Free Republic

Just how inflexible are lending standards these days? Ben Bernanke said at a conference Thursday that he’d been unable recently to refinance his mortgage. “It’s entirely possible” that lenders “may have gone a little bit too far on mortgage credit conditions,” he said at a conference in Chicago, according to Bloomberg News. But wait. Surely a man with high income, lots of equity in his home, good credit and a solid net worth must be able to get a mortgage. Mr. Bernanke stepped down as the chairman of the Federal Reserve in January and joined the Brookings Institution as a...

Senators Boxer and Menendez will introduce a 15th government mortgage modification program. This one won't cost banks any money if borrowers default, but taxpayers get stuck with the costs.

In his State of the Union address last month, President Obama outlined "a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage, by refinancing at historically low interest rates." Despite stern opposition from Congressional Republicans, the President is still pushing for the plan, which calls for the Federal Housing Administration to take on the risks of the new mortgages created by the mass refinancing. The President says the plan will be paid for by "a small fee on the largest financial institutions [and] give banks that were rescued by taxpayers a chance...

On December 29th, 2011, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) acting director Edward Demarco released a statement detailing the increase to the guarantee fee charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as part of the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011. As part of the legislation, FHFA is increasing the guarantee fee by no less than 10 basis points (bp), effective April 1st, 2012. This increase affects all single-family residential mortgages, and the additional 10 bp in fees will be remitted to the U.S. Treasury instead of being retained by the GSEs. Additionally, the minimum initial increase shall...