SEC Investigates Subprime Mortgage Lenders

(EMAILWIRE.COM, March 20, 2007 ) WASHINGTON – Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Director Linda Thomsen acknowledged Monday that her agency is scrutinizing the troubled subprime mortgage lending industry. Amidst growing mortgage loan defaults by homeowners and a rising tide of foreclosures across the country the SEC announced that it would examine the accounting practices at some lenders.“We’re looking at subprime…we’re going to look at all the actors and their roles.,” commented Thomsen. She would not provide further details stressing SEC policies about not making comments about ongoing investigations.Securities regulators in the individual states are also looking into the subprime market meltdown and analysts at major investment firms who covered the sector. Subpoenas were issued in Massachusetts last week for UBS Securities LLC and Bear Sterns & Co., Inc to see if they glossed over irregularities in subprime lenders’ practices and issued inaccurate analyses.As a means of creating greater oversight of possible abusive lending practices that have, in part, fueled the problems in the mortgage lending industry, Senator Christopher Dodd (D) of Connecticut has announced hearings on Thursday of this week. The Senator invited the CEOs of New Century Financial Corp., Countrywide Financial Corp., WMC Mortgage, HSBC Holdings Corp., and First Franklin Financial Corp. to testify at the hearing.This call for reporting to Congress comes on the heels of a nationwide focus on problems involving subprime loans, those made to people with credit problems or who chose to “state” their income instead of providing proof of earnings. Many analysts credit this phenomenon of allowing homeowners to merely state their incomes as one of the root causes of the problems in this economic sector.“The housing market’s spectacular boom in the early part of this decade, especially in California, was fueled in part by homeowners who overstated their incomes significantly,” stated Patrick McGilvray, J.D., President of Sacramento-based http://www.TheHomeBuyingCenter.com He added, “lenders often turned a blind eye to the ability of their borrowers to repay their debts over the entire term of their loans.”Contact:Patrick McGilvray, J.D.patrick@thehomebuyingcenter.comTel: 888-444-BUYER###This press release was issued through GroupWeb EmailWire.Com. For more information on press release distribution, go to http://www.emailwire.com.

Patrick McGilvray, J.D.
Patrick McGilvray, J.D.

patrick@thehomebuyingcenter.com