Now that all the weak-stomached wholesalers - Chase, GMAC and HSBC we're talking about you - have exited the niche, blood dripping from their eyes, foam oozing from their mouths, it appears the industry has a new wholesale king: Provident Funding Associates of Burlingame, Calif. According to the brand-new edition of National Mortgage News' Quarterly Data Report, Provident out table-funded Wells Fargo in the first quarter, $10.69 billion to $10.34 billion. All totaled, 43 wholesalers are still alive and kicking, according to the QDR. For the complete ranking you can request the QDR by e-mailing
Meanwhile, Jess Lederman is somewhat bullish on loan brokers - but only what he calls the "top tier" of these third-party salesmen and saleswomen. In a recent interview with NMN, Mr. Lederman predicted that although many brokers may die out the "upper crust" of the brokerage industry will survive and thrive. "They're alive and well and they know the right way to originate," Mr. Lederman said. And who exactly is Jess Lederman? He cut his teeth on Wall Street many moons ago at Bear Stearns (when Wall Street was smart enough only to securitize "A" credit quality loans). He also was a top executive at Ohio Savings for many years and then Countrywide. He's also a prolific writer and musician. He is now helping Kinecta Federal Credit Union of California, a $4 billion asset institution, build its mortgage business, especially in regard to jumbo loans...
Now, what the heck is former Freddie Mac chief Greg Parseghian really up to at PHH Corp.? Mr. Parseghian is one of two dissident candidates to recently win election to the board of PHH. He was a nominee submitted by Pennant Capital Management of Chatham, N.J., which owns just under 10% of PHH's stock. Now, does Pennant really care about PHH - the nation's largest private-label funder/servicer - or is it merely trying to drive up its stock price so it can make a killing on its investment? I would guess PHH's management is smart enough to realize that hedge funds and investment bankers aren't, by nature, altruistic. PHH, to its credit, has survived the mortgage depression. Will Pennant try to make changes to PHH that eventually will lead to its ruin? Let me ask you this: are the Washington Nationals a great baseball team or what? By the way, Mr. Parseghian is a rabid Yankees fan...
All non-banks that depend on warehouse lines (which are all of them) are continuing to watch the fate of Colonial BancGroup, the nation's largest warehouse provider. The bank has been slapped with a new federal cease and desist order but it appears the C&D is just a formalization of many of the same conditions/requirements mandated in an informal "memorandum of understanding" issued by the FDIC. I don't even want to think about what would happen to the non-bank lending sector if Colonial becomes a ward of the government and then gets sold to a bank like, say, PNC that isn't too found of warehouse lending...
It appears the economy is back and we can all go back to how things were 18 months ago. U.S. consumer confidence rose to a nine-month high in June. The consumer savings rate is skyrocketing. Remember a few years back when all the financial experts were wringing their hands of America's inability to save money? Well, guess what? Now that consumers are squirreling away their dough it's considered a bad thing because they're not spending it. And by not spending consumers are prolonging the Great Recession. But wait: interest rates are rising (along with oil) and now we have inflation fears. At press time the yield on the 10-year was 3.78% compared to 4% earlier in the week. Refinancings are slowing but will home purchases? There's a school of thought that says home sellers will drop their asking prices even more to make up for higher mortgage rates. Confused by all these mixed signals? Welcome to the club...
STORIES FROM THE LOAN MODICATION FILES: "I have a former client involved in the Home Affordability Program that came out in March. His loan is with Chase. He made his payment on time on April 1, but they held the money in a separate account until April 20. Then the June payment and an application package had to be postmarked by June 1 and they recorded it immediately. They then recorded him 30 days delinquent for April, and sent a letter that they were foreclosing, but supposedly rescinded the foreclosure. They will not tell him if he has been approved for the program until July 1. His credit scores fell from 760 to 650. I'm not sure if it is Chase or the program, but all these programs coming out are designed to fail. I don't even want to get into what's going on at Citi." - Brian from New Jersey. If you have a loan modification nightmare story drop me a line at
Former Beneficial Finance official Peter Cugno thinks the time is ripe to start a wholesale subprime lending company. A mortgage trainer the past few years, Mr. Cugno put out a press release saying he is in the process of raising capital and obtaining the proper licensing. He plans to run the company under the subprime model of yesteryear: when funders closely underwrote loans with a microscope and required refi applicants to have real equity...
WASHINGTON NEWS: So long to prepayment penalties on newly written mortgages? Well, not so fast but Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, has introduced legislation to amend the Truth in Lending Act that would do just that. The bill was referred to the House a few days ago but has gotten little notice in the financial press. Chances are the bill, H.R. 2794 is going nowhere but you never know in this political atmosphere.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: The Mortgage Bankers Association is losing yet another lobbyist, the second such departure in the past week. The trade group confirmed to NMN that Meghan Sullivan, who specializes in state mortgage-related legislation, will be leaving at the end of June. She holds the title of director of state legislative affairs. Jeff Lemieux has joined GMAC/Residential Capital Corp. and will oversee subservicing. He replaces the well respected Tom Donatacci who left a few months ago for Clayton Holdings. GMAC/ResCap also hired Dana Dillard as senior vice president of what it calls "special mortgage initiatives." Former Goldman Sachs VP Mark Hall joins First Financial Network, a loan sale advisory firm, as senior financial analyst.
MUST ATTEND CONFERENCES: Our Mortgage Servicing Conference recently held in Dallas was such a success that we're holding another one: July 20-21 in Dallas. For more information e-mail
SURVEY NOTICE No. 1: Loan officers for retail shops and brokerages, we want to know all about your business last year and what you expect for this year. To bill out our annual LO survey, please visit
SURVEY NOTICE No. 2: Responses are pouring in for the annual National Mortgage News/American Banker residential lending and servicing survey ritual. Results will wind up in the eMortgage Industry Directory as well as the two newspapers. There is still time to give us your numbers. If you're a mortgage lender/servicer send an e-mail to
DATA NOTICE: You can now pre-order the upcoming eMortgage Industry Directory which includes a subscription to MortgageStats.com. With this product we are significantly expanding our offerings in the data/information services space. One option subscribers will have is to get quarterly updates. We'll also offer a special white paper on "Ten Mega Lenders to Keep an Eye on in 2009/2010." To advance order the eMID/Mortgagestats.com e-mail
