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Geithner: Refinancing Help On the Way - Regulators are trying to make home refinancing easier, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a speech Thursday, outlining his plans for financial reform in 2012. The government is working with the Federal Housing Administration and the Federal Housing Finance Agency to remove "unnecessary barriers" some borrowers are facing when applying for new mortgages or refinancing current home loans. - US News 

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“Administration Officials Don’t Really Want Housing Program to Work” - Posted by Larry Doyle - Sense on Cents

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(chart) The housing market duality - With the backdrop of extreme weakness in the US housing market through the end of 2011, the trend of divergence between the distressed and the non-distressed housing markets continues. - Sober Look Blog

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(must read) Seven Questions Begging to Be Answered Before a Foreclosure Settlement Is Reached - Bruce Judson - (Friday) is the deadline for state attorneys general to sign on to a joint federal and multi-state $25 billion settlement of the robo-mortgage scandal. … The details of the proposed settlement have not been released. However, one thing is clear: This settlement puts the nation at further risk of another systematic financial crisis and runs counter to any notion that the actions of the Obama administration will reflect the president’s newly energized populist rhetoric ... - Huffington Post
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Dodd-Frank's Consequences (has 9) - Marc Ross - SF Chronicle

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Investors (and Others) Realizing Their Ox is About to be Gored in Mortgage Settlement - Yves Smith - ... Any principal mods on the first lien that leaves the second in place amounts to a transfer from retirement plans to banks. Pensions are being raided to avoid exposing the insolvency of the big banks. ... - Naked Capitalism

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(really good) Michael Olenick: More on ProPublica’s Off Base Charges About Freddie Mac’s Mortgage “Bets” - Naked Capitalism

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The Permanent Foreclosure Crisis and Obama's Refinancing Obsession - posted by Alan White - ... Instead, the Administration proposes the dubious strategy of loading up the FHA portfolio with 4% mortgages at 125% loan-to-value ratios, thus continuing the process of transferring future mortgage losses from banks to taxpayers, and amplifying those losses, while letting the foreclosure crisis continue, just as Mitt Romney proposes.  Nothing about the refinancing strategy moves forward the process of realigning mortgage debt to home values.  ... - Credit Slips

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4Q Production Rises at Ally/ResCap, but Firm Takes Mortgage Charge - The mortgage division of Ally Financial Inc., originated $16.5 billion of new loans in the fourth quarter, a small gain from 3Q, but a 29% drop from the same period in 2011, according to new figures released Thursday morning. The entire company lost $250 million in 4Q, blaming its performance on a $270 million charge for regulatory “penalties” tied to foreclosures. It's assumed that some of the money is linked to a pending 'robo-signing' settlement with the nation's attorneys general. - National Mortgage News

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National Servicing Standards Emerge in New Homeowner Bill of Rights - BY: CARRIE BAY - DS News

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Citigroup to Exit Mortgage Brokerage Channel - BY: RYAN SCHUETTE - ... He says that the move away from brokers will allow Citi to “focus our attention and efforts on our retail and correspondent channels,” even while it invests “resources in growing those channels that align the mortgage business with the overarching customer-centric strategy” of the industry in North America. ... - The M Report 
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Signs of Life in Wholesale? - Paul Muolo - Wholesale lending is back! OK, not exactly. Citigroup announced its exit from the channel this past week and some trade journals—not knowing their stuff—seemed to think it was the biggest story since the Hindenburg disaster. Wholesale only accounted for 9% of Citi's production - National Mortgage News 

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