A message from a Minnesota account executive reviewed by MortgageDaily.com indicated the banking giant is exiting wholesale mortgage lending.

"We are ceasing wholesale operations as of Dec. 31st," the message said.

"What I know now is that you have 31 days from today to register a loan, and all pipeline loans must be closed by the end of the year."
read full story

2 More Go Down
Two more mortgage companies have reached the end of the line. One, an Arizona lender that had originated more than $1 billion annually, was granted approval to liquidate by a bankruptcy judge. The other, a California company, has stopped doing new business.

Lender Shutters Operations
A national lender that closed as much as $5 billion annually has closed its field operations and isn't talking about whether further business will be conducted from remaining operations at the California headquarters.

Wholesaler Halts New Business
MortgageDaily.com has confirmed the demise of yet another California-based nonprime wholesale operation -- this one affecting around 300 employees. But the company hopes to emerge again when the market rebounds.

Boom to Bust in Under a Year
A California-based mortgage company, which last year touted over $5 billion in annual production, collapsed less than a year later. Before its demise, the company had faced actions by regulators in several states.

1 Dead, 2 Seriously Injured
The country's credit crunch has cost two companies more than $8 billion and one wholesaler its life. Meanwhile, an exodus of founding chief executive officers from real estate investments trusts has one ratings agency warning bondholders about the troubling trend.


The Mortgage Graveyard
Journal of failed, ailing and acquired lenders.

Still Some Subprime
A survey of major subprime lenders by MortgageDaily.com indicates there are still subprime mortgage programs available for FICO scores as low as 525 -- though loan-to-values have diminished. But the story is different for Alt-A lending, with low documentation, no documentation and stated-income loans for salaried borrowers pretty much a thing of the past.

"We have dramatically reduced our Alt-A loans," Tom Kelly, a spokesman for Chase Mortgage, told MortgageDaily.com. "Stated income, for example, is gone. But we're still originating other kinds of Alt-A."

And credit standards for subprime loans also have "gotten tighter," he said, although he declined to discuss FICO scores and LTVs and their relationships except to say, "The lower the FICO the more down payment we're looking for," adding, "As a lender you want the borrower to have some skin in the game so there'll do all they can to pay."
read full story

This week held the layoffs of 580 employees at Deutsche subsidiary MortgageIT Inc., a source close to the matter said. Each worker will receive an offer of severance.

"Deutsche Bank still maintains an active loan origination platform, but is reducing its residential mortgage origination business in line with current market conditions and industry demand," a statement e-mailed by a Deutsche spokeswoman read.
read full story

$5 Million Fraud Lawsuit
A lawsuit has been filed in federal court against a plethora of Ohio and Florida businesses by Regions Bank, which claims that it is owed $5 million from a mortgage fraud scam masterminded by the owner of a title and settlement company.

The Alabama-based bank filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against about a dozen companies and individuals including Cincinnati-Oh.-based title and settlement companies Groves Funding Corp., Home Loan Funding Corp. and Real Estate Benefit Plan.

Regions claims the defendants conspired to obtain funds from it through phony requests for mortgage loan funding.
read full story

Mortgage Industry Reshapes
A California-based subprime lender is starting up operations again while another is unloading all of its servicing -- likely leading to hundreds of layoffs. After just three months in business, a Texas company that acquires distressed portfolios has already started cashing in its bets.