Mortgages
JP Morgan to Pay $56M to Settle Military Mortgage Violations
Lending giant JP Morgan Chase is paying $56 million to settle claims it repeatedly overcharged military families on their mortgages and improperly foreclosed on nearly a dozen service members. The lending giant came under fire this winter after an NBC News investigation revealed it repeatedly violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a key safeguard that protects [...]
27Apr2011 | Chris Birk | 1 comment | Continued
New HUD Rule Goes After Fake Mortgage Loan Letters
Did you ever wonder why you get so many letters and emails from lenders who offer low mortgage quotes and seem to be affiliated with the FHA or HUD? The answer, very simply, is that you ought to wonder. Why? Lenders are not supposed to imply or infer any endorsement from the federal government. In [...]
26Apr2011 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Can We Predict Mortgage Loan Walk-Aways?
It’s generally estimated that about a third of all mortgage foreclosures are simply voluntary, people who can afford their monthly payments but throw in the financial towel and make a strategic decision to walk away from their homes and loans. Now a new system says it can predict who will walk and who will stay. [...]
25Apr2011 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Can Bi-Weekly Loans Stop Mortgage Foreclosures?
If you have a bi-weekly mortgage will your payments be more in line with your paycheck, thus lowering your costs and reducing the chance for foreclosure? Imagine that a household has two wage-earners who take in $100,000 per year. Lenders allow them to finance with monthly payments equal to 31 percent of their income or [...]
28Mar2011 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
FHA Banks Multi-Billion Profits, Seeks Less Success
First we learn that HUD will raise borrower costs and then we find out that the FHA program is already a multi-billion profit center for the federal government. On February 14th HUD announced that it is raising the annual mortgage insurance premium for new borrowers by .25 percent. That’s an increase of about $30 a [...]
27Feb2011 | Peter G. Miller | 1 comment | Continued
JP Morgan Chase Boosts VA Mortgage Protections for Military Service Members
JP Morgan Chase seems to have learned a lesson. The mortgage behemoth recently announced it will boost protections for service members in the coming months, on the heels of revelations that the company repeatedly violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The law protects active duty military members from foreclosure, high interest rates and other civil and [...]
17Feb2011 | Chris Birk | 0 comments | Continued
Will “safe” QRM mortgages raise loan rates?
In an important step forward, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finally has a website — and a big issue to confront. The question is fairly straight-forward: What’s a safe mortgage? There must soon be an official definition to comply with Wall Street reform measures passed last summer. The Wall Street Reform Act tells us that [...]
8Feb2011 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Are FHA mortgage loans freely assumable?
In tough times is it true that FHA loans are assumable? You see spread across the Internet a resounding “yes” when the question of FHA mortgages and assumptions is raised. Unfortunately, a flat “yes” is not the whole story. FHA loans are not freely assumable; that is, a buyer cannot take over an existing mortgage [...]
24Jan2011 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
How long must I hold a job to get an FHA mortgage?
With so much turmoil in the workplace — and so much demand for FHA loans — is it possible to get an FHA mortgage if you’ve had frequent job changes or even unemployment? The answer is “yes” and this should be good news to a lot of people in a changing work environment. HUD guidelines [...]
20Jan2011 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Struggling VA mortgage borrowers get cash relocation assistance
Veterans who lose their homes to a short sale or a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure can receive up to $1,500 in relocation assistance. The VA has for years encouraged mortgage servicers to work with veterans on the edge of default. Now, the agency has directed its approved servicers to provide that cash advance to borrowers who use [...]
19Jan2011 | Chris Birk | 0 comments | Continued
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