Mozilo’s $67.5m Fine vs. His 2007 Compensation There will be no civil fraud trial for Angelo Mozilo. On Friday he agreed to settle fraud charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by paying a fine of $67.5 million. It is the highest fine ever for an executive of a public company, although critics are [...]

One never knows when the subject of mortgage banking will pop up – like yesterday. There I was at the Sundance Ski Resort (the one owned by “Bob” Redford) with my son. (He was there to snow board, I was there in the lodge trying to figure out an opening paragraph for today’s commentary.) I [...]

Mortgage Banker Average Pay Is your company making more or less than $902 on each loan? The MBAA reports that independent mortgage bankers made about 50 basis points, or $902, on average, during the third quarter. This is down from the $1,358 profit during the second quarter. The lenders which make up the MBAA’s study [...]

Do the “Alphabet Song” and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” have the same tune? And did you just try singing the two songs? New Appraisal Regs On Way Out? Generally speaking, mortgage folks are a pretty optimistic bunch, although “trust but verify” is an approach that many use in their business lives. It turns out that [...]

The MacArthur Foundation gave out its annual ‘genius’ awards last week. This year’s awards went to a journalist, a mental health scientist, and a couple who sold their house three years ago. Well, maybe they want to buy it back. Even though the availability for jumbo loans wasn’t what it once was, the IRS has [...]

Greetings from San Diego, where, coincidentally, there is a national mortgage banking conference. Although I didn’t see any chains of mortgage banker types forming conga lines in any hotel lobbies, the mood here has improved since the last few conferences, and most are cautiously optimistic. There is still the “Hey, congratulations, we’re still in the [...]

A story in “Inside Mortgage Finance” from August 31st stated, “The Federal Housing Administration is not considering adopting the Home Valuation Code of Conduct appraisal system now in place at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Coming from a recent meeting with FHA executives, top officials of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers said they were [...]

When I got home last night, my wife demanded that I take her someplace expensive…So I took her to a gas station…That’s when the fight started. Gasoline prices are on the rise, just in time for “Talk Like a Pirate Day”, which is tomorrow. In our wonderful non-metric system here in the US, a “barrel” [...]

President Obama gave a speech today outlining the pillars of his financial market regulatory policy. Below are the high points. The first one means that anyone with a consumer-facing finance job can expect more disclosures and, most likely, more confusion for the consumer, at least in the first year. Anyone who’s gone through the recent [...]

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but have to check when you say the paint is still wet? That kind of person had better read the next paragraph. For anyone who originates loans for a living, or knows someone who does, or who didn’t comment during the HVCC [...]