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September 13,
2007
Mortgage
Lending
name='1'>Prepayment Penalties Adding to Homeowner’s
Refinancing Difficulties
Homeowners whose
adjustable-rate mortgages are resetting to higher interest rates are
finding that even if they sell their home or refinance, they will face
hefty prepayment penalties, the
size='3'>New York Times reported today.
According to the Center for Responsible Lending, these prepayment
penalties were added to more than two-thirds of the adjustable-rate
loans. The lenders say the trade-off is the only way to offer low
monthly payments initially because otherwise borrowers would flee when
rates adjust upward and make the loan a losing deal. The fees usually
equal several months’ interest, and they decline over a few years
before disappearing altogether. Now state governments, regulators and
members of Congress are considering whether to rein in prepayment
penalties, as consumer advocates suggest. Sen.
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Chris
(D-Conn.) said this week that he would introduce legislation to
eliminate the penalties and make other changes in home lending
practices. A number of states limit the penalties, but only
state-regulated banks are generally subject to those restrictions;
mortgage companies and national banks are not.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/13/business/13prepay.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=business&pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
name='2'>Treasury Secretary Asks Executives to Help in Mortgage
Crisis
Secretary of the Treasury Henry
M. Paulson Jr. said yesterday that the turbulence in the financial
markets would take some time to be resolved, especially in the area of
subprime mortgages, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Paulson
said that the Bush administration was seeking their help in making sure
that homeowners with subprime mortgages received assistance in dealing
with sharply rising payments as their initial low adjustable rates were
reset to higher levels. He said it was going to “take longer to
work through the problems in the subprime market,” noting that
many loans in this market were scheduled to be reset over the next two
years.
href='http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/13/business/13paulson.html?pagewanted=print'>Read
more.
name='3'>Judge Approves Ownit Mortgage’s Disclosure
Statement
Bankruptcy Judge
Kathleen Thompson
approved Ownit Mortgage Solutions Inc.’s disclosure
on Monday, and creditors will now vote on the collapsed subprime
lender's liquidation plan, the Associated Press reported today. Ownit's
plan calls for the creation of a liquidation trust, which could pursue
lawsuits against some creditors, including Merrill Lynch & Co. and
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and its affiliates, which have filed more than
$631 million in secured claims in the bankruptcy case. The plan had
drawn objections from two Merrill Lynch affiliates who argued that
investors in the lender's securitized mortgage trusts deserved a seat on
the panel governing the liquidation trust. Securitized trusts hold more
than one-third of the $1.5 billion total of unsecured claims against
Ownit. Judge Thompson scheduled a confirmation hearing on the lender's
plan for Nov. 1.
href='http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5129935.html'>Read
more.
name='4'>Countrywide Loan Fundings Declined 17 Percent in
August
Countrywide Financial
Corp. said its August mortgage loan fundings fell 17 percent from a year
earlier as the company was caught in the middle of the ongoing credit
crunch, the Wall Street
Journal reported today. In addition, the firm
disclosed it has arranged for $12 billion in additional borrowing
capacity through new or existing credit lines. The nation's largest
mortgage firm said it funded $34 billion in loans last month, with
average daily applications dropping 12 percent to $2.3 billion. The
company's pipeline was $52 billion as of Aug. 31, compared with $64
billion a year earlier and $62 billion on July 31. The firm last month
outlined a strategy under which it planned to use its Countrywide Bank
unit, a federal savings bank, to fund nearly all its loans, up from more
than 70 percent at present. The bank provides a more stable source of
funding than the commercial-paper market and other short-term
instruments that were the only source of funding for dozens of smaller
lenders that have collapsed in recent months.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118968612623526308.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
Rowe
Cos. File Reorganization Plan for the Fourth Time
The Rowe Cos. have filed
another amended reorganization plan and disclosure statement, marking
the third incarnation of the plan to be submitted to the court since
Sept. 6 and the fourth version to be filed since Aug. 13,
Bankruptcy Law360
reported yesterday. A paragraph concerning limitations of
liability had been removed from the disclosure statement the company
filed on Wednesday. The second and third amended disclosure statements
both include language explaining that no funds would be available for
priority or general unsecured creditors if the company was in chapter 7,
because a $120,000 new stock payment would not occur. The Rowe Cos.'
prior disclosure statements drew objections from the U.S. Trustee
overseeing the case, as well as the chapter 7 trustee appointed in the
bankruptcy of The Rowe Cos. subsidiary Rowe Furniture Inc.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/Secure/ViewArticle.aspx?id=34672'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
Autos
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>
name='6'>Delphi
size='3'> Asks for Approval of Bonus Plan
On the heels of filing
its proposed reorganization plan and disclosure statement, bankrupt
Delphi Corp. has asked a judge to allow it to pay its executives up to
$37.6 million in bonuses for the latter half of 2007,
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Bankruptcy Law360
size='3'>reported yesterday.
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Delphi
size='3'>has preliminarily completed its latest financial forecast for
2007 through 2011, and set financial targets based on the findings.
Payments under the plan will be made if
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Delphi
$443.1 million or if its business units achieve certain operating income
targets, which vary by the division. The company would set aside $20.2
million for bonuses if it hits the targets and as much as $37.6 million
to exceed them.
href='http://bankruptcy.law360.com/secure/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=34713'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='7'>UAW Open to Creating Health Care Trust for
Retirees
United Auto Workers
President Ron Gettelfinger has told members of his bargaining team that
he is willing to agree in principle to the creation of a
multibillion-dollar, union-controlled health care trust fund to
allow
size='3'>Detroit's auto
makers to shed about $95 billion in retiree costs, the Wall Street
Journal reported today. A deal is far from certain, however, as the
two sides still must close a huge gap in the complex negotiations over
how much money the auto makers would put into the fund as talks over a
new labor contract continue. The gap between funding proposed by the
auto makers and the level discussed by the UAW is 'still well into the
several-billion-dollars range,' said a person familiar with the talks.
But the two have narrowed the gap over the past week.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118963899521225731.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='8'>Court Approves
w:st='on'>
size='3'>Kara
face='Times New Roman'
size='3'>Homes
Reorganization Plan
Bankruptcy Court
Judge Michael B.
Kaplan certified Kara's reorganization plan
yesterday, which was approved by creditors a week ago, the
Asbury (N.J.) Park
Press reported today. To be renamed Maplewood
Homebuilders, the company will complete construction at 11
size='3'>Kara
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Homes
developments, finishing 130 homes that are under
contract. The company will be led by a group that includes
size='3'>Lakewood
Fishman, who is also active in
w:st='on'>Asbury
Park
efforts. With the plan approved, Fishman and Plainfield Specialty
Holdings II Inc., a Greenwich, Conn.-based hedge fund, will take
control.
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Plainfield
will give the company an infusion of $12 million,
including $2.25 million that will be split among the unsecured
creditors, including subcontractors and home buyers with canceled
contracts.
href='http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070913/NEWS/709130471'>Read
more.
name='9'>Economists Debate Likelihood of a Recession
Though economic
forecasters are boosting the odds of a recession over the next 12 months
as the housing slump deepens and the credit crisis continues, there is a
sharp disagreement over the likelihood of a contraction, with some
arguing it is all but inevitable and others insisting the economy will
skirt a downturn, according to a report in today’s
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Wall Street Journal
size='3'>. Economists in the latest WSJ.com survey pegged the risk of a
recession at 36 percent, on average, up from 28 percent a month earlier.
Fifty-five economists took part in the survey, and 52 answered the
question about the likelihood of a recession. According to the survey,
the most likely course for the economy is a substantial slowdown in
growth, not an outright recession. On average, the economists surveyed
predicted that the gross domestic product would rise at a 1.9 percent
annual rate in the fourth quarter, well below the 2.5 percent rate
estimated a month earlier. They see growth at a 2.1 percent rate in the
first quarter of 2008, down from an earlier estimate of 2.6
percent.
href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118954072982324112.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news'>Read
more. (Registration required.)
name='10'>TROUBLED COMPANIES IN THE NEWS
The business news
articles below are taken from the U.S. Business Journal’s Daily
Summary of Troubled & Fast Growing U.S. Companies which is published
by Bastien Financial Publications.
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>ABI
size='3'>Members receive a 50% discount off of our regular subscription
rate of $500 when subscribing to the complete Daily
Summary.
To subscribe email steve@creditnews.com
title='mailto:steve@creditnews.com'
href='mailto:steve@creditnews.com'>
color='#0000ff'><mailto:steve@creditnews.com> or call
800-407-9044—use
Code 37
Aliquippa
Community Hospital in Beaver County, Pa. received a warning
from state health officials that it has five months to comply with state
licensing requirements or face the possibility of being shut down.
Aliquippa Community has run afoul of standards regarding infection
control, record keeping and other rules, even as it faces financial
pressures, recently losing about $750,000 a month. The hospital
has reportedly lost $20 million.
Allied
Defense Group Inc., a
w:st='on'>Vienna
defense and security company, reached a deal to sell its VSK Group unit
in
Pty. Ltd of
w:st='on'>Belgium
surveillance concern, for $47.6 million. Proceeds from the sale of VSK
will help Allied boost its liquidity, cut its debt and improve its core
operations. Allied recently reported a second quarter loss of $24
million on a 50% drop in sales due to a delay in new orders. Back in
July Allied Defense reached a deal to sell its money-losing SeaSpace
Corp. unit to Acetopia Holdings of South Korea.
ICT Group
Inc., a Newton, Pa.-based provider of outsourced call-center
services, announced plans cut 240 jobs at its
w:st='on'>
operations, which is intends to close next month. In its second
quarter, ICT lost $2.1 million.
Majesco
Entertainment Co., an Edison, N.J. firm which develops video
games, reported a third quarter net loss of $1.6 million, on a 19%
revenue decline–to $10 million.
National
Medical Health Card Systems Inc., a Port Washington, N.Y.
firm which provides pharmacy benefits program management, reported a
fourth quarter net loss $3.3 million, on a 31% revenue decline–to
$146 million. For the year, the firm reported net income declined
99%–to $90,000, on a 21% revenue decline–to $679 million.
/>
Orleans
Homebuilders Inc. of
w:st='on'>Bensalem
w:st='on'>Pa.
of $11.3 million, on a 45% revenue decline–to $214 million.
The loss compares with income of $27 million for the same period
one year earlier. For the year, the company reported a net loss of
nearly $67 million, on a 31% revenue decline–to $683 million. The
loss, which compares with income of $63 million for fiscal 2006,
included charges of $16 million for impairment of goodwill.
Pathmark Stores
Inc., the Carteret, N.J. operator of more than 135
supermarkets, reported a second quarter net loss of nearly $19 million,
on a slight sales decline–to $999 million. This compares
with an $8.8 million loss for the same period one year earlier.
Sharper
Image Corp.’s stock price plunged more than 16%
following its recently reported quarterly loss, which was wider than
analysts had expected, on a 25% drop in revenue. The
w:st='on'>San Francisco
will shutter its distribution center in
w:st='on'>Richmond
w:st='on'>Va.
effort.