ResCap suing brokers who originated bad mortgage loans
By DAVID PHELPS, Star Tribune
August 9, 2008
A division of ResCap, the embattled mortgage-finance arm of GMAC Financial Services, is fighting back in the home-lending credit crisis.
The Bloomington-based investor has filed more than a dozen federal lawsuits in Minnesota against mortgage companies, claiming that they failed to do adequate [...]
Robert Steel has gone from putting out fires as Treasury undersecretary to facing a three-alarm blaze on his own block.
Steel was recently named chief executive of Wachovia, which has now reported a loss of nearly $9 billion for its second quarter and cut its dividend to nearly zero.
Wachovia has been roiled by the collapse [...]
http://www.kiplinger.com/printstory.php?pid=14237
To qualify, you’ll need top-notch credit and solid financial resources.
By Pat Mertz Esswein
From Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, August 2008
Ever since Wall Street lost its appetite for mortgage securities, the supply of money for home buyers and refinancers has been tight. The biggest remaining investors are the federally chartered corporations Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which [...]
The big federally backed mortgage firms are under the gun, as investors worry about the firms’ ability to finance the loans they hope will end the country’s housing crisis.
But Sacramento mortgage brokers said Tuesday they’re confident the region’s real estate market is withstanding the new turmoil – so far.
Fresh fears that the loan market [...]
(From New York Times)
NEW YORK’S borrowers could notice a different tone in their discussions with mortgage brokers in coming months, as brokers adjust to a new state law that seeks to stem foreclosures.
The legislation, which was passed by the New York Legislature in June and is expected to be signed by Gov. David A. [...]
At the same time, the Senate is pushing ahead with sweeping legislation on housing while facing questions about why some of its members received below-market-rate mortgages from Countrywide.
As first reported by Daniel Golden on Portfolio.com, the primary author of the Senate bill, Christopher Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, as well as Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of [...]
(From LATimes.com opinion article)
The state Assembly’s response to the sub-prime mortgage catastrophe experienced its own meltdown in the Senate Banking, Finance and Insurance Committee last week. In a twist on the cliche, only the weak bills survived. The most ambitious Assembly bill, AB 1830, was tamed in advance by sponsor Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) to answer [...]
By BOB TEDESCHI, The New York Times…..
BORROWERS lucky enough to secure a mortgage in the current lending environment have a good amount of leverage when negotiating fees with brokers, who are increasingly starved for business.
The problem is, many people have little idea what constitutes normal closing costs for their loans. In fact, relatively few borrowers [...]
(From HousingWire.com….)
The FHA’s more lenient underwriting standards appear to have allowed it to overcome its historic shortcomings — a cumbersome and bureaucratic documentation process, and stiff lender requirements (for example, brokers complain that the requirement to provide costly audited financials steers all but the large mortgage brokerage firms away from FHA programs). FHA modernization proposals, [...]
NPR.org, June 20, 2008 · The Justice Department appears to have officially opened the penalty phase of the mortgage debacle in this country.
On Thursday, the FBI paraded two indicted Wall Street executives before TV cameras. That same day, the bureau announced the arrests of hundreds of people who allegedly perpetrated mortgage scams nationwide.
The arrests came [...]
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