A record 225 mortgage firms shuttered in 2009

Mortgage companies folded in record numbers last year as the subprime bust and housing downturn continued to run their course. There were 225 closings of mortgage-related firms in 2009, according to data from MortgageDaily.com, which has tracked failed lenders in its Mortgage Graveyard journal since 1998. Fed by a 400 percent increase in the number of bank failures, 2009’s numbers crushed the previous record for yearly mortgage company failures, which had been set at 165 in 2007. There were 124 lenders that shuttered in 2008. Noteworthy mortgage failures of the year included Lend America, based in Melville, N.Y., which lost its approval status from the Federal Housing Administration in November. The closure of Taylor Bean Whitaker Mortgage, which filed for bankruptcy after being suspended by the Federal Housing Administration in August, also led to the downfall of Montgomery, Ala.-based Colonial Bank. TRD