US taxpayers lose over banks deal
As details of the $40bn foreclosure abuse agreement dribble out, it appears the deal may give big banks reason to celebrate and mortgage bond investors and taxpayers reason to pause
US banks are facing mounting pressure from politicians, the courts and regulators over their shoddy mortgage foreclosure procedures
Existing home sales rose 4.3 per cent in January to a seasonally adjusted yearly rate of 4.57m. Median price fell 4.6 per cent in the month
The plan by the Federal Housing Finance Agency sets out how it will shrink Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the next few years while trying to minimise foreclosures
As details of the $40bn foreclosure abuse agreement dribble out, it appears the deal may give big banks reason to celebrate and mortgage bond investors and taxpayers reason to pause
An unannounced clause in the provisional agreement allows banks to count future loan modifications made under Hamp towards their new restructuring obligations
The bank admitted it defrauded a federal insurance programme designed to encourage home ownership out of hundreds of millions of dollars
As details of the $40bn foreclosure abuse agreement dribble out, it appears the deal may give big banks reason to celebrate and mortgage bond investors and taxpayers reason to pause
There are two ways of reading any White House proposal: on its merits, and by the politics. Struggling homeowners are pawns in election campaign
The US property market remains resistant to attempts to revive it, intensifying concern about the country’s struggling recovery
Obama is still reluctant to address the scale of a problem that is an obstacle to the country’s economic recovery
Part of the rationale for Operation Twist is to milk the downward trend further, but few people have asked what happens when rates stop or reverse, as they must
Those who made the mortgage mess are to be sued for their failure to inform buyers of the underlying assets
The index is a lagging one and looking at the monthly trend, rather than year-on-year comparisons, shows that declines are moderating
If potential buyers could be convinced the market has bottomed, housing could give the economy a serious boost as the $240bn spending hit is reversed