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Loan Modification

The Truth About Mortgage.com

Mortgage news and advice (with great photos by author).
By Anonymous

Post Frequency: 2.1/day

Last Entry: March 30, 2011 at 15:56:07

Mortgage Application Volume Sees Small Gain During Holiday Week

Posted on December 02, 2009
Home loan application volume eked out a seasonally adjusted 2.1 percent week-to-week gain during the holiday-shortened week ending November 27, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. On an unadjusted basis, the application index was off 29.3 compared with one week earlier, though clearly Americans were more interested in their turkey and cranberry sauce than applying for [...

Lend America Shuts Down After FHA Suspension

Posted on December 01, 2009
Lend America, a nationwide mortgage provider, has shut down operations, according to an advisory posted on its website. The former lender wrote, ?Effective immediately the company has ceased it loan origination and operations. The company will continue to operate to fulfill its obligations to past and current borrowers, FNMA, GNMA and the regulatory agencies...

How Does Foreclosure Affect Your Credit?

Posted on December 01, 2009
Exciting Tuesday mortgage Q&A: ?How does foreclosure affect your credit?? Credit questions are never black and white, mainly because every consumer has a unique credit profile, making it impossible to pinpoint credit scoring impact. But Fico released some interesting data about the effect of a foreclosure on different types of consumers’ credit scores, shedding a little light [...

Another Slow Month for Mortgage Insurers

Posted on December 01, 2009
Private mortgage insurance volume slipped for the fourth straight month in October, with just $4.8 billion in new insurance written, according to the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America (MICA). During the month, 24,339 borrowers used private mortgage insurance to purchase or refinance a home, up from 22,710 a month earlier, but nowhere close to the 42,167 [...

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Zero Down Mortgages Three Times More Likely to Default Than Those with 10 Percent Down

Posted on November 30, 2009
Some interesting tidbits from a housing symposium held earlier this month involving representatives from Amherst Securities and mortgage insurance company Genworth: Genworth President Kevin D. Schneider said a mortgage with a 0% down payment defaults three times more often than a mortgage with a 10 percent down payment...

Bank of America Mortgage Boss Takes Pay Cut

Posted on November 30, 2009
Bank of America mortgage president Barbara Desoer saw her salary cut to just $500,000 from $800,000 after a review from U.S. Treasury pay czar Kenneth Feinberg. The Charlotte-based bank and mortgage lender revealed the move in a SEC filing; CFO Joe Price saw his salary slashed similarly...

Push for Permanent Loan Modifications Gets Underway

Posted on November 30, 2009
Loan servicers participating in the Making Home Affordable program (HAMP) will face possible monetary penalties and sanctions if they fail to meet performance obligations, according to a joint release from the Treasury and HUD. The warning is part of a nationwide campaign to help more borrowers convert from trial to permanent loan modifications, a crucial step [...

Mortgage Rates Heading Lower

Posted on July 09, 2009
Bad news equals low rates, and good news for struggling homeowners. Mortgage rates slipped lower for the second week in a row thanks to concerns about the direction of the economy after the release of the June jobs report, according to mortgage financier Freddie Mac...

FHA/VA Loan Market Share Highest Since 1990

Posted on July 09, 2009
The government-insured share of mortgage applications rose to its highest point since 1990, according to a new report from the MBA. FHA and VA loans accounted for a whopping 35.9 percent of mortgage applications in June, up from 25.7 percent in May and 27 percent a year ago...

Study: Lenders Would Rather Foreclose than Offer Loan Mod

Posted on July 08, 2009
Less than three percent of seriously delinquent mortgages (60+ days overdue) received a payment-reducing loan modification since the mortgage crisis got underway in 2007, according to a new study by the Boston Fed. ?Modifications are often thought to always involve concessions to the borrower, but many, and in some subsets most, modifications involve the capitalization of [...

Refinance Applications Claw Back

Posted on July 08, 2009
After plummeting 30 percent, refinance loan applications saw some healthy gains during the week ending June 3, according to the MBA. The refinance index increased 15.2 percent from the previous week, while purchases saw a 6.7 percent gain. Overall, applications were up 10...

Subprime Default Rate as High as 49 Percent

Posted on July 06, 2009
It seems as if things keep going from bad to worse with respect to home loan default rates. And if previous downgrades are any indication, things will probably continue to deteriorate as time goes by. Today, Standard & Poor?s once again upped expectations for losses on U...

Hotel Foreclosures on the Rise

Posted on July 06, 2009
The number of California hotels in default or foreclosed on increased 125 percent in the past two months, according to a report from Atlas Hospitality Group. A whopping 175 hotels in the Golden State are now in default and 31 hotels are in foreclosure...

Largest Home Loan Servicers

Posted on July 06, 2009
We know who the largest lenders have been over the past quarter, but which banks are the top loan servicers, responsible for collecting and managing monthly mortgage payments for millions of Americans? Well, after acquiring Countrywide?s vast home loan operation, Bank of America easily became the top loan servicer in the nation with $2...

Mortgage Rates Mostly Improved This Week

Posted on July 02, 2009
Mortgage rates saw some improvement this week, but it wasn?t enough to revive flagging refinance demand, which fell a whopping 30 percent. The popular 30-year fixed averaged 5.32 percent for the week ending July 2, down from 5.42 percent a week ago and 6...

Appraisers Say New Rules Put FHA at Risk

Posted on July 02, 2009
Four professional appraisal organizations have called on the HUD to rescind a 12-year old policy limiting the total appraisal fees that can be charged on FHA loans, warning that it presents significant risks to the federally-backed program. Since the HVCC was implemented, appraisal management companies (AMCs) have been ordering most of the appraisals, but taking an [...

Beazer Homes Pays for Bad FHA Loans

Posted on July 02, 2009
Major homebuilder Beazer Homes has reached a settlement involving the company?s loan origination practices in which it will pay roughly $50 million in restitution to home buyers and the HUD. The company was accused of fraudulently originating FHA loans by charging illegal fees, making loans to unqualified buyers, gifting down payments improperly and then increasing home [...

Refinance Program to Allow LTV Up to 125 Percent

Posted on July 01, 2009
As expected, more underwater borrowers will be able to take advantage of the Obama Administration’s Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), with loan-to-values up to 125 percent now considered acceptable, according to HUD. “I am pleased Secretary Donovan accepted my invitation to come to Nevada and see firsthand the challenges homeowners here are facing,” said Senate Majority [...

Are You Sure Your House is Undervalued?

Posted on July 01, 2009
Maybe it?s the fact that there?s a giant piece of plywood sticking up 50 feet in the air next to the home you?re attempting to sell or get the “right value” on. The home builders and real estate agents are complaining about appraisals being impacted by nearby bank-owned properties, but often these new developments are a [...

Pending Home Sales Up for Fourth Straight Month

Posted on July 01, 2009
Pending home sales, a gauge of what?s to come, increased 0.1 percent in May and were 6.7 percent higher than numbers seen a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. While it?s seemingly normal to see pending home sales increase throughout the home buying season, it?s the first time they?ve been able to string [...

Refinance Applications Slide 30 Percent, Purchases Grab Majority Share

Posted on July 01, 2009
Mortgage applications nosedived during the week ending June 26 as purchase applications gobbled up the majority share, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today. Home loan application volume was off 18.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis (-18...

Jumbo Lending Up in First Quarter

Posted on June 30, 2009
There?s been a lot of talk about jumbo lending making a comeback after coming to a standstill last year, and the data from National Mortgage News seems to back it up. During the first quarter, the top jumbo lenders saw marked improvement, with Bank of America leading the way on $9 billion in loan volume...

Chase Loan Modifications Total 138,000 Over Past Three Months

Posted on June 30, 2009
Chase approved 138,000 loan modifications since April 6, including 87,100 via the Making Home Affordable program and 50,900 via its own loan modification program. Of those offered, borrowers have made their first modified payments on 53,600 of them. “We are encouraged that more than 53,000 families have already made the first payment for their trial modifications,” said [...

Prime Mortgage Defaults Jump During First Quarter

Posted on June 30, 2009
Defaults on prime mortgages increased 20 percent during the first quarter of the year, according to the latest Mortgage Metrics Report released today by the OCC and OTS. Prime mortgages, which represent about two-thirds of all mortgages covered by the agencies, saw their 60 day plus delinquency rate climb to 2...

More Than a Quarter of Mortgage Defaults Strategic

Posted on June 29, 2009
A new survey conducted by the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago suggests that more than a quarter of mortgage defaults are strategic, especially when negative equity exceeds 15 percent. The study, ?Moral and Social Restraints to Strategic Default on Mortgages,? compares the current housing crisis to the Massachusetts housing market during the 1990-91 recession, discovering [...

Mortgage Brokers Urge HVCC Moratorium

Posted on June 29, 2009
A potential ?HVCC moratorium? is in the works, spearheaded by House Representatives Childers (Republican ? MS) and Miller (Republican ? CA). The pair introduced bill H.R. 3044, which would place an 18 month moratorium on the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, which has received a cold response since being implemented on May 1...

Nearly 75 Percent of Las Vegas Resales Previously Foreclosed On

Posted on June 26, 2009
Last month, 73.4 percent of Las Vegas-area homes and condos that were resold had been previously foreclosed on in the prior 12 months, according to DataQuick. That?s up from the 55.9 percent share that was distressed a year earlier, a sign that the crisis is far from over...

Now Hiring: HUD

Posted on June 25, 2009
Everyone knows times are tough, especially for college graduates just entering the workforce. And though some prefer to be ?funemployed,? others may be looking for opportunities; the Department of Housing and Urban Development seems to have them. Yesterday, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan told summer interns that 43 percent of the current workforce is eligible for retirement, freeing [...

Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Settles Over Nontraditional Loans

Posted on June 25, 2009
One of the top ten wholesale mortgage lenders has settled with 14 states over lending practices tied to ?nontraditional loans? originated back in 2006, according to the Massachusetts Division of Banks. Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corporation (TBW) has agreed to make a payment of $9 million to assist the states in their oversight of mortgage [...

Appraiser Viewpoint

Posted on June 25, 2009
An appraiser contacted me shortly after I posted the story about home builders wanting better values for new homes, which they believe are being dragged down as a result of neighboring distressed properties. This is his viewpoint: “Yesterday it was the Realtors, the day before it was the Mortgage Brokers, and today it’s the Builders...

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