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Mortgage Headlines
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Last Updated Friday, March 11, 2005 10:28 AM CST
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10 Steps to Successful Mortgage Marketing
Do not expect a marketing system to work if you don't do the basic things necessary to become successful. As a matter of fact, if you do these things correctly you will need to spend much less money and energy on marketing. Why? Because marketing is not something you do -- it is the way you think. One of the steps is to identify your sphere of influence. You should have no less than 3,000 to 5,000 people you either know or with which you have something very important in common.
Fannie, Freddie and Fraud
OFHEO recently proposed a regulation that would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to report in a timely manner possible or actual fraud prior to requiring repurchase or refusing to purchase a mortgage, mortgage backed security or other financial instruments. OFHEOs general counsel suggested that Congress may want to expand the Bank Secrecy Act's list of other institutions that fit under the reporting requirement to explicitly include the GSEs.
Capital One Acquisition Among Mortgage Mergers
Capital One Financial Corp. will soon acquire Hibernia Corp. in a stock-and-cash transaction valued at approximately $5.3 billion. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter, according to a recent press release.
Rates, Purchase Apps Higher
Increasing for four straight weeks to its highest level since last August, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage average rose to 5.85%, according to Freddie Mac. The Purchase Index climbed 3% to 451.7 -- its highest point this year, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported.
Ocwen Employee Secretly Videotaped Women
A Florida jury found that two former female employees suffered emotional trauma and lost wages because of the illegal activities of another former employee while he and the women were employed at Ocwen Financial Corp. Videotapes and photographs of the women's private body parts were allegedly sold to various pornographic and voyeuristic Web sites at the hands of the former employee.
ACORN At It Again
Citing a study of Wells Fargo's refinance loans in 42 metropolitan areas, ACORN called on the Fed to oust Wells' CEO from its Advisory Council, according to an announcement. The study reportedly showed "a huge racial and economic disparity between the company's prime mortgage lending and its higher-cost subprime lending." A Wells' spokesman said the study is flawed and ACORN has "a history of deliberately distorting and misrepresenting our practices and policies."
Broker to Correspondent is Risky Transition
Many brokers see greener grass on the banking side of mortgage originations, where the average revenue from a loan is about $2,500, compared with $450 for a brokered transaction. But the bloom comes off the rose pretty quickly, according to executives on a panel at the recent Subprime Summit, when brokers drill down into the additional risk involved in mortgage banking.
10-Year Treasury Yield Soars
The 10-year Treasury yield reached 4.51% Wednesday afternoon -- the highest level since July, according to MarketWatch. Concerns of rapid inflation generated from rising global commodity prices, led by oil. Crude-oil futures went above $55 a barrel, "a development that could stir inflation should companies have to pass along higher energy costs to consumers," the publication said.
Mortgage Companies With Best Investment Returns
The Wall Street Journal recently released its 10th annual Shareholder Scoreboard, which reviewed the performances of 1,000 companies in 76 industries to determine which entities had the best and worst total returns to investors over periods of one, three, five, and 10 years through the end of 2004. Of the 50 companies on the one-year best performers list, the only mortgage-related company was Peoples Bank at No. 39 with an annual return of 86.1%.
Nonprime Servicers Clean Up Act
"One of the things we were faced with the last 24 months," a Select Portfolio Servicing executive recently conceded, "was changing the mindset of our [employees] from thinking that the ultimate customer was the investor to thinking that the ultimate customer was the borrower." While it previously operated under the Fairbanks Capital Corp. name, the company faced a host of lawsuits and complaints over servicing issues.
Former NHL Player Runs Mich Mortgage Company
Bill McCreary, co-founder of a Michigan-based mortgage company, played in the NHL. His first stint was with the Toronto Maple Leafs, followed by five more years playing professionally for various other teams in the U.S.
Countrywide Home Equity, Subprime Volume Tumbles
Total loan fundings of $27 billion in February decreased from the previous month, Countrywide Financial Corp. announced. February subprime and home equity fundings were off significantly from January.
Broker Kept Proceeds from Cashout Loans
The owner of a Newport Beach, Calif., mortgage brokerage faces up to 105 years in prison if convicted of defrauding lenders out of more than $9 million and trying to launder the money through offshore accounts, the U.S. Attorney's office said in a written statement. Loan proceeds were allegedly wired to a friend of the broker -- who then directly disbursed the funds to him.
Challenges for Nonprime Lenders
It may be hard for current nonprime growth rates to continue as final tallies for 2004 show a whopping 55% increase in this sector's production to some $608 billion -- a nearly one-quarter share of the total residential market. Nonprime typically includes borrowers as far down the credit spectrum as D quality, but waters have been muddied by lenders sweeping alt-A and interest-only loans into the nonprime count.
Predatory Penalties
After a lengthy trial considered one of Washington's "largest predatory lending cases," a judge recently upheld the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions' final order requiring a mortgage broker to pay more than $712,500 in restitution to 120 consumer in the state, the agency announced. But, the broker, which is no longer in business, "has not paid any fines or restitution and since we believe (the broker) will be vindicated on appeal, we believe that it is highly unlikely that it will pay any money," said the company's lead attorney in an e-mailed statement.
Fitch Upgrades Select Portfolio's Servicer Rating
Fitch Ratings announced that it upgraded Select Portfolio Servicing Inc.'s servicer ratings for Alt-A product, subprime and home equity loans, and special servicing. The upgrades "reflect sustained improvements based on process and procedural changes initiated by [Select] to correct deficiencies noted during Fitch's prior reviews in addition to those detailed in the November 2003 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Housing and Urban Development," Fitch said.
Broker Charged With 1980 Murder of Parents
A Los Angeles-area mortgage brokerage manager was recently charged with the murder of his parents in 1980. Witnesses have testified in preliminary hearings held late last year that the broker may have had a motive for the killings. "People have said that at the time he may have been having some money problems and that he was upset that his parents had changed their will to leave all of their assets to their church," a spokesman for the San Diego County District Attorney said.
Mortgage Bankers Request Relief
The Mortgage Bankers Association's chief executive sent a letter to the SEC secretary in an effort to seek assistance for the industry in reducing costs that result from complying with a section of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. "Our members are so concerned about the high costs of complying with Section 404 that they have requested that I convey their observations to you, along with a request that they be given the opportunity to discuss them with SEC staff and the staff of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board," MBAs executive wrote.
Regions to Unload Conforming Wholesale Ops
Regions Financial Corporation announced that the conforming wholesale operations of subsidiary Regions Mortgage will be assumed by M&T Mortgage. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
New Century Originations Edge Down
New Century Financial Corp. announced that its February fundings of $2.9 billion nudged down from the previous month. The latest volume, however, is 16% better than a year earlier.
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Copyright © 2004 MortgageDaily.com
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