Mortgage News
State recipient of mortgage help
Jul 10th
New Hampshire has been allocated $12 million of federal funds for interest-free loan assistance to struggling homeowners.
The state state banking department said in a news release the sum is geared to help as many as 270 distressed homeowners with financing of up to $50,000 to help bring their mortgages to current status. More >
BofA reveals $20bn mortgage bill
Jul 1st
For Bank of America, getting over the financial crisis has left it with a staggering bill.
The largest US lender said this week it had set aside more than $20bn in the second quarter to settle investors’ claims that loans packaged in mortgage-backed securities had failed to meet promised underwriting standards, as well as a number of other charges and writedowns stemming from its home-loan business. More >
Wells Fargo and Bank of America Mortgage Interest Rates
Jun 24th
For those keeping track of the small changes, there were some improvements in mortgage rates at the nation’s largest lenders, boding well as week comes to an end very nearly at last weekend’s levels. More >
Wells Fargo to exit reverse mortgage market
Jun 17th
Wells Fargo & Co. said Thursday it will stop making reverse mortgages, joining rival Bank of America Corp. in abandoning the product for senior citizens.
In a reverse mortgage, the bank pays the borrower instead of the other way around, with the borrower losing equity rather than building it. The product can be useful for some seniors in need of cash, but it has been criticized for high upfront fees. More >
Mortgage rates at six-week low
Apr 29th
Long-term mortgage rates have fallen to their lowest level in six weeks on more weak housing news.
A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.78 percent this week, down from 4.8 percent last week, according to Freddie Mac. More >
Mortgage rates show a significant drop this week
Apr 22nd
Average rates for both fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgages dropped significantly this week, according to the latest report from Freddie Mac.
It its Primary Mortgage Market Survey published yesterday, Freddie Mac noted average mortgage rate decreases for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, 15-year fixed mortgages, and both 5-year adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) and 1-year ARMs. More >
Mortgage Rates Edge Up This Week
Mar 25th
The popular 30-year mortgage rate, as well as other rates, were on the rise this week, but still remain at low levels, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.81 percent this week, up from last week’s 4.76 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year mortgage rate averaged 4.99 percent. More >
State attorneys general tackle mortgage servicing
Mar 18th
State attorneys general, who soon will enter settlement talks with the nation’s largest mortgage servicers after revelations of flawed foreclosure paperwork and other shoddy practices, will accept nothing less than wholesale changes to the way those companies treat troubled homeowners, the group’s leader said Wednesday.
“We’re trying to shift the servicing industry from [being] a dysfunctional one to a functional one,” Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who’s heading up the 50-state coalition, said in an interview. “If we can get something that changes the direction of servicing, then that’s what we’ll do. If we don’t, then we’re not going to settle.” More >
Mortgage rates continue to fall
Mar 4th
The interest rates on long- and short-term mortgages continue to fall, with a 30-year fixed-rate dropping below year-ago levels.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed is at 4.87 percent, down from 4.95 percent last week. A 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 4.15 from 4.22 percent in the same period, according to Freddie Mac (OTCBB:FOMC).
The average rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage is 3.23 percent, down from 3.4 percent last week. More >
Mortgage interest deduction on the line again
Feb 15th
The Obama administration’s proposed 2012 budget would trim the value of itemized deductions for high-income taxpayers by nearly one-third, reducing the tax benefit some homeowners with mortgages receive if they itemize the interest portion of their loan payments on their tax returns.
The administration proposed such a measure as part of last year’s budget negotiations, but Congress did not approve it.
In this year’s budget message, President Obama pitched a cut in itemized deductions for the wealthy as a means for paying for the cost of protecting middle-class taxpayers from having to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax, or AMT.
