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Inside Mortgage Finance

June 11, 2009

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Mortgage Refi Boom May Collapse Under Weight of Rising Mortgage Interest Rates

The heavy surge of mortgage refinance activity that pushed lender profits to record levels in the first quarter of 2009 may rapidly run out of gas as a result of rising interest rates and market skittishness about chasing volume through relaxed lending standards. Refinance...[Includes one chart] Read More

Freddie Expands Eligibility for HARP Refis, But Re-Introduces Fees to Already Slow Program

Freddie Mac widened the scope of its Relief Refinance program for existing borrowers, but the government-sponsored enterprise also raised its risk-premium structure to roughly match the revised loan-level pricing recently announced by Fannie Mae. The GSE streamlined refi... Read More

Mortgage Fraud Has Evolved as the Market Shifted, But It Remains a Profitable Business, Experts Say

Despite the vigilance and best preventive efforts of industry, law enforcement and regulatory agencies, mortgage fraud continues to evolve and grow as a profitable business for perpetrators even in these tough financial times, according to mortgage fraud experts. Panelists on an... Read More

FHLBanks, Under Regulatory Pressure, Taking More Action to Counter Deteriorating Collateral

The use of Federal Home Loan Bank advances continued to drop in the first quarter of 2009, but it’s not just because mortgage lenders can find liquidity elsewhere. In some cases the value of the collateral they pledge to back their advance use is under siege, cutting into the... Read More

New York Court Denies Foreclosure in Case Where Fraud was 'Abundantly Clear'

Judicial patience has finally run out in one New York City borough against sloppy lenders that come to court with a defaulted mortgage seeking an automatic order of foreclosure. Ruling on Argent Mortgage v. Mentesana, a Brooklyn judge held that foreclosure is... Read More

Mortgage Collaborative, With Limited Support, Launches to Promote Safe and Fair Lending

A new nonprofit, the Fair Mortgage Collaborative, was officially launched this week with the goal of promoting safe and fair lending from a network of certified lenders, all in an effort to restore the public’s confidence in the marketplace, group officials said. The effort... Read More

Counseling Bolsters Foreclosure Mitigation, But Study Says Servicers Need to Do More

Distressed mortgage borrowers who take advantage of financial counseling are more likely to avoid foreclosure, according to a new report released by NeighborWorks America. The National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program was authorized by Congress in 2008 to address the subprime... Read More

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