Government

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) announced last week that a recent survey it conducted signals hope on the horizon for struggling homeowners facing foreclosure. The activist group said it surveyed all major mortgage servicing companies in the nation, and has found that at least 76 percent of outstanding mortgage loans are serviced by companies who have committed to implementing the Obama administration’s Making Home Affordable loan modification program.

Interest rates for both 30-year and 15-year fixed rate mortgages (FRMs) hit another record low this week, according to the Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) released on Thursday by Freddie Mac. The GSE said that for the week ending March 26, 2009, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testified before the House Financial Services Committee again on Thursday, pleading his case for an upheaval in financial regulation and expanded authority over a wider scope of financial institutions.

At the request of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a U.S. district court has ordered two South New Jersey-based companies to stop falsely advertising that they are part of the mortgage assistance network, HOPE NOW Alliance, and that they successfully modify mortgages for almost all of their clients or else give refunds.

The nation’s financial principals, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, testified before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday, to rally congressional support for expanded regulatory authority – authority that would allow them to seize control of struggling financial institutions that are deemed too big to fail.

David H. Stevens has been nominated by President Barack Obama for the position of assistant secretary for housing and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) commissioner, where he will be responsible for overseeing the government-led mortgage insurance agency.

On Monday, the Treasury Department unveiled the details of its Public-Private Investment Fund aimed at removing bad mortgages from banks’ books and the secondary market. This new prong of the administration’s Financial Recovery Plan is intended to improve liquidity and restart lending.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday laid out details of its plan to alleviate the toxic mortgage assets weighing heavy on banks’ balance sheets – the fiscal burdens that many argue sent the entire national financial system into its headlong tailspin.

The New York Federal Reserve Bank purchased $20 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) from government agencies last week. Total MBS purchases since the Fed program began in early January now stands at $237 billion.

Compelled by the AIG bonus scandal making headlines this week, on Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 328 to 93 to institute a 90 percent tax on bonuses paid by any bank or financial institution that owes the government more than $5 billion in federal bailout money.