Government

The federal government's often vilified $700 billion bailout program officially came to an end when the clock struck midnight on Monday. The Troubled Asset Relief Program's (TARP) formal sunset date means that no new programs will be funded under the initiative and no more money will be doled out to prop up ailing banks. Initially, this monumental rescue effort was expected to cost taxpayers hundreds of billions, but Treasury says its latest estimates put the price tag at less than $50 billion.

The latest in a string of government extensions is an extension to Fannie Mae's Alternative Modification (Alt Mod) to the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). The extension is being provided so servicers will have enough time to complete the processing of modifications for borrowers who meet the eligibility requirements for the Alt Mod program, which remain the same.

If governmental policy on foreclosure prevention does not change, 11.5 million borrowers are in danger of losing their homes, according to the analysts at Amherst Securities. That staggering figure equates to one out of every five borrowers - an astronomical 20 percent default rate. So how can the administration fix deficiencies in its loan modification program? Amherst analysts say the answer lies in cutting borrowers' principal balances and boosting housing demand, including opening up financing channels for investors.

The Wayne County Treasurer in Michigan concluded its September online auction of tax-foreclosed properties by generating more than $4.1 million in tax revenue for the county, an increase of more than 600 percent from last year's live, on site auction. The treasurer tapped Bid4Assets.com to conduct its first online auction due to the record number of tax foreclosed properties available.

State and federal regulators closed the doors on two community banks over the weekend - Wakulla Bank in Crawfordville, Florida, and Shoreline Bank in Shoreline, Washington. The two lenders' closings bring the number of names on the FDIC's failed-bank list to 129 so far for the 2010 calendar year. The real estate and financial crises have been dire for the nation's banking system. Some analysts have estimated that the United States could lose as much as a third of its banks when all is said and done.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has released a report regarding the results of research examining international mortgage products and comparing them with the mortgage products in the United States. The study found that features and products that are restricted in the Dodd-Frank Bill are widespread in other countries and are not necessarily believed to cause high rates of default. The trade group says the new regulations will deeply impact borrower choice.

One of the nation's foremost banking regulators has issued a directive to large mortgage servicers, ordering them to reassess their procedures for foreclosing on defaulted borrowers. John Walsh, head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) told lawmakers that he contacted seven institutions his agency supervises, after several large lenders announced a halt on foreclosures in states where filings might contain erroneous paperwork and preparers may have broken the law in their haste to process large volumes of cases.

The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives voted Thursday to extend increased loan limits on mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The higher loan limits of $729,750, which were scheduled to expire at the end of 2010, have been extended for an additional nine months, and are now set to expire September 30, 2011. The approved bill also appropriates $20 billion for the Federal Housing Administration to continue making loan commitments though the end of 2010 for a special risk fund.

Tomorrow, Friday, October 1, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will host the Financial Stability Oversight Council's first meeting at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Geithner is the chairperson of the Council. The meeting will include both a closed session and an open session, which begins at 2:30 p.m. EDT and will be streamed live on the Treasury's Web site.

The nation's largest mortgage financier is shrinking its portfolio. Fannie Mae reported this week that its holdings declined at a compound annualized rate of 4.1 percent in August, while its total book of business fell by 1.3 percent. At the same time, delinquency levels fell across the board. Fannie Mae's single-family serious delinquency rate dropped 17 basis points in July to 4.82 percent. The multifamily serious delinquency rate declined 6 basis points to 0.74 percent.