I missed this yesterday from Bank of America: Bank of America announced that it is the first mortgage servicer to sign an agreement formally committing to participation in the pending second-lien component of the federal government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). The formal action follows a verbal commitment to…
The Federal Housing Administration today announced a few tweaks to its home loan insurance program, charging borrowers a little more and requiring a bigger down payment for folks with very low credit scores. The FHA program, which generally allows for down payments as low as 3.5%, has accounted for…
President Barack Obama today called for a special fee on the 50 biggest financial firms. A bank economist and an independent economist react: Scott Anderson, senior economist, Wells Fargo Anderson said much of the losses Obama mentions actually went to nonbanks like failed insurance giant AIG and General Motors.…
President Barack Obama today proposed a special fee on 50 financial firms with assets greater than $50 billion each, saying banks should pay for their own bailout and calling executive bonuses “obscene.” While companies have paid back most of the money they got from a $700 billion program to…
President Obama is likely to propose a fee on financial companies to help close the budget deficit and recoup some taxpayer funds used to bolster the financial system, reports the New York Times ( with a nod to Politico.com). However, the administration wants to avoid a transaction tax that…
Economics blog Calculated Risk hears the Obama administration’s plan to help homeowners with their second mortgages has stalled. We already know the plan for first mortgages is only keeping a fraction of delinquent borrowers in their homes. The blog says housing economist Tom Lawler emailed the Web site for…
Warren Buffett is in talks to buy Residential Capital — which controls Costa Mesa-based Ditech.com — from GMAC, the New York Post reported just before the holidays. National Mortgage News ran a more recent story on ResCap, saying the Buffett deal is a likely scenario for the troubled company,…
I’ve been writing on this blog that housing short sales may become more popular this year as loan modification programs fail to help as many struggling homeowners as once hoped. In a short sale, a homeowner sells for less than outstanding mortgage debt on a property. In a recent…
The Wall Street Journal reports the U.S. Treasury said it will “provide capital as needed” to mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the next three years. The blank check courtesy of taxpayers is a bid to reassure buyers of the debt of the government-controlled companies. But note:…
This should come as no surprise, from Bloomberg: Mortgage servicers must give U.S. homeowners more time before kicking them out of the government’s loan-modification program, reflecting further struggles in the execution of the plan. Servicers can’t cancel an active Home Affordable trial modification scheduled to expire before Jan. 31…