The Fed and the OCC, among others, issued a final Statement on Subprime Mortgage Lending today. The guidance primarily addresses the use of ARMs in the subprime mortgage market: … standards include a fully indexed, fully amortized qualification for borrowers and cautions on risk-layering features, including an expectation that stated income and reduced documentation should be [...]

In what has to be the most forceful major media story on the subprime credit crunch that I’ve seen yet, Bloomberg reporter Mark Pittman just lets fly: Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings are masking burgeoning losses in the market for subprime mortgage bonds by failing to cut the credit ratings on about [...]

More news today suggests that the fallout from the subprime mortgage crunch on Wall Street hasn’t moderated just yet. First, Bloomberg reports that Cambridge Place’s Caliber Fund will fold due to losses associated with subprime mortgage debt investments: Caliber Global Investment Ltd., a $908 million fund invested in subprime mortgage debt, will close as losses widen [...]

Just off the wires late last night, the newest merger in what’s been a wave of consolidations: Green Tree Servicing will be sold to Centerbridge for an undisclosed amount. The investor group, along with existing management, is buying 100% of the company’s equity from funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group and from affiliates of [...]

KB Home reported its second quarter results today, and I thought I’d call some attention to the messages coming from the asset supply-side of the business: “Our second quarter results reflect the current oversupply of new and resale housing inventory, a difficult situation compounded by aggressive competition and continued weak demand,â€? said Jeffrey Mezger, president and [...]

The MBA’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey is out, and shows that mortgage applications dropped for the second consecutive week. The core composite index dropped 3.9 percent, while the purchase index — considered by some economists to be a leading indicator for home sales — dropped 4.9 percent. Interestingly, however, the composite remains up 16.3 percent compared [...]

Impac Mortgage Holdings said late yesterday that it will suspend its second quarter dividend due to “higher than expected loss levels” associated with the firm’s REO disposition strategy: …as a result of the Company’s previously disclosed strategy to accelerate the liquidation of its real estate owned (”REO”) portfolio through the new auction process implemented this quarter, [...]

File this under “not good:” Standard & Poor’s issued a statement today outlining growing concern over the Alt-A mortgage market, saying that “there are strong — and growing — indications of deteriorating performance in the 2006 vintage.” From the horse’s mouth (registration req’d): The percentage of Alt-A loans that are 90 or more days delinquent (including loans [...]

Bloomberg is reporting that Tom Marano, head of Bear Stearns’ mortgage unit, has been temporarily brought on board to help unwind the two troubled subprime hedge funds at the center of much media attention the past week or so. Bear Stearns Cos. enlisted Tom Marano, the head of its mortgage unit, to help unwind two [...]

Countrywide Financial is getting some unwanted attention from both investors and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, according to two reports at Rueters this afternoon. Up first, unconfirmed rumors that the Calabasas, Calif.-based lender is the subject of a government probe: Countrywide Financial Corp. shares fell to a two-month low and the cost to insure its debt rose [...]