Mortgages

| The White House

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From: The White House “In his State of the Union address, President Obama laid out a Blueprint for an America Built to Last, calling for action to help responsible borrowers and support a housing market recovery. While the government cannot fix the housing market on its own, the President believes that responsible homeowners should not have to sit and wait for the market to hit bottom to get relief when there are measures at hand that can make a meaningful difference, including allowing these homeowners to save thousands of dollars by refinancing at today’s low interest rates. That’s why the President … Read more

Banks Overwhelmed by Mortgage Refinancing After Job Cuts

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Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) — Mortgage rates near historic lows have sparked a refinancing boom that has U.S. lenders struggling to handle the surge. “There’s just so much volume,” said Kristin Wilson, a senior loan officer in Bloomington, Minnesota, for Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp., who has seen clients seeking lower rates climb to about half of her business from 20 percent a month ago. “We can’t just ramp up by hiring inexperienced people because they don’t know what they’re doing.” The lending logjam extends to the nation’s biggest banks, which fired thousands of mortgage workers after interest rates rose in November … Read more

U.S. judge pans rush in BofA $8.5 billion mortgage pact

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(Reuters) – A judge questioned why Bank of America Corp’s $8.5 billion settlement with mortgage securities investors was being rushed for approval and whether the trustee that negotiated it treated investors fairly. U.S. District Judge William Pauley set a September 21 hearing to consider requests from some investors to move the case to Manhattan federal court from a New York state court, where the trustee Bank of New York Mellon Corp wants it handled. That timetable is slower than Bank of New York Mellon wanted and could imperil a scheduled November 17 hearing before New York State Supreme Court Justice … Read more