| Misplaced Fears for Regional Banks?
The good news is the regional banks followed by Standard & Poor's are well-insulated from the subprime lending market crisis. The question is: How exposed is this group to "Alt-A" mortgages, which cover the large middle ground between subprime and prime loans? Investors are worried about regional bank exposure to Alt-A mortgages, given M&T Bank's (MTB; ranked 3 STARS, hold) profit warning on Mar. 30. The bank indicated the market for the Alt-A loans that it packages and securitizes has cooled off, leading to lower prices and lower mark-to-market prices for the loans that aren't sold. M&T Bank says it's contractually liable to buy back nonperforming Alt-A mortgages. The bank also warned that deposit costs would be higher than expected, leading to further net interest margin compression.
Ellie Mae Partners With ReallyGreatRate to Provide More Lead ...
Dublin, CA (PRWEB) April 8, 2007 -- Ellie Mae, an award-winning provider of innovative software and services for the mortgage industry, has partnered with ReallyGreatRate, Inc., an online lead provider for mortgage professionals. The partnership was formed to give Encompass subscribers a convenient, fast and easy way to augment their lead sources in this cooling, transitional mortgage market. "Our goal is to offer great lead options to our rapidly growing base of Encompass users," states Chris Backe, manager of partner alliances for Ellie Mae. "With Encompass, users don't have to leave their Encompass systems to acquire and use high quality leads." The leads from ReallyGreatRate are purchased by Encompass subscribers on a per-lead basis. Subscribers simply go into the Encompass Lead Center, select the leads they would like to purchase based on information like loan amount, location, loan to value and type of dwelling, and those leads download directly into Encompass ReallyGreatRate generates 400 to 500 leads per day from its websites.
THE SUBPRIME MORTGAGE IMPLOSION UNLOCKS DOORS TO CAREERS IN ...
Pleasant Grove, UT/March 28, 2007/FPSnewswire/ -- It's certainly not "business as usual" in the residential mortgage industry. For some time now, the pressure has been mounting in numerous ways. More brokers than ever are competing for fewer and fewer deals. Loan fees are getting squeezed. More and more borrowers are turning to online lenders who do loans very cheaply. And now, to put the icing on the cake, there's the subprime implosion. Because of secondary market pressure, the most aggressive loan programs are already beginning to disappear - and more will certainly follow. Underwriting guidelines are tightening. Because of this, the pool of borrowers that qualify for loans will continue to shrink even further. "One path that leads to increased income is the commercial mortgage business," says Joe Mardesich, president and CEO of Nationwide Commercial Funding, a national mortgage brokerage.
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