Friday Rate Update

Mortgage Rates Again Hit Record Lows

Mortgage rates again hit record lows. The average interest rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages matched its all-time low by dropping to 3.49 percent this week from 3.55 percent last week, Freddie Mac reported yesterday. A year ago, rates for 30-year mortgages averaged 4.09 percent.
Meanwhile, the average rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to a record low of 2.77 percent this week from 2.85 percent last week. A year ago, rates for 15-year mortgages averaged 3.29 percent

Higher Mortgage Fees Proposed in Five States


The Federal Housing Finance Agency on Sept. 20 will propose charging more for mortgages in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York because it takes longer in these states for banks to foreclose. The rationale is that the longer it takes a lender to repossess the collateral behind a mortgage, the higher the potential costs. Although the fees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge would only rise by 0.15 to 0.3 percentage point of the loan amount, creating state-level mortgage pricing could set a new precedent.
From "Higher Mortgage Fees Proposed in Five States"
Wall Street Journal (09/20/12) Timiraos, Nick; Zibel, Alan

CFPB Opposes 20 Percent Down Payment, Won't Abuse Powers: Cordray

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will not mandate a 20 percent down payment in new underwriting rules for low-risk loans, agency head Richard Cordray testified before the Senate Banking Committee on Sept. 13. The declaration was in response to a question about the CFPB's 'qualified mortgages' proposal, but it was unclear if he also would oppose a 20 percent down payment as part of a separate plan to designate certain loans as QMs. Cordray also said the bureau does not believe it has the power to ignore or rewrite the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.


From "CFPB Opposes 20 Percent Down Payment, Won't Abuse Powers: Cordray"
American Banker (09/17/12) Berry, Kate

Friday Rate Update

Mortgage Rates Remain Unchanged



The average interest rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages remained unchanged at 3.55 percent this week, Freddie Mac reported yesterday. A year ago, rates for 30-year mortgages averaged 4.09 percent

No Problems Like This At St Casimirs

Study Says 800K Homeowners Should’ve Avoided Foreclosure But Big Banks Messed It All Up

By Mary Beth Quirk on September 11, 2012 4:00 PM

Getting a mortgage modification has been hard enough for homeowners, what with disorganized big banks not having enough well-trained people on staff to deal with the necessary ins and outs of the process. But a new study says that things should've been easier under the Home Affordable Modification Program and resulted in 800,000 fewer foreclosures than we ended up with.

ProPublica delves into the study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the government's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Ohio State University, Columbia Business School, and the University of Chicago. The results come down that hefty number of 800,000 homeowners who ended up in foreclosure but shouldn't have under the government's foreclosure prevention program.

The results showed that some banks were better than modifying loans than others because they had the extra ammo of larger staffs and better trained employees who knew the best way to guide homeowners to avoid foreclosure.
The study found that if all the mortgage servicers that weren't as good at modifying loans had performed as well as their peers, there would've been 800,000 more modifications under HAMP.

read more at consumerist.com

Little Change in Mortgage Rates

The average interest rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages was 3.55 percent this week, close to last week’s 3.59 percent average, Freddie Mac reported yesterday. A year ago, rates for 30-year mortgages averaged 4.12 percent.
--ABA Daily Newsbytes

It's Getting More Confusing. . .

CFPB Extends Comment Period on APR Changes



The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Friday extended the comment period for proposed changes that would create a new, higher “all in” annual percentage rate calculation and establish a new high-cost mortgage coverage test. Comments on the changes, which were proposed July 9 along with extensive revisions to Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act rules and disclosures, were initially due Sept. 7 but now are due Nov. 6.

The comment period extension follows an Aug. 13 meeting between ABA President and CEO Frank Keating and ABA EVP Bob Davis and senior CFPB staff. Keating and Davis questioned the need for extensive changes to the APR when the calculation was being de-emphasized in proposed new RESPA/TILA disclosures. They also expressed concern that the proposed changes would be costly and confusing to consumers.   --ABA Daily Newsbytes