Foreclosure Moratorium Spurs New Interest in Short Sales - Tom Gordon - … By working with loan servicers, some homeowners will be able to modify their loan terms and stay in their homes. But many won’t. Not all borrowers will qualify for modified loans. Lenders are keenly aware of this, as well as the fact that foreclosing on a home is an expensive proposition … - RISMEDIA
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1. has list of 10 - Creative New Ways To Buy A Home - Matt Woolsey - A traditional bank mortgage isn’t the only option for purchasing a house. Even though mortgage rates are at near 30-year lows, some homebuyers are completely avoiding banks and getting below-market rates-even without credit or income qualification. - Forbes
2. Economic Slow Pace Can’t Continue - Brian S. Wesbury and Robert Stein - We may be in the doldrums, but we’re not frozen in time. - Forbes
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Bailout Funds - What Are They Buying? - By Thomas Sowell - … Using long, drawn-out processes to put money into circulation to meet an emergency is like mailing a letter to the fire department to tell them that your house is on fire. If you cut taxes tomorrow, people would have more money in their next paycheck, and it would probably be spent by the time they got that paycheck, through increased credit card purchases beforehand. … - Real Clear Politics
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Dudley to Replace Geithner as Head of the New York Fed - By Neil Irwin - William C. Dudley, a behind-the-scenes engineer in the Federal Reserve’s response to the financial crisis, is being promoted to a starring role. - Washington Post
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Lawsuits Against Mortgage Securities Issuers: Damages Issues Ahead? - by Kevin LaCroix - … These lawsuits, typically filed under the ’33 Act and alleging misrepresentations in the offering documents, claim that investors who purchased securities in the offering have been harmed due to the deterioration in the performance of the underlying mortgages. … - D&O Diary
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Subpoenas Issued in Merrill Lynch-Bank of America Merger - New York Wants to Know: Who Knew About $4 Billion in Bonuses? - By RICHARD ESPOSITO - ABC News
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A Bold New Plan: Dump FAS 157 - By Liz Peek - … Demonstrating the impact of mark-to-market accounting, Bove reviews the figures for Bank of New York. Delinquencies on BNY’s commercial mortgage-backed securities were 0.88% of its total portfolio; Bove points out that the bank is currently carrying the loans at $0.75 on the dollar, indicating a 25% default rate. … - Motley Fool
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US House Panel Begins Debate On ‘Cram-Down’ Mortgage Relief - (Dow Jones)- A U.S. House panel began debating legislation Tuesday to allow judges to modify mortgage loans for people in bankruptcy, after a key Democrat agreed to changes narrowing its scope. - CNN Money
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Dumbest Bubble Deals - By Elizabeth MacDonald - As rotten mortgages continue to cripple the balance sheets of large companies, beleaguered executives face yet another looming risk to their stock prices. Massive writedowns related to past M&A deals, where companies bought up en masse bad mortgage mills and finance companies during the go-go bubble years. … The looming writedowns are a sobering comeuppance for executives who went on a spectacular, speculative merger bender during the housing and credit bubble - Fox Business News
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FHFA SENDS TWO INTERIM FINAL RULES TO FEDERAL REGISTER - regarding Enterprise Portfolio Holdings and Federal Home Loan Banks Capital Classifications - has links to both at FHFA
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FASB Pulls Back on Fair Value - Joseph Rosta - The banking industry has won a victory in the fair value war, sort of. - US Banker
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Understanding Loss Ratios’ Effect On Insurance Premiums - By Ronald A. Reitz - One of the conditions imposed upon borrowers under their deed of trust or mortgage is to obtain and maintain homeowners insurance for their property. The mortgage servicing industry refers to homeowners insurance as hazard insurance. While borrowers are required to maintain insurance coverage, servicers know from experience that delinquent borrowers often let their policy lapse early on in the default process. The responsibility falls on the servicer to track every loan to ensure the required hazard insurance is in effect. - lots more - MortgageOrb
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FDIC May Limit Interest Rates Offered by Banks With Low Capital - By Margaret Chadbourn - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which is selling failed U.S. banks at the fastest pace in 17 years, probably will propose limits on interest rates paid by lenders with less than adequate regulatory capital, industry consultant Bert Ely said. - Bloomberg
