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Mortgage Industry News Headlines
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Last Updated Wednesday, August 20, 2008 12:42 PM CST
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N.C. Trade Group Clarifies YSPs Under New Law
North Carolina's governor announced he signed House Bill 2188, which eliminates rate spread premiums. The North Carolina Association of Mortgage Professionals issued an alert to its members that news reports about the new law were providing incorrect information. The group's executive directory told MortgageDaily.com that the new legislation prohibits mortgage brokers from being paid based on the amount of the mortgage on a Rate Spread Home Loan. But, "The provisions in HB 2188 do not eliminate [yield spread premiums] to brokers," he explained.
Best California Broker
Edward Craine was named mortgage broker of the year by the California Association of Mortgage Brokers, the group said in a statement. He is chief executive officer of San Francisco-based Smith Craine Finance. The trade group handed out the award earlier this month at its annual convention.
Commercial Mortgage Volume Down
Second-quarter commercial mortgage originations fell 2 percent from the first quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported. Loans on industrial properties fell 23 percent, while multifamily property fundings were down 14 percent and retail property loan volume was off 7 percent. Compared to the second quarter 2007, commercial mortgage production was 63 percent lower.
Massive Foreclosure Prevention Efforts Underway
VendorScape Loss Mitigation has been launched by First American Default Technologies, according to a statement. The new offering analyzes the property, the borrower's financial condition and answers from a rules-based intelligent borrower interview to determine available work-out plans. An eligibility engine deployed by LenderLive Network Inc. provides a preliminary indication of the homeownership preservation programs that may be available to borrowers in a servicing portfolio, a press release said. BankUnited Financial Corp. said that it created a mortgage assistance program to refinance thousands of its borrowers with option adjustable-rate mortgages during the next six months. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago announced the launch of an online foreclosure resource center.
Routine Examination Turns Costly
The New Hampshire Banking Department has entered into a consent order with The Mortgage Specialists Inc. In a staff petition, the state said it conducted a routine examination of 20 loan files. The files were missing required documents -- which were subsequently found in a shredding bin. After studying the shredded documents, the state said if found altered documents. The broker, its owner and its controller were fined $400,000.
Fannie Halts N.Y. Subprime Purchases
Fannie Mae will no longer purchase or securitize loans on New York properties that are considered subprime under a new law passed in the state. Fannie said the New York law is effective on loans closed on or after Sept. 1. The secondary lender noted the prohibition is effective "regardless of whether any provision of the law is preempted by federal law with respect to a particular mortgage or for a particular originator."
Florida Firm Growing, Hiring
Mortgage Contracting Services announced that it has recently doubled its office space. The company, based in Tampa, Fla., has also added more than 90 employees this year. The expansion is the result of "explosive growth."
Bank Sued Over Failed Firm
A lawsuit was filed in federal court against National Bank of Kansas City by its former partners in First Fractional Funding. First Fractional was shut down earlier this year after the bank allegedly stopped funding mortgages for the unit. The plaintiffs seek a judgment of more than $6 million.
Wachovia Cutting PA Jobs
Wachovia Corp. plans to eliminate mortgage jobs in Pennsylvania, according to a Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification. The affected employees work in Bensalem. The date of the planned layoffs is Oct. 1.
Broker, Bank Exec Busted
John Robert Miller has entered into a plea agreement for one count of wire fraud with the U.S. Attorney. Miller operated a mortgage brokerage in Florida. He is accused of conspiring with a bank executive to overcharge borrowers and split the overcharges with the executive without the knowledge of the bank. He faces up to five years in prison.
Help With Rising FHA Activity
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the government share of loan applications has gone from 8 percent in July 2007 to 29 percent during July 2008. Among companies that are helping mortgage bankers manage the shift from conventional to FHA originations is First American Loan Production Solutions, which has "a great deal of experience with FHA lending," is a major provider of FHA outsourcing services as well as compliance and document solutions, the company's president told MortgageDaily.com. AllRegs recently announced an FHA Hotline that "will provide answers to questions about the FHA program, program changes, how to become an FHA lender, business advice on what to do with borrowers as it applies to the FHA program, interpretation of the regulations and interpretation of the new law."
Firm Reports Success in Secondary Sales
Mission Capital Advisors LLC reported that it has brokered the successful sale of more than $6 billion in mortgage portfolios during the past year. Among sellers are banks other financial institutions, commercial mortgage-backed securities trust and "major" originators, the statement said. Mission said its proprietary pricing models and successful recent history ensures accurate loan valuation and pricing.
California Mortgage Layoffs
Fremont Investment & Loan laid off more than 200 employees, an employment filing indicated. The layoffs occurred earlier this month in Ontario, Calif. Fremont was acquired by CapitalSource Inc. last month.
BoA Lays Off Illinois Employees
Bank of America Corp. is laying off Illinois employees, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filing. Around 78 employees are impacted. A BoA spokeswoman confirmed in a statement to MortgageDaily.com that the layoffs are part of 7,500 planned layoffs previously announced.
Positive IndyMac Update
IndyMac Federal Bank FSB's total workforce still stands at 7,500, a spokesman told MortgageDaily.com in an interview. After all pending layoffs are complete, the company expects to have around 300 more employees than it forecast when its latest round of layoffs were announced. An e-mail to employees on Aug. 12 from IndyMac's chief executive officer obtained by MortgageDaily.com indicated that all terminating employees would be given 60 days' notice. Just prior to the FDIC takeover, IndyMac -- under mandate by its regulators to preserve capital -- had to abandon severance packages. The spokesman said the company has been meeting with interested buyers and is on track to meet its 90-day goal.
Impaired Loan Secondary Market Expands
A private investment group has committed to invest $20 million for Diversified Mortgage Workout Corp. to acquire discounted suprime loans. Ocwen Financial Corp. plans to use its cost structure and strong delinquency curing ability to acquire servicing portfolios. WMD Capital Markets recently reported the acquisition of $65 million in as part of an affordable loan modification and foreclosure prevention agreement. Oxford Funding Corp. touted how it is successfully acquiring discounted mortgage portfolios, restructuring the individual loans and reselling them on the secondary market.
Citi's Warehouse Unit Cuts More Jobs
First Collateral Services Inc. has notified the state of California of planned layoffs, according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications. The Citigroup Inc. subsidiary said in the latest filing that approximately 75 layoffs are planned at the unit this year. First Collateral filed a WARN notice earlier this year indicating another 142 layoffs were planned.
New Jersey Layoffs at ResCap Unit
Last month, GMAC Mortgage LLC notified New Jersey's Department of Labor and Workforce Development about its plan to eliminate employees in the state. GMAC Mortgage is a subsidiary of Residential Capital LLC. The job reductions are expected to be complete by Oct. 3 and impact 68 people, the company said in the filing.
Pricing, Credit and MISMO
PHH Mortgage will enhance its current pricing platform with MDA MindBox Inc.'s ARTOptimize, an announcement said. LoanSifter Prime version 2.0. has been released, a press release said. Fair Isaac Corp. announced that its scientists have discovered a way to restore legitimate authorized user credit accounts to the calculation of FICO 08 credit scores without enabling the artificial enhancement of credit scores through piggyback schemes. MISMO finalized the second iteration of demonstration examples for the MISMO residential Version 3.0 architecture, the Mortgage Bankers Association announced.
NovaStar Finds New Niche
NovaStar Financial Inc. announced that it has acquired a majority interest in PipeFire LLC. The acquired business provides residential appraisal management and related services to third parties. PipeFire will be renamed StreetLinks National Appraisal Services.
Actions Against Oregon Violators
A cease-and-desist order was issued against Allegiance Mortgage LLC, the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services said in a statement. The license of Diamond Financial Mortgage Group of America Inc. was revoked by the state's Division of Finance. 1st American Inc. and its owner were ordered to cease and desist from unethical practices and failing to supervise.
Rates, Apps Edge Lower
Freddie Mac reported the average 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was around 6.1 percent, down from the previous week. The average 1-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage was also down from the prior week to 2.2 percent. The Mortgage Bankers Association said overall mortgage applications edged down 2 percent in its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Aug. 8.
ResCap Suing to Force Repurchases
Residential Funding Company LLC, an affiliate of Residential Capital LLC has filed lawsuits against several mortgage correspondents. The defendants are accused of failing to repurchase loans as required by the contracts they signed. RFC claims that although the companies agreed to repurchase any defaulted loan even if they weren't involved with potential mortgage fraud causing the defaults, the companies have failed to repurchase the loans.
Foreclosures Up Over 50% From 2007
During July, 272,171 foreclosures were filed nationally, RealtyTrac reported. Filings rose from 252,363 filings the prior month, according to the report. Compared to July 2008, foreclosures were up 51.5 percent.
Government Originations to Double
During 2008, Freddie Mac projects total 1-4 unit FHA and VA originations will be $0.280. The level is more than double the $0.120 trillion in government mortgage volume last year. Government activity is projected to reach $0.285 trillion in 2009.
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Copyright © 2007 MortgageDaily.com
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Best California Broker
California mortgage brokers have recognized a San Francisco broker as being the best in the state.
Edward Craine was named mortgage broker of the year by the California Association of Mortgage Brokers, the group said in a statement today.
The trade group says it has more than 4,000 members.
MortgageDaily.com subscribers read full story
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Broker, Bank Exec Busted
A mortgage broker has pleaded guilty to helping a former executive of a Florida bank overcharge the banks borrowers. The two pocketed the difference while the bank wound up embroiled in lawsuits.
John Robert Miller has entered into a plea agreement for one count of wire fraud with the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida last week, according to court records. He faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and restitution of $1.5 million.
The U.S. attorney will recommend minimal time in prison if Miller continues to cooperate in the case.
read full story
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Ohio Sues 2 Brokers
Two mortgage brokers and an appraiser have been sued by the State of Ohio. In addition to allegedly failing to provide required disclosures, the companies are being sued because they listed property values on appraisal orders.
The Ohio attorney general's office and the Ohio Department of Commerce filed a complaint in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas against Highland Banc Inc. and loan officer Eric B. Johnson, an announcement yesterday said.
The defendants are accused of failing to provide accurate disclosures as required by the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act, Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and Ohio Mortgage Broker Act.
read full story
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Best Mortgage Broker
The group representing U.S. mortgage brokers has identified a VA broker as the country's best mortgage broker. Two commercial mortgage wholesalers were also recognized.
The title was announced by the National Association of Mortgage Brokers at their annual conference, an announcement this week said.
The McLean, Va.-based group held the event in Indianapolis from June 19 to June 23.
MortgageDaily.com subscribers read full story
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Hundreds of Indiana Brokers Done
More than 500 Indiana loan brokers can no longer do business in the state.
Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita announced today that 361 loan brokers failed to comply with the state's licensing requirements.
As a result, they have lost their licenses.
MortgageDaily.com subscribers read full story
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