31.   Lloyds bought a life insurer and a mortgage business before it was fashionable.

32.   MBNA has specialized in issuing credit cards through affinity groups, and it wants to use those relations to expand its mortgage business.

33.   MBNA says the statute is hindering its expansion in the mortgage business, while consumer groups say lifting the ban would drive up the cost of buying a home.

34.   Neither, it seems, do most others in the mortgage business.

35.   Nikko Securities Co. International retreated from the U.S. mortgage bond business in October, about six-months after Daiwa Securities America did the same.

36.   One little percentage point can turn feast to famine in the mortgage lending business.

37.   Outspoken bears are nowhere to be found, but analysts say investor reticence about the companies mainly reflects fears of recession and the possibility of less new mortgage business.

38.   Prudential Insurance said it wanted to sell its home mortgage business, one of the largest in the country.

39.   Prudential Insurance Co. of America announced Wednesday that it wanted to sell its home mortgage business, one of the largest in the country.

40.   Pulte, based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, also has a mortgage business.