News

2010

September

28

• Conn., Calif. join probe of Ally mortgages. Attorneys general in Connecticut and California ordered Ally Financial's GMAC mortgage unit to freeze all foreclosures within their borders, joining a growing list of states investigating whether the firm and other lenders improperly kicked people

• IRS to stop mailing paper forms, booklets. Electronic filing of tax returns has become so popular that the Internal Revenue Service will no longer automatically mail a paper form. "We're finding that more and more people are choosing to e-file, and the

• Fannie Mae offers housing aid to military families. Mortgage giant Fannie Mae plans to give military families a break on their home loan payments if they are struggling because of the death or injury of a service member. The Washington-based company says it

27

• Raters ignored unsafe loans, panel told. As the mortgage market grew frothy in 2006 — leading to a housing bubble that nearly brought down the banking system two years later — ratings agencies charged with assessing risk in mortgage pools dismissed conclusive evidence that

• Mistakes widespread on foreclosures, lawyers say. Paperwork mistakes that led one of the nation's largest mortgage servicers to halt foreclosure evictions in 23 states last week have happened elsewhere and affect tens of thousands of foreclosures, say lawyers for homeowners. Ally Financial's

26

• New healthcare law: know your options. New healthcare rules that went into effect last week offer both opportunities and risks for consumers. With open-enrollment season looming, it may be time to take a close look at how the first phase of

• Short sales are sweeping the country. A new wave of distressed home sales is rippling, more quietly this time, through American cities and suburbs. Its unsettling effects are playing out here in Manassas, along Brewer Creek Place, a modest, horseshoe-shaped street

25

• Strategy of stiffing your 2nd lender likely to backfire. Are you delinquent on your first mortgage but still making monthly payments on your home-equity credit line or second mortgage? If so, a finance and real estate professor from DePaul University has some controversial advice

23

• No mortgage mods for many jobless. Unemployed homeowners cannot count jobless benefits as income when applying for mortgage modifications if they have loans backed by Fannie Mae. That could greatly limit their ability to get a long-term reduction in their monthly

• Shortcuts and forgeries mar foreclosure process. The nation's overburdened foreclosure system is riddled with faked documents, forged signatures and lenders who take shortcuts reviewing borrower's files, according to court documents and interviews with attorneys, housing advocates and company officials. The problems,

21

• FHA modifies loan standards. Recent changes on FHA loans and how they will affect borrowers and sellers: Upfront insurance premium What is it? A fee the Federal Housing Administration collects from borrowers that can be paid in cash at

• GMAC halts foreclosures in 23 states for review. GMAC Mortgage, one of the country’s largest and most troubled home lenders, said on Monday that it was imposing a moratorium on many of its foreclosures as it tried to ensure they were done

19

• Shorter term mortgages don't make sense for everyone. Should you shorten the term of your mortgage? Today's low rates have millions of homeowners rushing to refinance. However, a large number of mortgage owners in the U.S. are switching from the old industry

18

• Reasons not to refinance a mortgage. LEW ALTFEST knows how clients will react when he tells them they shouldn’t refinance their mortgages. “Their faces move from smiley to glum,” because they thought that by refinancing, they would be “outfoxing someone,”

• Some suggestions for the new consumer chief. So she got the job. What should she do with it? The appointment of Elizabeth Warren to oversee the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, announced on Friday, makes it pretty obvious how special

16

• U.S. home seizures reach new record. U.S. home seizures reached a record for the third time in five months in August as lenders completed the foreclosure process for thousands of delinquent owners, according to RealtyTrac Inc. Bank repossessions climbed 25 percent

• Warren to head launch of financial protection bureau. President Obama, sidestepping a possibly heated confirmation battle, will appoint Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren as a special advisor to the Treasury Department to launch the government's powerful new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to

• Banks slow to buy back bad loans. A federal regulator is criticizing banks for failing to take back bad mortgages sold to giant mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, says in

• New safety rule for window blinds criticized. A new industry rule on window blind cords does not address all strangulation risks to children and ignores input from consumer advocates, safety groups say. Cords on blinds continue to kill an average of one

14

• Warren maybe 'interim director' of consumer bureau. Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren set the political blogosphere abuzz once again Monday, this time with speculation that the White House might appoint her as an "interim director" of the new Bureau of Consumer Financial