weidemannia one

New Century to lay off 2,000 workers as unit goes unsold

Associated Press
Article Launched: 05/03/2007 11:54:49 AM PDT

LOS ANGELES - Financially strapped subprime mortgage lender New Century Financial Corp., failed to receive any bids for its mortgage loan origination business, forcing it to shut down the unit and lay off around 2,000 employees, the company told employees Thursday.

The Irvine-based company, which has been preparing to sell off its assets under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since last month, notified employees during a conference call that they would be laid off effective Friday.

Speaking on the call, New Century President and Chief Executive Brad A. Morrice said despite a number of potential buyers for its wholesale and consumer-direct operations, “none of those potential deals have come to pass.”

The deadline for bids for the business unit was Wednesday. New Century’s request to extend the deadline was not supported by its creditors committee, Morrice said, adding that efforts to sell the unit had stopped.

New Century will retain only service personnel and about 250 members of its corporate team as the company continues efforts to liquidation, Morrice said.

“I realize that today’s announcement was not the news that any of us hoped to hear,” Morrice said, his voice quivering at times. “I would be remiss if I did not say how sorry I am for any grief or hardship that any of you may experience as a result of this situation.”

New Century had been the second-largest provider of home loans to high-risk borrowers, but it collapsed after a spike in mortgage defaults led its lenders to pull funding and demand that it buy back bad loans.

Yep. They bigger they thought they were, the harder they fell. Stay tuned for even more aftershocks.

Its a month later than intended.

Tomorrow I will be asking my supplier to cut me off. I am not going to ask for any more potential clients, and will be concentrating on working the clients I already have in my portfolio; as well as handling any responses to our direct marketing campaign.

The industry has changed dramatically over the last month or so, and while business has picked up, I’m not very optimistic on the way things are going. If I don’t shut off the flow of new leads, my rut continues to become more worn, and another week passes, and nothing effects the change I need.

This will cause other problems, but sometimes you have to make difficult decisions, go through pain and unexpected reactions, in order to come out on top.

Asia dives on US subprime woe
Losses on Wall Street sets sell dominos falling in Japan and other Far East markets.
March 13 2007: 10:20 PM EDT

Japanese stocks fell more than 2 percent, mirroring falls on Wall Street that were triggered by growing losses at subprime lending firms — those operating at the riskier end of the mortgage market — and weak U.S. retail sales.

Get ready to head to the bomb shelters, ’cause its the END OF THE WORLD!

“As of March 9, 2007, all of the Company’s lenders under its short-term repurchase agreements and aggregation credit facilities had discontinued their financing with the Company or had notified the Company of their intent to do so.”

Just desserts.

Knocking on previously-closed doors appears to have resulted in someone approaching and turning the handle. Now, waiting to see what’s inside and what opportunities might be offered.

This morning, I came across this youtube video of a crank-calling comedian named Tom Mabe, who is jerking the chain of some satellite dish salesman on the phone. Based on the comments posted, apparently everyone finds this hilarious and sides with Tom as he rants while the poor guy on the phone is trying to make sense out of it…

As you may know, I’m working with a mortgage brokerage, and we purchase our leads from what are purported to be reputable lead companies, with the names and phone numbers of people who have requested refinancing information. And depending on the lead source, we might pay $20-$40 for that name and phone number. So, when we call someone, it is in response to their serious request. We are not telemarketers and these are not cold calls.

Anyway, as I began listening to the recording, it sounded strangely familiar. 4 or 5 months ago, I had received a lead for a “Tom Mabe”, and was told I had called the scene of a homicide investigation. The dialog went pretty much as you hear on the recording. However, if you pay attention, 99 percent of the dialog is all coming from Tom’s babbling. A prank-call comedy bit with an unsuspecting audience member. Funny? I don’t think so; but I don’t see the humor in Crank Yankers either. I recall thinking it was probably the weirdest conversation I had, however.

Anyway, give it a listen…

So, it is my suspicion that Tom is not pranking telemarketers. He is filling in forms on the internet ASKING for people to call him. We get screwed out of $30 bucks so this guy can perform his little comedy act? I wouldn’t pay that to see ANY comedian at a comedy club. What gives him the right?

My opinion: “Tom Mabe is a Dick”.

By the way, I still have his phone number so if you are interested in calling his home phone in the middle of the night to see how he is doing, drop me a line. :)

I received a call from a sales rep for MortgageLenders.cc a few minutes ago. A year ago, we had an “unpleasant” experience with the company, so I decided to do a quick Google search to see what new dirt I might discover. Interestingly enough, I came across this recently posted video on YouTube.

What goes around may come around…

Appears that I may end up losing a lot of work and have to reboot again… Will wait a bit longer to see if things free up. However, I doubt if things will be ever running as planned.