All Posts Tagged With: "Mortgages"
How The Mortgage Interest Deduction Can Be Cut, Sliced & Diced
Is it time to end the mortgage interest deduction? For the first time in years the question is a matter of serious debate in Washington. Right now residential mortgage interest deduction (MID) is generally allowed on first- and second- home debt worth as much as $1 million plus an additional $100,000 for a home equity [...]
5Dec2012 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Big Bank Derivative Bets Nearly Double In Six Years
America’s major banks now hold derivatives with a notational worth of $225 trillion – about a third of the world total. No kidding. Trillion. And that’s up from a mere $120 trillion six years ago. Rather than being weened off derivatives, America’s big banks are more deeply entrenched then ever. Hopefully Wall Street has it figured [...]
4Oct2012 | Peter G. Miller | 1 comment | Continued
How Zero-Zero Mortgages Could Cut Loan Costs
A new proposal floating around Washington could require lenders to make a no-point, no-fee loan option available to prospective borrowers. This so-called “zero-zero” plan would not be the only pricing lenders could offer, instead it would be one choice of many lenders could offer under a proposal from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The purpose [...]
10Sep2012 | Peter G. Miller | 1 comment | Continued
Are Conventional Mortgages Drying Up in Minority Communities?
Is mortgage redlining still plaguing communities of color? A new report from seven housing and policy agencies suggests evidence of a two-tiered mortgage market in which borrowers and communities of color are increasingly cut off from prime conventional financing. Origination data from seven cities in 2010 show that borrowers in diverse communities receive government-backed loans [...]
25Jul2012 | Chris Birk | 0 comments | Continued
Occupy Movement Eyes Foreclosures & Squat-Ins
The Oakland branch of the Occupy movement has passed a resolution favoring the seizure of foreclosed and abondoned homes. There are a lot of homes available for squatters in the state because of unpaid mortgages and loans. California has the nation’s second-highest foreclosure rate according to RealtyTrac. Nevada ranks #1. While the Occupy movement started [...]
4Nov2011 | Peter G. Miller | 2 comments | Continued
Should Government Set Mortgage Rates?
With all the talk of getting a new mortgage there’s one question which no one seems ready to touch: Why doesn’t the government ought to set mortgage rates? At first this may seem like an audacious idea, a violation somehow of the free market absolutism preferred by so many businesses and industries — at least [...]
26Sep2011 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Vets Get $22 Million to Settle Mortgage Foreclosure Claims
Two national mortgage lenders will pay more than $22 million to settle claims under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) that they allegedly violated a law meant to insulate military members from illegal foreclosure, according to the Department of Justice. A Bank of America subsidiary improperly foreclosed on about 160 service members from January 2006 [...]
15Jun2011 | Chris Birk | 0 comments | Continued
Mortgage loan foreclosures slowed by robo-signing scandal
It turns out that the robo-signing mess was not such a minor manner, a mere paperwork slip that can be easily corrected. The latest figures from RealtyTrac show that foreclosure activity dropped substantially in November, reaching the lowest level since November 2008. Foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported [...]
16Dec2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Thanksgiving, foreclosures, mortgages & jobs
Another year is drawing to an end but for many of our citizens times have been tough in terms of foreclosures, mortgages, jobs and economic news in general. If you’re lucky enough to celebrate Thanksgiving with a full plate, a current mortgage and a few dollars in the bank then indeed you have much for [...]
24Nov2010 | Peter G. Miller | 0 comments | Continued
Foreclosure robo scandal may impact millions of mortgages
At first robo-signing seemed to be just a problem for courts and lawyers — in few situations would foreclosures be reversed. But now the Congressional Oversight Committee says the damage may be far greater than first believed and could impact millions of mortgages as well as mortgage-backed securities worth trillions of dollars. “In the best-case [...]
16Nov2010 | Peter G. Miller | 1 comment | Continued
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