Tag Archives: Mortgage Debt

While the housing market has seen some recent positive signs, many still wonder when a true recovery will occur. Distressed real estate continues to hold a market-wide recovery at bay, and predicting a timeline for bringing distressed real estate to manageable levels is difficult at best. After tracking 5,021 properties that became distressed between April 2005 and July 2012, ProTek released a report detailing its observations. ProTek found more than 20 percent of properties remained distressed for more than five years, and LTV was found to be ""a key driver"" in the transition into foreclosure.

Based on the stronger performance of the consumer distress index, CredAbility said the ""stage of strong holiday spending"" may be set. With a score below 70 indicating a state of financial distress, the distress index sat higher at 70.5 out of 100 in the third quarter. In the second quarter, the index was also above 70 at 71.3. For the first time since early 2008, the credit counseling agency says consumers have managed to stay out of financial distress for two consecutive quarters.

Bank of America announced it's on track to fulfill consumer relief requirements as part of the national mortgage settlement within the first year of the three-year agreement. So far, the bank has completed or approved $15.8 billion in consumer relief for about 164,000 homeowners as of September 30. One form of consumer relief offered through the settlement is first-lien principal forgiveness, which BofA has offered to 30,000 customers, leading to $4.75 billion in principal reductions.

The national mortgage delinquency rate fell further in Q3 2012 to 5.41 percent, TransUnion reported Tuesday. The rate is a decrease from 5.49 percent in Q2 2012 and a near 8 percent drop from 5.88 percent in Q3 2011, according to the credit bureau. The delinquency rate includes borrowers who are past due by 60 or more days. When examining improvements among metropolitan areas, however, TransUnion found a smaller share of metros experienced a drop in their rates compared to previous quarters.

The vast majority of homeowners who refinanced in Q3 2012 either maintained or slashed their loan debt, according to a release from Freddie Mac. In the year's third quarter, 83 percent of homeowners who refinanced their first-lien home mortgage either kept the same loan amount or lowered their principal balance by paying-in additional money at the closing table, the GSE revealed. Of those borrowers, 54 percent maintained about the same loan amount, while 29 percent reduced their principal balance.

The mortgage market may be the largest market for consumer finance, but the sector lacks a comprehensive national database, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). This is why the federal agencies are coming together to create a national mortgage database. Borrower profiles, payment history, and the mortgage product and terms will be included in the database, which will be updated monthly.

As the Federal Reserve launches its QE3 monetary policy, some interpret the plan as a sign Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has ""gone 'all in' on the U.S. housing market"" and is clinging to hope the housing market can not only recover itself, but also restore the entire U.S. economy. This, at least, is the outlook of Global Markets Intelligence (GMI) Research. The research firm suggests the Fed is turning to the housing market ""as the last, best hope"" for strengthening the overall economy and restoring ""healthy self-sustained economic growth.""

The Federal Reserve's recently-announced commitment to keep interest rates low until 2015 isn't doing much to persuade consumers to borrow, according to Bankrate's Financial Security Index for October. Seventy-four percent of consumers said they are not interested in taking on debt, while 23 percent said they are more inclined to borrow. Three percent said they did not know. While the Fed's announcement was intended to stimulate economic activity, it may have had the opposite effect, one expert told Bankrate.

There are many popular social games that allow people to create cities for virtual dwellers, but none of them have ever helped players in their real-life living situations. Until PopRox Entertainment CEO Mike Gramling stepped onto the scene, that is. Gramling, the mind behind city-building game Race 4 My Place, said he started to see the situation many homeowners were left in after the housing crash when he had to deal with his own mortgage burden.

Nearly 99,000 homeowners refinanced their mortgages in August through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said Tuesday. Since the beginning of this year, when a broader group of borrowers were made eligible for the program, the federal government's HARP initiative has put 618,217 homeowners with loans owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac into new mortgages with lower interest rates. According to FHFA, HARP is on target to reach a million borrowers in 2012.