Category: Top National News

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.

Mortgages are shaping up as one of the potential bright spots for lenders (and the economy) this year. The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data due in the next few weeks is expected to show the turnaround actually began last year.

The New York investment firm agreed to provide PMI with a loan for working capital needs, in connection with the purchase of a significant equity stake. Blackstone now has the rights to participate in future equity offerings and will nominate a director to the board.