Finance Point

Nationstar Mortgage, the Dallas-based sub-prime home-lending unit acquired by Fortress Investment Group in July last year, stopped making loans through brokers on September 21 after foreclosures soared and loans declined industrywide.

Nationstar’s wholesale-loan offices will honour applications already approved, and the company continues to service existing loans, the company said on its website.

Nationstar, formerly Centex Home Equity, was purchased last year by New York-based Fortress, a manager of private-equity and hedge funds, for about US$554 million ($747 million) in cash. It had been owned by Dallas-based Centex, the fourth-biggest US homebuilder. Read More

TORONTO - The Toronto stock market drifted into positive territory mid-Tuesday afternoon as financial stocks moved higher, countering losses in the mining sector, while the Canadian dollar continued to float around parity with the U.S. dollar.

The loonie was unchanged at 99.83 cents US. The currency has risen above par in each session since last Thursday - but has failed to close above that threshold.

New York markets were little changed amid a variety of negative news from the housing sector and sliding consumer confidence.

Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index added 3.4 points to 13,961.68 as the financial sector gained 0.65 per cent with Royal Bank (TSX:RY) ahead 36 cents to $53.81. Read More

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By Kimberly Palmer
Posted September 12, 2007

Dear Alpha Consumer,

I own my home with my husband. Our mortgage balance is $135,000. We also have $30K in credit card debt, which is where the big problem is.

The interest is killing me, and I cannot make a dent in the balances. I no longer use these cards as I am trying to pay them off. Should I refinance and lump this credit card debt into my mortgage? I could get an adjustable rate mortgage at an interest rate of around 5 percent. (My house was recently appraised for $225,000.) Read More

Deane secret online

By Bob Willis

Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) — Mortgage applications in the U.S. rose 5.5 percent last week, reflecting gains in both purchases and refinancing.

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index of applications to buy a home or refinance a loan rose to 657.4 from 622.9 the prior week. The group’s purchase index rose 5.2 percent and its refinancing gauge rose 6 percent.

The two-year housing recession is likely to deepen as stricter lending rules make it harder and more expensive to get loans or refinance. Some economists say the applications report overstates activity because the survey only includes retail lenders, which have probably seen an increase in business as many wholesale brokers closed their doors.

“The survey overstates activity,'’ said Michelle Meyer, an economist at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in New York. “We discount the MBA survey and continue to look for home sales to fall through next year.'’ Read rest of the entry.