Inman

Subprime lender files for bankruptcy protection

A Mountlake Terrace, Wash. wholesale lender that specialized in subprime loans has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from more than 200 creditors who hold $98.7 million in secured debt.

Mortgage Investment Lending Associates Inc., which closed its doors in April and laid off 300 employees, is seeking to fend off multimillion-dollar claims by Bear Stearns, GMAC/RFC, Goldman Sachs Mortgage, Wachovia Mortgage, Deutsche Bank, Countrywide Home Loans and Indymac Bank, the Seattle Times reported.

The Times, citing previously published reports, said MILA was one of the top 30 subprime lenders in 2005, funding $4.5 billion in mortgages. The company listed more than $8 million in assets and $174.7 million in liabilities in its bankruptcy filing, the newspaper said.

The most recent press release on the company’s Web site announces the introduction of a five-year-fixed, hybrid pay-option adjustable-rate mortgage, a “promising new product” combining “the benefits of two of MILA’s most popular loans,” the 5/1 ARM and pay-option ARM.

“MILA Inc. is one of the fastest-growing e-commerce mortgage solution providers in the nation currently serving the wholesale residential market with a broad range of mortgage lending products,” the Feb. 6 press release said. “Financial strength, management stability, and proprietary, cutting-edge technology give MILA the ability to meet the challenges of the ever-changing mortgage lending market and to anticipate market trends.”