Rocket isnāt in any real trouble and one expert says UWM will never catch them
Last week,Ā Rise&Shred reported that Labaton SucharowĀ said it is investigating alleged āpotential securities violations and breach of fiduciary duty claimsā against Detroit-based real estate mortgage company Rocket Companies.
We circled back around with Christopher Whalen, who runs the incredibly useful and members-only website,Ā The Instituitional Risk Analyst, to see what the implications of such as move means.
While Whalen admits that Rocket does not put enough disclosures in their earnings report to get a full picture on the projected performance of the nonbank mortgage lender; however, he did not indicate their actions arise to a violations of securities law.
Whalen added that this shareholder firm is probably ājust ambulance chasingā to drum up a potential lawsuit and added that, despite the assertion from the United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishbia to the contrary, UWM is unlikely to ever match Rocket in terms of volume.Ā
āNotice that two thirds of UWMCās production comes from refinance volumes, a sector of the market that is likely to contract rather signicantly in the next several quarters, looking at the projections from the MBA,ā Whalen write in his analysis.āUWMC is predominantly a wholesale buyer of loans from brokers and has little retail or correspondent business.ā
āThus the wild statements from UWMC CEO Mat Ishbia regarding catching up with market leader RKT in terms of lending volumes must be viewed as hyperbole at best and misleading to investors at worst,ā Whalen adds.
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Serial mortgage fraudster gets caught for mortgage fraud (again)
To say that William Wayland is a real piece of work is putting it nicely.Ā
This guy, this guy right here, pretended to be a lawyer to swindle a vulnerable woman out of thousands of dollars and herĀ home and was convicted of mortgage theft last week.
According to (metered paywall) coverage in the WaPo, this isntā the first time Wayland struck.
Patricia Duckett, a public school aide, said Wayland stole nearly $8,000 from her over the course of about two years and ultimately led her to lose her home. The PostĀ wrote about the case in 2019.
We all know the scam. Watland promised to secure a loan modification to lower the monthly mortgage payments.
He then tells victims to stop making mortgage payments and starts to pick up their mail, repeatedly telling them that he was taking care of talking with the mortgage companies.
Wayland stops returning calls to the victims when they get a foreclosure notice, which can be at anytime during loss-mit, if heās intercepting as much mail as possible.
But this guy had already been banned by regulators since 2014 from providing false mortgage assistance in another state and was on probation after pleading guilty in 2018 to EIGHT mortgage assistance relief violations.Ā
Itās just insane and we hope all of his victims feel the justice.
š„ Mortgage MagnatsĀ š„Ā
With Josh Pitts & Dave Tanner
Weāre paying down our credit cards and loading up on mortgages
Or, at least we did this during the pandemic.
Total household debt balancesĀ rose by $85 billionĀ in the first quarter, a 0.6% increase that brought the total level to $14.64 trillion.
Fueled by low rates and a red-hot housing market, mortgage debt swelled in the period by $117 billion, or about 1.2%, to $10.16 trillion, according to the New York Fed'sĀ quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit.Ā
Auto loans increased by $8 billion, to $1.38 trillion, while student debt balances rose by $29 billion to $1.58 trillion, even though many loans are in forbearance granted during the coronavirus pandemic.
One surprise in the report came from a substantial decline in credit card balances. That level fell by $49 billion in the quarter, the second-largest drop since the New York Fed began tracking it in 1999.
The good news is credit is getting better: The median credit score for newly originated mortgages increased to 788 while the score for new auto loans rose to 720.
Thatās it for now, have a great week everyone!
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