Category Archives: Mortgage Loan

More than 200,000 underwater home owners with mortgages through Bank of America may be eligible to have a reduction in the amount they owe on their loan, which could possibly trim their monthly payments by up to 35 percent. Bank of America has sent letters to home owners who may be eligible to take part in a program to write-off a portion of underwater home owners’ mortgage principal, reducing it by, on average, $150,000 each. The bank’s move stems from the $25 billion settlement, which it and four other of […]

Mortgage workouts at Freddie Mac dropped to 14,000 in the first quarter from 35,000 a year ago and 50,000 in mid-2010. The change is attributed to a decrease in seriously delinquent loans to $72.8 billion in the first quarter from $82.1 billion a year earlier and to the transition of borrowers ineligible for HAMP to the new Standard Modification program. Freddie Mac also reported a jump in the number of modified loans that were current and performing after two years to 68 percent in the first quarter of 2010 versus […]

After reaching or hovering near all-time lows last week, fixed-rate mortgages edged up slightly during the week, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey. The 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage, however, hit a new all-time low of 2.78 percent this week. Here’s a closer look at average mortgage rates from Freddie Mac for the week ending April 19: 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.90 percent, with an average 0.8 point, up slightly from last week’s 3.88 percent average. A year ago at this time, 30-year rates averaged 4.80 percent. 15-year fixed-rate […]

Wells Fargo CFO Timothy Sloan said the health of the housing market won’t be clear until “we look in the rearview mirror a few months from now,” but did say he felt it was getting a little better, in a televised interview on CNBC. Credit quality for consumers is improving, which Sloan said indicates that “the consumer overall is doing a little bit better.” Though the hardest hit are still  unemployed, the rest of consumers are “doing OK.” The mortgage business is up for the bank, which held a third […]

The nation’s largest mortgage lenders Wells Fargo ($33.00 -0.12%) and JPMorgan Chase ($42.72 -0.5%) originated more mortgages in the first quarter as each inch toward a cleaner portfolio. Both banks beat earnings estimates during the quarter. Wells’ mortgage originations totaled $129 billion in those three months, up from $84 billion last year. Chase’s originations grew 6% over the same period to $38.4 billion in the first quarter. Wells CEO John Stumpf said in a conference call with investors Friday the bank was seeing improvements in the housing market, specifically parts […]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced it will be offering up new rules for mortgage servicers aimed at making monthly mortgage statements more transparent in disclosing fees or changes in a loan. “For too long, mortgage servicers have not been held accountable to their customers, and the result has been profoundly punishing to home owners in distress,” says Richard Cordray, director of the consumer bureau. “It’s time to put the ‘service’ back in mortgage servicing.” Servicers will be required to provide more details in monthly mortgage statements. For example, the […]

Mortgage applications declined 2.4% for the week ending April 6 as refinancing and home purchase activity slowed, an industry trade group said. The Mortgage Bankers Association released its market composite index Wednesday, which measures weekly mortgage loan application volume. The group’s refinance index, which measures all refinancing activity, declined 3.1% from the previous week, while the seasonally adjusted purchase index fell a slight 0.5%. Refinancing activity declined overall with its share of mortgage activity dropping for the eighth straight week to 70.5% from 71.2% a week earlier. Adjustable-rate mortgage activity, […]

The Federal Housing Administration rescinded and will delay a rule that as of April 1 prohibited borrowers with more than $1,000 in disputed collections accounts from getting a federally backed mortgage, according to a notice sent late Friday. FHA postponed the rule until July, and will take public comment from lenders, builders and others in the industry until then to clarify guidance. “There is clearly a bigger ripple effect here than the Department of Housing and Urban Development might have anticipated going into this revision,” said Lisa Jackson, senior vice […]

Mortgage servicers started modifications on 63% of eligible second liens under the Home Affordable Modification Program, according to Treasury Department data released Friday. Through February, servicers participating in 2MP started 71,133 second-lien workouts of the 113,774 eligible loans. More than 15,600 of them have been fully extinguished. More than one-third of the second-lien mods occurred in California, according to the Treasury. Of the $29.9 billion allocated for HAMP, roughly $2.7 billion is set aside for modifying second liens, according to the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. […]

Amid mixed signals on the health of the economy, average weekly mortgage rates hardly changed from the prior week. The Freddie Mac survey showed the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.98% for the week ending Thursday, barely slipping from the prior week’s average of 3.99%. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.87%. The 15-year FRM, a popular refinancing choice, averaged 3.21%, down from last week when it averaged 3.23%. A year ago, the average rate for a 15-year FRM was 4.1%. Five-year, Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 2.86%, […]