Bank run on INDY MAC

Indymac is Closing All Wholesale Regional Operations Centers

Dear Indymac Mortgage Banker or Broker,

A few months ago, when WaMu made the decision to exit wholesale lending, we wrote to let you know that we were committed to all of our mortgage professional customers, and that we were working hard to rebuild our business model. Since then, our employees have worked tirelessly and professionally to rebuild our production model and I am very thankful for their service and their unwavering commitment under the most difficult of circumstances. We have successfully transformed ourselves into a competitive Agency and Government lender, and for this we should all be very proud.

However, with the continued very difficult and challenging environment, we are taking steps to continue to protect Indymac’s safety and soundness, and have made the difficult decision to cease production of new mortgages, which includes exiting the third-party lending business altogether. Going forward, Indymac will be focused on operating its Southern California retail banking business, offering reverse mortgages through Financial Freedom and operating our home loan servicing and opportunistically growing these groups over time as market conditions permit.

Our decision to exit third-party lending is effective immediately, however, the following timeframes and guidelines are in effect:

Effective immediately we will no longer accept any new rate locks.

Effective immediately we will no longer accept new credit package submissions (either in physical form or through e-FlowSM functionality) for loans that do not have a valid rate lock.

The last day to fund refinance transactions will be July 31, 2008.

The last day to fund purchase transactions will be August 15, 2008.
Important Message About Protecting Your Rate Locks:

In order to protect your rate locks, we will require a 1% cash deposit to convert these loans to mandatory delivery. All fees must be received by the end of business on Thursday, July 10th, or your rate locks are subject to cancellation. These fees are fully refundable in the event IMB declines the loan. This fee requirement is all inclusive. You must protect the entire pipeline as part of this process. If you do not submit the required fee for any individual loan as part of this process, all of your rate locks will be subject to cancellation.

Please understand that all of our regional operating centers will be closed. Your regional mortgage production team will be in contact with you to ensure a smooth transition over the coming weeks and facilitate timely processing of your loan pipeline. Additionally, we will keep our Pasadena regional office open for a limited time, until we have cleared out our entire pipeline of loans.

All of these actions are necessary and are designed to keep Indymac Bank as an institution safe and sound; we believe they are the necessary steps we must take to ensure the company’s survival during this turbulent period.

On behalf of the roughly 800 employees of Indymac’s Mortgage Professionals Group, I want to thank you for your business and support of Indymac Bank over the past 15 years.

Sincerely,

Drew Buccino CMB
CEO Mortgage Professionals Group
Indymac Bank

in their assessment of the credit crisis.
www.dailypaul.com/node/54...

http://www.augustreview.c...

http://www.atimes.com/ati...

Wow.

I was a mortgage underwriter before my shop "downsized". We dealt with IndyMac, and while they had some risky products, their underwriting standards were higher than many other banks, such as Countrywide...although, Thornburg Mortgage was by far the most prudent lender. One of the girls I worked with went to IndyMac when our shop closed...her mother was a manager there.