refinanced mortgages

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Rocket Mortgage Was a Refinancing Giant. Now What?

Bankers are feeling the pressure as rising interest rates make refinancing unappealing

(Newser) - In late 2020, 19 million American homeowners could've saved money by refinancing their mortgage. Today that number stands at just 133,000, according to mortgage data and analytics company Black Knight—which isn't great news for the nation's largest home lender. For most of last year, 1...

Feds Eye a Fresh Round of Mortgage Relief

Refinancing could take on loans not backed by Fannie, Freddie

(Newser) - The White House is looking to roll out a fresh round of refinancing, this time adding mortgages that aren't backed by the government, reports the Wall Street Journal . Some 22% of mortgages—about 10.8 million—exceeded the value of the homes they backed in June, down sharply from...

The Government Needs to Start Buying Mortgages
The Government Needs to Start Buying Mortgages
OPINION
Aug 13, 2012 1:59 PM CDT

The Government Needs to Start Buying Mortgages

Economists Joseph Stiglitz and Mark Zandi have a plan to fix the housing market

(Newser) - Five years after the mortgage crisis began, housing is still one of the biggest factors dragging the economy down. There's just one option left, economists Joseph Stiglitz and Mark Zandi write in the New York Times : Mass refinancing. "Well over half of all American homeowners with mortgages are...

Trying to Refinance? Take a Number

With fewer banks, mortgage refinancing taking forver

(Newser) - Mortgage rates have been plummeting—they were at just 4.05% last month—and that, combined with Obama administration initiatives, has a lot of homeowners clamoring to refinance. There's just one problem: A lot of homeowners are clamoring to refinance. The financial crisis left fewer banks standing in the...

Freddie Mac Bet Billions Against Homeowners
Freddie Mac Bet Billions Against Homeowners
INVESTIGATION
Jan 30, 2012 10:22 AM CST

Freddie Mac Bet Billions Against Homeowners

Has financial stake in limiting refinancing for struggling people

(Newser) - Freddie Mac was designed to help homeowners—but in 2010 and 2011 it wagered billions against them. The company invested in security packages that meant more cash for Freddie when homeowners couldn't refinance their mortgages. But Freddie itself regulates refinancing—and in fact has been increasingly denying refinances to...

Obama Unveils New Mortgage Relief Plan

Rules could help additional 1.6 million homeowners

(Newser) - President Barack Obama offered mortgage relief today to hundreds of thousands of Americans, his latest attempt to ease the economic and political fallout of a housing crisis that has bedeviled him as he seeks a second term. "I'm here to say that we can't wait for an...

Mortgages, Wages Force Many to Delay Retirement

Debt weighing down 60-something Americans: Wall Street Journal

(Newser) - Many Americans are being forced to put off retirement thanks to mountains of debt and lower wages, a feature in today’s Wall Street Journal asserts. Because wages have barely kept up with inflation over the past 35 years, Americans have been borrowing more money and saving less. As of...

US May Let Millions Refinance at 4%

Proposal could save homeowners $85B annually

(Newser) - Help could be on the way for struggling homeowners with government-backed mortgages: The Obama administration is considering a proposal that would allow such homeowners to refinance their mortgages at today's interest rates, which hover around a low 4%. Many homeowners can’t currently refinance because they owe more than...

Mortgage Defaults Top 1M, Keep Rising

Even those with lowered payments are defaulting

(Newser) - The number of troubled home loans continued to rise in the third quarter, despite the Obama camp's efforts to stem the tide by mortgage modification. For the first quarter ever, the number of homes in foreclosure with mortgages serviced by US banks topped the 1 million mark, the Los Angeles ...

Sleazy Middlemen Stiff Homeowners Trying to Refi
 Sleazy Middlemen 
 Stiff Homeowners 
 Trying to Refi 
mortgage meltdown
Oct 4, 2009 3:31 PM CDT

Sleazy Middlemen Stiff Homeowners Trying to Refi

Foot-dragging 'mortgage servicers' step into role of fox in henhouse

(Newser) - The federal mortgage modification program is mired in trouble, with just 12% of the 3 million eligible loans in the process of modification, the "servicers" that helped create the problem tasked with helping to untangle it, and the Treasury Department falling down on the oversight job. In one...

Burgeoning Interest Rates Threaten to Stifle Recovery

Demand for refinancing shrivels as 30-year rates hit 5.75%

(Newser) - The steady rise in interest rates over recent weeks is threatening to trample the green shoots of recovery in the housing market, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rates on 30-year mortgages hit 5.79% yesterday, more than a point above the 4.75% "trigger" level analysts say spurred the...

'F@$%! I Wish I'd Refinanced My House'

With mortgage rates rising, homeowners regret not acting sooner

(Newser) - Many homeowners are kicking themselves for not refinancing sooner now that mortgage rates are climbing, ABC News reports. “I was going to save $325 a month, and that covers all kind of things, from gas to groceries,” lamented one. “$325 is a lot of money.” And...

Foreclosures Rose 24% in First Quarter

Rate expected to rise through the summer

(Newser) - The number of American households threatened with losing their homes grew 24% in the first 3 months of this year and is poised to rise further as major lenders restart foreclosures after a temporary moratorium, figures out today show. Though the Obama administration has invested $75 billion to help up...

Banks Launch Mortgage Refinancing Program

(Newser) - The country’s top lenders are slowly implementing the Obama administration’s plan to help otherwise ineligible borrowers to refinance their mortgages at the current bargain-basement rates, the Wall Street Journal reports. The program is open to those with mortgages owned by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae who are current...

Scammers Set Sights on Desperate Homeowners

Calif. AG: Be 'deeply skeptical' of offers to help refinance

(Newser) - A record 5.4 million homeowners across the country are behind on their mortgages, and scam artists are looking to cash in, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Ads offering help lowering mortgage payments are everywhere. But these "loan negotiators" usually provide services that homeowners can handle on their own,...

Mortgage Refinancing Rush Continues Into New Year

30-year fixed mortgage rate is lowest on record

(Newser) - Homeowners continue to scramble for refinancing in order to lock in currently low interest rates, MarketWatch reports, with applications jumping 25.6% last week, to the highest level since June 2003. The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell 0.10% for the week ending Jan. 9, to...

Senate Homeowner Aid Moves Big Step Closer

Citi drops opposition to Senate proposal

(Newser) - A Senate plan to help struggling homeowners keep their houses moved closer to fruition yesterday as Citigroup ended its opposition to the bill, the Wall Street Journal reports. The measure would allow so-called “cramdowns,” in which judges in Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases could set lower principal and interest...

At-Risk Owners Pay Big Bucks to Mortgage Modifiers

Some take advantage of patchwork laws, charge for services non-profits offer for free

(Newser) - A growing mortgage-modification industry has cropped up amid the housing bust, the Washington Post reports, charging homeowners thousands to help them negotiate better loans. The problem? Non-profit groups already offer those services gratis. “It is very frustrating to find a homeowner who has paid a for-profit company $3,000...

FDIC Plan Tests Strategies for Keeping People in Homes

Systematic reworking faces typical hurdles

(Newser) - The first large-scale experiment in how to keep struggling borrowers in their homes is being run by the FDIC at seized mortgage lender IndyMac, the Wall Street Journal reports, and the results are mixed. Of some 65,000 borrowers with “seriously delinquent” mortgages, about 47,000 qualify for aid...

JPMorgan Plans Relief for $110B in Mortgages

WaMu customers included in measure to avoid foreclosures

(Newser) - JPMorgan Chase will help distressed homeowners by reducing interest rates or principal balances for $110 billion in mortgages, Bloomberg reports. The restructuring applies to clients of Washington Mutual, which JPMorgan agreed to buy last month. Foreclosures will be suspended on all loans for the next 90 days while the relief...

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