Category: Top National News

HousingWire, Nov. 6, 2015–Lane, Ben
For the first time since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac first established a benchmark interest rate for the standard mortgage modification programs in Jan. 2012, the rate is about to be lower than 4%.

New York Times, Nov. 7, 2015–Saul, Stephanie
White-collar criminals are employing a variety of schemes to snatch properties from their owners. Often, they use the secrecy afforded to shell companies to rent out vacated properties until they are caught or sell them to third parties.

HousingWire, Nov. 5, 2015
Fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to guarantee loans will likely not go to pay for new roads, after the House voted overwhelmingly to remove a controversial portion of a massive transportation bill that would have used g-fees to offset the cost of the bill. The Mortgage Bankers Association praised the House action.

Wall Street Journal, Nov. 5, 2015–Dulaney, Chelsey
Fannie Mae said profit was halved in the third quarter, as declines in long-term interest rates hurt the value of the mortgage-finance company’s derivatives.

Winston-Salem Journal (N.C.), Nov. 5, 2015–Craver, Richard
Wells Fargo & Co. will have to pay $81.6 million in remediation costs for its “repeated failure” to provide homeowners with legally required notices, the Justice Department said Thursday.

HousingWire, Oct. 27, 2015–Gaffney, Jacob
Radian Group announced its net income halved from the same period last year. However, the company remains positive about its growth opportunities in the mortgage insurance business.

National Mortgage News, Oct. 27, 2015–Peters, Andy
HUD plans to sell about $1.3 billion of nonperforming residential loans next month.

OurBroker.com, Nov. 2, 2015–Miller, Peter G.
Marina Walsh, the Vice President of Industry Analysis with the Mortgage Bankers Association, said that “legacy loans continued to account for the majority of all troubled mortgages.

Associated Press, Nov. 2, 2015
The Supreme Court won’t hear an appeal from shareholders who claim the Standard & Poor’s ratings firm made false statements about its ratings of risky mortgage investments that helped trigger the financial crisis.

National Mortgage News, Nov. 2, 2015–Peters, Andy
Defaults on commercial mortgage-backed securities declined from the end of the third quarter, compared to the previous quarter, according to Fitch Ratings.