Category: Top National News

Primary new mortgage insurance slipped to $4 billion, according to MGIC Investment’s August operational summary of its insurance subsidiaries for its primary mortgage insurance slightly down from $4.5 billion in July and June.

Sen. Bob Corker’s, R-Tenn., “Jumpstart GSE Reform” package would reverse the recent Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEO compensation increase and prohibit the U.S. Treasury from selling or otherwise disposing of its shares in the government-sponsored enterprises without Congressional consent. The bill was fast-tracked in the Senate, but now Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, reportedly placed hold on the package.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is withdrawing her support for a Republican bill that had been on the fast track to bar the Treasury Department from selling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred shares.

Los Angeles has dropped a lawsuit accusing JPMorgan Chase, the largest U.S. bank, of discriminatory mortgage lending, ending the first of the city’s four lawsuits accusing major banks of driving up foreclosures among minority borrowers. 

The mortgage industry is pushing for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to adopt a formalized grace period for the enforcement of the complex TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure requirements, and now Mortgage Bankers Association is pushing Congress to take action.

Fannie Mae is overhauling its mortgage program for low- to moderate-income households to better accommodate today’s financial and familial realities.

These days, baby boomers increasingly are carrying that debt into retirement. And while there are pluses to that (the interest rate deduction for some), many financial planners now advise their clients to pay off the mortgage. But they are much more concerned with credit-card, auto-loan and student-loan debt.

David Hochberg joined the show to discuss the state of the mortgage business. The industry is definitely improving.

The Mortgage Bankers Association says mortgage applications rose 11.3 percent last week, with the biggest increase from homeowners wanting to lower the rate on their existing mortgage. Refinancing activity was up 16.8 percent from the previous week.

The Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Federal Credit Unions and the Consumer Bankers Association have sent letters in the past 10 days to the Consumer Finanicla Protection Bureau. MBA’s letter reiterates its strong objections to the current structure of the Bureau’s Consumer Complaint Database and offered several recommendations to improve the database.