Tag:

Refinancing

Latest Headlines

Latest Headlines

Will California re-join the mortgage settlement process?

Will the state attorneys general ever ink a settlement with top banks and loan servicers over fraudulent mortgage practices? The negotiations have stretched on for so long now that they are becoming an afterthought. Some people have given up hope for a global deal, after the likes of New York,

Citigroup: Case study in defective mortgages

The foreclosure fiasco is lingering longer than many people expected, thanks mainly to the sorry state of  mortgage documentation at lenders and services. Citigroup ( NYSE:C ) is an apt case study. Freddie Mac has determined that 15 percent of the performing loans Citigroup sold to the GSE in th

Modifications falter, what's next?

It's fair to say the push to modify more mortgages to prevent foreclosures has not worked all that well. It's just too darn hard to qualify and survive the procedural nightmares. So what should the industry try next? Reuters raises some ideas. There's been lots of talk about "cram downs" a

Private equity firms buy into CLO market

The collateralized loan obligation market seems to be re-heating, thanks in part to private equity ( private equity news) firms, which are increasingly buying CLOs as well as investing in small-firms that managed these instruments. As the economy improves and loan defaults slow, the market

Low rates, so what?

Rates for 30-year mortgages hover at 4.8 percent, which is almost bizarrely low, historically speaking. The time would appear to be ripe for a bank's best customers to think about re-financing their primary residence, but there has been no real groundswell. About 60 percent of homeowners with mort

Obama plan and mortgage profits

There was a lot of controversy early on surrounding the Obama Administration's $275 billion plan to help some homeowners avoid foreclosure. The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan was aimed at those who might have been duped by exotic mortgages that reset payments at the worst possible time

Bank of America beats consensus, is it enough?

Bank of America joined the parade Monday, announcing much better than expected earnings of 44 cents a share vs. the consensus expectation of about 5 cents. This was good news, and helped confirm a rally that has seen the stock bounce back from historic lows. The news comes at crucial time for CEO

Skepticism about bank earnings

We've seen some great earnings reports from Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. We may yet see some more upside surprises. Hope is rising for Morgan Stanley, but there is no reason to conclude that banks have turned a corner, notes Business Week . It points to the refinancing boomlet

More on the Obama plan

The Obama Administration has offered more information about the foreclosure prevention program, though more details will likely trickle out later. The $75 billion program would give homeowners principal reductions of $1,000 a year for five years if they maintain payments. It would also and give le

Bank struggling to refinance long-term debt

Big banks, the likes of Citigroup , Bank of America  and JPMorgan Chase , face a wave of maturing long-term bonds at a time when refinancing is proving expensive, the Financial Times reports. The top 10 biggest bank borrowers have bonds worth more than $200 billion maturing between no