Thanks to the housing bill passed on 7/30/08 we should see an end to the mortgage fraud and predatory lending that has plagued the country. Indeed, South Florida has had the highest amount of corruption in the mortgage industry.  Some mortgage brokers took advantage of buyers by charging outrageous fees and high pre-payment penalties. The state actually allowed felons to get their mortgage brokers licenses. Thank goodness those days are gone!

Thanks to the new bill passed into law on 7/30/09 and the changes in RESPA, the consumer protection act, these things will no longer happen.  

WASHINGTON – July 21, 2008 – Odd alliances are at work as President Bush and congressional Democrats band together to save Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The push to reassure markets that the mortgage giants are financially healthy has thrust Republicans - who have never liked the idea of government-sponsored mortgage companies - into the arms of Democrats, who have long championed Fannie's and Freddie's mission of helping low- and middle-income Americans buy homes.

Now they are both pushing for a government lifeline to the companies as part of a broad housing bill compromise that tightens controls on them and rescues as many as 400,000 homeowners from foreclosure.  The rest of the story...

ANGELES – July 18, 2008 – State officials expanded a previously filed lawsuit against Countrywide Financial Corp., adding on Thursday allegations that the mortgage lender rewarded staff for selling risky loans.

The new claims amended a lawsuit filed on June 20 by the California attorney general’s office accusing Countrywide of deceiving borrowers with misleading advertisements and other unfair practices.

The latest filing said Countrywide paid higher commissions to agents who put borrowers into loans with higher rates and fees than they qualified for based on credit scores and other factors.

It also alleged that Countrywide employees regularly overrode warnings from the company’s computerized underwriting system that analyzed the ability of applicants to repay loans.  The rest of the story...

WASHINGTON – July 18, 2008 – Treasury officials and senior lawmakers huddled behind closed doors yesterday, searching for a way the Treasury Department might safely invest in mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac without exposing taxpayers to massive losses.

People close to the talks said Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), and leaders of the Senate Banking Committee are considering a plan that would allow the government to buy senior preferred shares in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac if the firms’ financial condition were to deteriorate dramatically. That would mean taxpayers would get any payouts before other shareholders when the firms returned to financial health, the sources said.  The rest of the story...

WASHINGTON – July 18, 2008 – Mortgage rates fell this week with 30-year mortgage rates dropping to the lowest level in six weeks as investors became less worried that the Federal Reserve would soon tighten credit policy to stall inflation.

Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.26 percent this week.

That was down from 6.37 percent last week. It marked only the second weekly decline in the past eight weeks and left the 30-year rate at the lowest point since it averaged 6.09 percent the week of June 5.

Analysts attributed the decline in part to comments made this week by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. He indicated in his mid-year economic report to Congress that the central bank was poised between concerns about rising inflation pressures and the weakening economy.  The rest of the story...

WASHINGTON – Feb. 29, 2008 – U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary (HUD) Alphonso Jackson announced that HUD’s FHASecure product has helped 100,000 homeowners refinance their mortgages and avoid foreclosure.

Since September 2007, FHASecure has enabled families – who are current on their home loans or past due because their teaser rates reset – to close on loans refinanced through HUD’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which is backed by the full faith and credit of the government.

WASHINGTON – Feb. 28, 2008 – The federal regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said Wednesday it would lift restrictions later this week on the amount of mortgages the government-sponsored companies can hold on their books.

Shares of Fannie and Freddie rose even after Fannie reported a nearly $3.6 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2007 amid rising home-loan delinquencies.

The market may be turning and therefore, the time has come to reevaluate your mortgage situation by studying the different types of mortgages that are still available for most people out there.  In general, consider the following:

Conventional Conforming:

WASHINGTON – Feb. 15, 2008 – Rates on 30-year mortgages rose to the highest level in five weeks but still remained below the 6 percent level.

Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.72 percent this week, up from 5.67 percent last week.

The 30-year mortgage started the year at 6.07 percent but dropped the next week to below 6 percent and has remained below that threshold for six straight weeks, raising hopes that lower rates will help spur a rebound in the battered housing industry.