I don’t make enough money, so how am I supposed to get a loan these days? Fortunately “entrepreneurs” never cease to amaze me: http://www.fakepaycheckstubs.com

Jerry Seinfeld makes enough money: he just signed on with Microsoft for $10 million for an advertising campaign.

Yesterday mortgage company stocks were all over the map. Wells Fargo shares rose 4.1%, Bank of America’s gained 4.3%. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lost more than 22% each, as it would seem that if they were brought under government control, private ownership may cease to exist. FirstFed Financial’s stock jumped 30%. The parent of First Federal Bank of California said it made 30% more loans in July than in June, and 166% more than in July 2007. First Fed is focusing on originating full document 5/1 ARM’s to California residents, and these loans are expected to perform well.

Speaking of performing well, why did rates improve yesterday? U.S. Treasury securities rose in price, dropped in yield, as news came out about a meeting that Freddie Mac officials were having with Treasury officials. As mentioned above, this is fueling concern a takeover of Freddie & Fannie is imminent and leading investors to the safety of government debt. Inflation was bad in July, but are we done with it? The PPI, CPI, and Import Prices were all bad, but oil is down over $30/barrel since then. On top of that, economies around the world seem to be slowing, and an environment of weak growth should reduce inflation pressures. The market tends to agree, as Fed Fund futures are favoring “unchanged” in overnight rates for the remainder of the year. This morning’s Jobless Claims dropped for the second week in a row, -13k to 432k. But the four-week moving average of new jobless claims, which is more reliable, climbed to 445,750 last week from 438,500 in the Aug. 9 week. That was the highest level for the moving average since December 2001. After this news the 10-yr yield dropped below 3.80% to 3.79%, and mortgages are unchanged or off slightly. We still have the Philadelphia Fed survey and Leading Economic Indicators ahead of us.

Sometimes, late at night and when I am alone, I wish that I was a delinquent Indymac borrower. Yesterday the FDIC announced that most IndyMac borrowers, who are seriously delinquent or in default on their mortgages and can document their situation, will be able to switch into loans capped at an interest rate around 6.5%. The FDIC has been operating IndyMac Bank since July 11th. “More than 60,000 of the bank's home borrowers are 60 or more days behind on their payments, according to the FDIC. Thousands of delinquent borrowers will receive proposed offers for modifications in the coming weeks, based on current income information they provided. The first batch of about 4,000 will be mailed by week's end. Under the FDIC's ‘streamlined loan modification plan,’ the changes are designed to achieve sustainable payments by borrowers at a 38 percent debt-to-income ratio of principal, interest, taxes and insurance, the agency said.”

GMAC provided everyone with a nice head fake yesterday by first announcing that they were disbanding their entire jumbo product line, and then recanting an hour or two later by limiting their cuts to 40-yr jumbos. Apparently volumes are not great with this product, or there is little interest in the secondary markets.

Chase, with regard to their extension fees as a result of Fannie’s adverse market charge change, suggested that it may be temporary, and that “It is a way to add the loan level adjusters to existing pipeline if the commitment date was to fall into the November delivery schedule.  We will be rolling out the new loan level price adjustments in the coming weeks but we didn't want to go too soon.” Makes sense.

Who will be the first to blink? A spokesman for Freddie Mac said a new state statute in New York state, billed as a way to protect both borrowers and lenders and to prevent any future wave of foreclosures, takes away important controls the company had over borrowers and says it won't buy New York housing loans after September 1st. "Our analysis indicated the new law added some 20 requirements that brokers and lenders had to adhere to in making these subprime mortgages," said Brad German, a Freddie Mac spokesman. "If they're not followed, that could be used in court to contest a foreclosure." "It remains to be seen what the impact is," said Michael Smith, head of the state Bankers' Association, who sees the Freddie Mac move as part of a trend toward tighter credit. He said many banks don't make subprime loans and are not affected. Those that do could sell them to another buyer or hold them themselves. http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080816/NEWS01/808160338/1001

Wells Fargo came out with the “Mortgage Broker/Originator Fee Disclosure Process” update. Effective immediately, Wells Fargo Wholesale Lending’s Mortgage Broker/Originator Fee Disclosure process will now accept additional Mortgage Broker/Originator Fee Disclosures, including state-specific Mortgage Broker/Originator Fee Disclosures that comply with state law requirements for CA, CO, FL, NY, SC, VT, and WI. The wholesale channel also announced other disclosure changes.

Two 90-year-old women, Vivian and Edith, had been friends all of their lives. When it was clear that Edith was dying, Vivian visited her every day. One day Vivian said, “Edith, we both loved playing women's softball all our lives, and we played it all through high school. Please do me one favor: when you get to Heaven, somehow you must let me know if there's women's softball there.”
Edith looked up at Vivian from her death bed, “Vivian, you've been my best friend for many years. If it's at all possible, I'll do this favor for you.”
Shortly after that, Edith passed on.
At midnight a couple of nights later, Vivian was awakened from a sound sleep by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to her, “Vivian, Vivian.”

“Who is it?” asked Vivian, sitting up suddenly.
“Who is it? Vivian -- it's me, Edith.”
“You're not Edith. Edith died.”
“I'm telling you, Vivian, it's me,” insisted the voice.
“Edith! Where are you?
“In Heaven,” replied Edith. “I have some really good news and a little bad news.
“Tell me the good news first,” said Vivian.
“The good news,” Edith said, “is that there's softball in Heaven. Better yet, all of our old buddies who died before us are here, too. Better than that, we're all young again. Better still, it's always springtime, and it never rains or snows. And best of all, we can play softball all we want, and we never get tired.”
“That's fantastic,” said Vivian. “It's beyond my wildest dreams! So what's the bad news?'
“You're pitching Tuesday.”

Rob