In the midst of all the turmoil in the mortgage sector -- and all the layoffs -- IndyMac is turning up-stream. While the company laid off some 400 people (about 4% of its workforce) last month, it has turned around entirely at the most surprising time and has hired some 600 people laid off by other mortgage lenders. This is a bold move and suggests that at least one company in the sector is taking a bet on growth and a lessening of the credit crunch. It suggest, moreover, that they are expecting the Fed to drop rates soon, perhaps even sooner than the next meeting.
Whatever may be their reasons, it is encouraging. IndyMac focuses on the Alt-A loans -- those made to people of good but not great credit risk. In many ways, IndyMac's borrowers are those among the most likely to be negatively affected by current conditions. Yet they are hiring! There is no other mortgage company hiring in these numbers at this time. In fact, most are continuing to let their employees go and to run for cover. However things shake out in the longer term, IndyMac is surfacing as a company to watch. Its management is daring and forward looking.
Comments
ali
August 29, 2007
It is such a dramatic move at this time that it makes you wonder whether they know something the rest of us do not, or are just really gutsy.
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thepartyisovernow
August 29, 2007
Just a PR stunt to pump a dead pig.
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WPickering
August 30, 2007
Countrywide is hiring too.
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Thomas Bivens
August 30, 2007
They have also raised rates on their CDs to help generate deposit dollars. Lenders that can raise capital this way will survive. Generally, deposit dollars are the cheapest ways to raise capital and they don't need to rely on the credit markets.
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