Feds: 169 mortgage companies failed in 2007

Data from the Federal Reserve shows 169 independent mortgage companies
nationwide went out of business in 2007, contributing to a reduction in credit and
accelerating the pace of the meltdown. Non-bank lenders’ share of the
high- priced loan market, which includes subprime loans, fell to 20.5
percent in 2007 from 50.6 percent in 2004, the Fed study said. The 169
defunct lenders accounted for nearly 15 percent of the higher-priced
conventional first-line loans for site-built properties in 2006, said
the study published in the December Federal Reserve Bulletin.