Latest from The Spokesman-Review

• Prepayment plans surface with increased home values

  May 19, 2013 in Business on Page E2 A financial planner once told me that people really did not concentrate on saving for retirement until they paid off their home mortgage. The reason was that discretionary income was … 1

• Kelly: The stigma of foreclosure lifts as lenders alienate borrowers

  May 5, 2013 in Business on Page E2 Our nephew, a high school teacher and coach in Southern California, decided to stop paying on his mortgage a year ago. Matt, 34, is still in the home. 2

• Reverifications help lenders weed out fraudulent borrowers

  April 21, 2013 in Business on Page E2 Can your lender challenge loan data after closing? Credit has become tighter and lenders are spending more time verifying a borrower’s assets, especially for investors. But just how long is …

• Despite mortgage settlement, borrowers remain frustrated

  March 31, 2013 in Business on Page E6 CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A year ago, a $25 billion settlement ordered banks to do a better job helping troubled homeowners, and to end the stories of borrowers trapped in a …

• FHA loan fallout extends its reach to reverse mortgages

  March 10, 2013 in Business on Page E2 Loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration are changing – and not just for “forward” first mortgages. As of April 1, reverse mortgages will change, too, thanks to the queasy …

• Nearly one-third of homeowners have no mortgage

  February 11, 2013 in Features on Page C3 What mortgage meltdown? While millions of Americans have suffered the angst of lost homes, equity and pride, nearly a third of the nation’s homeowners have no mortgage at all, according …

• Housing advocates push for new subprime option

  February 3, 2013 in Business on Page E6 With home prices rising, interest rates falling and builders building, some prominent housing advocates are calling for a new kind of loan for buyers with lower incomes or bad credit. …

• Informed seniors can prevent reverse-mortgage disasters

  December 16, 2012 in Business on Page E2 Reverse mortgage lenders gathered in San Antonio recently for their annual meeting and were met with another inaccurate story in a national publication. According to the piece “many” seniors were …

• BBB Tip of the Week: Mortgage foreclosure rescue scams

  December 16, 2012 in Business on Page E2 As part of the Federal Trade Commission’s ongoing efforts to protect consumers in financial distress, it obtained judgment against Dinamica Financiera LLC, Soluciones Dinamicas Inc., Valentin Benitez, and Jose Mario … 3

• Senior homeowners deserve more choices with mortgages

  September 23, 2012 in Business on Page E2 Perhaps the biggest boost to the reverse mortgage industry occurred when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it would insure its own product, the Home Equity Conversion …

• High-risk mortgages will require property appraisals

  August 16, 2012 in Business on Page A8 WASHINGTON – New federal rules proposed Wednesday would require all high-risk mortgage lenders to obtain property appraisals for the first time. Under the rule, all mortgages deemed risky would require … 1

• Reverse mortgage requires careful consideration

  August 12, 2012 in Business on Page E1 LOS ANGELES – Reverse mortgages represent an alluring proposition for seniors: Stay in your own home while the bank pays you either a lump sum or a stream of payments …

• Reverse-mortgage strategy can pay off if applied wisely

  April 22, 2012 in Business on Page E2 The number of Americans over 65 who continue to work has risen in the past decade. The unexpected rise can be traced to a variety of factors including shell-shocked retirement …

• There’s no ‘Plan B’ if mortgage interest deduction goes away

  December 4, 2011 in Business on Page E2 Moe Veissi, the new president of the National Association of Realtors, didn’t even blink an eye when the sensitive question was raised. It wasn’t an elephant-in-the-room topic, but it was …

• Obama to promote new steps to help housing woes

  October 24, 2011 in Nation/World Seeking to circumvent congressional opposition, President Barack Obama will promote a series of executive branch steps aimed at jumpstarting the economy this week, beginning with new rules to make it … 20

• FHA becomes tangled in its own safety net

  August 14, 2011 in Business on Page E2 The conventional lending system wants more skin in the mortgage game. We all get that. But should it be an arm and a leg? It’s driving FHA off the playing …

• Five factors play key roles in mortgage application

  July 3, 2011 in Business on Page E1 NEW YORK — There’s rarely been a better time to buy a home. If only you could get approved for a mortgage. Despite the persistent uncertainty in the housing market, …

• Fate of reverse mortgages depends on compromise

  July 3, 2011 in Business on Page E2 The recent exit of Wells Fargo from the reverse mortgage industry will become a critical point in time for lenders and mortgage companies with plans to service the financial needs … 1

• Despite risks, adjustable-rate mortgages have advocates

  May 15, 2011 in Business on Page E4 PHILADELPHIA — Fixed mortgage rates remain below 5 percent, and these days fewer and fewer home buyers seem to be opting for adjustable-rate loans. But low fixed rates aren’t the …

• Let private lenders fund reverse-mortgage counseling

  May 8, 2011 in Business on Page E2 Federal and state regulators need to better support basic information in housing and housing finance. They are too concerned with potential conflicts of interest, even when counseling is a mandatory …

• Mortgage forgiveness tax relief differs from home-sale loss

  April 10, 2011 in Business on Page E2 Four years ago, the Internal Revenue Service changed the law that required consumers to pay tax on mortgages forgiven by a lender. Those amounts used to be considered taxable income … 1

• Mortgage rates go up slightly

  November 25, 2010 in Business on Page A13 NEW YORK — Rates on fixed mortgages edged up again from the lowest levels in decades, making it slightly less attractive for Americans to buy or refinance in a market … 1

• Mortgage-forgiveness tax relief does nothing to help your credit

  November 21, 2010 in Business on Page E2 Our four children and their academic calendars have guided me through time in four-year blocks. For example: “Charley was a sophomore when that happened, he’s been out two years, so …

• Jumbo mortgage now available for seniors with pricey homes

  October 24, 2010 in Business on Page E2 A new jumbo reverse mortgage option has finally surfaced for seniors with higher-value homes who have been seeking to tap more home equity than the federally insured FHA program can … 1

• State AG takes aim at mortgage wolves

  October 17, 2010 in Business on Page E1 Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna sent a letter last week to the 52 trustees who shepherd mortgage paperwork toward foreclosure. At least a few, it seems, have been very bad …

• Bank of America halts all foreclosure sales

  October 8, 2010 in Business, Nation/World Potential flaws in foreclosure documents are threatening to throw the real estate industry into a full-blown crisis, as Bank of America today became the first bank to stop sales of … 4

• More homeowners refinancing to get low rates

  August 26, 2010 in Business on Page A10 NEW YORK – Mortgage applications rose 4.9 percent last week as more borrowers refinanced at the lowest rates in decades. The Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday the gain was fueled …

• Mortgage modification program working better

  August 25, 2010 in Business on Page A8 BOSTON – Homeowners who had mortgages modified recently are faring better than those who did so earlier in the housing crisis, according to a report released Tuesday, possibly debunking predictions … 1

• Rules limit closing-cost estimates

  August 22, 2010 in Business on Page E3 LOS ANGELES – Facing new penalties if they lowball estimates of upfront mortgage costs, lenders and brokers appear to be coming clean about how much borrowers will pay. As a …

• Government starts talks about new mortgage system

  August 17, 2010 in Business Talk of shrinking the government’s involvement in the mortgage market is growing. Just don’t expect action any time soon. 7

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