Housing Market, Mortgage | featured news

Federal Housing Finance Agency is seeking billions in repayment from banks that sold bad loans to the mortgage giants to help offset taxpayer losses, but some financial institutions are balking.

Lenders took back more homes in August than in any month since the start of the U.S. mortgage crisis.

Permanent modifications, which lower mortgage payments to 31% of a borrower's pretax monthly income for five years, have been given to only about a third of the 1.3 million borrowers in trial plans since the program's launch in April 2009. Most of the lawsuits allege that the three- or four-month trial payment plans are contracts, and that Bank of America and other servicers broke them by not giving permanent modifications to homeowners who made their trial payments on time and provided the necessary documentation.

The U.S. government's role in housing finance should undergo "fundamental change," but it should still provide some guarantees in the mortgage market, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday.

Consumers looking for home loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration will face tougher hurdles and higher costs under new legislation and new rules that could take effect as soon as this month.

How to tell if you should prepay your mortgage. Recently, I have had two people ask me if they should repay their mortgage early. While there are psychological benefits to wiping away what is often a person’s largest debt, there are several things you should consider before taking steps to pay off your mortgage ahead of schedule.

As if expecting parents didn’t have enough things to worry about, here comes another thing to fret over: their dimming prospects of buying a home for their growing families.

A New York Times article published Tuesday reported that a pregnancy has become a potential deal-breaker when it comes to securing a home mortgage, even though mortgage rates are the lowest they’ve been in 50 years and home prices are falling.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday accused a New York firm that helped manage complex mortgage securities of defrauding investors as the housing market collapsed.

In a nationwide effort, officials file criminal charges against individuals allegedly responsible for $2.3 billion in fraud. 'These schemes are despicable; they are dangerous to our economy,' Atty. Gen. Eric Holder says.

A dubious distinction was reached during the first three months of 2010: More than 10% of all borrowers are now behind on their mortgage payments.