THIS JUST IN: Bill Beckmann, president of CitiMortgage, will leave the unit by the end of June, National Mortgage News has learned. For the full story see the NMN website at
Bank of America has made a decision on what it will do with Countrywide's wholesale division when it buys the company in September. For the full story see the Monday print edition of NMN. Don't subscribe? Call: (800) 221-1809...
As most of you know, Countrywide president David Sambol will not be managing the combined mortgage operations of CFC/BoA come the fall. Mr. Sambol suddenly announced his retirement earlier this week. A veteran BoA senior executive, Barbara Desoer, is getting the job instead. There is still plenty of rumor mongering in regard to what exactly will happen at CFC. Some believe that eventually the Calabasas, Calif., location will be closed but keep in mind that Ms. Desoer will be moving to Calabasas. One source said CFC executives are being required to reapply for their jobs but a BoA spokesman told us this wasn't true at all. The biggest rumor surrounding the deal: that the acquisition is really a "good bank/bad bank" transaction and that certain CFC assets will be isolated and liquidated. But if this were true, it stands to reason that BoA would have to file a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission explaining this detail. On a personal note, I've interviewed Mr. Sambol on and off over the years, especially when he headed Countrywide Servicing Exchange. His comments were usually insightful and quite helpful. In short, Mr. Sambol knows the mortgage business quite well. I assume he will be back. Any insights, drop me a line at
As we noted a few weeks ago, First Franklin and Ownit founder Bill Dallas is back. According to a report in our sister publication, American Banker, Bill has raised money to buy all or part of a thrift or bank. Bill appears in an upcoming book on the mortgage and credit crisis authored by Matt Padilla of The Orange County Register and myself. It's called "Chain of Blame." More about this in the coming weeks...
National Mortgage News is busy analyzing data that will be published in the upcoming Mortgage Industry Directory. Here's one tidbit that stands out: Seven of the 20 largest lenders funding residential loans in the Fort Lauderdale metropolitan statistical area have gone out of business over the past year. These lenders had combined loan production of nearly $5 billion in just that MSA...
The Financial Times reported this past week that Pimco is hitting up Wall Street firms to let their fired employees know the Newport Beach-based bond king is hiring. Pimco, which has been mostly shielded from the credit crunch, could pick up talented staff as banks cut back. The firm is looking to hire folks in mortgage-securities trading, credit analysis and other areas...
Even though businessman R. Craig Pica, a principal in Provident Funding Associates, is buying Colorado Federal Savings, there are no plans to merge the two institutions, said an executive close to the situation. PFA, a non-depository, is based in Burlingame, Calif. For the full story see the Monday edition of NMN...
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
IMPORTANT SURVEY NOTICE: NMN data maven Deartra Todd and her associate Sharon Hutcherson are still finalizing all annual surveys for National Mortgage News. We're looking for responses from ALL lenders, servicers and loan brokers. Send her or Sharon 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: Need an accurate ranking of the top 100 lenders and servicers in 2007, including subprime? Order the new Annual Data Report, which comes in Excel. Send an e-mail to
