Rating Firms Agree to Settlement over Business Practices
- By:
- MortgageLoan.com | June 04, 2008
A coalition of leading Wall Street credit rating firms is close to an agreement with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to end an investigation into their roles in the subprime-mortgage crisis.
Cuomo has spent months poring over thousands of pages to determine whether investment banks withheld critical information about the home loans they were packaging into bonds to be sold to investors.
The settlement which would allow rating firms (they include Fitch Ratings, Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's) would allow the rating firms to avoid government sanctions for their roles in the credit crunch, an unnamed source revealed to Bloomberg.
The deal would require rating firms to implement within six months new policies such as a modified fee structure and increased disclosure about the deals they rate. Under the terms of the settlement, the credit companies would also avoid admitting to any wrong doing.
Executives at Fitch, Moody's and Standard and Poor's say they are cooperating with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other regulators to improve the quality of their analysis and services.
Bankruptcy Reform Back on the Table
- By:
- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | November 21, 2008
One of the earliest ideas for helping homeowners facing mounting mortgage debt and potential foreclosure on their home was to reform bankruptcy laws. The concept is now officially back on the table, introduced into the Congressional lame-duck session by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL).
TARP is Closed for Relief Until Further Notice
- By:
- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | November 20, 2008
Remember what a crisis the $700 billion mortgage market bailout was--the very existence of the American financial order hung in the balance.
Fixing the Housing Market, Lots of Ideas...Any Answers?
- By:
- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | November 19, 2008
Almost a year into the dawning of the housing crisis (many chronologist are setting that around the January 2008 crumbling of Countrywide) ideas continue to flow, but few seem to be the answer. In fact, this seems to be the growing consensus--there is no silver bullet.
G-20 Lots of Motion, Will There Be Action?
- By:
- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | November 18, 2008
The 20 most powerful industrial nations, and now the caretakers of an unprecedented global financial crisis, assembled in Washington DC over the weekend. Their mandate was broad and daunting--stabilize world markets.
FDIC Challenges Treasury with New Loan Modification Proposal
- By:
- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | November 17, 2008
On the heels of the Treasury and Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) loan modification plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the FDIC releases their own proposal. In this unprecedented, unilateral, and aggressive move by a Federal agency the FDIC is essential fighting a very public political battle directly with the Treasury and the current Administration.
Mortgage Rates Drop for Second Straight Week
- By:
- Bill Rice - MortgageLoan.com | November 14, 2008
Another week of dismal economic data have again pushed down mortgage rates. Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.14 percent, down from 6.20 percent last week. This demonstrates a steep decline from 6.46 percent two weeks prior.
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