mortgage

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Freddie Seeks $31B in Aid After Posting Big Loss

(Newser) - Freddie Mac said today it will ask the government for nearly $31 billion in additional aid after posting a gargantuan loss of more than $50 billion last year as the US housing market worsened. The mortgage finance company posted a loss of $23.9 billion, or $7.37 per share,...

Banks Have Gotten a Bum Rap: BofA Chief Ken Lewis

The steps already taken are working, so let the market sort it out

(Newser) - Banks have been unfairly tarred by misconceptions about the current financial crisis, Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis argues in the Wall Street Journal. It's not true that banks aren't lending, he writes. They are just doing so more responsibly, as they should. And it's not true that bad banks...

Borrowers Now Flocking to the Feds to Default on Loans

Same cause of subprime mess blamed for new threats to taxpayers

(Newser) - History is repeating itself, and taxpayers will be footing the bill for it: Flawed lending practices are enabling borrowers to receive mortgage loans they can’t repay—but this time, Washington’s involved, the Washington Post reports. Many of the loans provided by the Federal Housing Administration default after just...

House Homeowner Bill Lets Judges Reset Mortgages

Measure would allow bankruptcy judges to ease mortgage terms

(Newser) - The House has passed a homeowner rescue bill over the strenuous objections of the financial industry that would allow bankruptcy judges to change the terms of mortgages, the Washington Post reports. Judges could cut the principal on mortgages, extend terms and reduce interest rates under terms of the "cramdown"...

White House Starts Mortgage Rescue Plan

(Newser) - The White House today kicked off its $75 billion plan to curb mortgage foreclosures, the Wall Street Journal reports. The federal dollars will both push lenders to lower monthly payments and help homeowners keep paying. “Today, we are providing servicers with the details they need to begin helping eligible...

1 in 5 Homeowners Underwater
 1 in 5 Homeowners Underwater 
Mar 4, 2009 10:17 AM CST

1 in 5 Homeowners Underwater

(Newser) - More than 20% of Americans with home mortgages owe more to their lenders than their homes are worth, a 2% rise since September, the Washington Post reports. The hardest-hit state was Nevada, where 55% of homeowners with mortgages have negative equity. These 8.3 million homeowners nationwide are much more...

Citi Offers Jobless Lower Mortgage Payments

Recently unemployed can drop payments to average of $500

(Newser) - Citigroup is announcing a new program easing mortgage payments to an average of $500 a month for homeowners who have lost their jobs and fallen behind on their debts, reports the Wall Street Journal. Borrowers will be allowed to make the lower payments for 3 months and will pay no...

Foreclosure-Relief Bill Stalls Before House Vote

(Newser) - Legislation that would allow bankruptcy judges to reduce the principal on mortgages of homes in danger of foreclosure will not come up for its scheduled House vote today because Democratic infighting has broken out, endangering its passage, CQ Politics reports. The “cramdown” provision was a red flag for fiscal...

Gap Narrows Between Mortgage Payments, Rents

Housing slump prompts shift

(Newser) - During the housing boom, mortgage payments held steady, consistently topping rent levels; now, with the market cratering, they’re returning to historical levels, the Wall Street Journal reports. After-tax mortgage payments averaged about 26% more than rent over the past 18 years; during the boom that figure surged to 66%....

Tough Job Selling Mortgage Bailout to Bill-Paying Public

Even Democrats are wary of bailout

(Newser) - President Obama may be facing a mutiny on his mortgage bailout plan. After CNBC reporter Rick Santelli’s on-air rant about the bailout "promoting bad behavior" by rewarding losers, Obama’s spokesman swatted the criticism away. But, Politico reports, public opinion is leaning in Santelli's direction—even 49% of...

Stocks Mixed; Dow Up 3 Points
 Stocks Mixed; Dow Up 3 Points 
MARKETS
Feb 18, 2009 3:17 PM CST

Stocks Mixed; Dow Up 3 Points

Greenspan comments on nationalization keep financials down

(Newser) - Stocks vacillated between minor gains and losses today, perking up slightly after President Obama announced his housing plan, MarketWatch reports. Financials continued to slide after Alan Greenspan suggested in a Financial Times interview that bank nationalization would be the “least bad” way to solve the crisis. The Dow gained...

Obama Unveils 3-Part, $275B Mortgage Plan

(Newser) - Barack Obama announced in Mesa, Ariz., today a three-pronged plan to revamp the mortgage market, the Wall Street Journal reports. The plan offers opportunities for 9  million homeowners to refinance or rework their mortgages. Five million borrowers facing foreclosure will have access to a $75 billion fund, and another 4...

$50B Obama Plan Aims to Give Homeowners Options

Administration to enable cuts in monthly payments, refinancing

(Newser) - Today the Obama administration unveils its plan to help struggling homeowners with cuts in monthly payments, more possibilities for refinancing, and changed bankruptcy rules.  Its central plank is a $50 billion subsidy for mortgage companies to make home loans more affordable. As the Wall Street Journal reports, economists are...

US May Subsidize Lenders Who Cut Mortgage Rates

(Newser) - Details are emerging on the Obama administration's plan to help homeowners: One idea is to give strapped borrowers a lower interest rate, then have the federal government chip in to defray the lenders' loss, the Washington Post reports. The Treasury Department is expected to outline its overall plan in the...

Stocks Mixed, Dow Down 6.7
 Stocks Mixed, Dow Down 6.7 
MARKETS
Feb 12, 2009 3:25 PM CST

Stocks Mixed, Dow Down 6.7

Obama mortgage plan helps stocks recover

(Newser) - Stocks ended mixed today, recovering from sharp losses on reports that the Obama administration is planning a program to subsidize mortgage payments for some homeowners, the Wall Street Journal reports. Nonetheless, continued uncertainty over how the Treasury’s rescue plan will value the so-called “toxic” assets kept bank stocks...

GOP Circulates Plan to Cut Mortgage Costs

Proposal aimed at changing Obama's stimulus package

(Newser) - Senate Republicans circulated a sweeping plan to drive down the cost of mortgages by expanding the federal government's role in the industry, officials said today as debate opened on an economic stimulus bill at the top of President Barack Obama's agenda. The emerging proposal also relies on a bigger and...

Don't Be Afraid of the 'F' Word
 Don't Be Afraid of the 'F' Word 
OPINION
Jan 31, 2009 10:07 AM CST

Don't Be Afraid of the 'F' Word

(Newser) - Foreclosures have gotten a bad rap lately, with politicians desperate to prevent them. But foreclosures actually represent one of the best paths to recovery, writes real-estate consultant Ramsey Su in the Wall Street Journal. The people facing foreclosure would be much better served walking away from the negative-equity McMansions destroying...

Freddie Mac to Let People Stay in Foreclosed Houses

Rental program aims to stop evictions

(Newser) - Freddie Mac has forged a first-of-its-kind plan to allow homeowners and tenants to remain in foreclosed homes, USA Today reports. Residents will be charged a market rental rate on leases renewable monthly after their homes have been acquired by the lender. Freddie Mac expects the program to save thousands of...

All Options on Table in Fight to Halt Foreclosure
All Options on Table in Fight to Halt Foreclosure
ANALYSIS
Jan 26, 2009 8:54 AM CST

All Options on Table in Fight to Halt Foreclosure

Obama considering moratorium, gov't-sponsored refinancing

(Newser) - The Obama administration is considering plans to stem the tide of foreclosures ranging from doubling the mortgage interest deduction to a six-month foreclosure moratorium to government-sponsored refinancing, reports the Los Angeles Times. But a strategy is still at least several weeks away and, regardless of what bandages are applied, “...

'Bad Bank' for Toxic Assets Among Feds' TARP Options

Paulson, Bair show support creating federally sponsored institution

(Newser) - Support is growing for the latest proposed use of bailout funds: a federally sponsored “bad bank” to purchase toxic assets from troubled financial institutions, Bloomberg reports. “A lot of work has been done on an aggregator bank,” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said today; FDIC chief Sheila Bair...

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