Countrywide Blasts Ameriquest, REITs; Mortgage Industry News from MortgageDaily.com
DALLAS, Mar. 6 /PRNewswire/ — While mortgage layoffs dominated real estate finance news during February, it was comments about subprime companies from Countrywide Financial Corp. that made top headlines at MortgageDaily.com, a dominant online news source for the mortgage industry.
Countrywide, which announced lower fourth quarter earnings, noted disappointing results on sector margins, which dropped to 0.09% of loan volume in the fourth quarter from 0.61% a year earlier. The California-based mortgage banker blamed “the Ameriquests and New Centuries of the world” as well as “companies that have a REIT” for current conditions. (https://www.mortgagedaily.com/REIT.asp)
Following an industry-wide decline in fourth quarter originations, Argent Mortgage cut about 16% of its 4,000-employee workforce, a company spokesman told MortgageDaily.com. Washington Mutual Inc. announced it would consolidate processing offices providing administrative support to its home loan businesses — resulting in approximately 2,500 job cuts. Option One reported consolidations will result in the elimination of approximately 600 positions. But there was some good mortgage employment news. After founding, operating and eventually selling EquiFirst Inc., Charles “Brad” Bradley told MortgageDaily.com that he plans to hire 200 people for his startup venture, Senderra Funding LLC. “Our whole goal is to make transactions paperless.” (https://www.mortgagedaily.com/MortgageEmployment.asp)
The Federal Trade Commission released its annual roundup of enforcement actions related to the Truth in Lending Act, among other laws. The agency touted settlements with PWR Processing Inc., Capital City Mortgage Corp. and Chase Financial Funding (not related to JPMorgan Chase). The report was issued to the Federal Reserve Board, which requested the information for use in its annual report to Congress. (https://www.mortgagedaily.com/Predatory.asp)
Federal investigators say American Macro Growth Mortgage, a recently disbanded mortgage brokerage firm, helped dozens of borrowers cheat financial institutions and secure up to $100 million in loans. The FBI is trying to track down employees of the firm, who are believed to have disappeared with a fortune they made in commissions. (https://www.mortgagedaily.com/MortgageFraud.asp)
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