Loan Think

For purposes of this rule, payments made by creditors to loan originators are not payments made directly by the consumer, regardless of how they might be disclosed under HUD's Regulation X, which implements the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

We all knew that former FDIC chief Sheila Bair was hardly a fan of loan brokers, but did we realize her former agency is now hunting down certain third-party salesman for loans they facilitated up to four years ago that later went bad?

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are wards of the government and ultimately control billions of dollars of delinquent loans. The executive branch (the White House) controls the GSEs (more or less) and would like to see struggling homeowners helped by their servicers (who answer to the GSEs.)

The evidence is both anecdotal and statistical: the deconsolidation of the mortgage industry is underway. New figures compiled by the Quarterly Data Report show that certain megabanks are scaling back in correspondent lending while others (smaller players) are stepping up to the plate.

Do you blog? If you do, do you have trouble finding stuff to write about? If you don't, is the reason because you don't know what to write about?

Be thankful that you’re not a mortgage lender (or borrower) in Ireland. On Wednesday the yield on the 10-year bond of Ireland topped 14%. For a moment, let us all think about what a 14% yield on the 10-year bond in America would mean.

Oh the irony of the mortgage market! Loan rates are falling, home prices are the cheapest they’ve been (in most, but not all markets) in a decade, but the consumer is spooked by the prospect of the U.S. defaulting on its debt payments.

Since I have been rather quick to jump on the mistakes of the sales people I encounter, I figure I need to confess to my own recent foible as a customer.

If Democrats and Republicans cannot reach a debt ceiling agreement by August 2 another financial calamity may be right around the corner: deposit insurance. Follow my logic here: A default by the U.S. means Uncle Sam no longer stands behind its obligations – which also means deposit insurance that is guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is worthless.

Because of the large number of repurchase demands by investors suspicious activity reports involving mortgage fraud rose by 31% in the first quarter.