Posts Tagged ‘mortgage broker’
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said “Proposed changes to mortgage lending rules are intended to protect borrowers from market abuses and boost market competition”. My bone of contention regarding the subprime fiasco, is that rules were in place to help protect consumers.
I think we will see many more articles like this as mortage brokers are arrested and arraigned because of shady deals that took place during the subprime debacle. If the broker and the borrower conspired together to defraud a mortgage company it is highly unlikely that the borrower will say anything for fear of going to jail along with the broker. On the other hand if the broker did the paperwork and the borrower did not get a full disclosure the subject may be argued in court. This case is a little different:
More job losses are forecast for the banking industry, just as some thought the situation was under control. For the first time in 40 years insitutions that take deposits, make loans, etc, are experiencing a downturn. Analysts at the financial research firm Celent LLC said in a report Tuesday that it expects the U.S. commercial banking industry — essentially, all companies that lend or collect deposits — to lose 200,000 of its 2 million jobs over the next 12 to 18 months.
One point is perfectly clear after the subprime debacle, which is the need for federal-level regualtors that will actually do something. Finger pointing is frustrating for consumers and mortgage holders. Recently we received a report of a mortage holder who was bounced from the OCC to the FTC, later to be told that the FTC gathers complaints but does not take action on individual complaints.
The IRS announced today that their website, irs.gov, will publish the dates and schedule for release of economic stimulus checks, also called bailout checks, or tax refunds. If you have direct deposit and file before April 15th you will have priority over paper filers. For those will adjustable rate mortgages, near foreclosure, or already in foreclosure the stimulus refund should be considered carefully. Be realistic. If paying the utilities will keep the lights on for one more month while denying the inevitable, perhaps you should consider a different approach.