by Calculated Risk on 1/09/2010 02:10:00 AM

Jim writes: "Old what's-her-name left a long trail of wreckage in her fraudulant ways of 2007 - this is the last of 10 houses sold with 100% financing where they increased the sales price by $100,000 over list, pocketed the difference, and promised the buyers that they would rent them out to lease-optionors. All but one was foreclosed, that one the owner coughed up $300,000+ to save his credit."

by Calculated Risk on 1/08/2010 09:17:00 PM

A Lost Horizon
Emerald City's Shangra-La
No eternal life
by Soylent Green is People

Earlier employment posts:
• Employment Report: 85K Jobs Lost, 10% Unemployment Rate for graphs of unemployment rate and a comparison to previous recessions.
• Seasonal Employment-Population Ratio, Part Time Workers, Temporary Workers
• Unemployed over 26 Weeks, Diffusion Index, Seasonal Retail Hiring

From the FDIC: Washington Federal Savings and Loan Association, Seattle, Washington, Assumes All the Deposits of Horizon Bank, Bellingham, Washington

Horizon Bank, Bellingham, Washington, was closed today by the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. ...

As of September 30, 2009, Horizon Bank had approximately $1.3 billion in total assets and $1.1 billion in total deposits....

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $539.1 million. ... Horizon Bank is the first FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the first in Washington. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Venture Bank, Lacey, on September 11, 2009.

by Calculated Risk on 1/08/2010 07:15:00 PM

This is an unofficial list of Problem Banks compiled only from public sources.

Changes and comments from surferdude808:

The Unofficial Problem Bank List changed by a net of one institution this week to 576 with assets of $304.8 billion.

Additions include North Valley Bank, Redding, CA ($910 million); First Trade Union Bank, Boston, MA ($690 million); Wheatland Bank, Naperville, IL ($481 million); and Decatur First Bank, Decatur, GA ($241 million).

Removals are terminations of Formal Agreements issued by the OCC against First National Bank of Baldwin County, Foley, AL ($263 million); Capitol National Bank, Lansing, MI ($229 million); and First National Bank of Wyoming, Laramie, WY ($218 million). These removals could be temporary as the OCC may be converting the action against these banks from a Formal Agreement to a Consent Order. The OCC is much prompter in posting its terminations than its new actions.

Other changes to list this week are Prompt Corrective Action orders being issued against banks-- Mainstreet Savings Bank, FSB, and Sun American Bank -- that are
already operating under a formal action.

The list is compiled from regulator press releases or from public news sources (see Enforcement Action Type link for source). The FDIC data is released monthly with a delay, and the Fed and OTC data is more timely. The OCC data is a little lagged. Credit: surferdude808.

See description below table for Class and Cert (and a link to FDIC ID system).

For a full screen version of the table click here.

The table is wide - use scroll bars to see all information!

NOTE: Columns are sortable - click on column header (Assets, State, Bank Name, Date, etc.)



Class: from FDIC

The FDIC assigns classification codes indicating an institution's charter type (commercial bank, savings bank, or savings association), its chartering agent (state or federal government), its Federal Reserve membership status (member or nonmember), and its primary federal regulator (state-chartered institutions are subject to both federal and state supervision). These codes are:

N National chartered commercial bank supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

SM State charter Fed member commercial bank supervised by the Federal Reserve

NM State charter Fed nonmember commercial bank supervised by the FDIC

SA State or federal charter savings association supervised by the Office of Thrift Supervision

SB State charter savings bank supervised by the FDIC

Cert: This is the certificate number assigned by the FDIC used to identify institutions and for the issuance of insurance certificates. Click on the number and the Institution Directory (ID) system "will provide the last demographic and financial data filed by the selected institution".

by Calculated Risk on 1/08/2010 04:14:00 PM

First a summary of employment posts, and some other stories:
• Employment Report: 85K Jobs Lost, 10% Unemployment Rate for graphs of unemployment rate and a comparison to previous recessions.

• Seasonal Employment-Population Ratio, Part Time Workers, Temporary Workers

• Unemployed over 26 Weeks, Diffusion Index, Seasonal Retail Hiring

And other stories:
• From SacBee: Schwarzenegger declares budget emergency, proposes deep cuts

• From Bloomberg: Soured Non-Agency Mortgages Rise to 1.81 Million

• From Bloomberg: Tishman, BlackRock to Miss Stuyvesant Town Payment

HAMP 2nd Lien Program Update

In an email exchange with me, Treasury spokesperson Meg Reilly clarified the status of the HAMP 2nd Lien program today. Ms. Reilly told me the program is "moving forward", and although there are no "official contracts signed yet, ... servicers are committing to the program". She characterized the email received¹ by Tom Lawler from HAMP administration as "misleading" (I think that means "incorrect").

Ms. Reilly also wrote:

The Second Lien program is moving forward. Treasury has been working to create program infrastructure and technology, including a new platform that matches second liens to first liens modified under HAMP. Because there has not been a systematic method of notification to second lien holders when a first lien on the same property is modified, ramp up has taken some time. We have made enormous progress and continue to move forward with innovative technological development and program implementation and expect to finalize servicer contracts soon.

¹ Mr. Lawler has shared with me his email exchange with HAMP administration. His questions were straightforward concerning the status of the 2nd lien program: "Is there a list of servicers who have signed up for the Second Lien Modification Program? (2MP) The last time I checked with y'all, no one had signed up yet." And the response was: "That program is currently on hold and there is no list of servicers that registered before it was placed on hold." I considered the "on hold" important news, although Treasury has clarified that today. (ht to Diana Golobay at HousingWire who contacted Treasury first).

by Calculated Risk on 1/08/2010 03:00:00 PM

The Federal Reserve reports:

Consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 8-1/2 percent in November. Revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 18-1/2percent, and nonrevolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 3 percent.

Click on graph for larger image in new window.

This graph shows the year-over-year (YoY) change in consumer credit. Consumer credit is off 3.9% over the last 12 months - and falling fast. The previous record YoY decline was 1.9% in 1991.

Consumer credit has declined for a record 10 straight months - and declined for 13 of the last 14 months and is now 4.5% below the peak in July 2008. It is difficult to get a robust recovery without an expansion of consumer credit - unless the recovery is built on business spending and exports (seems unlikely).

Note: The Fed reports a simple annual rate (multiplies change in month by 12) as opposed to a compounded annual rate. Consumer credit does not include real estate debt.