Today's Fresh Blogs...

• Is Countrywide the New Titanic?

  Published: August 10, 2007, 12:22 pm

  Tags: Wall Street, Mortgage News Insight, Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide, Titanic

  retain a larger portion of mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities than we would in other environments. While our capital and liquidity positions are currently strong and we believe we have sufficient capacity to hold additional mortgage loans and mortgage backed securities until investor demand improves and yield requirements moderate,

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• Freddie Mac steps in to the Alt-A void

  Published: August 14, 2007, 12:26 pm

  Tags: Mortgage News Insight, Alt, Credit Crunch, Freddie Mac, Gse, Impac, Indymac

  credit crunch in the Alt-A mortgage market, released a statement (no link, sorry) regarding its support of Alt-A lending and its intentions to provide liquidity to that segment of the mortgage market. From the release: Freddie Mac continues to be an active force in the Alt-A market and is taking steps to increase liquidity in the Alt-A

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• Luminent lenders declare default - demand $1.6 billion

  Published: August 14, 2007, 12:04 pm

  Tags: Wall Street, Mortgage News Insight, Lender Defaults, Luminent Mortgage, Mortgage Meltdown

  to Market Watch, Luminent Mortgage Capitial is facing $1.6 billion in demands from 8 lenders who have declared the company in default of its lending agreements. Surprisingly, shares are getting hammered down 41% today. More from Market Watch: Luminent said the lenders alleged that the company has failed to meet margin calls or

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• How'd you like $152.5 million worth of containment'?

  Published: August 14, 2007, 2:36 am

  Tags: Wall Street, Mortgage News Insight, Countrywide, Impac, Indymac, Prime Mortgage Problems, Subprime Contagion

  theorists? Impac Mortgage Holdings plans to announce at its upcoming quarterly earnings call a loss of $152.5 million for the most recent quarter compared to $26.4 million in profit a year ago. It made the revelation in their statement regarding the delayed SEC filing of its quarterly 10-Q. A huge hat tip to Housing Wire for being

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• What's going on with Countrywide?

  Published: August 16, 2007, 10:18 am

  Tags: Wall Street, Economy, Mortgage News Insight, Angelo Mozilo, Bailout, Bankruptcy, Countrywide, Meltdown, Titanic

  craters it will be to the mortgage industry what the meteor was to dinosaurs. If you’ve read my post on the tangled web of banking and read the comments you’ll see how tangled Countrywide’s web really is. A collapse of Countrywide would mean a collapse of a large portion of the mortgage industry; and then Jim Cramer would

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• First Magnus - Done Funding?

  Published: August 16, 2007, 12:02 pm

  Tags: Mortgage News Insight, Credit Crunch, First Magnus, Mortgage Market Meltdown

  retail arm, Great Southwest Mortgage, the Arizona Daily Star reports. They cite an email from the corporate office sent to branch managers informing them of the company’s decision to cease funding loans effective immediately. From the article: An e-mail Wednesday evening told branch managers of Great Southwest Mortgage, the retail arm

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• Is there a run on Countrywide bank or is it a prank?

  Published: August 16, 2007, 8:43 pm

  Tags: Wall Street, Mortgage News Insight, Angelo Mozilo, Bailout, Bankruptcy, Countrywide, Meltdown, Titanic

  wrong. If you Google News Countrywide Bank you get the following as the first entry in the results: Customers withdrawing from Countrywide Bank Los Angeles Times, CA - 2 hours ago Customers crowded into branches of Countrywide Bank today to withdraw as much as $500000 at a time because of concerns about the financial

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• The Death of Stated Income Loans

  Published: August 16, 2007, 11:57 pm

  Tags: Mortgage News Insight, Alt, Indymac, Liar Loans, Nina, Niv, No Income Loans, Sisa, Stated Income Loans

  issues in the secondary mortgage market, we have found it necessary to make additional revisions to our program limits and guidelines:Alt A Conforming and Non-Conforming First Mortgages: No Income / No Asset and No Doc Documentation Types - The maximum LTV / CLTV is limited to 80% regardless of minimum Decision Credit Score. - The

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• Fed makes surprise move - lowers discount rate to 5.75%

  Published: August 17, 2007, 11:58 am

  Tags: Wall Street, Economy, Mortgage News Insight, Federal Reserve, Global Economy, Mortgage Meltdown, Prime Mortgage Problems, Subprime Contagion, Wall Street

  renewed investor interest in mortgage backed securities. Here is the Fed statement in its entirety: Financial market conditions have deteriorated, and tighter credit conditions and increased uncertainty have the potential to restrain economic growth going forward. In these circumstances, although recent data suggest that the economy has

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• NovaStar to Cut 37% of Workforce

  Published: August 17, 2007, 12:48 pm

  Tags: Mortgage News Insight, Layoffs, Mortgage Meltdown, Nova Star, Subprime Contagion

  as demand for their mortgage products has declined precipitously. NovaStar is a primarily subprime mortgage lender. From Market Watch: Friday said it plans to cut about 500 employees, or 37% of the workforce, “to align its organization and costs with an expected reduction in loan originations.” The Kansas City, Mo.-based

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• GreenPoint closed by Capital One, Thornburg Hammered

  Published: August 20, 2007, 7:55 pm

  Tags: Wall Street, Mortgage News Insight, Alt, Credit Crunch, Greenpoint, Jumbo Loans, Mortgage Market Meltdown, Thornburg Mortgage

  markets today. Thornburg Mortgage, which lost nearly $1 billion in the sale of AAA rate mortgage backed securities. Also from Market Watch: Thornburg Mortgage Inc. said on Monday that it lost roughly $930 million selling billions of dollars worth of AAA rated mortgage securities, while reducing borrowing and unwinding interest-rate hedges.

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• Countrywide Begins Layoffs in Earnest

  Published: August 20, 2007, 11:11 pm

  Tags: Mortgage News Insight, Angelo Mozilo, Bailout, Bankruptcy, Countrywide, Meltdown, Titanic

  Countrywide (NYSE: CFC - News) is cutting back on lending and costs because the company will not be able to sell off risky loans, due to rising concerns in the mortgage industry. In addition I’ve heard of layoffs in their Specialty Lending Wholesale division which is their subprime wholesale channel. Wholesale is where they fund

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• Bring on the lawsuits

  Published: August 21, 2007, 1:21 am

  Tags: Mortgage News Insight, Lawsuits, Option Arms, Subprime Home Loans, Subprime Mortgage, Subprime Refinance, Truth In Lending

  claims will be against mortgage brokers for putting them into loans where they shouldn’t have been,” said Dan Mulligan, a California-based real estate attorney. One reason that borrowers often did not understand the terms of their mortgages according to Jo Carillo, a property law professor with the University of California,

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• National City Warehouse Stops Approving Non-Agency Loans

  Published: August 21, 2007, 1:52 pm

  Tags: Mortgage News Insight, Correspondent Lending, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, National City, Warehouse Lines Of Credit

  loans and other non-agency mortgages just got a lot tighter… In a recent letter to correspondent lenders (no link sorry) National City announced that they will not longer be approving or funding any non-agency loans via their warehouse lines of credit. These credit lines are extended to their correspondent lenders as short-term

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0

• Accredited Home Lenders - layoffs & no new loans

  Published: August 22, 2007, 10:54 am

  Tags: Mortgage News Insight, Accredited Home Lenders, Subprime Mortgage Market Meltdown, Subprime Mortgages

  Holding Co., the San Diego mortgage-loan provider, said it would stop accepting new loan applications and would restructure, reducing the workforce by 62% to 1,000 from 2,600. The moves include closing its retail lending business as of Sept. 5, cutting 480 jobs. The company will continue to operate its customer-retention unit. It will close

  Comments (0)   Blog link Rating: 0