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Homeowners Chance To Refinance
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Homeowners Chance To Refinance
Details of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union pledge to craft a plan
with Congress to give homeowners a chance to refinance at historically low
interest rates, was released by the White House on Wednesday. The move indicates
the Obama administration rejected arguments that only time would heal the
housing market. “Homeowners should not have to sit and wait for the market to
hit bottom to get relief,” the White House said in a fact sheet. Many Americans
with good credit and clean payment histories are rejected for refinancing
because their mortgages are bigger than the current price of their homes, a term
called being “underwater.” Even where Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac insure the new
mortgages, banks are worried about being left taking losses. Obama said the new
refinance program would result in “no more red tape, no more runaround from the
banks,” in his speech to the nation and members of Congress last week. The new
program will be focused on borrowers whose loans are not owned by Fannie Mae or
Freddie Mac and will be operated through the Federal Housing Administration.
Borrowers will need to be current on their loan for the past 6 months, have
missed no more than one payment in the prior 6 months, and meet a minimum credit
score of 580 to qualify. The loans cannot be larger than current FHA conforming
loan limits that range as high as $729,750 in high cost areas. The White House
said that 9 out of 10 borrowers have a credit score adequate to meet that
requirement. The mortgages to be refinanced must be for a family’s
owner-occupied principal residence and borrowers will not have to submit a new
appraisal or tax return - a lender would only have to confirm that the borrower
is employed. The cost of the program is estimated between $5 and $10 billion, to
be paid for by a fee on large financial firms, the White House said however,
Congressional Republicans have said they will oppose any such fee. Obama
administration is additionally asking Congress to streamline refinancing to all
borrowers with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans. The White House expressed
frustration with the Federal Housing Finance Agency — which at the moment is
being run by an appointee of George W. Bush, Ed DeMarco. While the White House
argues that the government-sponsored giants could have acted, “the GSE’s have
not acted so the White House is calling on Congress to do what is in the
taxpayer’s interest,” the statement said. The steps include eliminating
appraisal costs for all borrowers, increasing competition so borrowers can get
the best possible deal and extend streamlined refinancing for all GSE borrowers.
Charles Plosser, the president of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank said
today that even though inflation may moderate in the near term, that doesn't
mean the Federal Reserve can relax. Plosser said, with commodity prices now
leveling off or declining and investors not expecting higher prices, "inflation
will moderate in the near term," and added, "As a policy maker though, I focus
less on the near term and more on the medium term." Plosser said in a speech to
the Main Line Chamber of Commerce in suburban Philadelphia, with the Fed's very
easy monetary policy now in place for more than three years, "we must continue
to monitor inflation measures very carefully." Plosser said he did not support
the Fed's statement after its January meeting that pushed out its guidance of
when the first rate hike might occur by 18 months until late 2014. Since late
last year, Plosser said the economy had improved and more easing only risked
"undermining confidence."
The Commerce Department reported Wednesday, outlays for U.S. construction
projects rose 1.5% in December from November. Spending on private construction
rose 2.1%; private residential construction is higher by 0.8% and spending on
public projects rose 0.5%. In November, construction spending was revised down
to a gain of 0.4% from a prior estimate of a 1.2% increase.
Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index rose to 54.1% last
month from a revised 53.1% in December, indicating business at U.S.
manufacturers expanded in January at the fastest pace in eight months. The
latest increase puts the ISM index back at levels last seen in June 2011.
“Manufacturing is starting out the year on a positive note, with new orders,
production and employment all growing in January,” said Bradley J. Holcomb,
who’s in charge of the ISM survey. The new orders index, which is an indication
of future demand, jumped 2.8 percentage points to 57.6% with the backlog of
orders, inventories and exports rising as well. The employment index, fell
slightly to 54.3% from 54.8%, and prices-paid gauge jumped to 55.5% from 47.5%
to mark the first increase in four months. Nine of the 18 industries surveyed
reported growth, led by apparel and petroleum producers with seven reporting
that their businesses contracted and two were unchanged. The rise in the U.S.
index was matched by increases in China, the United Kingdom and Europe, though
manufacturing in Europe was still contracting overall.
Payrolls-processor Automatic Data Processing Inc. reported employment in the
nation’s private sector is improving at a moderate pace, with two years of job
gains now on the books. In January, according to the ADP, nonfarm private
employment rose 170,000, marking the 24th consecutive month of gains, led by
small businesses and the service-providing sector. ADP reported private
employment rose 292,000, compared with a prior estimate of 325,000 in December.
“Other indicators suggest some firming of labor-market conditions as well,
including the downward trend in unemployment claims, upturns in the components
of consumer sentiment and confidence influenced by perceptions about the
availability of jobs, and a rising trend in workers voluntary quitting their
jobs,” said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, which produces the
ADP report.
Nasdaq OMX Group is still in talks with Facebook Inc. about the social-media
company's highly anticipated stock listing, and that Nasdaq still has not
presented its 'complete' package to Facebook. Nasdaq OMX Chief Executive Bob
Greifeld said he cannot shed light on whether his exchange will ultimately land
Facebook's stock listing when it files to go public but, talks are ongoing. "We
obviously are soliciting interest from Facebook and we look forward to having
the opportunity to present our complete package," Greifeld said. The widely
anticipated filing of Facebook is expected as soon as Wednesday.
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February
1, 2012
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Top of the page | |
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Total for Year |
Last Week |
$207,545.00 |
$15,148.00 |
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Total for Year |
Last Week |
$54,280.00 |
$7,557.50 |
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| |
Total for Year |
Last Week |
$477,923.89 |
$44,196.66 |
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| |
Total for Year |
Last Week |
$395,980.00 |
$47,570.00 |
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Total for Year |
Last Week |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
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