November 2009

Banks’ Buybacks of Defaulted Single-Family Loans Surge   Banks had to buy back $7.1 billion in defaulted single-family loans in the third quarter to reimburse mortgage investors, up from $1.9 billion in the previous quarter. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Call [...]

Go ahead. Break the chains. Stop paying on your mortgage if you owe more than the house is worth. And most important: Don’t feel guilty about it. Don’t think you’re doing something morally wrong. What kind of law school professorial [...]

Despite the hundreds of billions of dollars loaned by the federal government to the nation’s largest banks, the financial industry continues to be stingy with loans itself, creating a big drag on economic recovery. Lending fell by 3% ($210.4 billion) [...]

Legislation last year nearly doubled the maximum mortgage the FHA could insure, to $729,750 for single-unit properties and almost $1 million for multi-unit ones. As a result, the FHA is moving into expensive markets, especially on the West Coast, in [...]

FHA, the Federal Government’s home mortgage insurer is at risk of running out of money. As Hari Sreenivasan of CBS reports, a federal agency has been helping the housing market, but this is risky.

If and when the Fed program does end, mortgage rates will rise – but not by much. The Fed’s intervention is worth upwards of 75 basis points for a conforming loan, says Keith Gumbinger, a vice president at HSH Associates. [...]

But five months later, Ms. Thomas, 35, is back at the beginning. She has made her reduced payments on time. She has submitted the proper paperwork, she says, while enduring a bewildering array of conflicting instructions from her bank. But [...]

Mortgage counselors still caution that most troubled homeowners won’t qualify for a better loan deal, either because their finances aren’t solid enough or their lender isn’t willing to deal. But enough success stories are emerging to provide glimmers of hope. [...]

The US Treasury is planning to announce a new program Monday intended to place pressure on uncooperative mortgage lenders to offer more loan modifications for struggling homeowners. The name of the new mortgage strategy to stem the foreclosure crisis by [...]

Within 23 days, a bill to give lenders more leeway to sue former owners of foreclosed properties had been proposed, considered and approved by the Legislature. But after hearing complaints about unintended consequences and a lawsuit, lawmakers beat a retreat: [...]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Option-ARMs: File under, “It sounded good at the time.” These exotic mortgages allowed homebuyers to come to closing with little cash and choose, monthly, how much to pay: interest and principal, interest only, or a minimum [...]

Rick Mullen of Valencia has waited more than a year for his lender, JPMorgan Chase, to finalize a loan modification. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times / November 17, 2009)  ”I’ve talked to them at least 50 times, and it’s [...]

Indymac Bank F.S.B. v Yano-Horoski 2009 NY Slip Op 52333(U) Decided on November 19, 2009 Supreme Court, Suffolk County Spinner, J. 2005-17926 Steven J. Baum P.C. Attorney for Plaintiff P.O. Box 1291 Buffalo, New York 14240 Diana Yano-Horoski Defendant Pro [...]

It looks like another judge “gets” it and has handed a free home to a couple duped homeowners who were really just looking for a little help. The decision came down on November 19 in New York when Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice [...]

CARSON CITY, Nev.—The Nevada Supreme Court says more than 3,400 homeowners who’ve received notices of default have requested mediation under a new program that took effect July 1. Under the program administered by the Supreme Court, homeowners who receive default [...]

FTC – The Commission has agreed to settlements in its case against Freedom Foreclosure Prevention Services, LLC that, pending court approval, would ban Jeffrey Segal and Michael Workman from working in the loan modification industry and bar them from misrepresenting [...]

Kirkland Young and its manager allegedly misrepresented themselves as consumers’ mortgage lenders or servicers or their affiliate. The firm is believed to be owned by a David Botton of Miami, Florida. The company left telephone messages for consumers stating that [...]

Crowder Law Group and its co-defendants allegedly misrepresented themselves as a federal government agency or affiliate. Their personalized postcards to consumers stated, “You may qualify under the new government bailout to refinance your current mortgage . . . ” Some [...]

Crossland Credit Consulting Corp. out of Flordia and its co-defendants allegedly operated deceptive mortgage refinancing, credit repair, and loan modification schemes. According to the FTC complaint, they falsely promised to use proceeds from mortgage refinances to promptly pay off consumers’ original [...]

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–As unemployment rises, more borrowers need principal forgiveness on their mortgages, not just restructured loans, Citigroup Inc.’s (C) mortgage chief said. The comments by Sanjiv Das, president and chief executive of Citigroup unit CitiMortgage Inc., came as [...]

Freddie Mac (FRE) said its additional losses related to the bankruptcy of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. could be “significant.” At the end of September, the giant mortgage lender, which federal regulators took control of a year ago, estimated [...]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — In a sign that more foreclosures could be on the horizon, 23% of people with mortgages owe more than their home is worth, according to a report released Tuesday. Almost 10.7 million U.S. mortgages were “underwater” [...]

Sometimes I wonder if some of these loan modification companies ever read the news or bother to do their due diligence with state and federal laws before they dive in head first into the business. Take for example this company [...]

“We are propping up the market on the backs of the middle class,” he said. “If we are going to prop up the market on the backs of the middle class there needs to be some kind of bailout for [...]

In Los Angeles, foreclosures for buildings with five or more units totaled 78 — encompassing 1,344 units — in the first three quarters of 2009, compared with 49 buildings and 432 units over the same period last year, and 13 [...]