Government

Bank of America’s chairman and CEO, Kenneth Lewis, has been issued a subpoena by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. According to a CNN:http://www.cnn.com/CRIME/ report, Cuomo is investigating whether Bank of America, which completed its acquisition of Merrill Lynch on January 1st, violated state law by withholding information from investors.

Freddie Mac has released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending February 19, 2009, showing that mortgage rates fell for all loan products this week. The GSE reported that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) this week averaged 5.

The response streaming in from leaders and regulators across the banking and mortgage industries is overwhelmingly positive for President Obama’s Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan unveiled on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the same day President Obama announced the government’s most aggressive effort yet to ignite a housing recovery, the Federal Reserve diminished its economic outlook for 2009 and warned that the U.

Denver-based LenderLive Network Inc., a company that provides business process outsourcing and technology to the financial industry, announced the expansion of its quality control services to support increased demand from clients for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury released its first monthly bank lending survey on Tuesday, showing that despite the negative effects of the economic downturn and unprecedented financial crisis, the top 20 banks receiving government funding have continued to originate, refinance, and renew loans.

Will Loan Modification Disputes Change Servicing and Further Damage U.S. Capitalismx What a year it was. In 2008, home values took a beating while Wall Street investors were out nearly $7 billion. In the American tradition, the next step is to figure out who’s responsible for what, and that means a lot of people will be heading to court and to Congress in 2009.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) are expanding the scope of the mortgage performance data gathered from national banks and thrifts to include additional information on the affordability and sustainability of loan modifications made in 2008.

President Barack Obama signed the administration’s sweeping stimulus package into law on Tuesday. It now carries a $787 billion price tag, and is a mix of government spending and tax cuts. The White House estimates the package will save or create 3.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York purchased $23.2 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) for the week ending February 11th. That tally brings total MBS purchases since the government program began in early January to $114.