Headline News Archive

2011

October

04

• Fannie Mae knew early of foreclosure abuses. Fannie Mae the mortgage finance giant, learned as early as 2003 of extensive foreclosure abuses among the law firms it had hired to remove troubled…

September

30

• Big mortgages: Harder to get and more expensive. Starting Saturday, the beleaguered housing market will confront the latest hurdle to its recovery: The size of mortgages that the federal government can back will…

29

• Home aid program won't hit its target. A $1 billion federal program to help financially strapped homeowners avoid foreclosure will help 10,000 to 15,000 people — not the 30,000 initially expected, a…

27

• Freddie Mac loan deal defective, report says. Freddie Mac used a flawed analysis when it accepted $1.35 billion from Bank of America to settle claims that the bank misled it about loans…

25

• For homeowners in trouble, a tough decision. The time is limited for homeowners who want to ensure they aren’t hit with a big tax bill because they had to walk away from…

24

• 20-percent rule for mortgage down payments unlikely in near future. Remember the proposed requirement from six federal agencies that home buyers make down payments of at least 20 percent if they want the lowest interest…

23

• Housing slump hits new mortgage loans. Mortgage lending declined last year amid weak demand and tight credit standards, with particularly sharp credit contractions in neighborhoods with many foreclosures, according to the…

22

• Rising rents lessen affordability of housing. More renters found housing unaffordable last year as incomes declined, and more are likely to be squeezed this year, given rising rents. The share of…

21

• Consumer bureau readies its new financial rules. Raj Date, the former banker temporarily leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, outlined a timeline on Tuesday for the Wall Street watchdog to unveil a…

• $1B foreclosure aid program helps fewer than planned. A $1 billion federal program to help financially strapped homeowners avoid foreclosure will not meet its goal of helping 30,000 homeowners, a government official said…

18

• Saving on mortgage taxes. Homeowners looking to refinance their mortgage will need to compare interest rates, loan terms and fees, but some who live in New York may also…

17

• Decoding the wide variations in house appraisals. I RECENTLY decided to refinance a condominium my wife and I owned in Florida and quickly got caught up in the frustrating and often baffling world…

16

• Banks ramp up foreclosures. The nation’s banks have ramped up foreclosure actions recently against delinquent homeowners, nearly a year after revelations of fraudulent filings and other questionable documentation practices…

15

• Foreclosures surge in hardest-hit markets. Significantly more properties entered the foreclosure process during August in the nation's hardest-hit markets, including battered parts of inland California and other areas in the…

• Tight standards make mortgages tough to get. Home buyers such as Bob and Janet Zych have fueled the U.S. housing market for decades. They have excellent credit with scores that top 800,…

13

• Reclaiming your life from identity thieves. You can't know how big a hassle it is to have your identity stolen until some scammer enters your life and starts taking over. Michael…

• Reverse mortgages don't always work. Trusted celebrity pitchmen such as Henry Winkler, Robert Wagner and James Garner do a good job telling older homeowners about the benefits of a reverse…

• College graduates driving increase in bankruptcy. College graduates are the fastest-growing group of consumers who have filed for bankruptcy protection in the past five years, according to a new study by…

09

• Mortgage rates fall to lowest level since 1950s, few qualify. Fixed mortgage rates fell this week to the lowest levels in six decades. But few Americans can take advantage of the rates to refinance or…

07

• New mortgage limit may set buyers back. For most potential buyers, the impending change in mortgage limits is just another obscure wrinkle in federal policy. But for some New Yorkers, it could…

06

• Consumer protection nominee promises cooperation. President Barack Obama's nominee to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is promising to be accountable to Congress and is playing down the lawsuits…

02

• U.S. is set to sue a dozen big banks over mortgages. The federal agency that oversees the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is set to file suits against more than a dozen big banks,…

01

• Reverse mortgages: Do the benefits outweigh the risks?. The reverse mortgage was invented decades ago to help seniors facing economic hardship access the equity in their homes. Between 1990 and 2010, more than…

• Tougher rules for credit bureaus could be on the way. Borrowers may soon have more weapons to fight back against erroneous credit reports and credit scores. This includes uncovering discrepancies when a report or score…

• Rebuilding after Irene? Watch for contractor scams. Homeowners who found themselves in the sights of Hurricane Irene may soon be targeted by scammers looking to profit from their pain. As attention turns…