THIS JUST IN: An industry veteran with a long track record in mortgage banking is entering the warehouse lending arena with his new bank. The full story will be in the Monday edition of National Mortgage News. Don't subscribe? Call: 800-221-1809...
Remember the $600 million nonperforming loan portfolio that Wells Fargo recently sold to Arch Bay Capital of California? Apparently, Wells inherited the portfolio from Wachovia which it bought late last year. One investment banker reminded me that not only was Wachovia running an active subprime trading desk but it was a major warehouse provider to NovaStar Mortgage and Accredited Home Loans. (The $600 million that Wells sold - for a reported 37 cents on the dollar - came from those two firms, among others.) Now for the big question: How much more in nonperforming subprime mortgages does Wells have on its books courtesy of Wachovia? "Tons," our source told us. But just how much is tons? In its 2Q earnings statement, Wells tells us that it has $7.6 billion in nonaccruing home loans on its books and another $7.5 billion in nonaccruing commercial loans. Wachovia was also a major player in commercial mortgage finance. Stay tuned...
Meanwhile, we keep hearing isolated reports that a few more community-based lenders might stick their toe in the wholesale/broker pool. When we hear more details, we'll pass on the names. If you need a complete ranking of the nation's top wholesale and correspondent lenders in 1Q (and for all of last year) see the Quarterly Data Report. For more information drop an e-mail to
Did the Federal Reserve this past week put another nail in the coffin of mortgage brokers as well as loan officers who live off of yield-spread premiums? It's all a bit foggy right now but the Fed could be moving in that direction. For the full story see Brian Collins' story on our website:
Rising from the dead: Even though it confirmed to NMN's Tony Garritano last week that it was in the process of closing its doors, software provider MortgageDashboard has posted a notice on the sign-in page of its website, saying it has found private equity backers and is up and running again...
Vulture fund managers and scratch-and-dent servicing specialists are still talking about American General Finance Corp.'s planned sale of $1.6 billion in nonprime whole loans to Credit Suisse which will issue securities backed by the liens. One investor noted that over the years AGFC had a reputation of paying cash for the whole loans it bought in the secondary market. (Some of the loans came from AGFC's affiliate, Wilmington Finance.) Back in 2008 AGFC bought a $1 billion pool of nonprime loans from Banco Popular, noted one source, and overpaid for the product. The Banco Popular pool, as might be expected, hasn't performed all that well...
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Technology vendor Lender Processing Services, a mortgage services/technology vendor, said Don Covey has assumed the role of managing director of its Empower division. Mr. Covey has 29 years of experience in financial and data processing services. The Department of Housing and Urban Development named Shelley Poticha senior advisor for Sustainable Housing and Communities.
The Annual Alternative Products Quarterly Data Report is still available. It has complete rankings on the nation's top alt-A, jumbo, and second-lien funders and servicers. Mention this column and get $25 off the purchase price. To order a copy drop an e-mail to
DATA NOTICE: If you want to pre-order the new MortgageStats.com product let us know. 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
