Loan Consolidator Blog

News and information about loan consolidation, loan refinancing, debt consolidation, and debt settlement. Debt consolidation is often advisable when someone is paying high interest credit card debt. Credit cards can carry a much larger interest rate than even an unsecured loan from a bank.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Home Loan Tips and Tools

Within Reach: Countrywide Home Loans Highlights Tips and Tools to Help Consumers Attain Their Dream Homes

Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., offers tips for securing a dream-home financing solution.

Calabasas, CA (PRWEB) November 28, 2007-- Nearly one in six new mortgages made last year was more than $417,000 (known as jumbo loans),1 indicating a strong, ongoing demand for financing options on higher-priced homes. Yet, many Americans in recent months feared their dream home was out of reach amid reports that jumbo loans were no longer readily available. To help these individuals and families restore their aspirations and achieve homeownership, Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., offers tips for securing a dream-home financing solution.

"We are committed to helping our customers attain the loan they need for the home they want. That is why we are working to help ensure that qualified customers aren't squeezed out of the housing market just because they are purchasing in areas with higher-priced homes," said Brian Hale, senior managing director, Countrywide Home Loans. "When empowered with expert guidance and responsible financing options, qualified borrowers can bring their dream homes back within reach."

Today, many potential home buyers have renewed hope for attaining jumbo loans. To take advantage of the improving jumbo loan market, consumers can leverage these tips from Countrywide, America's #1 home loan lender*:

Know "jumbo loan" lingo and options. A little knowledge can go a long way in securing a jumbo loan. Some key items to become educated about are:
•    What types of jumbo loans are offered? In addition to offering 30-year fixed loans, some lenders like Countrywide offer jumbo fixed-period adjustable rate mortgages that offer a fixed rate for as long as 10 years, followed by a rate that adjusts annually. If the plan is to remain in the home for a shorter amount of time, a three- or five-year fixed-period ARM may be a better choice.
•    How large can the loan be? If in the market for a high-end home, find out where your lender's jumbo loan limit is set.

Get pre-qualified or pre-approved. It is important to first determine a comfortable and affordable loan amount before setting sights on a particular home. A ballpark estimate can be obtained online through mortgage calculators. Even better, consumers can sit down with an experienced mortgage lender who can run through a variety of mortgage options to best suit their personal and financial circumstances.

For more information about jumbo loans and other mortgage options that can help in attaining a dream home, homeowners can visit their local Countrywide office or reach the closest office at 800-747-1871.

1 According to Inside Mortgage Finance, as reported in Realtor® Magazine online
http://www.realtor.org/rmodaily.nsf/pages/News2007082904

*About Countrywide Home Loans, Inc.
Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., a member of the Countrywide® family - America's #1 home loan lender – (as ranked for 2006 by Inside Mortgage Finance, Feb. 2, 2007, Copyright 2007), originates, purchases, securitizes, sells and services home loans and is the primary subsidiary of Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC). Countrywide Financial Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides mortgage banking and diversified financial services in domestic and international markets. Founded in 1969 and a member of the S&P 500 and Fortune 500, Countrywide Financial Corporation is headquartered in Calabasas, California.
http://www.countrywide.com


Press Contact: Janet Quan
Company Name: Countrywide Home Loans, Inc.
Phone: 800-796-8448
Website:
www.countrywide.com

Monday, November 26, 2007

Real Estate Market Crisis or Opportunity?

Today's Real Estate Market - Career-Ending Crisis or Golden Opportunity for Agents?

Industry insider explains why the current state of the market might be the best thing that could happen to the real estate sales community.

Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) November 12, 2007 -- It's no secret that real estate agents across the country are struggling for their professional survival. Due in part to the subprime mortgage meltdown of August 2007, many agents find themselves with unsellable listings or suddenly-uncredit-worthy buyers (who qualified easily just a few months ago).

The doom and gloom brigade has wasted no time predicting the downfall of the residential real estate industry, some even gleefully so. Even within the industry itself, the more cynical agents are warning of a mass forced exodus of all but the most aggressive and knowledgeable real estate licensees.

It all sounds pretty grim for the average real estate agent, doesn't it?

Not according to one industry insider. Jennifer Allan, real estate broker, author and consultant, claims that the current 'crisis' may in fact be an incredible opportunity for the real estate sales community.

For years, Allan says, "We real estate agents have bemoaned the fact that we are not respected as professionals; that the general public doesn't value our services much above those provided by used car salespeople."

However, Allan continues, "We have a golden opportunity to show the home-buying and-selling public what we're made of. And no, not with expensive ad campaigns, but rather by doing what we were licensed to do - that is - Sell Houses. If we, as an industry, commit to putting our prospecting efforts on the backburner and focus on performing for our seller clients, it's possible we could turn this mess around. And in the process, perhaps change the perception of the professional real estate agent forever."

Which of course, raises the question, how does a 'professional real estate agent' sell houses in a lousy market?

Allan explains, "In today's market, an MLS listing and a For Sale sign in a yard isn't enough to sell a home. It's not even enough to create color home brochures, hold open houses and demand price reductions at six-week intervals. We need to work a lot harder than that, and to have the guts to tell our sellers what's what."

According to Allan, here are the three main items that can mean the difference between a listing that sits, and a listing that sells:

1. Price is King. Properties must be priced more aggressively than their competition to even be shown, much result in an offer. It's not enough to simply be "fairly priced."

2. Condition is Queen. A home that evokes a negative or even a neutral first impression has little chance of selling. It's the agent's job to make this clear to the seller and do whatever he or she can to help the seller get the home in showing-ready condition.

3. Accessibility rounds out the top three. If a listing is hard to show, regardless of the reason, it will be passed over. The seller needs to understand that once he's on the market, his life is no longer his own. He must be willing to accept showings on short-notice and to vacate the home during showings. The key to the front door must work easily in the lock and there can't be barking dogs locked up in the laundry room.

As a gesture of her commitment to the real estate industry, Allan will distribute her most recent e-book '70 Ways to Sell Your Listings in Today's Sucky Market' to the first 7,500 visitors to her booth at this week's National Association of Realtor's Expo in Las Vegas for a nominal cost of $1. To learn more about Allan and her Sell with Soul Philosophy, visit www.sellwithsoul.com.

Press Contact: Jennifer Allan
Company Name: Jennifer Allan's Sell with Soul
Phone: 334-790-7291
Website:
http://www.sellwithsoul.com

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Free Credit Card Debt Consultation

Ace Debt Relief Offers Free Credit Card Debt Consultation

Debt resolution company Ace Debt Relief announces it is now offering a free consultation to any consumer with $10,000 of credit card or unsecured debt.

(PRWEB) November 19, 2007 -- Ace Debt Relief (http://www.acedebtrelief.com), the premier debt resolution company, is offering a free consultation to any consumer who has at least $10,000 of credit card or unsecured debt. Ace Debt Relief's partner law firm has more than 25 years of relevant experience and has devised a debt resolution program that enables consumers who have incurred unmanageable unsecured debt to legally walk away from all of it.

This is a highly effective program that is guaranteed to protect individuals from civil lawsuits and prevent creditors from being able to attach assets. The Ace Debt Relief program is an ideal alternative to the other common debt resolution programs such as bankruptcy, debt settlement or consolidation.

For people who are receiving collection notices, are being threatened with a lawsuit by a credit card bank or are concerned that they may be, Ace Debt Relief provides a powerful remedy to absolve consumers of their debt and insulate them from the potential of a civil liability lawsuit from their creditors.

"We have distraught consumers who are being pursued by creditors and receive threatening calls at their home or office, which is both disruptive as well as embarrassing," said the owner of Ace Debt Relief, who is appropriately enough is known simply as "Ace." "And through the Ace Debt Relief program, clients are able to legally walk away from all of their debt and also be completely insulated from their creditors."

Being heavily in debt affects confidence as well as morale. It can create health problems, and debt often destroys relationships. Consumers who have incurred a lot of debt frequently experience disrupted sleep too, as bills pile up with no apparent end in sight. Upon joining the Ace Debt Relief debt resolution program, a shield is placed on the profile of each client, effectively obstructing creditors from initiating civil liability lawsuits against clients.

Consumers who have at least $10,000 of debt may be qualified to take advantage of this program. To sign up for a free consultation, you may visit Ace Debt Relief at: http://www.acedebtrelief.com or call the Ace Debt Relief hotline at 800-679-7488.

Press Contact: Ace
Company Name: Ace Debt Relief
Phone: 310-394-3777
Website:
http://www.acedebtrelief.com

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Real Estate Investment Trust Announces Income

Origen Financial Announces Third Quarter 2007 Results; Declares Dividend of $0.09 Per Share

 SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Nov. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Origen Financial, Inc. (Nasdaq: ORGN), a real estate investment trust that originates and services manufactured housing loans, today announced net income of $2.8 million, or $0.11 per share, for the quarter ended September 30, 2007, compared with net income of $1.8 million, or $0.07 per share, for the quarter ended September 30, 2006, an increase of 56 percent. Origen's Board of Directors declared a dividend payment for the third quarter of $0.09 per share to be paid to holders of Origen's common stock of record on November 19, 2007. The dividend will be paid on November 30, 2007, and will approximate $2.3 million. The Board of Directors takes into consideration the differences between net income as determined by Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP") and estimated REIT taxable net income in the determination of dividend payments.

 Highlights for Quarter
 Loan origination volume increased 31 percent to $92.8 million versus a year ago.

 -- Loans processed for third parties totaled $31.1 million for the quarter, an increase of 98 percent over the third quarter 2006.

 -- Total revenue increased 26 percent to $29.3 million versus $23.2 million for the prior year quarter.

 -- Non-performing loans as a percent of average outstanding loan principal balances decreased to 0.5 percent from 0.6 percent at September 30, 2006.

 -- A $15 million financing was completed consisting of a $10 million one-year note and a $5 million one-year note convertible into common shares of Origen stock at $6.24 per share. Each note bears interest of 8 percent per year and five year warrants were issued to the lender, an affiliate of one of Origen's principal shareholders, to purchase 500,000 shares of Origen common stock at an exercise price of $6.16.


 Financial Highlights
 -- Interest income was $23.7 million for the third quarter 2007, an increase of 26 percent, primarily due to a 28 percent increase over the same period a year ago in the average owned loan portfolio. Non-interest income increased 27 percent over the prior year's third quarter to $5.6 million.

 -- Interest expense for the third quarter 2007 increased 36 percent to $15.6 million from $11.5 million for last year's third quarter as a result of increased borrowings relating to loan originations, as well as increases in the LIBOR benchmark rate on Origen's warehouse line of credit.

 -- The provision for credit losses was $2.2 million for the third quarter 2007 compared with $1.6 million for the same quarter 2006, an increase of 38 percent. The provision for the 2006 quarter was favorably impacted by a reduction of approximately $600,000 in the portion of the loan loss allowance initially established in year 2005 to recognize the impact of estimated damage by hurricanes Rita and Katrina. No such reduction occurred in the 2007 quarter. Absent the 2006 quarter benefit, the 2007 quarter would have reflected no increase in provision by comparison. As a percentage of average outstanding loan principal balances, total net charge-offs, on an annualized basis, decreased to 0.7 percent for the 2007 quarter as compared to 0.9 percent for the 2006 quarter.

 -- Third quarter 2007 non-interest expenses were $8.7 million, a 4 percent increase compared with $8.4 million for the year ago quarter. Most of the $0.3 million increase was personnel related, primarily attributable to accrued amounts relating to merit compensation.

 -- At September 30, 2007, loans 60 or more days delinquent were 0.8 percent of the owned loan portfolio compared to 0.9 percent at both December 31, 2006, and September 30, 2006. Net charge-offs totaled $2.0 million for the third quarter 2007, unchanged from the third quarter 2006.


 Events Subsequent to Quarter-end
 -- On October 16, 2007, Origen completed a $127 million securitization transaction, Manufactured Housing Contract Trust 2007-B, consisting of a single AAA rated floating rate class of asset-backed notes, which were sold to a qualified institutional buyer.

 Ronald A. Klein, Origen's chief executive officer, stated, "We are very pleased with Origen's performance during the third quarter. During a period of extreme turmoil in credit markets, we increased our quarterly earnings more than 50 percent over the 2006 third quarter while maintaining, and even increasing, our already high credit standards. While the manufactured housing industry continues to struggle, with September shipments down 14 percent compared with September 2006, and year-to-date shipments down 22 percent from last year, we were able to increase our originations 30 percent over last year's third quarter. Also, our third party originations increased 98 percent over the year ago period. Most importantly, the credit performance of our loan portfolio continues to exceed our expectations with our 30+ delinquency for the quarter approximately 20 percent lower than our excellent levels of third quarter 2006."

 Mr. Klein added, "Like most other financial businesses, we have been impacted by the global credit and liquidity crunch generally attributed to sub-prime mortgage defaults and foreclosures occasioned by falling housing values and lenient lending practices. The resulting tightening of credit criteria and withdrawal of liquidity by banks and other lenders has had a broad effect, impacting companies like Origen that had no direct exposure to sub-prime mortgage loans. We were subjected to margin calls and market value adjustments on our credit facilities despite our continued excellent loan performance. We met these margin calls and raised an additional $15 million of short-term capital to bolster our liquidity and strengthen our financial position. The ongoing uncertainty and credit stress in the housing and capital markets, and the resulting lack of liquidity, have caused credit spreads on all structured finance products to widen substantially, increasing our cost of funds beginning in September. We anticipate that credit spreads will remain at abnormally wide levels for an extended period of time. Despite the challenging conditions, the strong credit performance of our originated loans allowed us to execute a profitable securitization in October. Many lenders have been unsuccessful in accessing securitization markets, so we are extremely pleased that we were able to place all our bonds with a single, large institutional investor.

 "We continued to see good performance in October. While we have tightened our credit requirements, and manufactured housing shipments remain depressed, our originations increased over last October. As we enter a period of tougher competition, along with tightened credit, we expect that our growth in originations will slow until we see meaningful increases in industry shipments. Our credit performance remained strong in October as we continue to see better than expected delinquency and default results."

 Mr. Klein further stated, "Conditions in the credit markets continue to be highly volatile, uncertain and beyond our control. We are continuously working to improve our capital position to allow us to meet these market challenges and we will act on opportunities to raise capital that are consistent with maximizing our shareholders' value. We continue to focus on originating high quality loans. It is worth re-emphasizing that we only make fixed rate, fully documented and fully verified loans that provide value to our customers. We publish the performance of all our securitized loans, with loan level detail, on our website every month. We believe our transparency and dedication to sound lending practices have contributed to our ability to outperform in very difficult market conditions. We continue to work hard every day to maintain and further this success."

 Earnings Call and Webcast
 A conference call and webcast have been scheduled for November 8, 2007, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss third quarter results. The call may be accessed on Origen's web site at
http://www.origenfinancial.com or by dialing 877-857-6177. A replay will be available through November 18, 2007 by dialing 888-203-1112, passcode 6298454. You may also access the replay on Origen's website for 90 days after the event.

 Forward-Looking Statements
 This press release contains various "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Origen intends that such forward-looking statements will be subject to the safe harbors created thereby. The words "will," "may," "could," "expect," "anticipate," "believes," "intends," "should," "plans," "estimates," "approximate" and similar expressions identify these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect Origen's current views with respect to future events and financial performance, but involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific to the matters discussed in this press release. These risks and uncertainties may cause Origen's actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the foregoing assumptions and those risks referenced under the headings entitled "Factors That May Affect Future Results" or "Risk Factors" contained in Origen's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof and Origen expressly disclaims any obligation to provide public updates, revisions or amendments to any forward- looking statements made herein to reflect changes in Origen's expectations or future events. ORGN-E,ORGN-D,ORGN-G

 About Origen Financial, Inc.
 Origen is an internally managed and internally advised company that has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. Based in Southfield, Michigan, with significant operations in Ft. Worth, Texas, Origen is a national consumer manufactured housing lender and servicer. It offers a complete line of home only products and land home conforming and non-conforming products. Origen also provides servicing for manufactured home only and land home loans.

 For more information about Origen, please visit
 
http://www.origenfinancial.com.



 ORIGEN FINANCIAL, INC.
 CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
 (Dollars in thousands)

 ASSETS
 (Unaudited)
 September 30, December 31,
 2007 2006
 Assets
 Cash and Equivalents $14,824 $2,566
 Restricted Cash 15,665 15,412
 Investment Securities 41,885 41,538
 Loans Receivable 1,157,006 950,226
 Premises & Equipment 3,132 3,513
 Goodwill 32,277 32,277
 Other Assets 28,182 27,535
 Total Assets $1,292,971 $1,073,067

 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

 Liabilities
 Warehouse Financing $238,687 $131,520
 Securitization Financing 786,971 685,013
 Repurchase Agreements 16,894 23,582
 Note Payable 14,445 2,185
 Other Liabilities 31,303 26,303
 Total Liabilities 1,088,300 868,603

 Equity 204,671 204,464

 Total Liabilities and Equity $1,292,971 $1,073,067



 ORIGEN FINANCIAL, INC.
 CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF EARNINGS
 (Dollars in thousands, except for share data)
 (Unaudited)


 Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
 September 30, September 30,
 2007 2006 2007 2006
 Interest Income
 Total Interest Income $23,656 $18,807 $67,063 $54,072
 Total Interest Expense 15,628 11,451 42,637 31,328
 Net Interest Income Before
 Loan Losses 8,028 7,356 24,426 22,744
 Provision for Loan Losses 2,191 1,598 5,785 4,924
 Net Interest Income After
 Loan Losses 5,837 5,758 18,641 17,820
 Non-interest Income 5,632 4,362 15,928 12,750
 Non-interest Expenses:
 Total Personnel 5,946 5,719 18,863 17,986
 Total Loan Origination
 & Servicing 395 402 1,454 1,114
 State Taxes 115 76 352 251
 Total Other Operating 2,234 2,169 6,579 6,327
 Total Non-interest Expenses 8,690 8,366 27,248 25,678
 Net Income Before Income
 Taxes and Cumulative Effect
 of Change in Accounting
 Principle 2,779 1,754 7,321 4,892
 Income Tax Benefit (51) - (43) -
 Net Income Before Cumulative
 Effect of Change in
 Accounting Principle 2,830 1,754 7,364 4,892
 Cumulative Effect of Change
 in Accounting Principle - - - 46
 Net Income $2,830 $1,754 $7,364 $4,938

 Weighted Average Common
 Shares Outstanding, Basic 25,365,778 25,203,558 25,289,680 25,099,157
 Weighted Average Common
 Shares Outstanding,
 Diluted 25,431,398 25,247,421 25,382,607 25,174,272
 Earnings Per Share on
 Basic Average Shares
 Outstanding $0.11 $0.07 $0.29 $0.20
 Earnings Per Share on
 Diluted Average Shares
 Outstanding $0.11 $0.07 $0.29 $0.20


SOURCE Origen Financial, Inc.