Home » Mortgage News » 2008 » August
Mortgage Fraud Increases, Could be Next Market Challenge
Mortgage meltdown discussions are peppered with discussions of the "liar loan," or the infamous streamline "no doc" mortgage. These mortgages filled the portfolios of most of the recently failed lending institutions. However, increased scrutiny on all types of lending should have closed off this... Read More» |
Mortgage Help-Government Assistance to Troubled Borrowers Increases
The US government and the nation's largest banks have teamed up to stem the rising tide of foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies. However, statistics from July show that it is going to be tough to outpace escalating borrower troubles. Read More» |
FOMC Minutes Signal Rate Hikes
Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) recent minutes suggest that members, having "significant concerns about the upside risk to inflation," are likely to move toward a hike in rates as the next Fed policy move. However, the committee appears to be in conflicted discussion on what the data really... Read More» |
Could a Mortgage Loan Modification Prevent Your Foreclosure?
At least 25,000 homeowners recently got a gift letter from the Federal Regulators--offering them a new, more affordable mortgage payment. Could you be as lucky as these mortgage borrowers from the recently failed IndyMac Bank? Read More» |
Can a Reverse Mortgage Secure Your Retirement?
According to a recent study of working-age households, 45% of Americans are going to fall short of retirement hopes. The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College cites "...the demise of traditional pensions, rising longevity, soaring health care costs, and falling returns" as reasons that... Read More» |
What Does Fannie and Freddie Mean to Borrowers?
It seems the inevitable approaches for the US government and its "supported entities" Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Both, moving in tight alignment, have lost over 60% of their market value in the preceding 30 days. Hovering dangerously between $3-$5 a share. Something is certain to break. So, where... Read More» |
Election Day May Be About Taxes
The election of our next President quickly approaches. The ads, debate, and polls fill every media outlet. However, a bigger theme maybe brewing on state election ballots--tax reform. Read More» |
Homeowners Need Refinance Assistance More Than Ever
Foreclosures rates continue to rise, borrowers have found themselves trapped in loans where payments and principle balances balloon, and housing values continue to plummet. This is mixing a toxic cocktail of homeowner despair. However, the government is trying to formulate an antidote. Read More» |
Government Backed Loans Surge
When borrowers talked about getting a mortgage you typically heard discussions of Countrywide and IndyMac--now you hear FHA. Only a few months ago you would have been hard pressed to find a lender, much less a borrower, that knew this acronym. Borrowers now ask for FHA loans, by name. Meanwhile,... Read More» |
Can a Bad Appraisal Cost You Your Home?
In the exuberance of the mortgage boom, it was broadly accepted that home values were moving upward quickly. Were these swiftly rising home values justified? Home owners are beginning to feel the pain of inflated appraisals. In some cases it is even costing them their homes. Read More» |
Mortgage Rates Hold Steady on Mixed Bag of Economic News
Home Mortgage Rate hold steady for the third straight week as the mortgage market is peppered with offsetting economic and housing indicators. Although there were several deviations from analyst estimates and expectations, notably in the Consumer Price Index and existing home sales, there were... Read More» |
US Foreclosures Rise 55%, Banks Seizures Climb 184%
New US legislation, effective 1 October, meant to help home owners stay in their home may not be coming soon enough. Today RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties, announced staggering increases in foreclosure and bank seizure rates. In their July US foreclosure data RealtyTrac... Read More» |
Nehemiah Launches Web 2.0 Campaign to Save DPAs
Nehemiah Corporation, operator of the largest down payment assistant (DPA) program in the nation, launches an aggressive 50 day Web and social media campaign to save a program axed by the recent Housing and Economic Recovery Act signed into law by President Bush two weeks ago today. As the ban... Read More» |
Credit Tightening Squeezes Out Motivated Home Buyers
The Federal Reserve continues to report broader consumer credit tightening--stretching across home loans into small business and credit cards. Defaults and delinquencies are beginning to spread into prime lending and economic indicators continue to show weakness. In response banks are rapidly... Read More» |
Paulson Says His Time is Short, Unlike US Economic Woes
Henry Paulson, in his Sunday "Meet the Press" gathering has said he believes challenges in the US housing markets are likely to persist beyond this year, unlike his tenure as Treasury Secretary which won't stretch beyond the Bush administration. Read More» |
Option ARMs Misused by Borrowers and Brokers
As the mortgage meltdown attention is focused firmly on the subprime market there is a subtle, yet alarming trend emerging in special mortgages made to good credit borrowers. Option ARMs, typically made to borrowers with good credit, are estimated by Barclays Capital to reach default rates as high... Read More» |
Paulson Turns to Morgan Stanley for Fannie, Freddie Guidance
Ahead of Freddie Mac's revelation of $821 million in second quarter losses and in anticipation of Fannie Mae's estimated report of a 15% downturn on Friday, Secretary of Treasury, Henry Paulson tasks Morgan Stanley to assess the current and pending damage to cornerstones of the mortgage market. Read More» |
Fannie Mae Set to Raise Fees--Borrowers See it in Interest Rate
As Fannie Mae prepares for what is certain to be a brutal quarterly earnings report to analysts and investors on August 8, stockholders can rest assured higher fees are on the way. Read More» |
Pay Option ARMs Next Wave of Foreclosures?
While analysts are tabulating and predicting default rates on less-credit worthy subprime portfolios there may be another specter lurking in the shadows of many good credit (prime) mortgage portfolios--payment option ARMs. Read More» |
Fed Boss in Interest Rate Conundrum
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke faces one of his more challenging Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) interest rate decisions this afternoon. Read More» |
IndyMac Files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
The second largest mortgage lender in the United States, IndyMac has filed for bankruptcy protection less than three weeks after it was seized by federal regulators following a bank run by depositors. Read More» |