by Moe Bedard | Aug 31, 2011 | Mortgage News
NEW YORK (Source: TheStreet By Philip van Doorn) — For Bank of America (BAC), exiting the correspondent mortgage business is a major, painful move to shrink its balance, boost capital ratios and shore-up control of its mortgage credit quality. According to the...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 31, 2011 | Bank News, Banking
(Source: Chron) – So here’s Eric Schneiderman, of whom you’ve probably never heard, who last year was elected attorney general of the state of New York, a job that arguably makes him the third most-influential state officeholder in the nation, behind...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 31, 2011 | Bank News, Banking
(Source: MarketWatch By Kurt Brouwer) – If you thought the $800 billion TARP program was the end of our government’s bailout bonanza for wayward banks, you’re wrong. If you thought the Fed’s secret $1.2 trillion loan program for foreign and domestic banks was...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 31, 2011 | Bank News, Banking
(Source: Reuters By Lauren Tara LaCapra) – Top Bank of America Corp lawyers knew as early as January that American International Group Inc was prepared to sue the bank for more than $10 billion, seven months before the lawsuit was filed, according to sources...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 31, 2011 | Bank News, Banking
(Source: Wall Street Journal BY ELIOT BROWN) – At a time when the U.S. banking sector is reducing its exposure to commercial real estate, Wells Fargo & Co. has taken a different approach: expanding lending to the sector while also buying real-estate loans...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 31, 2011 | Bank News, Banking
NEW YORK (Source: By Candice Choi, AP Personal Finance Writer) — Several banks are waiving a variety of fees for customers hard hit by Hurricane Irene.Chase says it will waive fees for customers in 13 states through Sunday. The waived fees include overdraft and...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 31, 2011 | Bank News, Banking
(Source: Daily Mail Online By Chris Brooke and Becky Barrow) – Cash-strapped homeowners are being telephoned by their banks and told to cut spending on ‘luxuries’ – or risk losing their homes.Every week, around 2,000 customers of Northern Rock Asset Management...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 31, 2011 | Bank News, Banking
PARIS (Source: Wall Street Journal BY DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS) — French banks hold €7.6 billion ($10.98 billion) in Libyan assets that were frozen under a February resolution passed by the United Nations Security Council in response to Libya’s Col. Moammar...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 30, 2011 | Mortgage News
(Source: By David McLaughlin and Dakin Campbell) – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. filed an objection to Bank of America Corp. (BAC)’s proposed $8.5 billion mortgage-bond settlement with investors, joining investors and states that are challenging the...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 30, 2011 | Mortgage News
(Source: Star Telagram By Scott Nishimura) – Homeowners looking to refinance their loans and cash in on record-low interest rates are boosting business for mortgage lenders in North Texas, executives say.At Colonial Savings, applications have increased in the...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 30, 2011 | Scam & Fraud News
(Source: Media-Newswire.com) – The Federal Trade Commission put an end to three schemes that claimed they would help consumers with their mortgage and debt problems, as part of settlements with defendants who allegedly claimed a bogus affiliation with government...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 30, 2011 | Scam & Fraud News
(Source: LomaLinda Patch By Bill Norris) – Two people were arrested after investigators from the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office Real Estate Fraud Unit searched a Fontana realty office.Officials went to Fidelity Group Realty and Legal...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 30, 2011 | Real Estate News
NEW YORK (Source: CNNMoney By Les Christie) –– Home prices made a comeback during the second quarter, but the struggling housing market isn’t out of the woods yet.Prices rose a substantial 3.6%, compared with the three months ended March 31. But home...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 30, 2011 | Real Estate News
(Source: The Daily Eastchester by Fenella Pearson) – Realogy Corporation, the parent company of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Connecticut and Westchester County, N.Y., a leading provider of real estate and relocation services, announced that it has...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 30, 2011 | Bank News, Banking
(Source: By Sandra Block, USA TODAY) – The native of Guyana and former Marine carried balances on his credit cards, went out to dinner at least five times a week, and didn’t pay attention to the price of gas.Today, Hariprashad, owner of Ena’s Driving...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 30, 2011 | Credit News
(Source: The Detroit Press BY DAVID JESSE) – Michigan universities and alumni associations that offer branded credit cards made $2.7 million in commissions and royalties last year, according to a first-ever Federal Reserve report required by new laws that...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 30, 2011 | Bank News, Banking
(Source: The Wichita Eagle) – Whenever the leadership class feels nervous, you can count on some of them to offer the less-moneyed masses a bone to demonstrate they care. Warren Buffett says his idea of “shared sacrifice” is higher taxes on the...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 30, 2011 | Bank News, Banking
(Source: The Atlantic) – While most big U.S. banks appear to have recovered fairly well from the financial crisis, Bank of America continues to struggle. Its instability stems in large part from its acquisition of mortgage giant Countrywide in 2008. Recent...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 30, 2011 | Bank News, Banking
(Source: Business Insider) – I’m going to go Don Draper on you guys for a second: There was a time… long ago… when a man didn’t fear his bank; his bank feared him. It aimed to please him, and both parties got something they couldn’t...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 30, 2011 | Bank News, Banking
(Source: Bloomberg By Adam Ewing) – Swedish banks may follow Nordea Bank AB (NDA), the country’s biggest lender, in shedding jobs to lower costs as a slowing economy and stricter capital rules curb profit growth.“In an environment where it will become...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 29, 2011 | Loan Modification News
(Source: By Sarah Portlock / The Star-Ledger) – Don and Peggy Roeske have been trying to get some help with their Bank of America mortgage for more than three years. Five years ago, they refinanced and, a year later, they took out a home equity line of credit....
by Moe Bedard | Aug 29, 2011 | Scam & Fraud News
RICHMOND, Va. (Source: Legal Newsline BY BRYAN COHEN) – Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced a lawsuit on Thursday against a Chesapeake, Va.-based mortgage loan modification company for allegedly charging illegal advance fees for its...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 29, 2011 | Mortgage News
(Source: The Washington Post By Ezra Klein) – To emphasize a point I made in a Thursday post, the Obama administration can’t use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to do a mass refinancing of troubled mortgages. They need the Federal Housing Finance Authority, which is...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 29, 2011 | Mortgage News
DALLAS, Aug. 29, 2011 — (Source: The Sacramento Bee) – More than 2,000 mortgage jobs have been eliminated this year, according to the Second-Quarter 2011 Mortgage Employment Index from MortgageDaily.com. But falling rates and worsening loan performance...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 29, 2011 | Mortgage News
(Source: The Washington Post By Danielle Dougla) – Local credit unions are reporting an uptick in mortgage applications, as record-low interest rates entice members to refinance their mortgages or purchase a home, despite rising fears of a double-dip recession....
by Moe Bedard | Aug 29, 2011 | Real Estate News
(Source: USA Today By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY) – Short sales are increasing as a percentage of home sales in many states, helping some neighborhoods and homeowners avoid the more devastating impacts of foreclosures. Short sales — when lenders allow financially...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 29, 2011 | Real Estate News
(Source: Smyrna Vinings Pach By Sydney Busby) – Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, shared mixed reviews for Atlanta’s real estate market during his keynote address at the 11th Annual Showcase.Yun addressed several hundred...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 29, 2011 | Real Estate News
(Source: LA Times) – Modest growth in the occupancy of commercial buildings such as offices, warehouses, shopping centers and apartments was predicted by the National Assn. of Realtors. The trade group said the country’s commercial real estate vacancy rates were...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 29, 2011 | Real Estate News
(Source: Business Insider) – Despite the official data suggesting that home prices aren’t really falling much, there are something rather more interesting that I have been reading and hearing for a while now. Since probably a month or two ago (or perhaps...
by Moe Bedard | Aug 29, 2011 | Real Estate News
(Source: by Catherine Reagor The Arizona Republic) – Recent reports say foreclosures are declining in metro Phoenix and large numbers of homes are selling. But many homeowners feel trapped in houses they can’t sell. Some real-estate agents can’t find...
