The ability-to-repay and qualified mortgage (QM) rules that went into effect earlier this year are not having a significant impact on approvals of prime conforming residential mortgage loans, but they are impacting the jumbo and nontraditional loan markets, according to the July 2014 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices conducted by the Federal Reserve.
Read More »Federal Reserve Board Votes to Continue Tapering Program
Leaders at the Federal Reserve voted Wednesday to move forward with the central bank's plans to gradually cut monthly bond purchases, a sign of growing confidence that the economy is trending in a more favorable direction.
Read More »House Financial Services Committee Sends Fed Reform Bill to a Floor Vote
Congress Wednesday fired its latest rounds in its ever-escalating battle with the Federal Reserve, as a Republican-controlled House committee passed a reform bill aimed at making the Fed more accountable and transparent. The Fed’s has already warned of serious trouble if the nation’s top financial institution were held to formal policy regarding its ability to set interest rates.
Read More »Fed Doesn’t Support House Oversight Bill
The Chair of the Federal Reserve Board Janet Yellen deliver her semi-annual Monetary Policy Report and completed her second day of testimony Wednesday, this time testifying before the House Committee on Financial Services.
Read More »Yellen Delivers Policy Report to Senate Committee
Yellen gave her semi-annual Monetary Policy Report and made the case that while the economy has seen improvement the economic recovery is still too fragile to deviate from the present course of Fed policy.
Read More »Yellen to Testify before Congress this Week
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will testify before Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week to give her semi-annual report on the health of the United States economy and Fed efforts to help jumpstart a recovery that, while still trending upward, has started to slow in recent months.
Read More »Fed Considers Ending Stimulus Program
The Federal Reserve appears to be confident enough in the trajectory of the United States economy that it looks to be planning to stop adding to its bond holdings in October, according to the minutes of the June Federal Open Market Committee meeting.
Read More »FED: Payment Agreement on Track
The Federal Reserve Board published a report Monday defending and showing the progress of the Independent Foreclosure Review and subsequent Payment Agreement between the board and 15 large mortgage servicers. Between April 2011 and April 2012, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve issued enforcement actions against 16 mortgage loan servicers for inadequate foreclosure and mortgage loan servicing practices.
Read More »Fed: Taper Continues; Adjust Economic Projections
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) concluded its June meeting with the announcement that members have once again voted to bring down the Federal Reserve's stimulative monthly asset purchases. Taking a cue from improvements in labor market indicators, household spending, and general economic activity, the committee members voted to reduce the Fed's monthly purchase of agency mortgage-backed securities.
Read More »Mortgage Credit Becomes More Available in May
The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA)Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI), a monthly gauge of credit access based on metrics and underwriting criteria from more than 85 lenders, increased 1.14 percent from April to May, reading 115.1 in the latest measure.
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