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New FHA rules deadlines may jeopardize condo mortgages

By: Kenneth R. Harney Home Loans Views: 5255 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0

Kenneth R. Harney

Tens of thousands of condominium unit owners around the country may not know it, but their ability to sell or refinance could be jeopardized by a rolling series of federal government deadlines. Beginning next spring, another 23,000 projects - with residential units totaling into the estimated hundreds of thousands - could lose their eligibility as well. The deadline was Tuesday. More

Digital Risk’s Veritas System Reinvents the Credit Score

By: Kenneth R. Harney Home Loans Views: 5151 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 2

Kenneth R. Harney

Do you ever get the feeling that your credit score doesn’t adequately portray your true risk as an applicant for a home mortgage? If your FICO score is a subpar 690 but you know that you are a solid candidate for a loan, do you think that lenders’ heavy dependence on credit scores is unfair to you as an individual? You’ve got some company. The jury is out. More

Time to Concede Home “Ownership” Is a Fraud.

By: Mike “Mish” Shedlock Home Loans Views: 4859 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0

Mike “Mish” Shedlock

Every week someone sends me an idea on how to fix various housing problems. Many want home prices to stop falling and many others want to bail out homeowners because banks were bailed out (as if two wrongs make a right). Others want to stop foreclosures even though the very best thing for most of the people in trouble would be to shed the albatross by walking away. More

Woman battles bank giants over faulty foreclosure

By: Mark Goldman Home Loans Views: 4602 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0

Mark Goldman

DENVER (MarketWatch) — Caylin Crawford found herself out of work after a snowboarding accident and went to U.S. Bank for some help with her mortgage.   The 24-year-old homeowner said she was up-to-date on her monthly payments in January 2011 when she called to ask about loan-modification options. But the bank didn’t modify her loan. Instead, it foreclosed on her home. U.S. More

Lawsuit seeks to break a deep freeze in credit.

By: Kenneth R. Harney Home Loans Views: 4567 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0

Kenneth R. Harney

Picture this nightmare financial scenario: You've taken out a $150,000 home-equity credit line to remodel your house, you've already pulled out thousands to pay contractors and owe thousands more, when suddenly you get a curt letter from the bank. Effective yesterday, it says, we've shut down access to your credit line. You're in shock. The bank later reinstated the owner's credit line. More

Lender plans to forgive a portion of principal

By: Kenneth R. Harney Home Loans Views: 4480 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0

Kenneth R. Harney

For hundreds of thousands of homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages, it's been a tantalizing question: Is there any way that our lender might agree to lower the amount we owe — not just the monthly payments but the principal debt itself? Until now, the answer virtually always has been a resounding no. Announcement soon? The same would be true for the second and third years. More

Help comes with a catch for subprime borrowers

By: Kenneth R. Harney Home Loans Views: 4249 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0

Kenneth R. Harney

WASHINGTON – It may be the only test you flunk if you score too high: It's called the FICO test and it is a key element of the sometimes arcane new guidelines governing which homeowners qualify for “fast track” interest rate freezes on their subprime mortgages, and those who don't. The rate freeze and loan modification program, announced Dec. Tops on the list is the FICO test. More

Private transfer fee ban could cost homeowners.

By: Kenneth R. Harney Home Loans Views: 3903 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0

Kenneth R. Harney

A federal agency is moving to prohibit controversial "private transfer fees" on all mortgages funded by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But its proposed ban might extend to transfer fees routinely collected by community associations across the country -- potentially forcing some of them to raise assessments on thousands of unsuspecting homeowners.   Edward J.   Kenneth R.   More

ARM Bailout Unfair to Responsible Borrowers

By: Todd Sullivan Home Loans Views: 3874 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0

Todd Sullivan

If we are going to freeze subprime interest rates at their original rate for the next 5 years, I pose the following question:We bought our house one year ago with a 30 year fixed mortgage. Why? We thought rates were going up and the ARM's that were being offered were 3 year ARM's at about a point lower than ours ended up being. Do you rush out and buy him a new one? Hell no! More

Making home Affordable program on pace to help millions of homeowners

By: Sanda Hnatjuk-Bahic Home Loans Views: 3829 | Comments: 0 | Votes: 0

Sanda Hnatjuk-Bahic

  More than 400,000 modification offers have been extended and more than 230,000 trial modifications have begun, according to the report.  At the current pace, the program is on track to offer assistance to up to 3 to 4 million homeowners over the next three years. 1, 2009. More