> Banks
Cut Off Loans to Art Buyers
...
April 24/08
The boom in the art
market has been fueled in part by easy credit from private
banks. In recent years, wealthy U.S. art collectors borrowed an
estimated $2 billion to $3 billion from private banks and other
financial-services companies to build their collections. The
loans are often backed wholly or partially by the art itself...
cont... |
> Canada
Says Credit Shortages to Persist Until 2010
...
April 24/08
The Bank of Canada
predicted tightness in credit markets until 2010, and said the
shortages will combine with a slump in exports to the U.S. to
cause the slowest economic growth in 16 years...
cont... |
> How
the mortgage industry nurtured deceit
...
April 24/08
Here's the narrative
we've heard about the mortgage meltdown: miscalculation and
unfounded optimism, clueless investors, cash-strapped home
buyers clobbered by rate resets. But
there's one piece of the mortgage-meltdown tale that virtually
every article or television program dances around without ever
quite confronting. It's the story of
the liar's loan....
cont... |
> Credit
Suisse bank posts $2.1 billion loss
...
April 24/08
Credit Suisse Group on
Thursday posted a $2.1 billion loss for the first quarter as the
global effects of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis continued to
spread. Switzerland's second-largest
bank said it also had net write-downs of 5.3 billion francs
($5.3 billion) for big buyout loans and mortgage securities.
It was the first time the bank, Switzerland's second
largest, had posted a loss in the subprime crisis...
cont... |
> Further
US Interest Rate Cuts Will Do Far More Harm than Good
...
April 23/08
The Federal Reserve
has played a major role in America's economic decline.
Greenspan's “weak dollar” policy pushed trillions of dollars of
credit into the hands of people who had no realistic prospect of
paying it back. Now the banks are buried beneath a mountain of
bad investments and foreclosures are at record highs. (In
California 65,000 homes are now in some stage of foreclosure
while the total number of homes sold in February—new and
used---was a mere 20,513) Michael S. Rozeff explains the current
downturn in his article “The Subprime Crisis and Government
Failure”...
cont... |
> Predatory
lending or consumers' fault?
...
April 23/08
Recent data reveals
that the current housing crisis was caused by predatory lending
practices as well as mortgage fraud.
The dilemma in applying a fix is that a broad bailout not only
will help those who were truly victimized by rapacious lending
institutions but also those who knowingly took risks with such
acts as falsifying financial records or the abuse of stated
income loans...
cont... |
> When
‘easy payments’ aren’t easy
...
April 23/08
Today, Americans are
born into a world dominated by debt, and the majority has no
concept that there actually was a time when excessive home
mortgages, automobile loans, school loans and credit cards did
not exist. The pitch is: “Easy monthly
payments!” Yes, but “easy” for whom...
cont... |
> Lending
Tree Says Rogue Employees Leaked Customer Info
...
April 23/08
Lending Tree sent out
an email this week letting customers know that its customer
information, including addresses and social security numbers,
was accessed by outside parties. Lending Tree doesn't think any
fraud or ID theft was involved—instead, several rogue employees
leaked passwords to rival mortgage lenders so that they could
advertise their own loans to applicants....
cont... |
> BofA
to stop offering risky mortgages
...
April 23/08
Bank of America Corp.
said Tuesday that it planned to stop offering some riskier
mortgage loans after it finishes buying Countrywide Financial
Corp., the largest U.S. mortgage lender.
The changes affect home loans once common at Countrywide,
which agreed in January to a $4-billion takeover by the nation's
second-largest bank after borrower defaults soared and credit
markets tightened...
cont... |
> Payday
loan clients to share $3M settlement
...
April 22/08
Payday loan clients of
The Cash Store Inc. and Instaloans stand to share in a $3
million settlement of a class-action lawsuit.
Lawyer David Thompson of Scarfone Hawkins LLP of Hamilton
said today he has negotiated the settlement, subject to court
approval. The proposed deal calls for
half of the money to be paid in cash and half in vouchers to
borrowers outside of British Columbia and Alberta...
cont... |
> Fed
auctions another $50 billion to banks
...
April 22/08
Battling to relieve
stressed credit markets, the Federal Reserve has provided a
total of $360 billion in short-term loans to squeezed banks
since December to help them overcome credit problems.
The central bank on Tuesday announced the results of its
most recent auction … the 10th since the program started in
December, where commercial banks bid to get a slice of another
$50 billion in the short-term loans...
cont... |
> Credit
Crisis Changing American consumers
...
April 22/08
The formerly
unsinkable American consumer is taking on water, hit by high
prices for food and energy, rising unemployment and fewer assets
to sell or refinance. And with the
household sector accounting for about three-quarters of the U.S.
gross domestic product, an end to American shoppers' remarkable
run will have a big and self-reinforcing effect...
cont... |
> VisionBank
sets sights on problem mortgages
...
April 21/08
Mark Saliterman's bank
isn't quite 3-years old and hasn't turned a profit, but the
58-year-old entrepreneur still thinks it can help fund troubled
Twin Cities homeowners out of foreclosure.
VisionBank of St. Louis Park, which Saliterman started in
2005, is rolling out a program to help homeowners who are in or
are facing foreclosure keep their homes...
cont... |
> Bank
of America 1Q profits fall 77%
...
April 21/08
Bank of America Corp.
(NYSE: BAC) today posted a first-quarter profit of $1.21
billion, a 77-percent decline from the year-ago period’s $5.26
billion, on revenue that fell 6 percent to $17.3 billion.
Earnings per diluted share shrank to 23 cents from the 2007
first quarter’s $1.16...
cont... |
> Credit
crisis squeezing out students
...
April 21/08
The credit crunch is
squeezing virtually every part of the consumer world, including
one group that can ill afford a shortage of funds: college
students. As families are applying for
college financial aid or are receiving financial aid packages
from schools, they face a landscape of uncertainty and more
effort to find funds to pay for their children’s education...
cont... |
> Students
Scramble To Get Loans Amid Credit Crunch
...
April 18/08
Across the country,
students and families are scrambling to pay college tuitions
after several large corporate lenders pulled out of the student
loan business this week. More big
corporate lenders are pulling out of the student loan industry.
The move puts added stress on colleges like Lasell, where
tuition, room and board make up 86 percent of the budget. Four
out of five students at Lasell depend on financial aid...
cont... |
> South
Florida banks' problem loans rise
...
April 18/08
South Florida-based
banks are showing signs of economic stress, with the number of
problem loans on their books climbing dramatically from December
2006 to December 2007, a new report shows.
The increase in past-due loans is a reflection of not
only the worsening housing market but also challenges from the
economic slowdown as even some solid companies are hard-pressed
to keep loan payments up to date, banking analysts say...
cont... |
> Canada's
Housing Boom Is Over
...
April 18/08
"Canada's six-year
housing market boom is officially over," said Douglas Porter,
deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets."
The Canadian Real Estate Association reported 75,476
homes changed hands in the first quarter of 2008, down 13% from
the first quarter of 2007. In March, sales dropped 18.7% from
the same month the year before, including a 39.7% slide in
Calgary, a 34% drop in Edmonton and a 22.2% drop in Toronto...
cont... |
> State
Supreme Court Upholds Payday Lender Fine
...
April 17/08
The state Supreme
Court on Thursday upheld a $1.4 million fine levied against the
owner of 14 payday lending businesses in Arkansas for operating
the check-cashing outlets without a license.
The high court affirmed decisions by a Pulaski County
circuit judge and the Arkansas State Board of Collection
Agencies...
cont... |
> Two
plead guilty in $35 million mortgage fraud scheme
...
April 17/08
Two men behind one of
the largest mortgage fraud schemes to hit the Twin Cities area
pleaded guilty to mail fraud Thursday in federal court.
Thomas J. Balko and Jonathan E. Helgason, co-owners of TJ
Waconia, pleaded guilty to a three-year scheme that involved 162
properties and $35 million in mortgages...
cont... |
> Congress
moves to calm US student loan turmoil
...
April 17/08
The U.S. Congress
moved closer Thursday to putting a government safety net under
the the $85 billion student loan market as millions of young
people make preparations to head to college in the autumn.
The House overwhelmingly approved a bill to direct
federal financial institutions, including the Treasury
Department's Federal Financing Bank, to ensure enough money is
available to provide student loans...
cont... |
> Wachovia
to move away from option ARM focus
...
April 14/08
Admitting that its
plunge into adjustable-rate mortgages has failed, Wachovia Corp
said on Monday it will abandon its emphasis on the home loans
and instead focus on providing a wider array of loan products.
The fourth-largest U.S. bank became a dominant provider of
"option" adjustable-rate mortgages when it paid $24.2 billion in
October 2006 for Golden West Financial Corp, a Oakland,
California-based lender and thrift...
cont... |
> Credit
hangover will last a decade, analysts predict
...
April 14/08
Talk about a hangover:
While the current credit crisis may be resolved over the next
few years, analysts at J.P. Morgan Chase are predicting its
aftermath will linger for 10 years.
Market structure and pricing will be impacted for at least the
next decade as global financial institutions and regulators
spend a major portion of their time ensuring the same mistakes
never occur again, according to Jan Loeys and Margaret Canella,
the analysts who wrote the J.P. Morgan research note released
earlier today...
cont... |
> S
& L Crisis vs. Mortgage Meltdown: What Happened?
...
April 14/08
Some of us remember
the "the savings and loan crisis" of 1989 that swept across the
country. Today we are experiencing a similar crisis, known as
the "mortgage meltdown." How do these two events compare?...
cont... |
> A
Tougher Market for Student Loans
...
April 14/08
With April in full
swing, a rising generation of future college and graduate
students is combing through financial aid awards and
contemplating the five- and six-figure of student debt necessary
to becoming marketable in the global economy. The effects of the
subprime mortgage meltdown have extended to the student loan
market, with recent failures in the auction-rate securities
market squeezing dozens of lenders out of federally-backed
student loans and making other lenders choosier....
cont... |
> Political
and finance officials must take bold steps to solve the mortgage
mess and credit crunch
...
April 14/08
In critical economic
times such as these, progressive thinking and drastic measures
are needed in order to avert an economic disaster of historic
proportions. The current mortgage mess and credit crunch have
the potential of decimating the entire economy.
It took the progressive thinking and drastic government
measures of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to pull the country
out of the Great Depression....
cont... |
> The
Madness of Ben Bernanke
...
April 14/08
The dollar is in a
tailspin, the trade deficit is growing and a recession is on the
horizon. The American way of life is in serious danger. But the
head of the Federal Reserve keeps on pumping easy credit into
the system -- a crazy policy that will worsen the crisis...
cont... |
> For
first-time buyers, a falling market has opened a window of
opportunity
...
April 13/08
When Kelly and Justin
Crosby first started looking at homes in Boston's western
suburbs last year, they quickly eliminated Southborough from
their list - they liked the large lots but prices were out of
their reach. What a difference a year
made. With home prices falling, the couple broadened their
search and are now about to close on a split-level home on 1.7
wooded acres in Southborough for $84,000 less than its original
list price...
cont... |
> Townhouses'
financing fiasco saps savings and shreds hopes
...
April 13/08
To see what the
national housing meltdown looks like, take a drive to Sandlin
Branch, a modest tree-lined townhouse development on the edge of
town. Since December 2005, 45 of the 112 townhomes have been
auctioned off in foreclosure sales. At least seven others are
being dumped at drastic price reductions as owners scramble to
salvage their credit ratings. Banks that repurchased the
mortgage loans now hold assets worth a fraction of their
original value....
cont... |
> Senate
foreclosure relief bill advances
...
April 13/08
Under growing pressure
from voters to do something about the nation's home foreclosure
crisis, top Senate leaders agreed Tuesday to at least start with
a plan that can win the support of both Democrats and
Republicans. The pact between Majority
Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell,
R-Ky., ended weeks of partisan bickering over what to do about
the crisis in the housing market and the toxic effect it's
having on the economy...
cont... |
> Ex-WaMu
insider now an angry outsider
...
April 13/08
Lee Lannoye was part
of the innermost executive circle at Washington Mutual when the
Seattle company was an industry wonder, strong enough to acquire
a string of competitors and grow its assets from $6 billion to
more than $200 billion. Now he's on
the outside looking in, and he's angry at the downward spiral of
the institution he played a role in building. He's also angry
that no one has been held accountable...
cont... |
> A
new homebuyer headache
...
April 13/08
Escalating home prices
in St. George in recent years have made it much more difficult
for many low- to moderate-income families to afford a home.
And it's about to become even more difficult. Mortgage
insurance companies, which provide coverage to borrowers who
must have the insurance if they cannot make a 20 percent down
payment, now consider St. George to be a "declining area" in
terms of home prices....
cont... |
> FHA
Say It Will Loosen Some Lending Rules
...
April 9/08
New rules may help
some homeowners avoid foreclosure. The
U.S. Federal Housing Administration says it's taking additional
steps to help homeowners facing foreclosure stay in their homes.
FHA Director Brian Montgomery has told Congress his agency is
loosening some of its rules to head off what some see as a
looming disaster....
cont... |
> Subprime
Mortgage Crisis: Nightmare of the “American Dream” for Black and
Latino People
...
April 9/08
Ozell and J.W. McBee,
a retired Black couple, had lived with their three grandchildren
in their South Side Chicago home since 1999. In 2006, they
received a call from a “mortgage consulting” company offering to
re-finance them into a mortgage with a monthly payment $100
lower than the $700 a month they were paying. But to get that
lower rate, the McBees were told, they would first have to be
refinanced into a mortgage with payments of $1,400 for two
months. But then the mortgage company
refused to refinance them into the lower monthly payments...
cont... |
> Fed
Weighs Options As Credit Crunch Lingers
...
April 9/08
Having already bailed
out the financial system with its rescue of Bear Stearns last
month, the Federal Reserve is under pressure to expand its
extraordinary encroachment into the markets even further as the
credit crisis persists. But as the Fed wrestles with how best to
guide the economy through the credit crunch, calls for a fiscal
response from elected officials are growing...
cont... |
> Who
Will Bail Out the US FED?
...
April 9/08
Whoever believes that
the most recent Fed/JP Morgan heist to acquire Bear Stearns,
along with other simultaneous and preceding Fed actions, were
”successful” had better check again. The current crisis is so
severe, and it has already forced the Fed to reach into its own
balance sheet grab-bag so deeply, that a very legitimate
question arises, and the question is this: when the Fed ploughs
all the way through its own balance sheet and gets to the bottom
of the barrel, who will bail it out?...
cont... |
> IMF
fears near-trillion-dollar financial crisis
...
April 8/08
Financial institutions
could suffer losses as high as 945 billion dollars from the
ongoing credit crisis, according to a gloomy forecast by the
International Monetary Fund Tuesday that far exceeded banks'
existing write-downs and economists'
estimates. The IMF blamed a 'collective failure' of oversight
for the market turmoil...
cont... |
> SBA-backed
loans drop 15% in S. Fla
...
April 8/08
The number of loans
backed by the Small Business Administration in South Florida
dropped 15 percent during the first half of the fiscal year, as
the national credit crisis reared its head in the small business
marketplace, the agency reported. The
SBA backed 1,786 loans worth $380 million through March 31,
versus the 2,071 loans worth $384 million it processed last year
at this time. Broward County saw the
steepest drop in loan volume, down 27 percent ...
cont... |
> 5
Plead Guilty to Mortgage Fraud Scheme
...
April 8/08
Five individuals
recently pleaded guilty in federal court to mortgage fraud
charges... Sharon Chamberlain of
Pittsburgh and Ericka Stanford of Carnegie, Pa., pleaded guilty
to one count each of participating in a wire fraud conspiracy.
Stanford and her co-conspirators also submitted false documents
in connection with the loan applications, including
appraisals that inflated the true value of the properties,
appraisals that represented that they were prepared by
licensed appraisers when they were really prepared by unlicensed
appraisers and employment and income verification documents that
misrepresented the borrowers' employment status and overstated
the borrowers' income....
cont... |
> Citi
may write down another $17 billion
...
April 8/08
Banks’ first-quarter
earnings will deliver more bad news, reflecting higher loan loss
provisions and lower revenue from fees.
“Back in January 2008, there still seemed to be hope that
the economy would avoid a recession and that the second half of
2008 would bring a turnaround for banks,” said independent
research agency CreditSights in a report published Tuesday.
“However, since that time, the first quarter brought another leg
down in housing prices and equity market averages.”...
cont... |
> Lessons
from Japan: Prepare for 0%
...
April 8/08
The prospect of a
USFed 0% rate becoming a reality has been on my mind since
August when the sub-prime news hit. In
my view, the entire mortgage bond structure would suffer massive
losses in a successive of waves, beginning with subprimes,
extending to primes, and concluding with commercials....
cont... |
> WaMu
To Exit Much of Mortgage Origination Business
...
April 7/08
As HW reported Monday
evening, the deal with TPG includes provisions that will see the
Seattle-based lender substantially scale back its footprint in
residential mortgage origination. In addition to a complete exit
out of wholesale lending, the bank will also close its
free-standing loan origination offices
as it looks to refocus entirely on bank retail origination
activity....
cont... |
> Mortgage
Protection Legislation Introduced
...
April 7/08
Senator Kevin O’Toole
introduced legislation today that would provide greater
regulatory oversight and consumer protections for mortgages. The
measure also strengthens prohibitions against predatory lending.
"This measure will provide fundamental protections for
New Jersey families purchasing or refinancing homes," O’Toole
stated. "Home ownership is the American dream, and we must take
every possible step to ensure that it is safeguarded."...
cont... |
> Bank
of America creates business loan unit
...
April 7/08
Bank of America Corp
on Monday said it has created a new unit to make $5 million to
$25 million secured loans to mid-sized businesses.
The new unit will be called the Business Finance
Division, and be part of Bank of America Business Capital, a
unit of the second-largest U.S. bank by assets....
cont... |
> Loans
for college harder to find
...
April 6/08
The credit crunch is
squeezing virtually every part of the consumer world, including
one group that can ill afford a shortage of funds – college
students. As families are applying for college financial aid or
are receiving financial aid packages from schools, they face a
landscape of uncertainty and more effort to find funds to pay
for their children's education....
cont... |
> Senate
Won't Let Judges Alter Mortgages
...
April 3/08
U.S. Senate Democrats
dropped an attempt to let bankruptcy judges alter the terms of
mortgages Thursday, though that did little to strengthen the
tenuous bipartisan support for the Senate's first significant
attempt to address the housing crisis. The 58-36 vote to table
the amendment was a victory for the lending industry, which
vigorously lobbied lawmakers in recent weeks to oppose the
measure by suggesting it would raise interest rates for all
homeowners....
cont... |
> US
Investment Banks Borrow $10 Billion from Fed
...
April 3/08
Under the Fed's new
primary dealer credit facility, investment banks borrowed
$10.341 billion from the discount window for the week ending
April 2, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday. Also, $92.658
billion was borrowed by dealers under the Term Securities
Lending Facility (TSLF). The TSLF auction was held on March 27,
2008 and settled the following day. The TSLF lends U.S. Treasury
Securities to primary dealers through an auction process. The
loans have a 28-day term...
cont... |
> Subprime
Mortgage Problems: A Quick Through the Rubble
...
April 3/08
The collapse of the
subprime mortgage market in late 2006 set in motion a chain
reaction of economic and financial adversity that has since
spread to nearly all sectors of the economy, as well as to
global financial markets, has created depression-like conditions
in the housing market, and has led the American economy to the
brink of recession. In response, many in Congress and the
executive branch have proposed a number of new federal spending
and credit programs that would greatly expand the role of
government in the economy...
cont... |
> Geithner
Says Credit Markets Still Impaired, Urges Action
...
April 3/08
New York Federal
Reserve Bank President Timothy Geithner said capital markets are
still "substantially impaired'' and policy makers and financial
industry leaders must "act forcefully'' to stem the crisis.
"What we were observing in U.S. and global financial markets was
similar to the classic pattern in financial crises,'' Geithner
said in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee...
cont... |
> Cohen
Unveils Plan to Save Homes from foreclosure
...
April 3/08
Assemblyman Neil M.
Cohen, chairman of the Assembly Financial Institutions and
Insurance Committee, today unveiled legislation he has crafted
to help give the thousands of New Jersey families caught-up in
the recent mortgage market upheaval an opportunity to retain
their homes. Cohen's bill aims to directly help three classes of
homeowner/borrowers affected by the mortgage crisis: homeowners
whose mortgage interest rates are about to reset; borrowers who
currently are in foreclosure proceedings and are awaiting
issuance of a final judgment; and borrowers whose homes are
slated for sale but who retain the "right to redemption" under
the law...
cont... |
> Wachovia
Looking to Pull Back on Option ARMs
...
April 3/08
A lender memo sent out
earlier in the week by Wachovia Corp. announcing that it would
no longer offer its infamous Pick-A-Payment loans might have
been premature, but sources told Housing Wire on Thursday that
it’s only a matter of time before the Seattle-based bank pulls
the plug on its Option ARM product in key California counties...
cont... |
> Overdue
Consumer Debts Highest Since 1992
...
April 2/08
Consumers fell behind
on car, credit-card and home-equity loans at the highest level
in 15 years, another sign the U.S. economy is slowing, according
to the American Bankers Association's quarterly survey. Payments
at least 30 days past due increased across all eight categories
of loans tracked during the fourth quarter, the Washington-based
group said today in a statement....
cont... |
> Seniors
Turning to Reverse Mortgages For Everyday Expenses
...
April 2/08
Regular HW readers
know that the reverse mortgage market has been booming as of
late, for two distinct reasons: first, the greying of American
baby-boomers continues, and for many, their home is their most
significant asset as they head into retirment. But reverse
mortgages have also been booming because so many former brokers
and loan officers have figured out the demographics, and the
implosion of the residential lending market has led to a mass
exodus of sorts for many former brokers...
cont... |
> Credit
Crunch to Drag On Despite Efforts by the Fed
...
April 2/08
Now that Wall Street
has gone through its version of “Survivor,” it’s time for a
reality check. The credit crunch is probably far from over and
is more likely to play out like a mini-series than as a reality
TV show. The root structure of the credit crunch stretches wide
and deep. Many of the financial instruments involved are
complex, unusual and difficult to value. Asset prices remain in
a state of flux and the very players that need to be lending are
the ones shoring up their balance sheets...
cont... |
> Myers
accuses Adler of being influenced by mortgage lobby
...
April 2/08
Republican House of
Representatives candidate Chris Myers charged that state Sen.
John Adler, D-6th, took money from mortgage industry lobbyists
and voted for their interests when making changes to state
consumer protection laws. The Myers campaign issued statements
Friday and Monday highlighting a Dec. 31 Wall Street Journal
article about the mortgage lobby's campaign donations to
legislators from various states. The article alleged legislators
watered down predatory lending laws after accepting donations.
Butera & Andrews, a lobbying firm founded by a former executive
at Ameriquest Mortgage Co., donated $2,500 to Adler in November
2003 and March 2004, according to the story...
cont... |
> Volatile
lending practices place burden on students
...
April 1/08
About 3,500 students
who have federal loans will soon feel the effects of the
currently unpredictable federal and private loan market as early
as this summer, a financial aid officer said. Some lenders have
dropped out of the loan market, causing students to seek
different lenders for next fall, said Mike Scott, director of
scholarships and financial aid. "This is the worst situation we
have seen in the 10 years I have been working with loans," said
Melet Leafgreen, assistant director scholarships and financial
aid...
cont... |
> First
Direct Suspends New Mortgage Lending
...
April 1/08
First Direct, a
telephone and online bank owned by London-based HSBC Holdings
Plc, has temporarily halted mortgage lending to new customers
after a five-fold increase in applications, the Financial Times
reported. First Direct has been swamped with applications since
it introduced a two-year, fixed-rate, 4.95 percent mortgage, and
competitors withdrew similar deals because of the credit crunch,
the FT said....
cont... |
> Mortgage
failures force Denver-area exodus
...
April 1/08
Foreclosures are
ripping through the rows of new homes in the flatlands where
Denver turns to prairie. Every week, 10 more families here need
to find someplace else to live. Six months behind on their
mortgage, Dave Evans and his wife, Suzie, packed the contents of
their modest blue house here into a rented truck one day in
July....
cont... |
> Eight
Steps to a Trillion-Dollar Meltdown
...
April 1/08
No, it’s not the Great
Depression, but the United States is facing a nasty economy-wide
retrenchment following the excesses of the 2000s, with no easy
way to dance through it. Think 1979 to 1982, when then U.S.
Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker exorcised consumer price
inflation from the economy. The difference today is that the
inflationary explosion has been absorbed by prices of
assets—houses, stocks and bonds, office buildings—rather than by
the prices of things you buy at the store. Here’s how it
happened....
cont... |