Tag Archives: Mortgage

Use FHA Streamline to Save on Mortgage Insurance

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Interest rates are slightly above recent lows and now may be the perfect time to refinance. Especially if you currently have an FHA loan.

The FHA Streamline Refinance is an extremely easy mortgage program. FHA has guidelines that permit borrowers to ignore most traditional mortgage verifications associated with a refinance, including those for income, credit and employment.

And with FHA mortgage rates in the 3 percent range, refinancing homeowners can also ignore the FHA mortgage insurance premiums. That alone could save you a huge amount of money.

For current rates.

Read the story.

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MERS Wins Case in Kentucky

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The U.S. Court for the Western District of Kentucky, Paducah Division, has ruled in favor of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. (MERS). The case was filed against MERS by the clerks of two Kentucky counties where they sought to collect the recording fees that the banks avoided by using MERS.

Kentucky law, like most other states specifies that when a loan is assigned the holder of the loan must record the assignment within 30 days. It appears to me that MERS did NOT comply with Kentucky law and may still face some consequences. But, the judge ruled that the county clerks had no standing in the case because the law was designed to protect the property owner, not the clerks.

First, the county clerks are not members of the class of persons the General Assembly intended to protect by the recording statutes cited by Plaintiffs. Here, the class of persons intended to be protected by Kentucky’s land recording system consists of existing lienholders seeking to give notice of their secured status; prospective purchasers and creditors seeking information about prior liens; and owners of property seeking release of liens once debts are paid off.

And:

The purpose of the statutes cited by Plaintiffs is to assure that liens are discharged when an underlying loan is paid off, to give subsequent purchasers and lenders notice of recorded liens, and to allow creditors to give notice of their secured interest in the property.

The suit was dismissed with prejudice.

Read more: http://nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news28486/legal-action-against-mers-dropped-kentucky

And the ruling: http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?page=1&xmldoc=In%20FDCO%2020120221C28.xml&docbase=CSLWAR3-2007-CURR&SizeDisp=7

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FHA Loans Soon to Become More Expensive

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Do you need/want an FHA loan? It will soon get more expensive.

Expect to pay more. FHA needs the money and thinks you can afford it. The new fees are set to begin April 1 of this year.

Even though FHA itself doesn’t make the loans, it insures them.

First, the mortgage insurance premium will rise from 1.15% to 1.25% for loans under $625,000. The premium will be even larger for larger loans.

FHA will also increase the upfront mortgage premium from 1.0% to 1.75&.

According to The New York Times, a borrower with a 3.5 percent down payment with a mortgage of $193,000 can expect to pay an upfront mortgage premium alone of $3,377, compared to the prior $1,930

The premium can be rolled into the mortgage.

The FHA expects to raise $1.25 Billion additional revenue by Sept. 2013.

The NAR (Realtors) is strongly opposed to this action.

Read more on mortgage fees.

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Unemployed Borrowers Get Break from Fannie Mae

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New guidelines from Fannie Mae followed similar guidelines from Freddie Mac on forbearance for homeowners that are unemployed and facing foreclosure. The loan servicer can grant six months forbearance without the GSE’s approval.

If the borrower is still unemployed Fannie Mae can approve an additional six months forbearance. After that the lender and borrower must consider other options.

The borrower is expected to repay the lost payments over a longer period. But in reality, in many cases the forbearance would simply amount to one year free rent.

This follows a similar program last summer for FHA loans and loan modifications.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/business/unemployed-mortgage-holders-get-payment-extension.html

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How Hard is it to get a New Mortgage Loan?

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Is it really hard to get a mortbgage loan? Some folks think so, but is it really the case? According to stan Humphsries, it”s acturally easier today than it was in 2000 or 2006.

In 2000, 54 percent of applications for conventional, owner-occupied, home purchase mortgages on one- to four-family homes resulted in mortgage originations (the balance being denied, withdrawn, or approved but not accepted by the borrower). By 2006, standards were indeed looser and 61 percent of applications for conventional mortgages resulted in originations. So what happened after the bust? Would it surprise you to learn that in 2010 63 percent of conventional mortgage applications resulted in originations? That’s right, for conventional mortgages, the conversion rate between applications and originations was actually higher last year than in either 2000 or 2006.

Now, I”m not sure that it’s easier. More loans may be approved, but from my experience the banks manage to find more hoops for a borrower to jump through, and consequently, fewer low quality borrowers actually try.

Read More: http://www.cnbc.com/id/45402953?__source=RSS*blog*&par=RSS

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MERS Foreclosure Upheld by California Courts

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Two different courts in California have upheld foreclosures by MERS corp.

The court ruled the statute cited by plaintiffs to prove an improper foreclosure applies only to mortgages, not deeds of trust, and other state laws give MERS authority to foreclose.

With the battles that have preceded these decisions, I would not expect that the issue will be soon resolved. And, it may, or may not have any impact on any Nevada laws.

Read the article: http://www.housingwire.com/2011/09/19/two-california-appellate-court-uphold-mers-foreclosures?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+housingwire%2FuOVI+%28HousingWire%29

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Identity Theft and Your Mortgage Payment

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If you happen to receive any correspondence that tells you that the servicing of your mortgage loan has been transferred from your regular bank  to another servicer, double check with your old servicer.  Some scammers in the Las Vegas area had developed a new wrinkle to identity theft.  

This time, instead of stealing individual idientities, they stole the corporate identity of Bank of America.  I guess this means that if you are going to steal you might as well go big.

The scam involved sending letters to homeowners falsely stating that servicing of the homeowners’ loans had been transferred from Bank of America to Great Western Business Services. The letters instruct homeowners to send their mortgage payments to Great Western Business Services instead of the true servicer, Bank of America.


The alleged scam would result in victims unknowingly missing one or more mortgage payments which could result in a potential notice of default and foreclosure, despite the fact that the homeowner had actually made their payments, albeit to the scammers instead of their true loan servicer.

So, the bottom line was that not only did B of A not receive their payments, the payor was now suddenly delinquent.

At least in this case, the perpetrators have been arrested.

But, once again, verify any communication you might receive from the bank.

Also see this story.

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