Not only was HW in front of the WSJ’s report on the FDIC bulking up for bank failures, but we were a good month ahead of major media on YouWalkAway.com — a site that is dedicated to “helping” borrowers walk away from their mortgages.
Today — one month later — the NY Times ran a front-page story and cited the company. We may not like the company or what it does, but it’s our job to keep you ahead of the curve as much as we can.
(You’re welcome.)
Speaking of being ahead of the curve, as we head into the weekend: you might be interested to know that Fitch judt downgraded nearly $10 billion in subprime RMBS. In one day. Read it elsewhere next week, or read it on HW right now.
Here at the MBA Servicing Conference in New Orleans, we’re attending plenty of sessions. But the most interesting of the day was a Freddie Mac-led panel featuring vice president of servicing and asset management Ingrid Beckles, who said the GSE spent $12 million last year on loss mitigation incentive payments.
Part of that program includes a pilot that pays foreclosure attorneys for identifying qualified borrowers and getting them in touch with the servicer before the foreclosure is completed — a program that Freddie said today at the conference that it’s expanding.
Reuters’ Lynn Adler covers the session:
The program started last year in fives states and will include 19 states that represent 85 percent of Freddie Mac’s business, according to Freddie Mac spokesman... more»
On the heels of an S&P report affirming MBIA’s AAA insurer rating, and giving a similar stamp of approval to Ambac, HW’s received more than a few emails questioning the stress test used to give both monolines a top grade.
One reader noted in an email to us:
Net net, the model doesn’t seem to indicate any increase in correlations across portfolios which was the CDO and CDO2 structure’s weakness. I think they are fudging by releasing more data, but not really acknowledging the structural changes that have gone on in these markets. It feels like a CYA move to disclose a little more but use the same approach with a little more stress on the model.
Most of the AAA stuff was indicated by MBIA as having 10-15% OC. The latest document showed them having 15% most likely... more»
We’re not kidding - an HW reader forwarded this listing search to us, and we’re sharing.
For those that haven’t worked in the REO side of the biz before, there has been a sort-of inside joke about when the first $100 house will hit the market. Unfortunately, it’s no longer a joke.
Detroit’s housing market has been decimated by the steep downturn in the U.S. automobile industry, for the record. In fact, the Detroit MSA had the highest foreclosure rate of any metropolitan area in the U.S. during 2007.
ServiceLink, a cog in the giant machine that is Fidelity National Financial, said Tuesday that former E*Trade operations director Dave Steinmetz joined the firm, where he’ll head up ServiceLink’s default title and closing operations.
At E*Trade, Steinmetz managed pretty much the entire mortgage biz, from the looks of the press release. He ran mortgage operations, wholesale and retail post-closing departments and handled the company’s offshoring initiatives.
Things clearly didn’t work out so well at E*Trade Financial, whose mortgage business largely led to firm to become the subject of bankruptcy rumors late last year. The company has been scaling back mortgage operations ever since as it looks to regain its foothold in the financial services industry.
Here’s hoping... more»
Countrywide Financial cancelled a client relations event for its top correspondent lenders after the Wall Street Journal put a bright light on the ritzy plans, which included rooms for approximately 30 bankers at the Ritz in Avon, Colorado.
A Countrywide spokesman, referring to the planned ski trip, said the company had hosted similar meetings with business partners and clients for years, but that “in light of recent events, we have decided to cancel all such gatherings for the remainder of the year.”
Look, we’re not here to blindly defend an industry known for its excesses. HW readers know that we don’t pull punches when it comes to something that needs to be punched.
But it seems to us like Countrywide may be facing a damned if you do/damned if you don’t sort... more»
You know, here at HW, we remember the housing boom well.
In particular, we remember local community groups targeting lenders for ‘redlining’ because lower-income (read: less credit worthy) borrowers weren’t getting a shot at participating in the “historic housing boom.” We also remember how everyone looked to the Homeownership Preservation Foundation as a beacon for how foreclosure prevention should work, because GMAC went out of its way to partner with and help fund the nonprofit’s efforts.
Now that the boom is over, of course, those same groups are blaming the industry for ‘reverse redlining’ — and, via the Wall Street Journal, we see that cosumer advocates are now questioning HPF’s “cozy” relationship with GMAC.
Funny... more»
Fannie Mae said today that it will file its annual report for 2007 this Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forecast? More losses.
HW will cover it as soon as it’s out.
Are we the only ones that have noticed that the NAR’s president is named Richard Gaylord? He’s even managed to take up some common short-hand for other famous Richards out there — like Richard Nixon, for example, who was known famously as ‘Tricky Dick.’
(We’re tempted to call Gaylord the NAR’s chief Dick, but that might be crossing some sort of line.)
The powers that be here at HW have been busy focusing on getting a new Web site launched today (you’ll see it starting this weekend). But market rumors keep moving around, with the craziest being that Bank of America is looking to buy UBS. We’re not kidding.
Just read the speculation over at FT Alphaville. Sounds as if they’re as cynical as we are here in the HW newsroom about the alleged deal.
Sure, it’s just a rumor at this point. But if it’s right, at least we can say HW was among the first to mention it. Or that we were duped by those hacks at the Financial Times. Take your pick.
