Bankrate Inc. agreed to be taken private by private-equity firm Apax Partners for $571 million, while the company also projected second-quarter and 2009 results below analysts’ expectations.  The planned sale comes as Bankrate’s results in recent quarters have weakened. The company operates Bankrate.com, a mortgage lead generation website offering home financing articles, mortgage news and tips to compare mortgage interest rates, home equity loans, credit lines, refinancing and credit cards.  Apax’s offer is $28.50 a share, a 16% premium over Tuesday’s closing price. The stock was above that price just last month, but is down 25% this year. Shares were recently at $28.37, giving some indication from investors that a higher bid might be forthcoming.

Meanwhile, Bankrate released preliminary 2nd-quarter results, showing profit dropped 54% to $1.9 million, or 10 cents a share, from $5.1 million, or 21 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 23% to $31 million.  Analysts estimated earnings of 30 cents a share on revenue of $37.5 million, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.  “Macroeconomic conditions have continued to impact financial advertising, particularly in our banking, home mortgage and credit card channels,” said Chief Executive Thomas R. Evans. He also predicted 2009 revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciations and amortization “will be well below the current consensus estimates” because of the soft financial-services advertising market
Article written by KATHY SHWIFF

Add To:
delicious digg facebook google reddit slashdot stumbleupon technorati yahoo

In Los Angeles, California, Kelly Media Group, introduced a mortgage lead special in which the mortgage marketing agency is matching direct mail marketing campaigns with voice broadcasting.  The minimum direct mailing is 20,000 mail pieces that do not have to be mailed all at once.  The new KMG lead generation offer is available for loan modification, debt relief and mortgage lead campaigns.

In Aliso Viejo, Calif., the Citywide Mortgage Corporation, which previously brokered Alt-A and subprime mortgages, last year became a loan modification company, USMAC. The loss mitigation company has not received a cease and desist order, but complaints on numerous consumer Web sites assert that it fails to deliver.  “I’m saving homes,” said the company’s president, Scott Gimbel, who claimed a success rate above 70%.

Chris Mozilo, nephew of Angelo R. Mozilo, the former chief executive of Countrywide Financial a name synonymous with the subprime disaster — recently started a new business, eModifyMyLoan. The loan modification software company enables homeowners to apply for a loan modification online.  Chris Mozilo worked at Countrywide for 16 years. “I’m very proud of my career in mortgage lending,” he said. “We helped millions of people achieve the goal of homeownership.”

Add To:
delicious digg facebook google reddit slashdot stumbleupon technorati yahoo

According to Southern California mortgage brokers, the average interest rate on a thirty-year mortgage loan with a fixed rate dropped last week back down to the 5% range.  Mortgage rates declined down from the 5.25% to 5.5% range last month as the U.S. unemployment rate hit 9.5%.  Lead Executive, Dan Ambrose of the Lead Planet, a direct mortgage lead provider that specializes in high quality internet leads, said that, ”The demand for mortgage and loan modification leads increases every time the rates decline in the marketplace for consumers.” 

A soft economy means investors buy U.S. Treasuries for their safety, which drags down their yields and indirectly leads to lower fixed mortgage rates. California borrowers with good credit today can get a 30-year conforming, VA, or FHA mortgage as low as 4.875% with 0.625-point fee, said Jeff Lazerson, head of online brokerage Mortgage Grader in Laguna Niguel. That’s for “conventional” loans up to $417,000 that can be sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.  In most cases, these mortgage loans carry the lowest rates on the mortgage market. “Interest rates are lower because putting lipstick on a pig only works until you take a closer look…it’s still a pig,” Lazerson said. “In other words, the government and the Wall Street gatekeepers have been hyping that the economy is getting better. It’s not getting better. Some say, California consumers aren’t spending because they are worried about their jobs, if they haven’t already lost their jobs.” 

Add To:
delicious digg facebook google reddit slashdot stumbleupon technorati yahoo