Archive for February, 2010

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is developing a program to test whether cutting the mortgage balances of distressed borrowers who owe significantly more than their homes are worth is an effective method for saving homeowners from foreclosure. The program would be aimed at a growing population of homeowners who are underwater on their loans, estimated...
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Unless the bank has agreed upfront to accept a short sale, which is rare, no one knows for certain — not the buyer’s agent, not the listing agent nor the seller — if a short sale offer will be accepted or rejected by the bank. Simply because a listing is advertised as a short...
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Shopping for a mortgage can be intimidating. There are thousands of mortgage lenders and hundreds of ways lenders can tweak home loans to distort their real costs. You’re also facing the excitement of buying a new home and you may feel vulnerable as lenders nit-pick your credit report. It’s understandable that many home buyers...
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Freddie Mac lost $7.8 billion in the final three months of last year, but the mortgage finance company didn’t need a federal cash infusion for the third quarter in a row. Freddie Mac, which has been controlled by federal regulators since September 2008, lost $2.39 a share, the company said Wednesday. The loss included $1.3...
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Sacramento, CA — Anthem Blue Cross is in the hot seat in Sacramento. State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is alleging that the insurance company has committed over 700 violations of California law. “There’s evidence to suggest that there have been serious issues with the way Anthem deals with paying health insurance claims,” says Poizner. “Literally hundreds...
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The Federal Reserve is poised to turn off a major money spigot that has helped sustain the ailing real estate sector, as an extraordinary program under which the Fed has pumped $1.25 trillion into the mortgage market is slated to end March 31. “Housing has been on government life support, and without it the crash...
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With more than 8 million Toyota cars and trucks (including some Lexus vehicles) under recall for a variety of issues that include brake and accelerator problems, insurance claims are all but certain. But how will those claims, and the volume of them, affect your insurance rates? Dating back to mid-January, Toyota recalled a variety of...
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Fannie Mae, (FNM.P) the largest provider of funding for U.S. home mortgages, on Monday said it is launching a $1 billion program to boost money available to small- and mid-sized lenders. The program would provide credit lines for 10 to 12 lenders in 2010, a spokeswoman said. Since the onset of the credit crunch, banks have...
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President Barack Obama wants to give the federal government sweeping new authority to curb exorbitant rate hikes by the nation’s health insurance companies, a White House official said Sunday night – a proposal designed to win over skeptical voters as Obama announces his own health insurance legislation for the first time Monday. Releasing his bill...
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Despite back-to-back snowstorms that shut federal offices for days, the Internal Revenue Service issued new guidance last week on the two tax-credit programs that are powering the country’s real estate markets — the $6,500 credit for repeat buyers and the $8,000 first-time-buyer credit. The new policy clarifies what documentation taxpayers need to submit to obtain...
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