mortgage defaults

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Staffers: Bank of America Gave Us Gift Cards for Lying

Lawsuit says company cheated homeowners

(Newser) - Bank of America told employees to lie to and cheat homeowners looking for help under the government's Home Affordable Modification Program , and rewarded those employees for kicking people out of their homes, staffers allege in sworn statements attached to a recently filed lawsuit. Here are some of the most...

Federal Housing Agency Almost Out of Money

It may need an unprecedented bailout

(Newser) - The Federal Housing Administration is expected to announce this week that it's on the verge of running out of cash and may need taxpayer help, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rising mortgage defaults are battering the agency, which, though it guarantees fewer mortgages than either Fannie Mae or Freddie...

Ex-Banker: Yeah, Collapse Was Our Fault
Ex-Banker: Yeah, Collapse Was Our Fault
Nicholas Kristof
Dec 1, 2011 10:08 AM CST

Ex-Banker: Yeah, Collapse Was Our Fault

So why haven't homeowners been bailed out?

(Newser) - If you were trying to get a loan in southern Florida in 2007, bankers like James Theckston were there to help. "If you had some old bag lady walking down the street and she had a decent credit score, she got a loan," Chase's then-regional VP of...

Obama Looks to Keep Feds in Mortgage Biz

Prez reportedly rejects calls to pull gov't out of housing market

(Newser) - Despite two White House proposals floated earlier in the year to get the federal government out of the housing market, President Obama will likely opt for the third option: reforming the housing market over the next decade but continuing to extend federal loan subsidies and insure most mortgages, reports the...

Millions of Underwater Borrowers Debate Walking Away

Mass abandonment of mortgages could trigger new economic plunge

(Newser) - A quarter of American homeowners now owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth and millions of them are thinking about just walking away. "Strategic defaults" on so-called underwater mortgages are on the rise, although abandoning mortgages is controversial and, to some, immoral. "We made a...

Years of Bank Incompetence Led to Foreclosure Crisis

Banks ignored warning signs, hired 'Burger King kids'

(Newser) - As the foreclosure crisis continues, the stories of clueless employees just get worse. Swamped with delinquent customers, banks hired inexperienced walk-ins one former executive called “Burger King kids,” who, for years, processed mortgages at an astonishing rate. Overwhelmed employees not only signed papers without reading them—they sometimes...

Home Repos Hit Recession High

US on track for 1M foreclosures this year

(Newser) - Lenders took back more homes in August than any month since the start of the US mortgage crisis. The increase in home repossessions came even as the number of properties entering the foreclosure process slowed for the seventh month in a row, RealtyTrac said today. In all, banks repossessed 95,...

Krugman: We're Not Bouncing Back

'Policy-makers are in denial'

(Newser) - You know that recovery officials promise is underway? It's not happening, scoffs Paul Krugman, and he blames federal officials' reluctance to take responsibility. "This isn’t a recovery, in any sense that matters. And policy-makers should be doing everything they can to change that fact," he writes in...

Rich Default Far More Than the Rest of Us

Wealthy 'are more ruthless,' says analyst

(Newser) - Whether they're throwing in the towel on a California beach home or ski chalets, wealthy Americans are currently defaulting on mortgage payments at extremely high rates. One in 7 of those who owe more than $1 million on property are seriously delinquent, reports the New York Times . For those who...

Fannie Mae Won't Lend to Deadbeat Homeowners

'Strategic defaulters' won't be eligible for 7 years

(Newser) - Fannie Mae has decided to deny homeowners who intentionally default on their mortgages any new loans for seven years, the company announced yesterday. About 12% of foreclosures are the result of people who could pay their mortgages choosing not to and walking away, generally because their home is now worth...

Millions Considering Walking Away From Mortgages

10% of mortgages expected to be underwater by June

(Newser) - The long slide in property values has left huge numbers of homeowners considering just walking away from their mortgages. People start thinking about jumping ship when their home value falls below 75% of what they paid for it, according to new research. Over 5 million Americans are expected to be...

Crush of Foreclosures About to Swamp FHA

Taxpayers may foot the bill for defaulting homeowners

(Newser) - The Federal Housing Administration is staring down the barrel of a rash of foreclosures that could force it to dip into taxpayer money for the first time. The number of FHA borrowers who have missed at least three payments jumped by a third last year, to 9.1%, which means...

Foreclosure of Shelter Leaves Animals at Mercy of Bank

Evicted owner takes Wells Fargo to court

(Newser) - After being evicted by Wells Fargo, the owner of a Rhode Island animal shelter wants a judge to force the bank to provide food and care for the animals—which he says haven't been properly cared for since Monday’s foreclosure. Dan Mackenzie has seen “total strangers walking off...

Treasury to Squeeze Mortgage Lenders

Will expand program to help keep people in their homes

(Newser) - The Obama administration, battling a foreclosure crisis that shows no signs of relenting, will step up pressure on mortgage companies to do more to help people remain in their homes, officials said yesterday. The administration will announce its expanded program tomorrow, a Treasury spokeswoman said, and will take "additional...

1 in 4 Homeowners Underwater
 1 in 4 Homeowners Underwater 
Nov 24, 2009 6:34 AM CST

1 in 4 Homeowners Underwater

Swell of those owing more than home value a risk to market

(Newser) - Nearly 1 in every 4 homeowners owes more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, a serious obstacle to any kind of housing recovery. According to a report from First American CoreLogic, a real estate information company, nearly 10.7 million households are “underwater,” with 5.3...

Debt-Happy US Faces Payback Time as Rates Rise

Cost of debt to skyrocket $500B in next 10 years

(Newser) - Like a homeowner heading for mortgage default as interest rates rise, the US is heading for a nasty shock as cheap national debt suddenly becomes much more expensive. The White House estimates that the cost of servicing our $12 trillion debt will be more than $700 billion a year by...

Goldman Seizes Homes as Securities Sour

Just getting them to admit they hold your mortgage can be an ordeal

(Newser) - Imagine finding yourself in a foreclosure battle and discovering that your opponent isn't the obscure lender who wrote your insane mortgage, but the formidable Goldman Sachs. It seems that after years of buying subprime mortgages and packaging them into bonds, at a handsome profit, Goldman is now in the business...

Foreclosures on Pricey Properties Pick Up

Well-to-do buyers weren't immune to wacky loans, and they're coming due

(Newser) - The country's most expensive homes are now making up a larger segment of foreclosures in the most recent spike of mortgage defaults. An analysis of recent data shows that 30% of June foreclosures involved homes valued in the top third based on location; that’s up from just 16% at...

Despite Obama Push, Banks Often Prefer Foreclosing

(Newser) - There’s a big problem with government efforts to keep delinquents in their homes by modifying mortgages: Banks would usually rather foreclose, economists tell the Washington Post. Lenders are only interested in modification for the small group of borrowers who will keep paying only if they get help. For those...

A Quarter of Defaulters Are Doing It on Purpose

(Newser) - As many as 26% of mortgage defaults are deliberate moves by homeowners who owe more than their house is worth, finds a new study that asked 1000 people if they knew anyone who had defaulted even though they could still make payments. Researchers caution that the study isn’t precise,...

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