Mortgage Debt Consolidation

I got so many comments and questions on my foreclosure blog yesterday that I wanted to follow up today with a few answers: Are there taxes on a short sale? Not anymore. The Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Relief Act of 2007 freed up borrowers from getting …

Remarks Prepared for Delivery by Deputy Attorney General Mark R. Filip … - CNBC
WASHINGTON, June 19, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ — The following are remarks prepared for delivery by Deputy Attorney General Mark R. Filip: Good afternoon. I am pleased to be joined today by Robert Mueller, Director of the FBI. Today we …

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For years, Brazil s poor had little access to credit. And even if they could get credit, they could not hope to maintain payments on interest rates that were frequently among the highest in the world. That, combined with unemployment, low pay and the instability brought on by a struggling economy, led to an explosion in the number of people living in favelas (shanty-towns) scattered in and around Brazil s urban areas. The Brazilian economy has definitely turned - Brazil has had a GDP per capit

Should You Pay Off Your Mortgage Before You Retire? - US News and World Report
Financial planner Nancy Langdon Jones of Claremont, Calif., likes the idea of having her home paid off before she retires. Her husband, actor Claude Earl Jones, would rather have the money invested than tied up in the house. “For my husband, it was …

South Korea says could resume beef imports next week (AlertNet)
Source: Reuters (Adds details on protest, quotes) By Jon Herskovitz SEOUL, June 21 (Reuters) - South Korea, which reworked an unpopular U.S. beef import deal that sparked mass street protests, could soon resume …

Carrying Mortgage Debt Into Retirement (US News & World Report)
Financial advisers disagree on what you should do with mortgage debt.

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Americans home equity is now just 46.2 percent, the lowest since the end of World War II. A homeowner s equity is the market value of a property minus the mortgage debt. And homeowners percentage of equity has declined steadily even as home values surged during the housing boom due to a jump in cash-out refinancing, home equity loans and an increase in 100 percent financing. So, all those complex subprime mortgages that were supposed to increase homeownership actually undercut the No. 1 reaso

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Home equity levels are low. As in, post-WWII low. Last quarter, homeowners’ portion of equity (market value of property minus mortgage debt) dropped to 46.2 percent; this is the fifth quarter in a row where that figure held below 50 percent. Americans’ mortgage debt surged and the dollar value of equity tanked, too not a good combo. One more, to end the week on a high note: Americans’ total net worth also dropped $55.97 trillion in the first quarter from $57.67 trillion. Swell. [SF Gate]

Foreclosures: What You’re Asking About - CNBC
I got so many comments and questions on my foreclosure blog yesterday that I wanted to follow up today with a few answers: Are there taxes on a short sale? Not anymore. The Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Relief Act of 2007 freed up borrowers from getting …

Pimco’s Gross keeps debt of Citi, Morgan, and Goldman (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
PIMCO’s Bill Gross, who manages the world’s largest bond fund, said on Thursday that he still holds some of the largest banks’ corporate debt, including Citigroup Inc , despite the problems hitting the banking sector.

Credit rating agencies agree on mortgage reforms
Rating agencies agree to overhaul how they review risky mortgage-backed securities NEW YORK - June 5 2008 - New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced an agreement with Wall Street s three major credit-rating agencies Thursday that would overhaul how they evaluate investments backed by risky mortgage debt. Cuomo, flanked at a news conference in New York City by executives from Moody s Investors Service, Fitch Ratings, and Standard & Poor s, said the new guidelines will have a dramatic e

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Now that the NJ Primary has ended, I will be supporting the Republican nominee Dick Zimmer for United States Senate - here is an editorial explaining why, which was sent to Murray Sabrin s entire mailing list. - Former Congressman Dick Zimmer, who will head the New Jersey Republican ticket this November as the U.S. Senate nominee, absolutely deserves the support of all party members, as well as conservative independents voters, in his quest to oust Frank Lautenberg. The stakes are too

Newsweek Cover Story–The Economy: Why It s Worse Than You Think
The difficulties today start as they began last year with housing and housing-related credit. Last Thursday, the Mortgage Bankers Association quarterly report showed that the percentage of mortgage borrowers behind on their payments 6.35 percent was the highest since the MBA began tracking the number in 1979. It’s not just subprime. In the first quarter of 2008, 36 percent of all foreclosures initiated were on prime adjustable-rate mortgages in California. Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s

The Masque of the Red Death (Part 2)
Over at Calculated Risk and Mr. Mortgage, they are highlighting the next, even more serious, stage of the credit crunch that I anticipated back in January. The problem? Pay Option Adjustible Rate Mortgages. I know that this is laborious, but stay with me on this: An “option ARM” is typically a 30-year ARM that initially offers the borrower four monthly payment options: a specified minimum payment, an interest-only payment, a 15-year fully amortizing payment, and a 30-year fully amortizing payme

Cross-Talk: Thoughts on Financial Planning in a Challenging Economy
Reader Tim offers a perceptive reply to my recent post: It’s difficult for me to balance what we know about the major theme of government fiscal irresponsibility with short to medium term trends. As you’ve mentioned, it’s one thing to be a successful trader, producing income and another to be financially successful and responsible over the long term. A trader should be able to produce income but what of retirement and all those baby boomers that are going to pull their stock investments at the

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The worst part of the current credit crisis is the uncertainty: No one wants to buy up risky mortgage debt instruments, so no one knows how much the toxic debt… With the recent departures of top execs at Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, the topic of …

Richardson complaint filed (Long Beach Press-Telegram)
A congressional watchdog organization filed an ethics complaint Wednesday against Rep. Laura Richardson, D-Long Beach, asking for a House investigation into her financial troubles.

Paulson & Co. Says Writedowns May Reach $1.3 Trillion (Update4) - Bloomberg
June 18 (Bloomberg) — John Paulson , founder of the hedge fund company Paulson & Co., said global writedowns and losses from the credit crisis may reach $1.3 trillion, exceeding the International Monetary Fund’s $945 billion estimate. “We’re only …

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Consult these websites to report a violation of consumer rights, manage debt.

The Masque of the Red Death (Part 2)
Over at Calculated Risk and Mr. Mortgage, they are highlighting the next, even more serious, stage of the credit crunch that I anticipated back in January. The problem? Pay Option Adjustible Rate Mortgages. I know that this is laborious, but stay with me on this: An “option ARM” is typically a 30-year ARM that initially offers the borrower four monthly payment options: a specified minimum payment, an interest-only payment, a 15-year fully amortizing payment, and a 30-year fully amortizing payme

Click Here for another interesting article you can’t resist

Over at Calculated Risk and Mr. Mortgage, they are highlighting the next, even more serious, stage of the credit crunch that I anticipated back in January. The problem? Pay Option Adjustible Rate Mortgages. I know that this is laborious, but stay with me on this: An “option ARM” is typically a 30-year ARM that initially offers the borrower four monthly payment options: a specified minimum payment, an interest-only payment, a 15-year fully amortizing payment, and a 30-year fully amortizing payme

Lacker: The Fed Risks Moral Hazard
From today’s WSJ, we see this critique about the Bear Stearns Bailout from an insider: Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Jeffrey Lacker’s, made in a speech in London on Thursday. Lacker, along with former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and others, have raised concerns about the Fed’s rescue of the Bear Stearns. The WSJ described it as a “striking insider’s critique.” “The danger is that the effect of recent credit extension on the incentives of financial market participants might induce greater r

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NEW YORK Wall Street started the week with a mixed finish on Monday as investors weighed volatility in oil prices and new hope for the financial sector after Lehman Brothers posted results. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 38.27 to 12,269.08 …

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While it s likely no longer surprising for many market participants, a report by consumer credit bureau TransUnion released Monday found that mortgage delinquencies had increased for the fifth straight quarter during Q1, while consumers managed to add to their overall mortgage debt load during the quarter as well. Borrowers more than 60 days in arrears on their mortgages hit a record high 3.23 percent for the first three months of 2008, TransUnion said that s up 8 percent over the previous

Moody’s Puts Ambac and MBIA on Review for Ratings Downgrade
U.S. bond insurers may lose their top credit ratings because of diminishing new business and financial inflexibility, Moody’s said on Wednesday. The ratings agency put MBIA and Ambac, the two biggest bond insurers, on review for a possible downgrade. The two U.S.- based companies were founded to insure municipal bonds but became heavily involved in insuring mortgage debt. Read More Now

Walter Industries completes public offering - Tampa Bay Business Journal
Walter Industries makes public offering [Tampa Bay] Capella IPO could come as soon as 2009 [Nashville] Michael E. Ryan joins Avondale as managing director [Nashville] Tanger Factory Outlet Centers secures loan to pay off mortgage debt [Greensboro …

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