What We're Hearing

Ditech.com of Costa Mesa, an Internet/telephone direct-to-consumer lender is still advertising like crazy on television. According to an ad I saw on CNBC this week Ditech is offering jumbo loans with rates south of 4.5%. Of course, the ad didn't say anything about points, FICO scores, or equity but you can assume that both will drive whatever rate the company eventually charges the borrower. Ditech.com is part of Residential Capital Corp., which in turn is owned by GMAC Financial Services, which at one point was 49% owned by General Motors which may or may not file for bankruptcy soon. GMAC's other large stake holder is hedge fund giant Cerberus which owns Chrysler, which is in bankruptcy. Cerberus also owned Aegis Mortgage which went BK two years ago. Got all that? Maybe it's time for a scorecard. Ditech started out as a high LTV lender many moons ago. Its founder: Paul Reddam...