A high school fencing teacher had an affair with one of his female students. The whole situation was very sworded. I don’t know if anyone likes to think of their mortgage company engaging in sordid affairs, but I pity anyone who finds their company on this list – hopefully they are on the path toward improvement. Unfortunately I recognize many companies on the list as having decent mortgage origination arms. It would appear that many are on their way, after a "rough patch" to correcting their business practices:
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/enforcement/neworders.html
While we’re talking about the FDIC, last Friday, while the heart rate of every small banker ratcheted higher, the FDIC regulators were busy as they shuttered six more banks. Georgia, Florida, Minnesota, California, and Washington all have fewer banks, but the FDIC was able to find buyers for them. (Remember in the old days, buyers would often have names like Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo? No more…) First Regional Bank of Los Angeles, CA, Community Bank and Trust & First National Bank both of GA, Florida Community Bank, Marshall Bank of MN, and American Marine Bank (WA) will set the FDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund back $1.86 billion. They went to First-Citizens Bank & Trust (NC), SCBT (SC), Community & Southern Bank (GA), Premier American Bank (FL), United Valley Bank (ND), and Columbia State Bank (WA), respectively.
And lastly, for FDIC fans, or if you want to check up on your bank, their FDIC Call Report is a good place to start. Check out http://www2.fdic.gov/idasp/main_bankfind.asp
Behavioral economics is very interesting. Merrill Lynch just released an analysis of a credit-related study (from Equifax) discussing the contrast between auto and home loan delinquencies. Their report shows that 73% of prime borrowers have never been delinquent on their mortgage or auto loan, compared with 23% of subprime borrowers, although some types of borrowers are more likely to have been delinquent on their mortgage than on their auto loan. Many distressed borrowers who go delinquent on both types of debt do so around the same time, but the bulk of the population (almost two-to-one for prime borrowers) has gone delinquent on their mortgage before their auto loan. And the cure rate out of delinquency for auto loans tends to rise after the borrower mortgage delinquency, indicating that going delinquent on the mortgage acts as a form of relief for some borrowers, enabling them to cure on other delinquent debts.
Well, lots of mortgage-related companies had "rebound years" last year, although some just plain ol’ grew. This list included Lenders One, a cooperative, which saw $77 billion in volume pass through its members in 2009. It reported that the volume is more than twice its total production in 2008.