Wells Fargo Home Mortgage held what seemed like a pep rally today in downtown Los Angeles to discuss the current state of affairs internally and industry-wide.
The company told about 400 employees that it was well-positioned thanks to its deep pockets and constant focus on low-risk loans, adding that once all the dust settled, only a handful of mortgage lenders would remain.
Bank of America, Citi, and Wells Fargo were three of those lenders, Countrywide was not.
They further explained that the struggling giant is scrambling to fix the numerous mistakes it has made during the past year, and may be beyond repair.
Look for Bank of America to jump at the opportunity to buy the lender at a discount.
Wells Fargo also told employees that it would be removing all 100% financing programs except its Home Opportunity 80/20, which mirrors the 100% agency products currently available via Fannie and Freddie.
They will likely push this loan program until conditions improve on the secondary mortgage market.
They also announced that they would be removing their Alt-A minus programs from their portfolio, which is essentially anything below a 680 credit score that is not full doc.
The bank told employees that it would hold onto many of its non-conforming loans, causing mortgage rates to rise slightly to mitigate risk.
Go Wells!