WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) — As the economy begins to mend, the cost of borrowing money for a big purchase could start to increase. Mortgages, in particular, have flirted with record lows during the recession. Credit card rates have been bouncing upward and, while auto loan rates are expected to stay low for a little while...
Posts Tagged ‘ Mortgage ’
IRS gives break on mortgage cuts
With the Obama administration and private lenders considering mortgage principal-reduction programs to help financially distressed homeowners, the Internal Revenue Service has issued a new advisory for taxpayers who receive such assistance. The IRS gets involved in mortgage principal write-downs because the federal tax code generally treats any forgiveness of debt in excess of $600...
Mortgage Q&A: FHA loans attractive for some
Q. My wife and I are considering buying our first home this summer. The only thing we have done so far is poke around the Internet to learn about the process. It appears that an FHA loan is the most suitable for us because we don’t have a lot of cash for a down...
GMAC Sells $250M in Problem Mortgages as CFO Steps Down
GMAC Financial Services has auctioned off $250 million of problem mortgage assets, using Citigroup Inc. as its broker on the deal, according to a report from American Banker. “Our plan is to continue to sell assets through the year in our normal course of business and as we have done historically,” a GMAC spokesperson...
Twice-Monthly Half Mortgage Payments Might Save You Money
Some financial planners advise making two half payments on your mortgage each month instead of one full sum. The idea is that homeowners will save thousands of dollars over the years in interest payments. Does this idea hold water? Finance blog The Simple Dollar posits that, assuming your lender allows you to split your...
Mortgage relief funds headed to California
Targeting California and the four other states hardest hit by the housing crisis, President Obama on Friday offered a $1.5 billion “innovation fund” to devise solutions for homeowners struggling against foreclosure. “What we can do is help families that have done everything right to stay in their homes,” Obama said at a town hall...
Uncle Sam’s Deadbeat Mortgage Lenders
Will these 10 firms’ high default ratios wind up costing taxpayers a bundle? If you read the news everyday, you’ve probably seen more and more headlines like these in recent months: “Government Shuts Down Troubled Mortgage Firm” and “HUD Probes High-Default Lenders.” Such language might lead you to believe that the feds are weeding...
Some Clarification On Mortgage Principal Reductions
On Saturday, I wrote a post containing some ideas to make principal reductions more palatable to banks. Right now, banks want nothing to do with them, mostly because they don’t want to declare big, immediate losses. I’ve subsequently gotten several comments and e-mails about what I proposed. I want to clear a few things...
Should You Use a Mortgage Broker or a Bank Loan Officer?
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...
Freddie Mac loses $7.8B in 4Q
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...
