Mortgage News Archives

Gov. Deval Patrick is modifying an index used in reapproving the licenses of mortgage lenders in Massachusetts to take into account how well they work with borrowers facing foreclosure.

A family of six is in danger of losing their home because of a spelling error by a government worker.

For people about to lose their homes to foreclosure, the advertisements are like a lifeline: "WE BUY HOUSES FOR CA$H," or "Refinance Your Mortgage! And Receive a 7 Day Vacation." These so-called mortgage-rescue ...

Reuters Friday, May 30, 2008; 12:52 PM LONDON - Europe's biggest bank HSBC fought off an investor backlash over a multi-million pound executive pay plan on Friday and dismissed claims its troubled U.S. unit ...

The European Central Bank celebrates its 10th birthday Monday with its reputation burnished by a steadfast stance on interest rates and quick action to supply banks with cash during the credit crisis over mortgage-backed securities.

But the ECB now faces some of its biggest challenges as the euro economy faces an uncertain outlook this year. A recent economic boom appears to be trickling away and inflation _ usually low in euro nations _ has surged to recent record highs.

By refusing to slash interest rates, the bank and its president, Jean-Claude Trichet, have steered a different course from that chosen by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, following its mandate from the Maastricht Treaty, which paved the way for the single euro currency and the bank itself.

Dina Matos has not paid her attorney, John Post, since December 2006 and owes him about $250,000 in legal fees, the former first lady testified this morning during her divorce trial.

A British banking group charged with overseeing the London interbank offered rate said Friday it won't make changes to the body that sets the dollar rate, which has been widely questioned in recent months.

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Housing Friday 30th May 2008 - 1:04pm The annual rate of house price growth fell for the eighth successive month during April, official figures showed today.

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Local Government Friday 30th May 2008 - 9:06am Hundreds of thousands of council workers will start voting today on whether to take strike action in protest at a 2.45% pay ...

Northern Rock 'doubles staff in debt management arm' as it braces for rush of mortgage defaulters By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 8:59 AM on 30th May 2008 Northern Rock is to more than double the number ...

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data show that Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp.

Future of the Housing Market - Interview with HomeServices of America Chairman/CEO Ronald Peltier

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce posted a net loss of $1.11 billion in the second quarter as it booked a massive hit tied to the credit market.

Rates on 30-year mortgages jumped this week to the highest level since mid-March as investors began to worry about what the Federal Reserve will do to combat growing inflation pressures.

Hopes that the worst is over for mortgage borrowers were dashed yesterday after Abbey announced yet another round of rate rises.

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Housing Thursday 29th May 2008 - 8:52am Housing market misery deepened today after Nationwide figures showed prices slid 2.5% in May - the biggest monthly fall recorded ...

One of the biggest corporate casualties of the global credit crisis, Bear Stearns Cos., is about to vanish into history.

Bank of America says one of its own executives will run its consumer real-estate business after it acquires mortgage lender Countrywide Financial.

"If anything, the difference in the financial climate has actually made more opportunities available to us because we have the capital and the financial clout to do it," Edward Sonshine said.

Mortgage applications fell 4.6 percent last week due to a drop in refinancing activity, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

'A win for honesty': The Rebels bikie gang The head of the Rebels bikie gang has won a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the ANZ Bank.

The regulator who oversees national banks is protesting an agreement by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to stop buying mortgages that use lenders' in-house appraisers, a pact intended to protect buyers from ...

It predicts that the United States will do so after the presidential election in November.

DEAR ABBY: I am a ninth-grade honors student in a highly rated public school. I have never cheated on any assignment, nor have I ever helped anyone else to cheat.

Sales of new homes rose in April for the first time in six months although the unexpected increase still left activity near the lowest level in 17 years.

The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that sales of new homes rose 3.3 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000 units.

But the government revised March activity lower to show an even bigger drop of 11 percent to an annual rate of 509,000, which was the weakest pace for sales since April 1991. Economists believe that new home sales will remain weak for some time as the housing industry struggles with falling prices and rising mortgage foreclosures, which are dumping even more homes on an already glutted market.

Increased savings reflect improved rates offered on the high street. Photo: PA The amount of money paid into savings accounts more than doubled in April to reach record levels, figures showed today.

Reuters LONDON - Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan was quoted on Tuesday as saying the United States was still more likely than not to have a recession despite relative stabilization in the economy ...

General Electric Co. , seeking to exit consumer finance businesses in developed markets, said it may sell the Wizard mortgage unit in Australia, adding to a growing list of asset sales.

Ohio's food pantries, community theaters and other local nonprofit groups are preparing for an expected decline in corporate donations as the economy slows and big businesses look to limit gifts.

From Right at Home Daily Finding a qualified contractor may be one of the most difficult tasks you have as a homeowner.

The problem:You may be my last resort, so I'm certainly hoping you can help me. Last summer I applied for a mortgage through Northwest Airlines and Lending Tree that entitled me to 18,375 frequent flier miles.

A U.S. Treasury official said Monday the global credit crunch is gradually calming following efforts by the Federal Reserve and other central banks.

Clay Lowery, assistant secretary for international affairs at the U.S. Treasury, said the Fed and other central banks have coordinated their actions to protect the financial system from possible disruptions after the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis surfaced last year.

As a result, the availability of credit has improved 'modestly,' Lowery told the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.

HOME OWNERS are set for a welcome financial boost, with experts predicting a cut in interest rates to 4.5 per cent.

Blame for the sub-prime crisis lies at the feet of banks who took too many risks in mortgage lending, U.S. billionaire investor Warren Buffett told newspaper El Pais in an interview published on Sunday.

Sounding a gong couldn't have made it clearer. Federal Reserve officials are putting out the word that further interest rate cuts are unlikely.

Fed Governor Kevin Warsh ditched the central bank's cryptic word tangles and actually waxed poetic. 'Even if the economy were to weaken somewhat further, we should be inclined to resist expected, reflexive calls to trot out the hammer again,' Warsh said, referring to the Fed's key interest rate.

Speaking more central-bankerly, the Fed's No. 2 official, Vice Chairman Donald Kohn, said the current stance of interest-rate policy 'appears to be appropriately calibrated for now.' Janet Yellen, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, called the current level of rates 'appropriate.'

C redit cards can be a royal pain. They often charge double-digit interest rates.

With credit markets ever so tight, many families are deciding against shopping for new houses and, instead, are remodeling their current homes.

Yet he couldn't save his own company from getting tangled in the real estate loan bust.

U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, known in the California Legislature as an aggressive reformer of the insurance and financial industries, was tapped for a fitting first committee assignment this week.

Oil's relentless price rise has pushed U.S. drivers off the road, curbed consumers' appetite for expensive goods, forced airlines into their deepest cuts in years and threatened car makers with a flood of red ...

California Congresswoman Laura Richardson claims the foreclosure auction of her Sacramento house was improper and contrary to a written agreement she had with her lender.

In a lengthy interview with The Associated Press on Friday, the Southern California Democrat struck back against several days of negative publicity over reports she defaulted on her mortgage. Her house was sold at auction earlier this month.

Richardson said that sale never should have happened and that she has renegotiated her loan to pay it off.

Could the controversial mortgage industry practice of listing hundreds of local real estate markets as "declining" -- and restricting lending through higher down payments or credit scores -- be scrapped? The ...

Many hope that their products will prove indispensable for customers and see emerging economies as sure-growth markets.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett has sued the owner of a defunct mortgage company who pleaded guilty to fraud.

Sales of existing homes in the U.S. fell for the eighth time in the past nine months, with the backlog of unsold single-family homes rising to the highest level in more than two decades.

With the credit crisis showing signs of easing, Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney used his first major address in New York to call for new regulations that would avert a repeat of the financial catastrophe.

This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Thursday May 22 2008. It was last updated at 08:38 on May 22 2008.

Reuters Thursday, May 22, 2008; 11:40 AM WASHINGTON - U.S. 30-year mortgage rates fell for a third consecutive week, according to a survey released by home funding company Freddie Mac on Thursday.

U.S. home prices posted their sharpest first-quarter decline since the government began tracking the data 17 years ago.

Apparently clicking "reply" when he meant to hit "forward," Countrywide Financial Corp.

Rep. Laura Richardson has an unusual perspective on the housing foreclosure bills moving through Congress: One of her own homes was threatened with repossession after she failed to pay the mortgage.

Swiss banking giant UBS has completed the sale of $15 billion of assets backed by risky mortgages to a fund managed by BlackRock.

Higher gasoline prices and fewer auto sales incentives jump-started Canadian inflation in April, as the price of goods and services was 1.7 per cent higher than a year earlier.

House prices will start to fall in earnest later this year, as thousands of potential home buyers shun the market, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders .

Fannie Mae's CEO told shareholders Tuesday that the housing market is "about halfway through" its crisis and home prices could fall as much as 25 percent before the worst is over.

Northern Rock was nationalised in February after getting into trouble Sharp falls in UK house prices could delay Northern Rock's repayment of billions of pounds of loans from the taxpayer, the bank's chairman ...

Home sales in the San Francisco Bay area jumped nearly 29 percent from March to April as bargain hunters found it easier to get loans and pick up property on the cheap.

But the slumping real estate market in one of the country's most expensive regions hasn't recovered from a wave of foreclosures and tightened lending requirements that are causing property values to plummet, according to a report Tuesday by DataQuick Information Systems.

Prices continued to drop in the nine-county region measured by the report, which includes San Francisco and its surrounding areas. That's a sign that home owners are still finding it hard to unload their properties without steep discounts.

5/19/08 - Housing and mortgage crisis forces sellers to get creative

“The worst appears to be over for the global financial market, but recently rising oil and food prices are making economic policy management difficult”

Japan's central bank kept interest rates steady Tuesday as widely expected amid lingering worries about a global slowdown.

The seven-member policy board was unanimous in keeping the benchmark overnight call rate unchanged at 0.5 percent at the end of a two-day meeting, according to the Bank of Japan.

Soaring gas prices, rising material costs and signs of slower global growth are weighing on the world's second-largest economy, which depends heavily on exports.

Economists predict that the Bank of Japan is likely to do nothing for about a year unless economic signs change dramatically. Read more

Virginia officials are holding a series of regional mortgage clinics to help residents avoid home foreclosure. via WSLS

“We are committed to ensuring that staff who are potentially impacted by these proposals are treated fairly and made aware of all the options open to them.”

Around 670 UK jobs are facing the axe after the world's biggest bank announced plans to close two sub-prime lenders. via Daily Express

Congress continues to work on housing as mortgage market has been shaken by sinking home values. via Reuters

“Laws shouldn't help speculators. The government ought to be helping creditworthy people stay in their homes.”

President Bush, acknowledging the economic "tough times" for many Americans, said Monday that he remains opposed to any homeowner rescue legislation that would be a bailout for lenders.

The president's comments came as Senate leaders are working on a bipartisan bill to help strapped borrowers get government-backed mortgages, paid for by tapping a fund designed to help poor families. Bush did not comment on that proposed legislation directly. He has threatened to veto a House version of the bill. Read more

“This is our dream come true in America.”

The foreclosure crisis that has forced thousands of families from their homes has given something good to the nation's best-known housing charity: Cheap properties for sale in communities around the country.

Some Habitat for Humanity chapters have seized buying opportunities in neighborhoods affected by the mortgage meltdown, snapping up scores of empty lots and unoccupied homes -- some for as little as half price.

"The down real estate market is a wonderful opportunity for all Habitats," said Gage Yager, executive director of Trinity Habitat for Humanity in Fort Worth, Texas. "As prices drop, we have the opportunity to acquire at prices that just weren't available a few years ago." Read more

Who have better credit scores on average - home buyers with higher or lower incomes? Inside the country's fastest-growing home mortgage program, the surprising answer is: People with lower incomes have slightly ... via Baltimore Sun

“God calls us to care for the poor.”

The Rev. Jeffry Dillon switched from the religious to the secular on a recent Sunday morning to ask his parishioners a pointed question: "Do subprime mortgages scare you?" Then he announced that the Roman ... via Hartford Courant

“It is very worrying that property transactions could fall by as much as 40 per cent this year. "This could have important ramifications for the wider economy.”

By SEAN POULTER and BECKY BARROW - More by this author Crunch time: The number of home sales could fall by around 400,000 to approximately 600,000 the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors have warned Sales ... via Daily Mail

“No apportionment has been made to determine what amount, if any, is attributable to any lobbying, or if such lobbying activities were in fact performed”

Richard D. Vitale was paid the money through his firm, WN Advisors, for six months of work on behalf of the Massachusetts Ticket Brokers Association in 2007, according to documents filed with the Secretary of ... via Boston Herald

A veteran police officer has pleaded guilty to federal bank fraud charges for his role in an elaborate mortgage fraud scheme that bilked lenders out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. via ETruth.com

“There was a lot of research that I had to do on my own”

Moazzam Ahmed tried for years to square his investment goals with the tenets of Islam. via CourierPostOnline

DALLAS -- Who has a better credit score on average -- a home buyer with higher or lower income? Inside the country's fastest-growing mortgage program, the surprise answer is: People with lower incomes have ... via Los Angeles Times

“Clearly, in the last couple of years, we have seen a substantial increase in mortgage fraud cases, and my anticipation is that we will continue to see that increase”

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III announced that the FBI has assigned 200 agents to investigate mortgage fraud. via The Epoch Times

A 17-year veteran of the South Bend Police Department was relieved of duty with pay Friday afternoon after pleading guilty in federal court to bank fraud. via WSBT

Eleven people have been indicted in a mortgage fraud scheme that netted at least $1.7 million in profits, federal authorities said Friday. via TheBostonChannel

Citigroup Inc. , reeling from record losses, may sell its consumer-banking unit in Germany as part of Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit 's plan to replenish capital. via Bloomberg Business News

“Or, that the economy is going to be sicker longer, and when the market realizes that it will have a nasty down-leg.”

After nine months of turmoil that started with the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, Wall Street appears to be at a turning point of sorts.

The data of the past few weeks have given investors some hope that the worst of the credit crisis has passed, that the economy isn't losing jobs at a dangerous rate and that inflation isn't out of control. The result has been relative calm in the financial markets, enabling the major indexes to reach levels they hadn't seen since early in the year _ including the Dow Jones industrials' brief return earlier this month to the 13,000 mark. Read more

“You get it on the first and it runs out by the 14th and 15th”

Danielle Brown stands outside a South Side market at midnight, braving the spring chill for her first chance to buy groceries since her food stamps ran out nearly two weeks ago. via MyFox St. Louis

“This assumes that all banks will want to play.”

LONDON : The Bank of England reiterated on Friday its mortgage swap plan has no upper limit and refused to speculate on any final total after media speculated banks could exchange assets worth nearly twice the ... via International Herald Tribune

Fannie Mae says it is doing away with higher minimum downpayment requirements for borrowers in distressed real estate markets. via KSDK NewsChannel 5

Construction of new homes posted the biggest increase in more than two years in April. While it was a rare spot of good news for the housing market, analysts said it's far too soon to declare an end to th