What We're Hearing

When Taylor Bean & Whitaker went bust last month it screwed up thousands of consumers who were waiting to close loans with the non-bank lender. Many of those deals fell apart, leaving loan officers scrambling to find new sources of funding for their clients. But the company’s BK filing also hurt other consumers who were owed money by TBW. Here’s one example from loan officer Tom Shaw: “Recently, I refinanced one of my good customers from TBW to Wells Fargo and she closed on the new mortgage on 7/10/09. There was an escrow balance of $1160 with TBW that was not netted out at closing, which, as you know, means that this customer was due a refund from TBW for the escrow balance. Well, TBW did send my customer her escrow balance. She deposited it into her account and it showed in her account as a deposit. A few days later her bank called her up and told her that TBW had put a stop payment on the check. This is an elderly disabled woman who is going to have a bit of a hard time without this money.” Tom is now looking for a way to get this customer’s money back. Meanwhile, back in March it looked like the end was near for Bank of America. Its stock hit a 52-week low of $2.53 a share on worries that its purchases of Countrywide and Merrill Lynch were ticking time bombs because of all the toxic mortgage assets those two held. Almost six months later, BoA’s shares trade for almost $18 and it’s talking about repaying $20 billion of TARP money. One last note: pending U.S. home sales rose more than expected in July to the highest level in more than two years – thanks mostly to first-time buyers. But beware: the $8,000 tax credit expires December 1…