Category Archives: Risky Lending

“The biggest fear is that the trouble will move up the food chain.”

Posted on March 8, 2007 by grim

From BusinessWeek: The Mortgage Mess Spreads The canaries in the coal mine are keeling over fast. After years of easy profits, the $1.3 trillion subprime mortgage industry has taken a violent turn: At least 25 subprime lenders, which issue mortgages … Continue reading →

Posted in Risky Lending | 104 Comments

Interesting look into foreclosures

Posted on March 8, 2007 by grim

From the Denver Post: Nonbank lenders lead foreclosure data The standard profile of a mortgage that went into foreclosure in Colorado last year: an adjustable-rate loan with an average value of $202,000 made by a nonbank lender between 2003 to … Continue reading →

Posted in Risky Lending | 1 Comment

Mortgage fraud on upswing

Posted on March 8, 2007 by grim

From the Philly Inquirer: FBI dealt with more mortgage fraud The number of mortgage-fraud cases investigated by the FBI almost doubled in the last three years, reflecting a problem that is “pervasive and growing,” the bureau said yesterday in its … Continue reading →

Posted in Risky Lending | 2 Comments

Horses long gone

Posted on March 6, 2007 by grim

From Bloomberg: As Housing Goes Bust, Lenders Become Predators?: Caroline Baum Congress is gearing up for hearings on predatory lending, the latest chapter in its long history of barn-door-closings on already-departed horses. Just some background in case anyone hasn’t picked … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Risky Lending | 129 Comments

Subprime under scrutiny

Posted on March 2, 2007 by grim

From the AP: Fed: Use Caution in Subprime Mortgages Federal bank regulators, worried about a surge in defaults on high-risk home mortgages, on Friday called on lenders to exercise caution in making subprime loans and closely evaluate borrowers’ ability to … Continue reading →

Posted in Risky Lending | 2 Comments

Cracks forming on Wall Street?

Posted on March 2, 2007 by grim

From Bloomberg: Goldman, Merrill Almost `Junk,’ Their Own Traders Say Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co. and Morgan Stanley, which earned a record $24.5 billion in 2006, suddenly have become so speculative that their own traders are valuing … Continue reading →

Posted in Risky Lending | 1 Comment

Alt-A mortgage market beginning to show cracks

Posted on March 1, 2007 by grim

From the Wall Street Journal: Mortgage Defaults Start to Spread New Data Show That Nontraditional Loans Are Beginning To Haunt Borrowers With Midlevel Credit; Prime Still Fine By RUTH SIMON and JAMES R. HAGERTY March 1, 2007 The mortgage market … Continue reading →

Posted in Risky Lending | 147 Comments

Risk back on the table

Posted on February 28, 2007 by grim

From Bloomberg: Risk Returns, Not Just to the Subprime Market: Caroline Baum Problems in the subprime loan market have been front-page news for weeks, with a total of 27 mortgage lenders going belly up since December, according to The Mortgage … Continue reading →

Posted in Risky Lending | 2 Comments

Subprime shakeout spilling over?

Posted on February 27, 2007 by grim

From the Wall Street Journal: Housing Sector May Be Knocked By Mortgages Investors looking to see whether trouble in risky mortgages will spill over into the broader housing market could find solace in today’s home-sales report. But such complacency would … Continue reading →

Posted in Risky Lending | 4 Comments

The end of easy (subprime) money?

Posted on February 21, 2007 by grim

From the Boston Globe: Fears of increased mortgage defaults put spotlight on subprime lenders If it looks like a bubble, smells like a bubble, and tastes like a bubble, it must be a bubble. Or is it? The smart money … Continue reading →

Posted in Risky Lending | 198 Comments

Do CDOs place the housing market at risk?

Posted on February 18, 2007 by grim

From Joseph R. Madison and Joshua Rosner, as presented at the Hudson Institute: How Resilient Are Mortgage Backed Securities to Collateralized Debt Obligation Market Disruptions? (PDF) A summary, provided by reader/commenter abamitphd: Some highlights: 1. Since the last cycle, servicers … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Risky Lending | 1 Comment

Credit crunch deja vu

Posted on February 17, 2007 by grim

From HSH Associates: Is a ‘Credit Crunch’ Coming to the Mortgage Market? Part I: History Lessions Like many of you, we’ve been following the issues of mortgage risks and housing bubbles for an extended period. Of late, certain of those … Continue reading →

Posted in Risky Lending | 4 Comments

Is this the tipping point?

Posted on February 15, 2007 by grim

From Salon (Registration/SitePass Required): Brother, can you spare a sub-prime (insurance policy)? Wanna raise hackles on Wall Street? Sneak up behind an investment banker and whisper the words “systemic risk.” As in: The miseries currently being experienced by subprime mortgage … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing Bubble, Risky Lending | 76 Comments

“The last time I saw it this bad was in the early 1990s”

Posted on February 12, 2007 by grim

From the NY Daily News: Foreclosures in city jump 18% The number of city foreclosures jumped 18% in the last half of 2006 – with as many as 100 homes going on the block each week in both Brooklyn and … Continue reading →

Posted in National Real Estate, Risky Lending | 2 Comments

Mortgage volume to decline through 2008

Posted on February 5, 2007 by grim

From the Originator Times: Loan Volume Decline Equals More Pink Slips The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday; employment in the mortgage finance industry fell to 494,700, which is lower than one month and one year earlier. Based on a … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Risky Lending | 2 Comments