Night Air Digital – Video
08-05-2012 20:51 "Night Air Digital" by Money Angel Music and The Enova http GET IT ON iTUNES!!!!
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Night Air Digital - Video
08-05-2012 20:51 "Night Air Digital" by Money Angel Music and The Enova http GET IT ON iTUNES!!!!
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Night Air Digital - Video
NEW YORK, May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Digital Risk LLC, the nation's largest provider of mortgage risk, compliance and transaction management solutions, today at the MBA National Secondary Market Conference called for the creation of a due diligence industry standard task force to develop standards and requirements in mortgage risk due diligence. The company calls for ratings agencies, due diligence firms, deal sponsors, originators and investors to come together and agree on standard practices to improve transparency and confidence in underwriting, fraud and regulatory compliance, particularly RESPA reform. Without such diligence standards, private capital will continue to ebb from the RMBS market, and furthermore, the industry may face additional government regulation.
A consortium that includes a cross section of top mortgage due diligence firms, rating agencies, deal sponsors, originators and investors would bring together the industry expertise and broad representation needed to create a uniform set of due diligence standards that include actionable and reliable methodologies and analytics. Clarity in standards reduces the cost to originate, which reduces cost to the consumer. By joining together, industry participants can close the loop on the mistakes that contributed to the mortgage crisis, such as poor quality data and overly aggressive underwriting guidelines.
The traditional underwriting guidelines used to evaluate a borrower's willingness and ability to pay have limited lenders origination capacity. This current phenomenon is unsustainable, resulting in an unmet demand to loosen lending standards. The markets are struggling to accurately value loans because of the volatility in real property values, so capital is on the sidelines until uncertainty dissipates. A common set of best practices is sorely needed to raise market confidence and free up mortgage lending.
Ratings agencies such as Moody's, DBRS, Fitch, Kroll and S&P will play a pivotal role in this industry consortium as they must understand the capabilities of due diligence firms as well as utilize the review results to adjust inputs to their models and overall ratings.
Due diligence firms also have an important perspective to contribute. These companies have made efforts to learn from the past and innovate approaches to risk management. For example, over the past 7 years, Digital Risk has built better predictive models in lending based on the review of millions of loans. As a result, Digital Risk has developed a patent-pending analytics platform that uses a heuristic, machine-learning algorithm to analyze over 73 billion data elements. This industry-specific platform provides a far more reliable and meaningful understanding of systemic and operational risk and the propensity of default than legacy systems that are still in use today. However, broad participation is needed to create comprehensive systems recommendations and quality oversight.
The efficacy of due diligence for investors depends on standardizing the sample sizes, review scope and reporting. "While there is market pressure to loosen lending standards, without a true understanding of risk elements, the certainty lenders require cannot be achieved and mortgage capital will remain limited," says Peter Kassabov, Digital Risk's Chief Executive Officer. "A standards body would not only restore confidence in underwriting procedures, it will help the mortgage lending industry feel more confident that it has actionable, reliable data to make quality lending decisions. As an industry, we need to proactively act to develop reliable and stringent standards that will provide full transparency and improve underwriting protocols without government intervention."
Digital Risk, in conjunction with money center banks, rating agencies and other industry organizations, is spearheading an exploratory committee, which hopes to have its initial meeting in the coming weeks. The group will convene to begin setting new standards and to create an ongoing process to monitor progress, including regular and periodic review meetings.
About Digital Risk, LLC
Digital Risk is the largest provider of mortgage risk and compliance management solutions. The company provides buyers and sellers of mortgages and mortgage backed securities the analytical, technological and risk management services they need to achieve their goals. The Digital Risk platform delivers transparency at the loan level and precise risk assessment throughout the entire mortgage value chain. With over 1,400 U.S. based professionals, the company is privileged to serve the nation's leading servicers, originators, aggregators and investors. Digital Risk is independent and not affiliated with an originator, issuer, servicer or investor. Headquartered in Orlando, Digital Risk has additional operations in New York, Dallas, Denver, Boca Raton and Jacksonville.
Contact: Brandie Young brandie@marketingtbd.com 510-599-2785
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Digital Risk Calls For New Industry Standards Taskforce To Oversee Mortgage Risk Due Diligence
PHOENIX It didn't take too long for Bill Haynes, an Arizona gold dealer, to figure out that the person who kept calling about gold coin prices wasn't really interested in buying. Haynes, 67, is the president of CMI Gold & Silver Inc. in Phoenix and sells gold bullion products. The caller, who identified himself as Gene, said he had heard another gold dealer advertise on a Christian radio program. So he had taken $72,000 of his invalid brother's money and bought some collectible gold coins as an investment.
Haynes checked the coin price for him. They were only worth about $48,000.
Gene had been bit by gold and learned the hard way that there are many different ways to invest in gold and many different types of dealers.
And he is not alone. A new Gallup poll found that gold is perceived as "the best long-term investment" with 28 percent of Americans preferring it over other investments such as real estate, stocks/mutual funds and savings accounts/CDs. The survey found Republicans are slightly more enamored with gold than Democrats, but this may not be surprising with some gold sellers (such as Goldline International, Merit Financial, Lear Capital, Swiss America Trading Corporation and Universal Coin & Bullion) advertising on conservative radio and television programs and on the Internet. Celebrity spokesmen such as Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Pat Boone also tout the precious metal as insurance against an uncertain future.
The World Gold Council reported gold bar and coin demand surged 24 percent last year. And gold continues to rise in value.
But how much of the buy gold frenzy is legitimate and how much is just glitter?
Gold on the rise
Andrew Schrage, editor and co-owner of Money Crashers (a popular and respected personal finance blog) has noticed the uptick in TV commercials espousing the benefits of investing in gold. "However, more companies are urging you to invest in gold because they're making money off of the deal, not because it's necessarily a sound investment," he said.
Schrage admitted the price of gold has increased in value by 83 percent over the last four years from about $900 per ounce to about $1,650 currently (gold hit an all-time high of $1,924 in September 2011). But history hasn't always been kind to gold. "In 1980, the price of gold dropped by more than 60 percent in a single year," he said, "and it was not until 20 years later that investors began to once again see positive returns."
Schrage said gold isn't a financially irresponsible investment, as long as people do not fall in love with it.
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Gold frenzy: Is Glenn Beck's favorite metal a good investment?
by John Quirk
Responding to the 2012 Good Beach Guide, produced by the Marine Conservation Society, the Isle of Man Water and Sewerage Authority is reiterating that sewage from Douglas, Onchan, Derbyhaven, Castletown, Port Erin and Port St Mary no longer discharges untreated to sea locally, but is pumped to a modern sewage treatment works at Meary Veg.
The Sewage Treatment Plant at Meary Veg has been operating since 2004 and treats sewage from 67% of the Islands population, after which the high-quality effluent is discharged into the Irish Sea off Santon Head.
Samples of sea water are tested every two weeks, between May and September, from the various designated bathing beaches around the Island, explained Water & Sewerage Authority Chairman Graham Cregeen MHK. The results are then compiled by the Environmental Protection Unit and displayed at the sampling points.
This years Good Beach Guide claims seven of the 20 Manx beaches tested each year failed to meet environmental standards.
However, the Authority notes that the failures reported at Bay Ny Carrickey and Douglas are not as a result of any problems with the sewage collection and treatment systems as there have been no sewage spills to the marine environment.
Mr Cregeen added: We continue to make good progress with the 40m programme of work associated with the first phase of the Regional Sewage Treatment Strategy, which will bring modern sewage treatment facilities to the remainder of the Islands towns and villages.
We have recently completed replacement sewage treatment plants at Patrick, Dalby, and Bride, and have started projects for Glen Maye, Glen Mona, Corony and Jurby, with design work ongoing for Maughold, Port Lewaigue, Booilushag, Kirk Michael, Andreas and Ramsey.
The second phase of the Regional Sewage Treatment Strategy, planned for 2016-2021, will provide sewage treatment facilities for those areas not covered by phase one, which include Peel, Laxey, Baldrine, Ballaugh, Sulby and the Central Valley.
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Authority responds to 2012 Good Beach Guide
by Anna Hemy
The Isle of Man will be playing host to nearly 1,000 crown green bowlers when the annual Bowls Festivals take place later this year during June and September. The June event is celebrating its 91st anniversary while the younger September event first took to the greens in the late 1960s. The competition is centred on the three greens at Nobles Park in Douglas while two other Douglas venues the Villa Marina and Finch Hill are also used. A fourth site, at nearby Onchan Park, is in the schedule as well. All the venues are within a four-mile radius. The overall winner in the mens final will scoop the big prize of 3,000 and the ladies champion will collect 1,000. With most of the competitors coming from the north of England, Yorkshire, Shropshire, Merseyside or the Midlands special travel and accommodation packages are available through the Bowling Festivals page at http://www.visitisleofman.com Dates for the two events are June 18-22 and September 3-7, closing dates for entries being May 14th and August 6th respectively. The defending singles champions are Jack Hargreaves (George and Dragon) and Cynthia Tonge from Chesterfield as regards the June Festival, and John Kennish from the Onchan Club in the Isle of Man and Julie Green (Castlefields) in respect of September. Political member for Tourism at the Department of Economic Development Geoff Corkish MBE MHK, said: The appeal of the June and September Festivals is as great now as it has ever been. The Festivals have evolved over the years with the organisers introducing innovative competitions to attract all levels of players. I sometimes wonder how Mr. W. R. Baker from Wolverhampton, who won the inaugural event in 1921, would feel if he was to see how the Festivals had developed in the intervening 91 years. The event creates a great profile for Douglas and Onchan, showcasing the superb standard of greens and facilities on offer for this popular sport. Organiser of the Bowls Festival, Steve Moore, commented: Over the course of the week we will be running a total of eleven competitions ranging from the mens and womens singles championship down to the last chance competition. The schedule is arranged in such a way that even if players lose all their matches they can still be bowling every day if they wish.
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The Festivals have evolved over the years with the organisers introducing innovative competitions to attract all levels of players."
Geoff Corkish MBE, MHK, Political Member for the Department of Economic Development
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Manx Telecom Ltd 2012
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Last chance to enter the Isle of Man June Bowling Festival