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Experian Launches Credit Risk Products
American Banker (11/16/09) P. 7
Experian has unveiled a new service that will allow mortgage lenders to estimate an applicant's verified income and credit score. Income Insight also will help rate the creditworthiness of potential borrowers by providing a better snapshot of their total financial situation, including existing debt-to-income ratios. Experian also has updated its Income View tool to check for discrepancies in an applicant's stated income, Social Security number, filing status, name or address, designed to help eliminate fraud.
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Monday Morning Cup of Coffee: US Department of Housing and Urban Development
Housing Wire (11/16/09) Golobay, Diana
HUD announced that it will "exercise restraint" early next year when enforcing new Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act rules taking effect on Jan. 1. From January through April, staffers will grant some leeway to FHA-insured lenders that are putting forth an honest effort toward compliance. HUD is urging other regulators to take a similar approach with non-FHA lenders, originators and settlement service providers that also demonstrate a good-faith effort at implementing the new guidelines.
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Realtors to Push for More Credit to Commercial Property
MarketWatch (11/16/09) Hoak, Amy
In the coming months, the National Association of Realtors expects to focus much of its policy agenda on easing a credit crisis in commercial realty. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun notes that not only are commercial deals down due to a "virtual lack of available credit," as much as $850 billion in commercial loans are due to mature over the next couple of years and will need refinancing. Jerry Giovaniello, NAR's chief lobbyist, urges, "The credit has to be available . . . or potentially lenders will end up owning half of Manhattan."
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The Lex Column: Commercial Property
Financial Times (11/16/09) P. 16
After a five-month dry spell for newly issued commercial mortgage-backed securities under the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, Goldman Sachs is preparing to sell the first such offering on behalf of Developers Diversified Realty. However, the struggle to complete the deal has added to uncertainty over TALF qualifying criteria. Refinancing existing debt under TALF would likely require equity top-ups from overextended borrowers. With most banks loathe to compromise their balance sheets, future TALF deals are likely to constitute large loans from a single borrower instead of hundreds of loans in a conduit-style pool.
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Bankers Look to Buy Failed Banks
Investor's Business Daily (11/16/09) P. A2
The FDIC auction process for failing banks has drawn interest from some of the former top executives of banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Wachovia, who in turn have won the financial support of Wall Street banks. According to one published report, former officials at Citizens Financial Group have raised $1.15 billion in a private placement and have formed NBH to acquire distressed banks.
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