Loan Modification Programs of Limited Benefit to RMBS -  Loan modification programs may have a modest positive ratings impact on prime Residential Mortgage-backed Securities, but subprime, Alt-A and Option-ARM RMBS are unlikely to see any significant improvement, according to Standard & Poor’s. Furthermore, loan modifications could encourage more delinquencies, negating any potential benefits - Research Recap

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A Rush Into Refinancing as Mortgage Rates Fall - TARA SIEGEL BERNARD - … Last week, the Federal Reserve announced that it would buy $500 billion in mortgage-backed securities  … On Wednesday, people close to the discussions said that the Treasury had been talking with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about ways to drive down mortgage rates to as low as 4.5 percent … - New York Times 

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1.  Top HECM Lenders Through November 2008 - John Yedinak - Below you will find the top HECM lenders through November in 2008. Be sure to check out the sample report which breaks down the top lenders even more at the bottom.   With the calendar year quickly approaching a close, YTD volume is up 5.1% while the number of active lenders has increased 80.3%. Total November … - Reverse Mortgage Daily

2.  AARP Poll Shows 3 Out Of 4 Boomers Expect To Remain In Current Home - John Yedinak - Need a new stat to throw out about why the reverse mortgage mortgage industry will continue to grow?  A new survey published by AARP found that only one in four baby boomers expects to move from their current home in the future, with the majority of this group looking for a single level home that … - Reverse Mortgage Daily 

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Crackdown: SEC Gets Tougher on Rating Agencies - Raters become the first industry to be handed new regulations as a result of the credit crisis. - Sarah Johnson - CFO.com 

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4.5% interest rates should clear the matter up - Under the plans-that-don’t-make-a-lot-of-sense category (which is bulging to overflow these days) … handing out 4.5% interest rates to people who may not really need them. Reports out late Wednesday included this on CNNMoney.com:  Lobbyists are pushing the Treasury Department to consider a plan to purchase mortgage-backed securities in the hopes of driving mortgage rates to as low as 4.5%, an industry source said. - LA Times Blogs

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Paulson Considers New Plan to Resuscitate U.S. Housing Market - By Robert Schmidt and Dawn Kopecki - Bloomberg 

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If you use spreadsheets read this: The Great Excel Spreadsheet - thanks Susan Kulakowski - The DailyWTF.com 

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Strategies For Diagnosing Troubled Second Liens  - by Thomas Showalter -  The value of delinquent second liens declines extremely rapidly, with many losing almost all of their full value within 90 days after becoming seriously delinquent (60-plus days). A successful servicer must quickly diagnose the second lien’s circumstance and prescribe the most appropriate treatment very early in the delinquency cycle.  - MortgageOrb

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Desperate Times, Desperate Policies - Nouriel Roubini - Stag-deflation marches on. - Forbes

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a reader reacts:  Capital One To Buy Local Banking Icon Chevy Chase - By Zachary A. Goldfarb and Binyamin Appelbaum - Washington Post    - NewsClips reader Jim Hennessy says:  Based on the story below, we could have an entirely new paradigm in loan servicing — Capital One could send out its barbarian horde to collect those delinquent option ARMs!  “Give me what’s in YOUR wallet!”
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Ken Lewis-yes, Ken Lewis-talks sense on bank accounting. Tom Brown explains at bankstocks.com.

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US mortgage rates post largest drop in 27 yrs-Freddie Mac - Reuters, Thursday December 4 2008 By Julie Haviv  - NEW YORK, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages plummeted by 0.44 percentage point in the latest week, the biggest weekly drop in 27 years, according to a survey released on Thursday by home funding company Freddie Mac.  This week’s decline was the largest since the week of Nov. 27, 1981,… -   guardian.co.ok 

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Give owners 5% mortgage and watch economy thrive - By MARK C. DAWKINS - … but what should he do?  1. Paulson should require all banks (or at least all banks that accepted TARP money) to immediately reset every mortgage on their books to a 5 percent fixed rate … - AJC.com

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US CPAs Show Growing Acceptance of Change from US to International Accounting Standards - William Roberts -   riskcenter.com 
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SIFMA aims to restore confidence in securitization markets - SIFMA is taking part in a global initiative to offer recommendations that do not require legislation or new regulations but strive to restore confidence in securitization markets. - SIFMA.org news release      78 page paper here