Putting a lone senator’s cantankerous challenge behind it, the Senate is back to work on a $100 billion-plus bill reviving popular tax breaks and extending longer and more generous jobless benefits through the end of the year.
Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning relented on Tuesday evening, freeing the Senate to approve stopgap legislation extending for another month [...]
Archive for the ‘news’ Category
Lone holdout gives in, Senate OKs jobless benefits
March 3rd, 2010 by Mortgage Writer
Tags: america's working, barack obama, putting, senate, small businesses, unemployment
more...Strong growth in Q4 likely to slow throughout 2010
February 26th, 2010 by Mortgage Writer
Don’t count on the economic growth spurt at the end of 2009 to carry into this year.
The economy grew at a blistering 5.7 percent pace in the final quarter of last year, according to a preliminary government estimate. And an updated estimate due out Friday is expected to produce the same figure, according to Wall [...]
Tags: businesses, conomic activity, economy grew, home foreclosures, q4, unemployment, wall street
Mortgage rates fall for second straight week
January 26th, 2010 by Mortgage Writer
Rates for 30-year home loans edged lower for the second straight week, a report said Thursday, but remained above last month’s record lows.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5.06 percent this week, down from 5.09 percent a week earlier, mortgage company Freddie Mac said.
Rates dropped to a record low of 4.71 percent [...]
Tags: Freddie Mac, mortgage, mortgage rates, mortgages, news
FHA raises fees, tightens loan standards
January 26th, 2010 by Mortgage Writer
The Federal Housing Administration is raising fees and tightening lending standards to shore up its strapped finances and avoid a taxpayer bailout.
The government agency has seen its losses rise with the foreclosure rate. Its reserves have sunk below the minimum level required by Congress. A healthy FHA is vital for the housing market because it [...]
Tags: borrowers, mortgage, news
Mortgage relief reaches 7 percent of borrowers
January 26th, 2010 by Mortgage Writer
The Obama administration’s mortgage relief plan provided help to only 7 percent of borrowers who signed up last year.
About 900,000 borrowers have enrolled in the $75 billion program since it launched in March, the Treasury Department said Friday. But as of last month, only about 66,500 homeowners had received permanent relief. Another 46,000 have been [...]
More prime mortgages default in 3rd quarter
December 22nd, 2009 by Mortgage Writer
Troubled home loans continued to mount in the nation’s banks in the third quarter as even once-solid borrowers increasingly fell behind on their mortgage payments.
For the first quarter ever, the number of homes in foreclosure with mortgages serviced by U.S. national banks and savings and loans topped the 1-million mark, according to figures released Monday [...]
Tags: bankrupty, borrowers, foreclosure, home loan, homeowners, loan, mortgage, mortgage payments, Obama, primer mortgages
Mortgage owner at risk of default
December 21st, 2009 by Mortgage Writer
The listed mortgage owner RHG risks being in default on $2.5 billion in financing for its mortgages - or about a third of its business - after it lost a NSW Supreme Court case last week.
The danger was revealed for the first time yesterday after the German bank HVB successfully argued in court that RHG [...]
Tags: financiall crisis, home loans, mortgage, mortgage owner
Seasonal Slowdown Sees Mortgage Lending Fall
December 18th, 2009 by Mortgage Writer
Mortgage lending fell by 10% in November as the market experienced its traditional seasonal slowdown, the latest figures have shown.
A total of £12 billion was advanced during the month, down from £13.3 billion in October and 14% less than in November last year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
The group said a modest [...]
Tags: Council of Mortgage Lenders, mortgage, mortgage lending, mortgage rates
Mortgage rates rise to 4.94%, Freddie Mac says
December 17th, 2009 by Mortgage Writer
The rate for the week ended today increased to 4.94% from 4.81%. It set a record low 4.71% in the week ended Dec. 3. The average 15-year rate was 4.38%, the McLean, Virginia-based company said today in a statement.
“We’re probably seeing a bottoming process in the mortgage rates,” said George Mokrzan, senior economist at Huntington [...]
Tags: fannie mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, home loans, lenders, mortgage, mortgage rates, National Bank in Columbus, The Mortgage Bankers Association
Mortgage lending up by 20%
December 15th, 2009 by Mortgage Writer
Mortgage lending has increased but repossessions are also back on the up, according to new data released today by the FSA.
New loans being issued totalled £40 billion in the three months up to September 2009, an increase of 20 per cent on the previous quarter, the FSA’s statistic reveal.
However, this was still lower than the [...]
Tags: borrowers, homeowners, lenders, loans, mortgage, mortgage lenders, mortgage lending