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Mortgage bankers report fewer subprime woes in Mississippi.

Article Excerpt
Mississippi is somewhat insulated from the worst of the nation's problems with increasing foreclosures on home mortgages, especially in the subprime market. While the state isn't immune to concerns about the mortgage market, Mississippi hasn't seen the drastic fluctuations in home prices that have fueled skyrocketing foreclosure rates in some of the hottest real estate markets in the country.

"We never got into the subprime business," said Bill Edwards, president of the mortgage division of BancorpSouth. "We're an A paper lender. We haven't felt the slowdown. Other banks that got to where 40% to 50% of their business was in that line, they are struggling."

Edwards said BancorpSouth's volume of mortgage business is actually ahead of last year, and above the bank's expectations for 2007. The only slowdown BancorpSouth has seen is what is normally experienced in the fall and winter. New mortgage activity is normally the strongest in the summer and there is less activity in the fall and winter.

The worst problems with the subprime market have been on the East Coast and West Coast where a significant num ber of subprime mortgages were written at a time when real estate values were appreciating rapidly. Edwards said BancorpSouth, and most other regional...

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