Since the start of the housing downturn, the number of Web sites and foreclosure-prevention companies claiming to offer help to struggling borrowers has greatly increased. While some of the businesses are legitimate, others are fraudulent and offer services that consumers may be eligible to receive free of charge. This month, Fannie Mae – the government-sponsored [...]
The Senate passed the financial regulation bill today, which will impact home buyers and lending guidelines. Chief among the changes impacting consumers is the creation a consumer bureau at the Federal Reserve and the requirement that lenders ensure a borrower is able to repay a home loan by verifying income, employment, and credit history. Under [...]
As the housing downturn has shown, homeownership is about more than buying a home – you have to make sure you can keep the home over the long term. If you’re thinking about buying a home, these five steps can help ensure you get the right house for you and the affordable financing that helps [...]
The Federal Reserve has been purchasing mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since early last year. The purchase program has helped maintain low interest rates for borrowers. As planned, the Fed this week announced it will stop purchasing these securities at the end of this month. Many analysts anticipate this will result [...]
A contractor for Bank of America went into the home of a borrower which was not vacant nor in default with the mortgage. While Angela Iannelli was away, under instructions from Bank of America, the contractor cut off utilities, padlocked the door and confiscated her pet parrot, Luke. Maybe the contractor was thinking the woman [...]
I wrote earlier that we should not walk away from your house if you are upside down on your mortgage. I’ve changed my mind. If you lost your job or had a great reduction in income for whatever reason, the banks don’t seem to care. I’ve read and seen were they’ll stall until you have [...]
You would think that putting more money down when buying a home would entitle you to a lower interest rate. Not so according to an article in the New York Times. Take, for instance, borrowers who want to buy a $400,000 home, and who have a credit score of 720, which is considered very good. [...]
The White House has asked mortgage executives to come up with the manpower to stop precarious loans from becoming foreclosures, but a New York Times story says finance experts say a lack of bodies isn’t the problem. It’s greed. Mortgage companies collect fees for appraisals, insurance, legal services and other administrative busywork when homes go [...]
Thinking of walking away from your home because your property values have dropped to below what your mortgage is? You might consider that if you do walk away, what are you going to do? You’ll have to rent, your credit score will be ruined for seven years and you will have lost the home that [...]
Since the days of the Wild West in doing home mortgages, more and more tightening of appraising and mortgage lending is occurring. I think the changes are for the good, since you can blame the banks, wall street and some large mortgage companies who are no longer in business for the meltdown we had in [...]
