Trend: Cashing in on default servicing

Some say you can gage a society by studying their television viewing habits. What they watch is a reflection of who they are, so the axiom goes. We are what we watch or art imitating life. Maybe, I think you'll get a better idea of what makes a society tick today by looking at their e-mail Spam.

Two years ago, I got three mortgage offers for every personal augmentation or pharmaceutical offer in my e-mail in box. That's not happening today. Sure, I still get a few excited responses to my imaginary loan applications, but that's not what's selling online today, apparently.

Today, I got a piece of Spam from a company selling post cards that I can send to borrowers facing foreclosure. I can get to these borrowers first and rewrite their mortgage, I was told, by sending them this cute card with a big cat trapping a little mouse.

The mainstream media can cry the sky is falling until they are sky blue in the face and it won't mean much to me. I've been covering this industry a lot longer than those kids have and I've been through the cycle. But when Spam marketers start selling tools to help me market to borrowers in default, that's when I start thinking the industry may really be entering the dark part of the mortgage lending cycle.