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Mortgage firm First Magnus Financial
halts lending operations
NANCY SARNOFF
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
First Magnus Financial Corp., a national mortgage lender
with offices in Houston, shut down its lending operations
today.
A note on the Tucson-based company's web site said it
will not fund any future mortgage loans and is no longer
accepting any mortgage loan applications or funding any
mortgage loans previously originated and not yet funded.
"We explored all options before taking this action
but were left with no viable alternative," the note
said.
First Magnus billed itself as one of the nation's largest
privately held mortgage companies. With lending operations
in 50 states, the company funded more than $30 billion
in loans in 2006, according to a recent press release.
A message on the company's phone system says "in
light of the collapse of the secondary mortgage market,
First Magnus will not fund any more mortgage loans after
Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007."
The company joins a list of mortgage lenders suffering
from the nation's credit crunch, which started in the
subprime market.
American Home Mortgage and Houston-based Aegis Mortgage
Corp. both filed for bankruptcy in the last two weeks.
Calls to the corporate office of First Magnus and to
a local account executive were not immediately returned.
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