Subprime History

A 25 year friend of mine, writes a column for the National Mortgage News people, it's called What We're Hearing - and is one of their principal Editors as well. Paul wrote a Best Seller about the S&L crisis of the mid '80's and is just now doing his research to do one on the history of the Subprime lending industry (something BTW I have had many people tell me over the years I should author, since I have lived it first hand - except I'm clueless on how to do that).

Anyhow, it's been fun going down memory lane for Paul, recalling when Countrywide was brokering subprime seconds to my own wholesale company back in '85 (if I remember the date correctly), when a major subprime consumer finance organization (The Mother Company) bought a German Bank ('76 as I recall) who later entered the subprme market in the US as a warehouse lender (mid '90's) to Danny Phillips and the boys at FirstPlus in Texas, along with when that same finance organization purchased the largest thrift in Dallas (First Texas Savings - who I did a great deal of business wth then) - later a part of the notorous 'Southwest Plan' (Ron Perlman of Revlon) courtesy of M. Danny Wall and the Government's RTC kids.

I also explained to him the core belief that 'subprimers' were credit lenders and that the conventional residential real estate mortgage lenders are more property/collateral lenders. A distinction I told him probably only a handful of old dudes like me could articulate that distinctively. By illustration I told him, hand a loan file to me and the first document I would look at is the credit report, hand that same file to an "A" lender, he'll turn to the appraisal first - every single time!

I asked Paul for a signed copy of his book, and also if I'll get a footnote!