Friday Rate Update

RATES 

Mortgage Rates Reach 2016 Highs
The rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.13 percent this week, up from the previous week's 4.08 percent rate, Freddie Mac said yesterday. At this time last year, the 30-year FRM rate averaged 3.95 percent.

This week's 15-year FRM averaged 3.36 percent, up from last week's 3.34 percent rate. A year ago, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.19 percent. ---ABA Daily Newsbytes

E-signs of the times: How e-signatures, e-notarization confound mortgage lending

by Jeanne Pinder

You use electronic signatures these days just about everywhere: when you scrawl with your fingernail on a coffee shop tablet, click to accept an online contract, even when you type your PIN at the ATM. So different forms of e-signing are commonly accepted everywhere, right?

Not so fast. In the banking world, e-signatures occupy a dark, mysterious thicket of state and local regulations. Rules on acceptances vary from bank to bank and transaction to transaction. A welter of different methods exist: Click to sign? Type in your name? Or is a full “wet” signature required with a raised notary seal? Which is right when and where? How can I know?

For all the finality signing on the dotted line represents, e-signatures raise a flurry of questions that lack universal answers. And as with so many things involving digital speed, it’s largely an issue of technology outpacing reality.

Electronic signatures came quickly with the rise of the web, but a patchwork of state regulations and company practices led to conflicts and inconsistencies. The Clinton administration regularized the mess, to a certain degree, with two e-signature laws: The federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN) and Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) both date to 2000.

Read more here.....

MGIC Presents Fun Facts

Loan Limits Raised

Mortgage

FHFA Raises 2017 Conforming Loan Limits for Fannie, Freddie

The Federal Housing Finance Agency increased the maximum conforming loan limits for mortgages acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2017. The limit for one-unit properties will rise to $424,100 from $417,000 in most of the country, the first increase in the baseline loan limit since 2006. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) established the baseline loan limit of $417,000 and requires this limit to be adjusted each year once the average U.S. home price returned to its pre-decline level. The FHFA’s House Price Index for the third quarter rose 1.5 percent from the previous quarter and registered a 1.7 percent rise from the third quarter of 2007. ICBA recognizes that while an increase in the conforming loan amount will help make conforming mortgage financing more widely available, it remains concerned that Fannie and Freddie are severely undercapitalized. The association is calling on FHFA Director Mel Watt to require the GSEs to develop and implement a capital restoration plan as required by HERA.  --ABA Daily Newsbytes

Mortgage Rates Climb Again 

The rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.57 percent this week, up from the previous week's 3.54 percent rate, Freddie Mac said on Thursday. At this time last year, the 30-year FRM rate averaged 3.98 percent.

This week's 15-year FRM averaged 2.88 percent, up from last week's 2.84 percent rate. A year ago, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.2 percent.

---ABA Daily Newsbytes

Mortgage Rates Climb Again 

The rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.57 percent this week, up from the previous week's 3.54 percent rate, Freddie Mac said on Thursday. At this time last year, the 30-year FRM rate averaged 3.98 percent.

This week's 15-year FRM averaged 2.88 percent, up from last week's 2.84 percent rate. A year ago, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.2 percent.

---ABA Daily Newsbytes

Friday Rate Update

Mortgage Rates Climb

The rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.54 percent this week, up from the previous week's 3.47 percent rate, Freddie Mac said yesterday. At this time last year, the 30-year FRM rate averaged 3.87 percent.

This week's 15-year FRM averaged 2.84 percent, up from last week's 2.78 percent rate. A year ago, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.09 percent. 

---ABA Daily Newbytes