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March 24, 2008
Mortgage
Crisis
name='1'>Federal Government Sees Several Fronts for Attacking
Mortgage Crisis
After a week of
interventions into the housing and financial markets, the
federal government is gearing up for a wide-ranging
response to the home mortgage crisis, the
size='3'>Wall Street Journal reported today.
One central idea being pushed in Congress would have lenders or
investors take a loss by forgiving some of the remaining principal on
home loans, after which the federal government would back new mortgages
that would be less costly for homeowners. House Financial Services
Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is sponsoring legislation that would
insure up to $300 billion in refinanced mortgages, even for some
delinquent borrowers. Sen.
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Chris
size='3'>topher Dodd (D-Conn.) is promoting a similar measure in the
Senate, which would provide government insurance for up to $400 billion
in refinanced loans. The Bush administration has been cool to the
Frank-Dodd approach and says that its response thus far has been
adequate -- including its focus on avoiding foreclosure by encouraging
voluntary deals between borrowers and lenders. At the same time, the
administration has scolded Congress for not acting on pending proposals
to 'modernize' the FHA and to strengthen the agency that oversees Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac. When Congress returns in April, the Senate plans to
take up a broad housing bill sponsored by Democratic leaders, which will
likely include tax relief for home builders and increased funding for
mortgage counseling. Last month, Senate Republicans blocked such a bill,
largely because it would give bankruptcy judges the ability to modify
the terms of certain mortgages. The provision continues to be opposed by
many Republicans and the White House.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120631840883958293.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='2'>Commentary: National Mortgage Licensing Standards Would Not
Be Effective
Treasury Secretary Henry
Paulson Jr. has announced plans to establish stringent national
licensing standards for mortgage brokers, but this would not be a good
idea for reigning in the abuses in the mortgage market, according to a
commentary in today’s
size='3'>Wall Street Journal. The relationship
between licensure in various professions and the quality of service is
ambiguous at best. In the specific case of mortgage brokers, a
comparison of states that license mortgage brokers and those that don't
suggests that national licensure could lead to more foreclosures, not
less. Morris Kleiner of the University of Minnesota and Richard Todd, a
vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, examined
mortgage-broker licensing requirements in the 50 states and District of
Columbia between 1996 and 2006. States that require brokers to post a
large bond or to have a minimum net worth tend to have fewer mortgage
brokers and fewer subprime mortgages. They also have a higher
foreclosure rate on subprime mortgages, and a higher percentage of
mortgages with high rates of interest.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120631812158458325.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='3'>Former Countrywide Executives Starting Firm to Buy Back
Distressed Mortgages
Former Countrywide
Financial Corp. President Stanford Kurland and a few of his former
colleagues plan to launch the Private National Mortgage Acceptance
Company LLC, or PennyMac, to buy distressed mortgages on the cheap, work
with borrowers to restructure them, and then resell them as performing
mortgages at a profit, the Wall Street Journal reported today.
PennyMac, an investment firm formed as a joint venture between asset
manager BlackRock Inc. and
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Boston
firm Highfields Capital Management, is looking to raise more than $2
billion for its operations. Rather than buying slices of mortgage-backed
securities, PennyMac plans to buy whole mortgage loans -- the
old-fashioned mortgages that banks routinely owned before the
mortgage-securitization business came along. The PennyMac approach could
be risky, particularly if it dives in too early and purchases loans that
continue to drop in price, or if the firm can't restructure the loans
with terms that will ultimately lure buyers.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120632558989958655.html'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='4'>JPMorgan in Negotiations to Raise Bear Stearns
Bid
JPMorgan Chase was in
talks last night for a deal that would pay $10 a share in stock for
Bear, up from its initial offer of $2 a share — a figure that
represented a mere one-fifteenth of Bear’s going market price,
the New York
Times reported today. The increased offer is
intended to win over stockholders who vowed to fight the original
fire-sale deal, struck only a week ago at the behest of the Federal
Reserve and Treasury Department. The Fed, which must approve any new
deal, was balking at the new offer price last night. As a result,
it was still possible that the renegotiated deal might be postponed or
collapse entirely.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/business/24deal.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
Autos
w:st='on'>
name='5'>Detroit
face='Times New Roman' size='3'> Automakers Using Pension Funds for
Retirement Offers
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Detroit
are turning to their pension funds to pay for incentives to persuade
people to retire, the
size='3'>Detroit Free Press reported
yesterday. Some workers, however, are balking at the arrangements,
worried about their future retirements, even though the pension funds
being used contain more money than they need to meet obligations.
Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp. confirmed on Friday that they are
using the technique. Auto industry experts agreed that the move seemed
new for
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Detroit
automakers, who are offering buyouts and retirement
packages to further trim their hourly ranks. Union workers were
concerned about the strategy as they were concerned about the pension
money going to retirement offers, which would would be taxable.
href='http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080322/BUSINESS01/803220311'>Read
more.
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>
name='6'>Delphi
size='3'> Receives Approval to Auction Damper
Assets
A federal judge said that
auto-parts supplier Delphi Corp. can auction the assets of its
size='3'>Kettering
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Ohio
business, with Tenneco Inc. serving as the lead bidder with an $18.8
million offer, the Associated Press reported on Friday. Bankruptcy
Judge Robert
Drain on Thursday signed off on the auction,
which
size='3'>Delphi
April 14. Bidders have until April 10 to submit their opening offers if
they want to participate in the auction. In court papers filed earlier
this month, Delphi said that the
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Kettering
won't fit within the portfolio of products it plans to produce after it
exits chapter 11 protection. The business makes shock absorbers for
General Motors Corp.,
size='3'>Delphi's former parent and
biggest customer. Judge Drain will review the auction results at an
April 30 hearing.
href='http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/03/21/ap4802737.html'>Read
more.
name='7'>NovaStar to Pay $2 Million to Settle Involuntary Bankruptcy
Attempt
American Interbanc
Mortgage LLC has agreed to accept slightly more than $2 million to end
its bid to force a unit of NovaStar Financial Inc. into involuntary
bankruptcy, the Kansas
City Business Journal reported on Friday.
American Interbanc filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against
NovaStar Home Mortgage in January in an attempt to collect a judgment
against the unit. A
w:st='on'>
size='3'>California
ruled in June that NovaStar Home Mortgage had engaged in false
advertising and unfair competition, and rendered a $46.1 million
judgment against it, which with interest grew to $48.9 million as of
late January. In a filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, Kansas City-based subprime mortgage lender NovaStar
Financial said that the settlement agreement, entered into last Monday,
requires it to pay American Interbanc $2 million plus the balance in an
account established by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western
District of Missouri. The additional amount would be at least $50,000
but probably not more than $65,000, NovaStar said in the filing. The
agreement requires NovaStar Financial to pay the settlement amount
within 10 business days after notice of entry of the involuntary
bankruptcy petition's dismissal.
href='http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2008/03/17/daily32.html'>Read
more.
name='8'>Fieldstone Seeks Chapter 11 Extension
Fieldstone Mortgage Co. wants
more time to craft its chapter 11 plan because it's still negotiating
with prospective investors who may be willing to finance its exit from
bankruptcy, the Associated Press reported on Friday. The collapsed
subprime lender said in court papers filed last week that it is
currently evaluating proposals from several parties that are either
willing to finance its reorganization or purchase its assets. However,
Fieldstone warned that in light of the 'volatile financial markets,'
there is no guarantee that any proposal will lead to a reorganization
plan. The Columbia, Md.-based company originated and sold about $5.5
billion worth of mortgage loans during 2006. It sought chapter 11
protection on Nov. 23, brought down by a declining housing industry,
rising foreclosures and an inability to access credit markets.
href='http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5638512.html'>Read
more.
name='9'>Sentinel Files $550 Million Fraud Suit against
Auditor
Bankruptcy trustee
Frederick J. Grede in a complaint on Thursday accused accounting firm
McGladrey & Pullen LLP of failing to satisfy basic auditing
standards and in some cases participating in wrongdoing by financial
services company Sentinel Management Group Inc.’s
executives, Bankruptcy
Law360 reported on Friday. The adversary
proceeding centers on M&P's audit of Sentinel's financial statements
for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2006. Grede alleged that M&P
certified Sentinel's financial statements despite the fact that the
documents classified as company assets hundreds of millions of dollars
in securities that should have been denoted as customer assets.
M&P's alleged malfeasance led to the creation of a fictitious
management group set up to facilitate the payment of a $1 million loan
to Sentinel Investment Group, a company controlled by Sentinel's
CEO.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/secure/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=50834'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='10'>Northwest Employees Settle Pre-Petition
Grievances
A court approved a
settlement between Northwest Airlines Inc. and the union representing
its machinists and other employees on Thursday, granting the union a $3
million unsecured claim on Northwest's estate and $1 million in
administrative expenses,
size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360 reported on Friday.
The settlement resolves nearly all employment grievances brought by the
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO
against Northwest before the airline before filed for bankruptcy in
2005. The union filed a claim of more than $10 million in August 2006
for pre-petition employment grievances.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=50816'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
International
name='11'>British Consumers Facing Heavy Debt
Levels
For most of the last
decade, British consumers went on a debt-financed spending spree that
made them the most indebted rich nation in the world, racking up a
record £1.4 trillion in debt ($2.8 trillion) — more than the
country’s gross domestic product, the
size='3'>New York Times reported today. By
comparison, personal debt in the
w:st='on'>
size='3'>United States
size='3'>is $13.8 trillion, including mortgage debt, slightly less than
the country’s $14 trillion GDP. While the Federal Reserve
in
size='3'>Washington,
w:st='on'>
size='3'>D.C.
interest rates, in an effort to loosen lenders’ grip on credit,
the Bank of England’s interest rate increases last year are
trickling through to mortgages at the very time home values are dropping
and banks are becoming more reluctant to lend.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/business/worldbusiness/22debt.html?sq=bankruptcy&st=nyt&scp=6&pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/business/worldbusiness/22debt.html?sq=bankruptcy&st=nyt&scp=6&pagewanted=print'>