The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced Wednesday that a new plan backed by the White House could save 500,000 American families from foreclosure through changes that will allow more borrowers to refinance into FHA-insured mortgages, the FHA said in a statement.

McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), that supports affordable housing through the acquisition of government-backed mortgage loans, said Wednesday that the company is now offering nine new loan-level disclosures and increasing two existing disclosures related to single-family fixed rate and adjustable-rate mortgage Participation Certificate (PC) securities.

The Alabama Mortgage Brokers Association) ascended on the state’s capitol Wednesday to push for mortgage reforms that will include a licensing system for loan officers, as well as additional professional credentials to help borrowers identify qualified lenders.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said today that according to its latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, the loan application volume for the week ending April 4, 2008, is up 5.4-percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis to a a loan application volume of 725.

Seattle, Washington-based Washington Mutual, Inc., has announced plans to raise capital by allowing TPG Capital (TPG) and other investors to acquire $7 billion in WaMu equity securities and by closing the company’s freestanding home loan offices.

Santa Ana, California-based Northwest Trustee Services Inc., has been added to the USFN nationwide network of mortgage banking attorneys and trustees. The trustee services provider attributes its inclusion in the network to the company’s recent acquisition of Specialized, Inc.

Banking is no longer a local business, but an international one that is feeling the weight of the U.S. subprime credit crisis, the International Monetary Fund concluded in its latest Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR).

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said this week that its Pending Home Sales Index—which measures the number of housing contracts signed—dropped 1.9-percent between February and January of this year and was down 21.

Property damage, a lack of funding on the seller’s part and servicer hesitation are some of the chief reasons why short sales on pre-foreclosure homes fail, according to a recent study of real estate agents conducted by Campbell Communications.

Larger banks seem to be suffering more from subprime-related write-downs when compared to other smaller-to-mid sized banks, according to a new A.M. Best analysis report released this week. A.M. Best Co.