South Jersey Public Relations Executive Featured in National CNN Story on the Mortgage Crunch

July 6, 2011 - PRLog -- LAUREL SPRINGS, N.J. – Swordfish Communications’ founder and president, Gary Frisch, was featured this week in a story aired nationally on CNN, on belt-tightening by mortgage lenders.

Nearly one in four mortgage applications are rejected in the current market, according to the CNN report, even if some applicants have exceptional credit and sufficient income to pay the


mortgage. Frisch was chosen as the case study for the story because he’d been declined earlier this year – one week before his intended closing date – despite putting 20 percent down and boasting a credit rating in the upper 700s to low 800s.

As a small business owner with an unsteady income, Frisch expected some difficulty in obtaining a mortgage, but he never thought that a successful year in 2010 would come back to haunt him. His lender, Prosperity Mortgage, said that he was declined because the disparity between his 2010 and 2009 incomes was too great.

“The process has become very draconian, far worse than it was seven years ago when I last purchased a home,” said Frisch. “The thought of giving up and waiting another year entered my mind once or twice.”

He eventually received a mortgage from a different lender and successfully closed on a new house.

Also interviewed for the story was Bob Moulton, president of Americana Mortgage Group, who said of lenders, “We were too lenient in the early 2000s, we’re too tight right now. It’s got to end up somewhere in the middle.”

The two-minute story, reported by CNN financial and Wall Street reporter Alison Kosik, began airing on July 4 and is available online at the CNN Money website, www.money.cnn.com.

Frisch’s advice to others seeking a mortgage in today’s market?

“Make sure you have all your paperwork in order, go into the process with a lot of patience, and grow a thick skin,” he says.

Swordfish Communications is a South Jersey public relations agency specializing in clients in the retail, food and beverage, technology, franchise, recreation, aviation, and professional services industries. For more information, call 856-767-7772 or go to www.swordfishcomm.com.

Note to editors: To view the story in its entirety, visit http://www.swordfishcomm.com or click here: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/07/05/n_mortgage_kos...

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