March 2011

Unemployment Spikes Region’s Foreclosure Rates

(Source: Lewiston Morning Tribune, Idaho By Elaine Williams) – Those are the life-changing events Barbara Leachman calls the three Ds of foreclosure. But since the economy stumbled in 2007, the foreclosure counselor at Community Action Partnership in Lewiston has added [...]


Posted in Political News | Leave a comment

Tampa Bay Area Ranks Ninth in Nation in Length of Foreclosures

(Source: St. Petersburg Times By Mark Puente) – Amid the foreclosure epidemic, this might pass for good news: a nationwide report says Tampa Bay homeowners can skip 21 mortgage payments before getting booted to the curb.


Posted in Political News | Leave a comment

First Coast Condo Sellers Finding It Hard To Move On

(Source: The Florida Times-Union By Kevin Turner) – Jacksonville-area condominiums, already battered by values that have fallen to rock bottom, are being clobbered by loan restrictions that effectively freeze sales in many complexes that have been hardest hit by the [...]


Posted in Real Estate News | Leave a comment

Boise Appraiser Says’It’s Going to Take a Long Time for Recovery’

(Source: Idaho Business Review, The By Gonzalez, Jennifer) – Ken Fields got caught in the real estate meltdown that continues to clobber Idaho.


Posted in Political News | Leave a comment

Local Real Estate Experts Imagine Housing Without Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

(Source: Tulsa World By Robert Evatt) – President Barack Obama said last month that he’d like to phase out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.


Posted in Real Estate News | Leave a comment

Job Searches Complicated By Checking Your Credit

(Source: The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio By Mark Williams) – Failing to pay your bills could keep you from getting a job. Frustrated at the reticence of applicants’ previous employers, companies seeking an indicator of their job candidates’ character are turning [...]


Posted in Bankruptcy News | Leave a comment

ICBA and Freddie Mac Renew and Enhance Alliance Agreement

WASHINGTON (Source: Freddie Mac) – The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), the nation’s voice for community banks, and Freddie Mac today announced the extension of their eight-year alliance agreement, which gives ICBA member banks superior access to the secondary [...]


Posted in Mortgage News | Leave a comment

Feds Sue WaMu Ex-CEO Killinger and Two Others

(Source: The Seattle Times By Sanjay Bhatt) – Firing the biggest shot yet in a promised barrage of litigation against executives of failed banks, federal regulators Thursday sued the three men who led Washington Mutual as its home-loan losses ballooned [...]


Leave a comment

Homeownership Program for Texas Educators & Heroes

AUSTIN, Texas (Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire) – The Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation is pleased to announce a new, lower interest rate of 4.99% under its Single Family Mortgage Revenue Bond Program Series 2009A. In addition to this rate, a grant of [...]


Posted in Real Estate News | Leave a comment

Vacant Dwellings Require a Different Kind of Policy

PHILADELPHIA (Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer) – More and more houses sit unoccupied these days, left behind by their owners in this still-tough economic climate.


Posted in Real Estate News | Leave a comment

Increase in Number of Mortgage Holders Not Making Repayments

(Source: Irish Times) – Defaults among mortgage holders increased during January, according to the latest analysis by Moody’s.


Posted in Political News | Leave a comment

Mortgage Rates Drop Amid Crisis in Japan

(Source: The Hartford Courant, Connecticut By Kenneth R. Gosselin) – The rates on popular options for buying a home or refinancing a mortgage dropped this week, part of the fall-out from the crisis in Japan.


Posted in Mortgage News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency Honors Its Top-10 Home Loan Lenders

HARRISBURG, Pa. (Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire) – At a banquet held today at the agency’s headquarters, the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency honored its top-10 participating lenders for their homeownership programs. These lenders assist homebuyers throughout the state in the application, processing, and [...]


Posted in Political News | Leave a comment

Banks Sprucing Up Foreclosures To Boost Sales

CHICAGO (Source: Chicago Tribune) – Bill Schramm and Bethany Siwicki scoured property listings for three months before agreeing to see a home in Round Lake Beach, even though its online pictures didn’t look promising.


Leave a comment

Bankrate Mortgage Rates Plunge to 3-month Low

NEW YORK (Source: PRNewswire) – Mortgage rates posted a sharp decline, with the benchmark conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate falling to 4.91 percent, according to Bankrate.com’s weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.38 discount [...]


Posted in Mortgage News | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

First-Time Home Buyers Prepare for Best Buyer’s Market in Recent History

CAMPBELL, Calif. (Source: PRNewswire) – While affordable housing prices, ample inventories, and historically low interest rates signal ‘buyer’s market’ for investors or move-up buyers in many U.S. markets, inexperienced first-time buyers may not know if the time is right to [...]


Leave a comment

Republicans say new consumer bureau too powerful

(SOURCE: Associated Press) – WASHINGTON – House Republicans said Wednesday that a new government agency designed to protect consumers from problems with mortgages, credit cards and other lenders has too much power. They also criticized it for participating in a [...]


Posted in Political News | Leave a comment

A Loan Modification Can Be Modified Again

(By Michael Nazarinia CEO REST Report Matters) – Permanent modification of a homeowner’s mortgage to more affordable payment terms or principal reduction through HAMP and non-HAMP private programs from mortgage servicers such as Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, GMAC, Wells Fargo and OneWest [...]


Leave a comment

In Proposed Mortgage Fraud Settlement, a Gift to Big Banks

(SOURCE: by Jesse Eisinger  ProPublica) -Lurking in a proposed mortgage fraud settlement with the state attorneys general is a clause that could be worth billions for the big banks. Yes, I mean the settlement that might extract the supposedly large [...]


Posted in Scam & Fraud News | Leave a comment

Average rate on 15-year mortgage dips below 4 pct.

(Source: Associated Press/AP Online By JANNA HERRON) NEW YORK – Fixed mortgage rates tumbled this week and the 15-year loan dipped below 4 percent for the first time in three months. Rates followed the yield on U.S. Treasury bonds, which [...]


Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

California lawyer loses license for advising clients to break into foreclosed homes

(Source: Daily Business Review) – The State Bar of California has removed the law license of Michael T. Pines, a lawyer who garnered substantial media coverage for advising clients to break into their foreclosed homes. The state bar advised Pines, [...]


Posted in Scam & Fraud News | Leave a comment

U.S. breaking even on its bank bailouts

(Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) –Nearly 2 1/2 years after the federal government began handing out billions in bailout funds to rescue the banking industry, the U.S. Treasury Department says enough banks have kept up with the interest payments or have repaid [...]


Posted in Political News | Leave a comment

BofA was 2nd biggest bailout recipient

Source: The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)  -Bank of America Corp. was the second biggest recipient of federal bailout programs in the financial crisis, according to a report issued Wednesday by a congressional panel. The U.S. government had total exposure of [...]


Posted in Bank News, Banking | Leave a comment

Live-in ‘managers’ set stage for a home sale

(Source: By Gita Sitaramiah, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.) – Instead of buying their own home, Kim Gaddes and her husband live in a high-end Sunfish Lake house staged for sale. In exchange, they get cheap rent. The catch is [...]


Posted in Real Estate News | Leave a comment

FBI chief defends mortgage fraud efforts

It looks like some people in congress like to ask ignorant questions to the FBI’s top chief. Take for example, Michigan Representative John Conyers, the committee’s top Democrat and his question below on FBI mortgage fraud prosecutions. Obviously, the mortgage [...]


Posted in Political News | 1 Comment

Geithner outlines shift in housing policy

(Source: United Press International) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Wednesday the government should “at a deliberate pace” back away from housing market support. In prepared remarks for the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs, Geithner said [...]


Posted in Political News | Leave a comment

Man pays off credit card with pennies

(Source: United Press International) –A California man upset with his bank for disallowing his requested refinance said he decided to pay off his $6,500 credit card bill entirely with pennies. Thierry Cahez of San Diego County rolled 650,000 pennies in [...]


Posted in Bankruptcy News | Leave a comment

Merchants, bankers at odds over debit fees

(Source: Redlands Daily Facts, Calif.) — Swiping your debit card to buy a cup of coffee or a new shirt has more of an impact than you may realize. The Federal Reserve is looking to cut debit fees by about [...]


Posted in Bank News, Banking | Leave a comment

FBI busts $465,000 credit card scam

(Source: Connecticut Post) BRIDGEPORT– Federal investigators arrested and indicted a former Bridgeport resident who they say orchestrated a scam in which foreign nationals applied for and received credit cards on which they charged up to $465,000 worth of goods before [...]


Posted in Scam & Fraud News | Leave a comment

Trustees Helping Investors Secure Documents in Mortgage Bond Repurchase Cases

(Source: Firedoglake.com)-  As the banking industry and their allies in the regulatory apparatus and the traditional media continue to downplay violations of law in the foreclosure fraud crisis, you get the feeling that they can no longer fool themselves. Separate [...]


Posted in Mortgage News | Leave a comment

Useful Information

Mortgage Calculators, Auto Loan Calculators, Personal Finance Calculators, Student Loan Calculators, Loan Modification, Loan Articles, Loan News