Loans digger

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer called on Countrywide Financial Corp. to waive prepayment penalties, refinance loans and eliminate “above-market fees” to help homeowners struggling to make payments on subprime mortgages.
Countrywide, the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, should stop paying higher commissions to brokers who steer borrowers to high-cost loans that “are designed to fail,” Schumer told […]

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Mortgage brokers start to fashion alternative ways to get people into homes, thwart market meltdown
Double loans. Super piggy back. Seller carry backs. These are among the monikers being tossed around as mortgage agents seek to get a handle on the home loan debacle.
The housing meltdown and resulting credit crunch have unleashed new calamities on consumers, […]

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National Guard medic Patrick Campbell was a year into law school at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., when he volunteered for a deployment to Iraq. Upon his return, the California native found his student loans in default.
“I was getting two letters a day from them and phone calls every morning from people telling me I […]

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The multibillion-dollar market for securitized student loan debt faces new stresses as Congress moves to reshape the troubled student loan industry.
With concern over the subprime crisis shaking up the credit markets, financial industry groups said Monday that several new student loan financings have been put on hold, and loan financing costs are up.
The groups pleaded […]

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A subprime loan is a loan offered at a rate greater than the prime rate. These loans are offered to individuals who do not qualify for prime-rate loans. Loan qualification is based on credit scores, which are generally calculated by the Fair Isaac Credit Organization (FICO). FICO scores range between 300 and 850–the higher the […]

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A stated-income loan qualifies a borrower by using the income the borrower states, as opposed to the income the borrower can document. With a stated-income loan, the lender agrees not to verify the income the borrower states on the application.
As one might expect, such loans are priced higher than fully documented loans, and the foreclosure […]

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Lending institutions don’t inspire mass affection, particularly when credit is tightening and interest rates are rising. At times like these, critics sometimes bring to mind the nameless character in “The Grapes of Wrath” who lamented: “The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It’s the monster. Men made it, but they can’t control […]

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The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the U.S. banking watchdog, said yesterday it is keeping a close eye on the health of the country’s major banks after a huge leap in mortgage losses that led to a sharp drop in profits.
The FDIC, which insures bank deposits, said at a rare news conference here that it is […]

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