News

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.

Irvine, California-based Real Estate Disposition Corporation (REDC) has acquired the domain name, Auction.com, for $1.7 million. REDC’s consumer Website for lender-foreclosed home auctions, until now, has been USHomeAuction.

Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) today, in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.98 percent (0.7 points) for the week ending March 19, 2009.

As lawmakers grilled AIG’s CEO on Capitol Hill Wednesday about executives receiving bonuses from taxpayer dollars, the Wall Street Journal:http://www.wsjonline.com reported that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are also handing out sizable bonuses as retention payments to thousands of employees.

In a joint effort, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) launched a new Website on Thursday for troubled homeowners seeking information about the administration’s Making Home Affordable loan modification and refinancing program.

Sheriff Warren Evans of Wayne County, Michigan announced this week that he is resuming foreclosure sales. Evans halted all foreclosure sales in his jurisdiction on February 2nd, in anticipation of a foreclosure relief plan from the federal government.

DocuTech Corp., a provider of compliance services and document technology for the mortgage industry, has opened a new office in Portland, Oregon. The company said its expansion is to meet growing customer and technology development needs in the mortgage marketplace.

The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee concluded its monthly meeting on Wednesday afternoon, and announced several aggressive initiatives to provide greater support to mortgage lending and housing markets, the committee said in a statement to the press.

At a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said he plans to begin drafting legislation to overhaul regulation of the nation’s financial system by early May.

On Wednesday, as Vice President Joe Biden hosts local officials from across the country at the White House to discuss how funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) will support new economic growth in their communities, the Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund is releasing its implementation plan to award nearly $100 million in grants and $3 billion in additional tax credit authority to support community-based financial institutions.