subprime mess will rein in recent astounding levels of spendingat art auctions. By the way, whoever bought that Rubens painting that the government inherited when it tookcontrol of CenTrust Savings two decades ago?
An estimated two million adjustable-rate mortgages could reset this year and next, jumping from low "teaser"rates (for the first two or three years) to much higher rates that could cost borrowers their homes. Then again,if the Federal Reserve cuts rates by 50 basis points (as anticipated) all bets might be off. Then again,maybe not
National City Corp. of Cleveland revealed the other day that it had chopped 800 positions at its NationalCity Mortgage affiliate. This follows a 500-position job cut that came in August at its home equity division.NCM is no longer funding home-equity loans through brokers. According to the Alternative Products QuarterlyData Report, NCM ranks seventh among second-lien funders. To order the AP-QDR e-mail
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Triad Guaranty, the smallest of the nation's seven MI firms, recently disclosedthat it had borrowed on all of an $80 million line of credit it has with three banks, including Bank of America.After its stock was clocked, Triad issued a statement saying it is not having any liquidity issues. At the endof June it had $26.7 million in cash on hand, compared to $38.6 million a year earlier. The company recently lostits largest customer, American Home Mortgage, which closed its doors in August
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Countrywide Financial Corp. named Jess Lederman as its new chief riskofficer. Mr. Lederman -- who joined Countrywide in 2005 and served as managing director of products and pricing-- replaces John P. McMurray. Mr. McMurray was poached by Washington Mutual as its new chief creditofficer. Lederman, by the way, is a former managing director at Bear Stearns. He worked on Wall Street duringthe “Liar's Poker” days of Lewis Raineri. He also ran the mortgage group at Ohio Savings. MortgageCadence, a technology company, has named Michael Hammond chief marketing officer.
DATA NOTICE: If you're trying to figure out where the mortgage market is headed and what the businesswill look like for the rest of the year, you're in luck. NMN has just published the brand new MortgageIndustry Directory, which ranks the nation's top 400 lenders, 300 servicers, top 85 subprime and much, muchmore. The book also provides a special analysis on America's subprime crisis. To order, e-mail
