So what do you do when you help cause the housing crisis? You sell to BOFA and get $19 million in Stock. This is what has happened with Countrywide and Angelo Mozillo.
Project Lifeline
February 13, 2008Six mortgage servicing companies in partnership with U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the official launch of Project Lifeline today.Bank of America (BofA), Citigroup, Countrywide Financial Corp., JP Morgan Chase, Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo.
Secretary Paulson and HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson made the announcement alongside representatives from 6 participating mortgage servicing companies—representing 50% of the mortgage market.
Project Lifeline is an extension of the HOPE NOW Alliance’s home retention initiative, and a project designed to extend the nation’s loss mitigation focus by reaching out to borrowers who are 90-days or more delinquent on their mortgage payments and offering at least a 30-day reprieve.
Floyd Robinson, president of Bank of America Consumer Real Estate and Insurance Services Group, discussed the servicers’ role in implementing Project Lifeline. Under the plan, Robinson said servicers will target “severely delinquent borrowers” and advise them to contact their servicers about pursuing a loan modification immediately. The expanded project is said to include parties that were not previously considered the main focus of home retention initiatives—mainly the severely delinquent and home equity borrowers, according to Robinson
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Stimulous Package
February 10, 2008Jumbo Stimulous for Loans
The economic rescue plan that passed the U.S. Congress on Thursday and awaits President Bush’s signature are middle- to upper-income Americans who can refinance their jumbo home loans at cheaper rates.
People’s Choice Home Loan
January 31, 2008Bankrupt subprime lender People’s Choice Home Loan Inc. has asked for another couple months to finalize a fire sale. Or liquidation.
California Refinance Boom
January 29, 2008Federal Reserve drop of rates has caused a rush by homeowners in California to refinance their mortgages at today’s lower rates.
30 fixed-rate mortgages now are on averageof 5.57% interest rate. The historic low of 5.21% was set in June 2003.
The general rules for refinancing is that if a mortgage is 0.40 percentage points above the current average mortgage rate. Discount Mortgages
Torrance Mortgage
January 20, 2008Torrance Mortgages have been dropping just like home financing across the country. Rates have dropped to the lowest levels in 4 years. Fixed and Adjustables look to be at levels they have not been in years.
New Century: Blew $20M?
January 18, 2008A BK investigator looking into New Century Financial Corp. said the subprime lender may have misspent up to $20 million of investor money after filing for bankruptcy.
Michael Missal, a partner with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP’s Washington, D.C., office, said in a court filing that New Century had spent money claimed by banks without getting bankruptcy court permission.
B OF A to Buy Countrywide
January 11, 2008Bank of America (B of A ) plans to save Countrywide by purchasing the battered company. Countrywide has been trying to come out of its subprime mess for months now and this seemed to be the only thing that could work.
The Countrywide Financial Corp. by out is about a $4 billion stock deal. The deal gives Countrywide’s desperate shareholders the right to exchange their stock for 0.1822 shares of Bank of America stock. Based on Thursday’s closing price, that values each share of Countrywide (CFC, Fortune 500) at $7.16 each, a 7.6 percent discount to its $7.75 close.
Redlining
January 9, 2008Reverse Redlining
The City of Baltimore has filed a lawsuit in federal court, accusing Wells Fargo of deliberately targeting African American communities with risky loan products that later contributed to a slew of foreclosures.
The lawsuit claims Wells Fargo reversed a practice called red-lining, which ultimately led the Baltimore community down a dangerous road.
While red-lining is a deceptive real estate practice that surfaced in the 20th century to create segregation through unscrupulous lending, reverse red-lining is considered an effort on the part of lenders to target borrowers already living in predominantly-minority communities by issuing them deceptive loans
Federal Reserve
January 4, 2008Banks get $60 billion in help with credit crunch
With a surge in unemployment and rising oil prices as a backdrop, the Federal Reserve announced today it will make $60 billion in short-term loans available to banks this month — half again as much as offered in December — as the credit crunch shows few signs of easing.
