Back in 1969 while sitting at a kitchen table in Manhattan, two out-of-work mortgage professionals came up with an idea to create a nationwide mortgage lender. They were out of work because both had been employed at a non-bank lender whose new owners wanted to play games with the escrow funds of their customers (more on that tale at a later date). The two, Angelo Mozilo and David Loeb, created Countrywide Credit Industries, which eventually morphed into Countrywide Financial Corp. Come Sept. 30, Bank of America (once it buys CFC) will pull the plug on the Countrywide name. After almost 40 years it will be no more. Over the past few months CFC has become a punching bag for Sen. Charles Schumer of New York who has criticized the servicer's foreclosure practices as being (shall we say) less than consumer friendly. Mr. Mozilo was invited to testify before Sen. Schumer's committee on foreclosures but declined to appear. The hearing was held this past week in Washington. Mr. Mozilo is, presumably, preparing for retirement...
Is there life after mortgages? According to Don Henig, the answer is yes. Don was president of third-party lending at American Home in Melville, N.Y., which closed its doors last summer after getting margin called to death. Don is now investing in foreclosed properties in New York and parts of New Jersey. He's involved with a firm that buys homes at public auction, fixes them up (to some degree) and resells them as quickly as possible. Business is going so well that he plans to raise more capital. He didn't sound like he missed the mortgage business at all. If you know someone who has left the business and is doing something interesting now drop me an e-mail at
Calling all hard-money lenders: for now you are the subprime industry. National Mortgage News is putting together its annual directory and is looking for nonprime lenders to list. (The listing is free). If your firm would like to be surveyed drop an e-mail to
According to The Orange Country Register, Citigroup will close mortgage offices in Orange and Irvine, eliminating 419 local jobs, as part of a previously announced consolidation of its home lending businesses. Citigroup is shutting down and integrating the Argent Mortgage wholesale operation it bought from billionaire Roland Arnall last fall. Mr. Arnall died in March. Overall, Citigroup will cut 1,860 mortgage jobs nationwide...
If you're looking for a complete list of all subprime lenders in 2007, the new Annual Data Report (an Excel spreadsheet) is now available. To order, send an e-mail to
Barbara Banco of Banco Mortgage Centre in Michigan said she has a solution that will help loan brokers that have been left high and dry by banks exiting the wholesale arena. "We should band together and start a depository," she said. Ms. Banco has submitted her idea to trade group officials in Michigan and is waiting to hear word. Instead of using retail branches, the depository would fund loans with brokered deposits. Ms. Banco told us this: "I have been eliminated from doing business with National City, WaMu and Bank of America. Countrywide has already axed 1,000 brokers from doing business with them. Get ready and hold on to the seat of your pants! I foresee the broker job being eliminated completely as the banks are pushing us out of business. I don't understand why they refuse to do business with brokers, especially in this soft market when business is hard to come by. You would think they would accept business from all brokers who are licensed and meet state requirements"...
It appears the mortgage mess and credit crisis is just about over. Who says so? Answer: Treasury secretary Henry Paulson. In an interview published Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal, he said the "worst is likely to be behind us." Then again, wasn't it Mr. Paulson who last summer was preaching to the world that America's subprime crisis was contained and that it would not spread to other nations? Then we had Northern Rock (in the U.K) go belly up, plus huge subprime CDO writedowns in Germany, France, Australia and other nations. Who knows? Maybe this time he's right...
REGIONAL MARKET UPDATE ON PHOENIX: "The feeling in Phoenix is that we've hit bottom and the worst may be over. The rapid depreciation our market has experienced since 2006 combined with low rates and the continuance of downpayment assistance programs has stirred a major rush of first-time buyers. Most of the homes they are buying are 'short sales' and REOs, which slow down the transactions dramatically. But we have over a dozen pending offers just waiting for the short seller and or their bank to respond." -- Bob Wasieko, loan officer. (Have a regional market update you'd like to share? Drop us a line at
WASHINGTON NEWS: On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed a Federal Housing Administration refinancing bill by a 266-154 vote. The Senate Banking Committee will mark up a similar foreclosure prevention measure soon. It is estimated that the House-passed bill (H.R. 3221) could refinance up to 500,000 borrowers with "underwater" mortgages into FHA-insured loans. But the bill provides little incentive for investors/servicers to participate, because the principal amount of the loan must be written down to 85% of the current appraised value and the noteholder does not share in any upside if property values increase. For full details read Monday's National Mortgage News. Don't subscribe? Call: (800) 221-1809.
A large specialty servicer whose forte is subprime and "scratch and dent" loans may be up for sale, industry sources have told National Mortgage News. Leon Black's Apollo Advisors may be interested, noted one source. We know the firm's identity but we're working on confirming the details. Stay tuned...
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago has named Matthew Feldman president and chief executive.
IMPORTANT SURVEY NOTICE: Ms. Todd and her associate are finalizing all annual surveys for National Mortgage News. We're looking for responses from ALL lenders, servicers and loan brokers. Send her or Sharon Hutcherson an e-mail if you would like to participate. It's FREE publicity for your firm. Her e-mail is (again)
LOAN OFFICER SURVEY NOTICE: National Mortgage News has launched its new 2008 Loan Officer Survey. To participate (it's free) just visit
DATA NOTICE: The Mortgage Industry Directory and the online version of the book are still available. (Mention this notice and receive a free Quarterly Data Report.) Besides listing detailed information on the top 400 lenders and 300 servicers in the U.S., the MID ranks the nation's top funders of commercial mortgages. There's also information on loan brokers. The book has valuable contact information on the top executives and department heads at each firm. For more information e-mail
