December 2010

Source: Associated Press/AP Online NEW YORK – Applications for mortgages fell last week as higher mortgage rates chased borrowers away. The Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday overall applications for loans declined 2.3 percent from the previous week.

Source: St. Petersburg Times (LoanWorkout.org) -Christopher L. Peterson, a consumer rights attorney and professor at the University of Utah’s law school, was confused when he first heard about MERS, the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, which was created by U.S. bankers [...]

Effort focuses on Increasing Opportunities for Vets and Military Community WASHINGTON SBA (LoanWorkout.org) – A very popular initiative that in just three-and-a-half years has provided more than $560 million in loan guarantees to nearly 7,000 veterans to start or expand [...]

Source: Belfast Telegraph (LoanWorkout.org) – UK MORTGAGE lending looks set to fall to its lowest level for more than three decades during 2011 with first-time buyers particularly hard hit, a trade body has warned. Net lending, which strips out redemptions [...]

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution (LoanWorkout.org) – The Obama administration’s foreclosure prevention program was blasted in Washington on Tuesday as “ineffective.” Struggling metro Atlanta homeowners like Miriam Vincent share the same concerns. Vincent sought relief through the federal government’s [...]

Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel (LoanWorkout.org) -  Two local attorneys representing homeowners fighting foreclosure have joined more than 200 lawyers, more than 30 legal services organizations and a dozen consumer advocacy groups asking the Federal Reserve governors to preserve the right [...]

Source: Star Tribune, Minneapolis (LoanWorkout.org) – The founder and chairman of the bankrupt ConServe Corp. was charged Monday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis in an alleged Ponzi scheme the government says bilked more than $8 million from investors. According [...]

Source: Tribune-Review (LoanWorkout.org) – A federal grand jury in Pittsburgh is investigating a former Jeannette business that defaulted on $1 million in government-backed loans, according to court records. Frank Trigona, who owns the Penn Avenue building in which the owners [...]

Source: The Indianapolis Star (LoanWorkout.org) –Dec. 15–Steering clear of risky loans, Stonegate Mortgage Corp. avoided the fate of hundreds of rivals that closed when the economy tanked. Now, the Fishers-based financier is reaping the rewards. On Tuesday, operators of the [...]

Source: The Seattle Times (LoanWorkout.org) – Dec. 15–Lenders have moved to foreclose on another downtown Seattle property that once was part of a mammoth proposed high-rise development. Most of the site of the proposed Heron and Pagoda Towers on Fifth [...]

(Source: AZ Central) – Homeowners trying to get a loan modification under the federal Making Home Affordable Program (HAMP) are often frustrated by a seemingly ambiguous process. However, the Treasury Department has set out very specific guidelines that mortgage servicers [...]

(Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer) -  Shortly before he was fired as the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s executive director in September, Carl R. Greene was hard at work building his newest nonprofit, the Pennsylvania Association of Public Service Agencies. It had the [...]

(Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) – Gary Cornelius owns a two-bedroom townhouse in Hampton off Hemlock Drive, yet he lives almost as if he’s homeless. His thermostat is turned down so low that friends and family members are uncomfortable visiting in the [...]

(Source: News Sentinel) – Over the last several weeks, the columns have examined at alternatives to foreclosure for those unable to make their mortgage payment but want to stay in their home. Before leaving this topic, this column will expand [...]