Mortgage Refinancing

Low Mortgage Rates the Silver Lining in Bleak Housing Picture

2007-09-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

(MarketWatch) - If there's one little bright spot among all the gloomy housing data these days, it may be this: Mortgage rates for conforming loans -- those under the $417,000 cap on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchases -- are still relatively low. More...

Generate an amortization schedule for your current mortgage

2007-09-08T17:06:00.000-07:00

Powered with the top mortgage lenders in the country and brought them to a competitive arena for the benefit of lowering your rate, reducing the fees and expediting your mortgage loan approval.

Use this calculator to generate an amortization schedule for your current mortgage. Quickly see how much interest you will pay, and your principal balances. You can even determine the impact of any principal prepayments! Press the "View Report" button for a full yearly or monthly amortization schedule.

Mortgage mess echoes in Congress

2007-09-04T05:52:00.000-07:00

(LATimes) - As mortgage-related turmoil weighs down the U.S. economy, members of Congress are considering a range of measures aimed at easing the current problems while preventing such a crisis from recurring in the future.

Lawmakers are pushing regulators to police the mortgage business more vigilantly. They are preparing legislation that would overhaul standards for all home loans, imposing new regulation on brokers, independent lenders and investors who purchase mortgage-related securities.

And they are urging a broader role for the giant, federally chartered mortgage finance companies -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- in helping refinance delinquent mortgages.

Lenders cut back, tighten terms

2007-08-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

Lenders cut back, tighten terms

Once seemingly confined to subprime lending, problems in the mortgage industry showed signs of spreading to more-creditworthy borrowers Friday, triggering concerns about the potential fallout on the real estate market. ...

The Chicago-based company writes insurance policies that kick in when a borrower defaults on a first mortgage. Its products and services also include title insurance in case there's a problem transferring the title when the house is sold. Title insurance is typically underwritten only when there's a sale or refinancing on a property, so if the housing market weakens, the number of real estate deals requiring title insurance falls. More...

California Home-Loan Defaults Rise to a Decade High

2007-07-24T19:13:00.000-07:00

(Bloomberg) - California mortgage defaults rose to the highest level in a decade in the second quarter as falling home sales and higher interest rates battered the housing market.

Californians are struggling to repay home loans as mortgage rates jumped to an 11-month high and tighter lending standards limited their ability to refinance. Southern California home sales last month slumped 36 percent to the lowest for a June in 14 years and San Francisco Bay Area sales fell 26 percent to a 12-year low, mirroring the national slump, DataQuick said last week. More...

Foreign banks offer new mortgage loans to compete

2007-07-23T08:46:00.000-07:00

(CCTV) - Citibank launched its home refinancing program in Shanghai in July to target home buyers who want to make better use of their assets as the city's property prices keep on rising. It's the first offering of its kind by an overseas bank in China.

Do you really need a mortgage middleman?

2007-07-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

Do you really need a mortgage middleman?

Brokers are in essence middlemen between a borrower (you) and the lender (finance company). More times than not, you want to cut out the middleman. If you have a stellar credit score (700 and above), and you can prove your income then you are better off going directly to the lender that is advertising the best interest rate.

But if you have a low credit score (619 and below), then a broker may be your best, if not your only, option.

Mortgage brokers orignate prime loans as well as sub prime loans but most of their buisness is in the sub prime market. According to a 2004 study by Wholesale Access Mortgage Research & Consulting, Inc., and a separate 2005 survey conducted by the Mortgage Bankers Association, more than 50% of all residential loans are originated by a broker. In addition, the Mortgage Bankers Association derived that 71% of sub prime loans were orginated by a broker. More...

The mortgage mess

2007-07-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

The mortgage mess

STUPID LENDERS making stupid loans to stupid borrowers. You might think this sums up what the surge in mortgage foreclosures means to you. You would be mistaken.

That so many homeowners are having such trouble meeting their mortgage payments could very well mean your own home's value has dropped, that you may not be able to get a home-equity loan, or that your retirement savings will grow more slowly than you planned. Conceivably, it could even mean that the global financial system -- and by extension the economy and even your job -- is threatened.

The current mortgage mess has many causes, but none is more important than the abuse of an arcane process called securitization. In recent decades, creative bankers developed financial securities whose value was derived from homeowners' mortgage payments. More...

Storm brewing as mortgage rates move higher

2007-07-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Reuters - Borrowers of almost half of the $500 billion of risky subprime mortgages facing higher interest rates over the next 18 months will have trouble refinancing, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said on Friday. More...

High cost of consolidation

2007-07-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

High cost of consolidation

People are putting their homes at risk over relatively minor debts such as credit card balances because they don't fully appreciate the difference between secured and unsecured debt.

"People are taking small, unsecured debts and refinancing them onto their mortgage, which is secured debt," says the co-ordinator of the NSW Consumer Credit Legal Centre, Karen Cox. "But if they create the situation whereby they can't pay their mortgage, they risk losing their house over a small credit card debt basically." More...

UK mortgage standards safer than U.S. but slipping

2007-07-17T08:10:00.000-07:00

UK mortgage standards safer than U.S. but slipping

July 17 (Reuters) - UK lenders have been more conservative so far than their U.S. counterparts in providing mortgages to those with less than perfect credit histories, though standards are on the slide.

Both Citigroup and S&P estimate the UK's outstanding "nonconforming" mortgage bonds -- a broader definition that includes borrowers with poor credit histories and those who do not meet lending criteria for other reasons -- at about $70 billion, compared with $565 billion of U.S. subprime bonds. More...

Get Debt Free Fast With Smart Mortgage Refinancing

2007-07-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

(Best Syndication) Now that you have purchased your dream home, you are now knee-deep in debt and facing heavy financial pressure. There is one useful solution used by many savvy real estate investors, a solution that involves more cash flow, lowered interest rate and lesser monthly payment. This financial tool, known as mortgage refinance, is not complicated at all, and only involves a bit of calculation and smart leveraging of money.

This may explain why home mortgage refinancing is a popular and lucrative deal. The rule of thumb in refinancing your mortgage is that the interest rate for the new loan should be at least 2 percentage points below the rate of your existing mortgage. In the present economic scenario where the market is saturated with credit institutions and multiple loan products, you are flooded with all types of offers such as the no cost refinance mortgage and the low cost mortgage refinance packages. As a result your new monthly repayment after the mortgage refinancing is considerably lower than the previous one. More...

Mortgage Applications Rise

2007-07-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

Forbes: Applications for U.S. home loans rose slightly last week, an industry group said Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its weekly mortgage index, which measures the volume of applications for loans to buy or refinance homes, rose 0.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. An increase in new home loans outweighed a decrease in applications for refinancing mortgages.

Mortgage lenders have been tightening lending criteria in recent months after a surge in defaults and foreclosures. Lenders catering to home buyers with weak, or subprime, credit, have seen a spike in loan defaults, and many have gone bankrupt or sold off their subprime businesses. More...

Telemarketers targeting mortgage shoppers

2007-06-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

Telemarketers targeting mortgage shoppers

As a former mortgage broker, Adryenn Ashley thought she knew what to expect when she refinanced her house in March. Yet Ashley was unprepared for one twist she encountered: A barrage of phone calls and e-mails from rival lenders vying to sell her a better mortgage.
Some of the callers apparently knew just how much money she was borrowing. Others made such misleading come-ons such as "We need to update your information," or "We need to complete your application," Ashley recalls. More...
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FTC Stops Illegal Mortgage Services Phone Calls

2006-12-03T20:55:00.000-08:00

Two companies and their principals have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they violated the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) by calling telephone numbers listed on the National Do Not Call Registry and failing to pay the required fee for access to numbers listed on the Registry.
At the FTC’s request, the U. S. Department of Justice filed a complaint in federal court, alleging that on or after October 17, 2003, USA Home Loans Inc., a mortgage services company, and telemarketer USA First Investment Group Inc., violated the TSR while marketing mortgage products and services, including originating and refinancing home loans. According to the FTC’s complaint, USA Home Loans made calls to consumers, and, on its behalf, USA First Investment Group made calls to pre-qualify consumers for USA Home Loans offerings.
The settlement includes a $426,782 civil penalty against USA Home Loans Inc. and its owner, David Vach, which is suspended except for $35,000, contingent upon the accuracy and completeness of their financial statements, and an $85,356 civil penalty against USA First Investment Group Inc. and its principals, Richard Burnham and Vincent Piccione, which is suspended, contingent upon the accuracy and completeness of their financial statements. The defendants, all from Maryland, also are permanently prohibited from further TSR violations.
By a 5-0 vote, the Commission referred the matter to the U. S. Department of Justice for filing in federal court. The stipulated judgment and order for permanent injunction was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on October 31. ... FTC.gov

Issues Summary of May 2006 Alternative Mortgage Workshop

2006-11-03T20:57:00.000-08:00

Filing of FTC comments with the Federal Reserve Board: The Commission has approved the filing of comments with the Federal Reserve Board on the Board’s recent notice regarding “The Home Equity Lending Market.” The comments, which are based on the FTC’s consumer protection experience in the home equity market, first describe the unfair and deceptive acts and practices uncovered through the Commission’s law enforcement activities. Next, the comments summarize key issues raised at the FTC’s May 2006 workshop regarding alternative mortgage products, Protecting Consumers in the New Mortgage Marketplace, including both the advantages and risks that these market innovations provide consumers. Finally, the comments discuss the importance of informed consumer choice at each stage of the mortgage lending process and the Commission’s research into important, unanswered questions about how best to provide material information that consumers are able to use when making decisions about mortgages. ftc.gov

Colorado Mortgage Broker Barred from Making Deceptive Claims

2006-06-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

A federal district court has barred a Colorado-based mortgage broker from making false claims about home mortgage financing services and ordered him to pay consumer redress following Federal Trade Commission charges that he violated federal laws. According to the FTC, the defendant and his company deceptively claimed they could refinance consumers’ mortgages at the lowest available rates at no cost to consumers.
In May 2004, the FTC filed a complaint against Phillip W. Ranney and a group of corporate defendants, operating as PWR Processing, Inc., charging that the defendants promised consumers “no-fee,” low-interest home mortgages following a process of multiple refinances. According to the FTC’s complaint, the defendants told consumers that if they applied for two loans, one at a competitive rate and one at a higher-than-market rate, lenders on the higher-than-market rate loans would pay a premium to the mortgage broker that in turn would be used to pay fees associated with the lower-interest loan. The defendants allegedly claimed that the low-interest loan would then be used to pay the higher-interest loan, leaving the consumer with a low-interest, “no-fee” loan. The FTC charged that instead of receiving the promised loan, consumers were stuck with high-interest loans, often at rates higher than they wanted to refinance. The FTC also alleged that the defendants did not pay appraisal fees, leaving many consumers with liens on their properties. The FTC’s complaint also named Kathleen A. Ranney as a relief defendant – the Commission subsequently dismissed its case against her.
In August 2004, the court entered a default judgment against the corporate defendants, Armor Mortgage; Abacus Mortgage; Community Homebanc Mortgage Services, Inc.; Harbor Pacific Funding, Inc.; High Center, Inc.; Lending Strategies of Colorado, Inc.; Lite Realty Corp.; PWR Processing, Inc., dba First Source America Mortgage Corp. dba NexLoan; PWR Press, Inc.; and Source Funding Company, Colorado corporations; Kace, LLC dba Aristocrat Mortgage, a Colorado limited liability company; and Mortgage Watch, a California corporation. The judgment barred the defendants from misrepresenting: (1) that they can provide home mortgage financing at competitive, low-interest rates; (2) that the fees associated with processing consumers’ loan applications will be paid at no cost to the consumers; (3) that consumers will not be required to make any payments on an interim loan because they will be funded by a lower-interest loan or paid by the lender; and (4) that they are a licensed mortgage broker. The judgment also prohibited the defendants from violating the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) or Regulation Z by advertising credit terms other than those that actually will be offered.
ftc.gov