New Century

A mortgage or new century mortgage is a loan that is secured on a property, and is generally termed as home loan. A mortgage is in fact usually acquired to buy a residential property from a lender. The options to the borrower are numerous and can be confusing at times, which is where you need [...]

Defunct subprime mortgage lender New Century and its accounting firm KPMG were slammed in a saga of a report written by court examiner Michael J. Missal, released Wednesday. The 581-page document chronicles the rise and fall of the Irvine, CA-based company, which originated $357 million during its inaugural year in 1996, and just ten years later, [...]

As one of the largest subprime mortgage lenders in the nation, New Century escaped its credit troubles a decade ago when US Bancorp decided to give the company fresh capital. Unfortunately, their run recently ran out as brokerage firms and Wall Street banks have decided to take back the billion dollar credit line it gave a couple of months ago.

".... Here’s a question; is it realistic to believe that consensus between nations can maintain order through a system in which states voluntarily abide by rules? History alone would dictate a negative response. States cooperate because there is an in-balance of power between them not the reverse...."It was not the intention to post a follow up piece to the initial, March 5 article; however, reader consensus, as noted in comments received, compelled me otherwise. But before we continue allow me to make a point, the article did not seek to advocate the merits or otherwise of Globalization, more exactly, it highlighted what I see as a growing need for America to gain control of its growth for the very reasons highlighted in your comments. The original piece can be read here.Some of the co

Tomorrow’s all-inclusive global strategy must, apart from the aforementioned challenges and promotions of democratic regimes, address the consequences of successful rampant globalization. When I look ahead, attempting to ascertain the likely challenges America will face in the coming century, I note another, not so apparent test for U.S. hegemony, as we know it, one that may not be as immediately critical as, for example, homeland security, or the war on terror.A world without terrorists and autocrats is desirable however, owing to an impending explosion of economic, population and income growth, global consumption, energy utilization, resource competition, unbound market activity and investment flows, as facilitated by the ‘G’ word, the United States will be compelled to focus on t

This post first appeared on March 17, 2007. The owners lowered their price to breakeven and left it there for about 6 months. Now it appears they are becoming more motivated to sell. The price has been reduced to $550,000. Unfortunately, that is still too much money for this apartment condo. New Asking Price: $550,000 Old Asking Price: $610,000 Purchase Price: $565,000 Purchase Date: 5/26/2005 Address: 1 MONTGOMERY 46, Irvine, CA 92604 Beds: 3 Baths: 2.5 Sq. Ft.*: 1,639 Year Built: 1977 Stories: 2 $/Sq. Ft.*: $381 MLS: I700005 Status: Active on market Craigslist, Redfin, Zillow. This property is located in the triangular area between the 5, Walnut and Yale. It is very near the 5 (in other words, it is noisy.) It was purchased on May 26, 2005 for $565,000. There is a first mortgage from New Century for $452,000 and a second from New Century for $113,000. This is a 100% financed property. The current owner is asking $610,000. If sold at the

I wrote the preceding three posts to shed some light on what types of individuals gravitated toward subprime lending as it grew within the mortgage industry.  Simply put, all types of people were lured by the potential profits of high risk lending.  Some of them were complete industry outsiders.  Some of them came from conventional lending backgrounds and saw subprime as a [...]

I had left my position at my friend’s company whose focus was second mortgages and took a consulting position with another start up mortgage company.  The company was being formed by a young guy who I had actually gotten to know through my business partners in the mortgage company I had owned  a few years [...]

Two other cases where I had involvement during the start up phases of a mortgage company, one directly and one as an observer, raise some issues regarding just what it is some of these companies are motivated by. One company where I was merely an observer has become wildly successful as the largest independently owned funder of [...]

I can honestly look my fifteen year old son in the eye and tell him I have never done a fraudulent loan in my entire lending career.**  I can honestly tell him that I never sacrificed my morals or ethics when it has come to my professional life.  Simultaneously, I would also tell him that [...]

I’ve heard directly from sources at New Century that top Account Executives have been retained on hefty salary guarantees as New Century rides out their BK.  On the surface this may seem like a benign move on New Century’s part designed to maintain market share as they emerge from bankruptcy.  This notion would be plausible [...]

The mortgage industry has been setting up to be decimated for a number of years as standards loosened, reason went out the window, and greed overtook the hearts and minds of many players in the industry.  The only question is, how much will the process of purging risk from the industry affect the broader economy?  Only time will tell. Click here to read an interesting piece on the rise and fall of New Century.

In the summer of 2006 my wife and I sold our 3,600 square foot custom home located one block from the beach in Southern California. As a result of the latest real estate boom we, like many people, reaped a substantial gain in selling at the market’s peak. At the time we had purchased the home (four years earlier) we thought for sure we’d be there for at least ten years. But the market kept climbing. Our potential profit continued to grow. And what had been our plan when we acquired the property – became another plan. Ironically, friends and family alike thought we were insane for selling. Heck, real estate would always appreciate. Why walk away from all that equity? We heard it all - you’ll never see rates this low, you’ll be priced out of the market down the road, and on and on. Our decision to sell was driven by a few key factors. Both my wife and I are mortgage industry veterans and had picked up on market signals that are only now being reported in the mainstream media. F

In the summer of 2006 my wife and I sold our 3,600 square foot custom home located one block from the beach in Southern California. As a result of the latest real estate boom we, like many people, reaped a substantial gain in selling at the market’s peak. At the time we had purchased the [...]

Wow.  I’ve got people emailing me telling me they’re going to forward my blog to the FBI like its some big incriminating piece of evidence (not for me - for New Century).  I’ve got other people emailing me telling me I’m just as culpable for the subprime mess as the broker who commits fraud or the guys at the top who hid loan losses from investors or maybe the real estate agent who did God knows what to put his deal together.  Well let me say this to anyone listening - ONLY THOSE PEOPLE WHO COMMITTED WRONGDOINGS SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE!!!!!!!!!! There, I got that off my chest.  Now let’s talk about New Century.  I was planning on ripping into some of the people I worked with who were obvious offenders in aiding and abetting broker fraud, but I’m going to take a different approach.  I’m going to use logic.  Here I go. It is logical to believe that a certain percentage of Account Executives at NCEN must have known of fraudulent and predatory lending practices bein

Wow.  I’ve got people emailing me telling me they’re going to forward my blog to the FBI like its some big incriminating piece of evidence (not for me - for New Century).  I’ve got other people emailing me telling me I’m just as culpable for the subprime mess as the broker who commits fraud or [...]

Over the last couple of weeks I took a break from blogging about New Century.  I did however write one blog regarding the state of our government - which in my opinion is a modern day oligarchy, a fusion of money and government that when you get right down to it spawned the very circumstance under which a New Century Mortgage Corporation could take shape, flourish, and implode - all within the span of a decade or so. There are a multitude of lessons to be learned through this subprime debacle, some of which are already evident and some which have yet to be revealed.  I would imagine that the first lesson is that loose monetary policy, left unchecked by free market constraints and placed in the control of private hands, will always lead to an economic imbalance between those controlling monetary policy versus those at the whim of such policy.   The second lesson that follows is that those parties whether individually, severally, or collectively who chose freely to take advant

Over the last couple of weeks I took a break from blogging about New Century.  I did however write one blog regarding the state of our government - which in my opinion is a modern day oligarchy, a fusion of money and government that when you get right down to it spawned the very circumstance [...]

The age of decadence.  I think that’s now how I will refer to my days at New Century.  This installment in the series is going to be a little fun if nothing else.  None of what I am about to write is either embellished or untrue.  It’s almost laughable how true it is…  I think it was our 2nd year when we attended our first New Century national sales conference.  This was NOT President’s Club - this was a general conference with no production requirements to attend.  As a matter of fact some internal staff was included.  The reason for clarifying this is because a prudent company would never have put on such an extravagant and costly display as did New Century for this event. Here’s the deal.  We all boarded flights bound for Miami where we stayed overnight on the Norwegian Cruise Line ship Princess of the Sea (or some stupid name like that I can’t remember).  Anyway, we got to the ship, sat through some stupid sexual harrassment seminar the whole time I thinking

The age of decadence.  I think that’s now how I will refer to my days at New Century.  This installment in the series is going to be a little fun if nothing else.  None of what I am about to write is either embellished or untrue.  It’s almost laughable how true it is…  I think it [...]

I never thought I would receive the response that I have when I began writing about the topic of life at New Century.  The subject obviously strikes a chord with a lot of people.  The comments I have received are almost all thought provoking and insightful.  Some people have suggested I submit a manuscript to a publisher.  Others suggest I write more detailed accounts siting actual incidents of fraud and impropriety.  Others focus in on the sexual harrassment issue.  What I believe is most important is to focus on what can be learned and what action can be taken to correct mistakes.  My views on this subject are both simple and ‘out-of-the-box’.  They are ideas that have been forming over time - dating back to the last market shakeout in the wake of the S&L bailout.  But I won’t be writing about these topics in this post.  I’ll leave them for the next one. What I will write about is a subject that nearly everyone discounts or altogether omits when discussing the i

I never thought I would receive the response that I have when I began writing about the topic of life at New Century.  The subject obviously strikes a chord with a lot of people.  The comments I have received are almost all thought provoking and insightful.  Some people have suggested I submit a manuscript to [...]

I never thought I would receive the response that I have when I began writing about the topic of life at New Century.  The subject obviously strikes a chord with a lot of people.  The comments I have received are almost all thought provoking and insightful.  Some people have suggested I submit a manuscript to a publisher.  Others suggest I write more detailed accounts siting actual incidents of fraud and impropriety.  Others focus in on the sexual harrassment issue.  What I believe is most important is to focus on what can be learned and what action can be taken to correct mistakes.  My views on this subject are both simple and ‘out-of-the-box’.  They are ideas that have been forming over time - dating back to the last market shakeout in the wake of the S&L bailout.  But I won’t be writing about these topics in this post.  I’ll leave them for the next one. What I will write about is a subject that nearly everyone discounts or altogether omits when discussing the i

I never thought I would receive the response that I have when I began writing about the topic of life at New Century.  The subject obviously strikes a chord with a lot of people.  The comments I have received are almost all thought provoking and insightful.  Some people have suggested I submit a manuscript to [...]

I left off as Jeanine and I had discovered our region manager had an open-fly policy. So here he was married, having an ongoing affair with a young woman in our office who without a doubt got more favorable treatment than anyone else and was laughingly held up as an example of success.  And it didn’t stop there.  At least three other women in the time we were there had affairs with our region manager.  Some of you reading this might call this heresy, or maybe retribution on my part.  Call it what you want, it’s the absolute truth and any New Century alum reading this cannot argue that fact.  They wouldn’t anyway. I can only sight the three additional affairs as these are the only confirmed cases.  Credible rumors abounded in our region about numerous other trists that as I look back had put my wife and I right back where we did not want to be.  For those of you who have never been exposed to this kind of environment, it is without doubt a hostile intolerable situation.  B

This post is the first in a series covering my days as an Account Executive at New Century Mortgage.  It also includes some preceding events relative to the story line.  I began this post by jotting down some notes.  As I began to write, I couldn’t believe what I was putting down on paper.  Fraud rings, FBI investigations, abusive brokers, rampant sexual harrassment and favoritism, and way too many other bad memories to list in this first paragraph. As I began to write I also began to question myself.  Why was writing this important enough to take time away from my schedule?  Why would anyone want to read it?  What lesson can be learned?  The answer is simple - and stems from one word.  Greed.  Greed is not good.  Greed is bad.  Nothing good comes from greed.  And if there is one thing I know after spending nearly four years in the subprime lending industry it is this simple truth - in subprime lending greed, before all else, was the underlying doctrine. So let me begin

Wow.  I’ve got people emailing me telling me they’re going to forward my blog to the FBI like its some big incriminating piece of evidence (not for me - for New Century).  I’ve got other people emailing me telling me I’m just as culpable for the subprime mess as the broker who commits fraud or the guys at the top who hid loan losses from investors or maybe the real estate agent who did God knows what to put his deal together.  Well let me say this to anyone listening - ONLY THOSE PEOPLE WHO COMMITTED WRONGDOINGS SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE!!!!!!!!!! There, I got that off my chest.  Now let’s talk about New Century.  I was planning on ripping into some of the people I worked with who were obvious offenders in aiding and abetting broker fraud, but I’m going to take a different approach.  I’m going to use logic.  Here I go. It is logical to believe that a certain percentage of Account Executives at NCEN must have known of fraudulent and predatory lending practices bein

I guess we can put this one to rest. No bailout for a company worth $80 million and debt of $8.4 billion. "NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- New Century Financial Corp. said Monday it will immediately cut... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

This clip covers a story of a vulnerable old woman who was sold an inappropriate subprime mortgage. Who was the lender? It was New Century. The company is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. If New Century made a business out of selling loans to high risk clients like the one in this clip, it is not hard to understand why their default rate shot up.You have to wonder what the financial market regulators were doing. Were they paying any attention to companies like New Century? Seems not.

Sub-prime lender New Century Financial (NEWC 1.41) could file for bankruptcy as early as this week, the New York Times reported. The news comes amid concerns about the battered housing sector,...

Asking Price: $610,000 Purchase Price: $565,000 Purchase Date: 5/26/2005 Address: 1 MONTGOMERY 46, Irvine, CA 92604 Beds: 3 Baths: 2.5 Sq. Ft.*: 1,639 Year Built: 1977 Stories: 2 $/Sq. Ft.*: $381 MLS: I700005 Status: Active on market Craigslist, Zillow. This property is located in the triangular area between the 5, Walnut and Yale. It is very near the 5 (in other words, it is noisy.) It was purchased on May 26, 2005 for $565,000. There is a first mortgage from New Century for $452,000 and a second from New Century for $113,000. This is a 100% financed property. The current owner is asking $610,000. If sold at the current asking price and assuming 6% in selling costs, the sellers are looking at a profit of around $7,500. This leaves them a bit of negotiating room to break even. It looks like they might need it: Zillow thinks it is only worth $603,830. Do you think they will get it? Or, perhaps, New Century will have to eat another one? . P.S.

No one can blame New Century Financial for not practicing what it preaches. As of Monday, the market cap of New Century (NEW) is now down to $92 Million after dropping another 48% during the trading... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The Wall Street Journal Online has at the top of their "column 2" selection of stories, the saga - the rise and fast fall of New Century Financial (NEW). So I would imagine this will be required Page One reading come Monday morning in the actual paper. WSJ (NEW) click here. The Journal's story tells us many things that you would expect in the tale of a company in the process of collapsing

My good sources on Wall Street sent me a report that JP Morgan threw together in the aftermath of the NEW 8k filing late todayThe executive summary: Analyst believes that $265 mln secured with remaining unencumbered assets. There is little left for common shareholders to lay claim on in a liquidation$265 mln "last ditch" effort by NEW to meet margin calls. NEW burned through $365 mln in cash in less than 3 mos precipitating need for $265 mln loan from unnamed lender.JP Morgan advising investors to sell NEW shares. As soon as NEW can secure DIP financing, or a buyer who will assume the liabilities it's over for common shareholders IMHO.

This latest filing with the SEC by New Century (NEW) isn't keeping shares from sliding deeper down into $3 territory this evening.The gist of this 8k is that it has received $265 in lender financing and that it's holding discussions with other lenders and other parties to obtain additional liquidity. The 8K portrays a company completely up against the wall since it was also forced to secure additional funding to address $710 mln worth of mortgage loans financed through another facility.NEW is also no longer accepting loan applications. Gee, maybe they should call Lending Tree, or Quicken Loans?

Over 64,000 March 2-1/2's have traded. That's a bet the stock will drop below $2-1/2 (and given the price of the otions, will have to drop below 2 to yield today's put buyers a profit) before next Friday. The price is just too insane to jump into now. I missed this one. I was doing something far more important earlier today - having homemade Pasta Fagiola at a great Italian restaurant (wife's side of the family owns it) with a close friend. It was a great lunch.

There is now speculation that NEW may file for bankruptcy, according to theflyonthewall.com which is a service carried on the Bloomberg, thus reaching the top trading desks of the world. This rumor has walloped the stock. I am flat on this one.. took my profit earlier in the week. The bankruptcy rumors fueled by word this morning of the departure of David Einhorn as a director. He controls 3.4 mln shares. Any surprise the Dow is 40 points off the highs when one of the biggest subprime lenders may be about to go under?

I missed this from a few days back click here to read about UBS and NEW. UBS' exposure isn't huge at around $1 bln, but it gives a greater understanding into why the firm upgraded NEW shares on Feb 23 to Neutral with a $17 price target.

Nothing kills a stock quicker than getting the Feds involved. Welcome to the implosion of the subprime market. Like I mentioned on: 2/12 – Did You Feel That? Housing Just Hit The Third... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

It's hard to say what would be the most fitting audio clip to play while browsing the stock chart of New Century Financial (NYSE:NEW) this morning... possibly "Taps"... or that "It's over Johnny.. Over!" clip from the first Rambo.Well, I guess it truly is over as New Century is opened down 50% this morning!Apparently, not only is it likely that New Century will go bankrupt but it's executives may be facing criminal charges.There is no doubt that the sub-prime market is now collapsing and will soon likely be followed by a significant portion of the prime market as well.The events surrounding the demise of New Century Financial may well serve as a turning-point in the "easy lending" meltdown both making the company and it's executives the ENRON of this era as well as helping to pull down many other lenders as well.In fact, Novastar Financial (NYSE:NFI), Countrywide Financial (NYSE:CFC), and Accredited Home Lenders Holding Company (NASDAQ:LEND) are all down significantly today as shar

Merrill just reiterated its sell on New Century (NEW) saying that bankruptcy for the company is now "likely".To recap, after the bell on Friday... Company announcedStaff of the SEC has requested a meeting with the CompanyNYSE investigating insider trading of shares ahead of early February restatement announcementThe United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California is conducting a criminal inquiry under the federal securities laws in connection with trading in the Company’s securitiesNEW now in breach of various loan covenants

Last night I wrote:"Again I say WRT to New Century, this whole issue of them having to correct errors relating to how it incorrectly applied Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 140 - Accounting for Transfers and Servicing of Financial AssetsI and Extinguishment of Liabilities - stinks to high heaven. After scandals like Enron, how is that New Century and its accountants could fail to include the expected discount upon disposition of loans when estimating its allowance for loan repurchase losses?!? Coincident with the delayed annual report, these accounting issues don't engender a great deal of confidence in NEW's situation."Tonight the U.S. Attorney is launching a criminal probe of New Century. My May 12-1/2 puts should do quite well Monday since the stock is down 30% this evening.So, in additonal to waving a variety of red flags ahead of the market pullback earlier this week, this blog is two for two on subprime - having warned a day before about NFI and now NEW. It's n

Man oh Manishevitz. Just when you think it can't get any stranger in the world of subprime, a tersely worded statement released late this evening from New Century Mortgage (NEW) says the company will delay the filing of its annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission. California based NEW, one of the largest subprime lenders, did not give a time table for when it would file its 10k. It was back on February 7th that New Century surprised investors by delaying the release of its 4th quarter results and that earnings for the prior three quarters would have to be revised lower. Read the New Century release here.Again I say WRT to New Century, this whole issue of them having to correct errors relating to how it incorrectly applied Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 140 - Accounting for Transfers and Servicing of Financial Assets and Extinguishment of Liabilities - stinks to high heaven. After scandals like Enron, how is that New Century and its accountants could

Review by Michael Gallucci @ allmusic.com The fourth album from these Norwegian new age snoozers takes a more ambitious approach than its predecessors: Based around some sort of conceptual theme (something to do with the millennium and eternity and destiny), Dawn of a New Century is really just more languid instrumental tracks occasionally pumped up with some ostentatious moralizing. It doesn't

One wonders how many more times you go can go back to the well and make a fortune with these subprime stocks? I'm always cautious about going back one time too many. Here we have a stock down 7% today, but still trading above $14, yet volume on the March 10 puts in the first 3 hours of trading is over 1000 on open interest at 22-thousand. While that's not overwhelming reason to jump into those puts head first, it is sure indicative of the bearish sentiment surrounding this stock and many others either directly involved in subprime, or guilty by association. The further slide in NEW shares comes as investors and speculators have totally ignored Friday's upgrade of the stock by UBS from SELL to NEUTRAL and a $17 price target. UBS had stated that NEW's liquidity risk was OK and the weak credit outlook is already reflected in NEW's shares. Really?So we'll see what happens March 1st... just a few days from now. That's when NEW is expected to report the revisions earnings.Obvio

An interesting headline this afternoon... Citigroup (C) is now the proud owner of a 5% stake in NEW. My feeling on this is that it is bad news for shareholders. C may be positioning itself to be the thousand pound shareholder gorilla at future bankruptcy proceedings. We'll see. By way of disclosure - I am a NEW May put holder.

New Century Mortgage - Seek Mortgage At Flexible Rates A mortgage or new century mortgage is a loan that is secured on a property, and is generally termed as home loan. A mortgage is in fact usually acquired to buy a residential property from a lender. The options to the borrower are numerous and can be confusing at times, which is where you need to consult a trusted broker who will be in a position to secure the mortgage offer suited to your needs. There are some reputed companies who offer a full range of mortgage products for those looking to finance the purchase of a property. New century mortgage is a long term secured loans usually repaid over a fixed period known as a mortgage term. Not all mortgages run over a fixed term. Flexible mortgages allow the borrower to pay the mortgage of