Guaranty Mortgage

The bond market is waiting anxiously for the FOMC minutes, what will happen to mortgage rates?

8 ways to cut honeymoon costs
Don’t blow the money you frugally saved on the wedding.

Biggest Commercial Servicers
Wachovia Securities was the biggest servicer of commercial loans backing commercial mortgage-backed securities, according to a ranking announced Thursday by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The report indicated Wachovia’s portfolio was $357 billion as of June 30. “This year’s update was expanded to include all large commercial/multifamily servicers, regardless of investor group,” the trade group said.

Fixed Rates Decrease, ARMs Increase
The 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 6.45 percent, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ending Aug. 30. The 30-year was down from a week earlier. But the yield on the 1-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage soared 24 basis points higher during the 7-day period.

$105K Judgment Against Net Branch
Two Maryland loan officers won a lawsuit against All Fund Inc. The pair claim the branch operation didn’t pay them overtime even though they primarily worked from All Fund’s offices. But All Fund unsuccessfully argued the two primarily worked from the field. All Fund and its attorney didn’t return calls for a statement.

Option One May End Operations
H&R Block Inc. reported in an earnings announcement Thursday that it still has not met certain closing conditions of the agreement to sell Option One Mortgage Corp. As a result, it is trying to negotiate a modification to the sale that includes just selling the servicing operation. “H&R Block would be responsible for divesting or winding down Option One’s remaining origination business,” the statement said.

Frugal fun with food
Turn your dinner leftovers into lunch the next day.

No down payment; jumbo jam
Mortgage bond prices have been rising for most of the last two weeks, which causes rates to fall, but rates don’t look inclined to fall much today.

Gas-saving devices mostly a scam
Government tests show most gadgets don’t do a thing to help improve mileage.

Save by shopping for generic drugs
Experts say they’re just as safe as prescription drugs, and usually much cheaper.

Moody’s Investors Service announced it upgraded classes of deals issued by GMAC Commercial Mortgage Securities Inc. Moody’s also said it boosted the rating on classes of 2002 CMBS deals issued by Chase Commercial Mortgage Securities Corp. Additionally, classes of Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Securities Corp. were reportedly upgraded by Moody’s.

Housing Starts Hit Ten Year Low While Builder Confidence Sets Even A Longer Record
Residential building permits and housing starts continued to fall in July with the latter measure of the nation’s economic health dropping more than at any time since January 1997. NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders cited the subprime mortgage situation as being a part of the problem but said, “… the government-related parts of the mortgage market still are functioning well and…” Read More Now

Rates flat, new home sales up
Despite a strong report on durable goods orders and a small rise in new home sales, mortgage rates haven’t moved much today.

Existing Home Sales Essentially Unchanged In July
The Times quoted Moody’s Economy.com, a research firm as predicting that the national median home price will probably not return to its 2007 peak in inflation-adjusted dollars for more than a decade. The price decreases, however, will probably not come close to wiping out the increases homeowners have seen in the last few years. Read More Now

Rising Delinquency Headed Higher
Delinquency of at least 30 days was 1.23 percent on prime mortgages as of June 30, rising from May 31 and from a year earlier, FBR Investment Management Inc. wrote in an Aug. 24 client letter. On subprime pools, 26.64 percent of mortgages were delinquent at second quarter’s end. Serious subprime delinquency reached an all-time high in June — though it is still projected to go higher next year.

Countrywide Rating Watch Revised By Fitch
Fitch Ratings announced Thursday that it has revised its Rating Watch on Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC) and its related subsidiaries from “Negative” to “Evolving.” This revised rating signifies that Fitch may upgrade, downgrade or affirm the current rating once they have gathered additional information. Fitch believes that residual effects caused by these liquidity issues will have significant impact on origination volume and… Read More Now

Inventories climb, sales fall
The National Association of Realtors’ existing home sales data for July were released today, and there are more homes for sale than previously counted.

A Few Bad Apples
A lawyer from East Haven, Conn., ripped off nearly $1 million that her aunt made on real estate deals and the headed to Las Vegas with the dough. A Massachusetts lawyer has been charged in federal court with defrauding a title insurer and lenders of more than $6.2 million in an alleged mortgage fraud scheme that also involves tax evasion. An attorney in Georgia has pleaded guilty to federal charges for his role in a wide-ranging mortgage fraud scheme that involved 21 people.

IndyMac To Resume Prime Jumbo Home Loans
IndyMac Bank announced today that it will resume originating prime, single-family residential, full doc jumbo loans after they temporarily reduced the origination of these products due to the recent credit cruch in the secondary markets. Minimum credit standards for these products are: Read More Now

Countrywide Gets Big Cash Infusion And May Survive Crisis
Several more big lenders joined the junk pile this week but there was a piece of good news for the nation’s largest mortgage lender which managed to survive a very tough couple of weeks and now appears capable of living to fight another day. Read More Now

Fitch Ratings downgraded $164.4 million of notes issued by Independence VII CDO LTD. GMAC Mortgage LLC had its residential primary sub-servicer rating and its primary servicer ratings for prime and Alt-A loans lowered to RPS1- from RPS1, according to Fitch. Over at Countrywide Home Loans, servicer ratings for Alt-A, subprime and HEL product was cut to RPS1- from RPS1, Fitch announced.

Frugal fun with food
Turn your dinner leftovers into lunch the next day.

Help Wanted
Shore Mortgage announced Friday it is hiring new employees. The company operates in the Detroit area. Among those being recruited are underwriters, account executives and loan officers.

Curse of The Fastest Growing
The 2007 Inc. magazine ranking of the 5,000 fastest growing privately-held U.S. companies and Entrepreneur Magazine’s 2007 Hot 500 included dozens of mortgage-related companies. But landing on the popular lists of movers and shakers has ended tragically for many firms. First Magnus Financial Corp., which was recognized by Inc. in 2004 as one of the 500 fastest growing privately held companies, collapsed earlier this month. Other failed firms to previously rank as fastest growing include Silver State Mortgage, Ameritrust Mortgage Company LLC and The Lending Group.

Comparing drug costs
A graphic shows the differences in drug costs.

Wachovia v. Thornburg
Wachovia Bank has filed a lawsuit against Thornburg Mortgage Inc. The action seeks more than $5 million. The litigation resulted from Thornburg’s failure to honor derivatives contracts, including a series of interest rate swaps entered into in Oct. 2003.

Investment Scams Halted
Maryland’s attorney general has issued a cease and desist order alleging POS Dream Home LLC and Metropolitan Grapevine LLC were operating an unregistered investment company that promised to pay off investors’ mortgages in five years. A search warrant filed in U.S. District Court by the FBI shows that several mortgage brokers and their officers are being investigated by federal authorities. Named in the warrant are VFM Investment Group, Esnian Mortgage Realty Network and Freedom Capital Mortgage Inc. Investors were allegedly told that borrowers with bad credit obtained mortgages by using the investors’ credit.

8 ways to cut honeymoon costs
Don’t blow the money you frugally saved on the wedding.

Shore Mortgage announced Friday it is hiring new employees. The company operates in the Detroit area. Among those being recruited are underwriters, account executives and loan officers.

Wholesaler Holds Off on New Business
Mercantile Mortgage Co. halted branch field operations for the time being, according to a message on it Web site. It is taking a breather while it considers how to deal with market turmoil. Mercantile “has the capacity, at any time, to process and close loans at its operation center, which can be supported by a limited number of field reps,” the Web site stated.

Borrow or cash in savings?
Consider how long it will take to pay back the loan, says Dr. Don.

Gas-saving devices mostly a scam
Government tests show most gadgets don’t do a thing to help improve mileage.

Fannie Business Rises
New business acquisitions were $66 billion during July, according to Fannie Mae’s monthly summary released Friday. Business rose from June and from July 2006, the report said. Single-family delinquency of at least 90 days rose two basis points in June.

The parent of BNC Mortgage LLC announced Wednesday it would close the subprime subsidiary. More than 1,000 employees will be affected by the closure, the announcement said. BNC said it originated business through more than 36,000 independent mortgage brokers.

Regions Financial Corp. recently announced it was closing it warehouse lending unit. The move was take as a result of a waning mortgage market. “We are extremely committed to providing residential mortgages to our customers through other markets and right now, in fact, we are aggressively expanding our sales force to that end.” a Regions spokeswoman told MortgageDaily.com.

Inflation is down, but not out
The good news is that price increases are slowing down. The bad news is that they are slowing down from rather high rates.

Still renting your phone? Why?
Some people, mostly seniors, don’t realize they can save by buying their phones.

States Revoke Licenses, Issue Fines
New Jersey’s banking and insurance commissioner has moved to revoke the license of Apex, according to a statement from the state. The Florida-based firm will also be fined $700,000. North Carolina broker Hall Financial Services has lost its license and has agreed to reimburse customers under to $250,000, according to a statement from that state’s banking commissioner. Georgia regulators have revoked the licenses of three mortgage brokers including Hunter Mortgage Co.

Cash is king for the budget-minded
Real people who have gone cash-only share the secrets of their success.

HEL Performance Worsens, Jumbos Flat
Delinquency of at least 60 days on home-equity loans was 13.2 percent in June, according to Moody’s Investors Service. The figure was worse than the prior month and the prior year. The 60-day delinquency rate on prime jumbo loans was 0.42 percent during June, slightly lower than in May, the New York-based ratings agency reported.

Five or 10 minutes can mean a $20 difference in your grocery bill.

Lawyers Stung by HomeBanc Bankruptcy
HomeBanc Corp. is trying to make good on checks it had written at closings to lawyers in Georgia, Florida and North Carolina. In Georgia alone, lawyers are stuck with at least $10 million in bounced checks HomeBanc has been unable make good. But the president of the Georgia Real Estate Closing Attorneys Association told MortgageDaily.com the move is being fought by J.P. Morgan, HomeBanc’s warehouse lender. “It’s going to be a pretty bloody time until all this gets sorted out and we see where the chips fall,” he said.

Delayed Recons Spur Class Action
Temple-Inland is accused of violating California law by failing to request that the deeds of trust for homes that had been paid off be put in the homeowner’s name, court documents indicate. The Texas-based mortgage company, which did not respond to MortgageDaily.com’s request for a statement, is facing a class action lawsuit from as many as 40,000 California borrowers. The plaintiffs’ attorney said his Los Angeles law firm got involved in the case and similar litigation after one of the partners in his firm discovered that the deed to his house had not been reconveyed.

More new-car buyers use cash
The growing trend cuts into potential profits for dealers who often make as much money financing the sale as they do on the cost of the car, says Bankrate car expert Terry Jackson.

Cash is king for the budget-minded
Real people who have gone cash-only share the secrets of their success.

Help for out-of-control spenders
Readers share their stories about how they sought help for spending habits that were ruining their lives.

Home-sale woes? Try community cleanup
One way to assure that a neighbor’s messy yard doesn’t hurt your home-sale efforts is to organize a cleanup of the surrounding area, says Real Estate Adviser Steve McLinden.

You need to change some of your spending habits, says the Debt Adviser.

Just calm down, everyone
Friday, there was a lot of hyperventilation about the Fed buying a bunch of mortgage-backed securities. The hand-wringing was unnecessary.

Inflation is down, but not out
The good news is that price increases are slowing down. The bad news is that they are slowing down from rather high rates.

Tax implications of a family loan
Most relatives don’t demand interest, but CPA George Saenz notes that Uncle Sam does. Tax law requires interest on such loans at the applicable federal rate.

Mortgage Rates Eased By Weakening Housing Demand
Mortgage rates continued to ebb and flow within a narrow range last week; most rates are little changed from where they were in late July 2006. Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist commented that “Mortgage rates eased this week on market concerns that a further weakening of housing demand this spring will delay any recovery in the sector. For example… Read More Now

Can’t fight NSF charges
Banks will process the biggest checks first, says Dr. Don.

Divided lot limits tax break
A couple can sell a portion of their property, but CPA George Saenz says they must sell it all to get the most tax benefit.

Housing Starts Hit Ten Year Low While Builder Confidence Sets Even A Longer Record
Residential building permits and housing starts continued to fall in July with the latter measure of the nation’s economic health dropping more than at any time since January 1997. NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders cited the subprime mortgage situation as being a part of the problem but said, “… the government-related parts of the mortgage market still are functioning well and…” Read More Now

Friday, there was a lot of hyperventilation about the Fed buying a bunch of mortgage-backed securities. The hand-wringing was unnecessary.

A couple can sell a portion of their property, but CPA George Saenz says they must sell it all to get the most tax benefit.

Still renting your phone? Why?
Some people, mostly seniors, don’t realize they can save by buying their phones.

Can’t fight NSF charges
Banks will process the biggest checks first, says Dr. Don.

Celeb wedding on a mere mortal’s budget
Wedding planners for the stars share ways to turn your special day into something spectacular from wedding gown to wedding cake.

Inflation is down, but not out
The good news is that price increases are slowing down. The bad news is that they are slowing down from rather high rates.

Just calm down, everyone
Friday, there was a lot of hyperventilation about the Fed buying a bunch of mortgage-backed securities. The hand-wringing was unnecessary.

Cash is king for the budget-minded
Real people who have gone cash-only share the secrets of their success.