Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to be shrunk into oblivian

A large portion of Fannie Mae (FNMA)  and Freddie Mac (FMCC)  should be wound down over time, and the fees that the troubled mortgage-refinance giants charge for guaranteeing home loans sold to investors should be increased to ease the private sector back into the housing market, the Treasury Department proposed this week. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told reporters that the reform plan would spell modestly higher mortgage costs for average homeowners over the long term.

The question is: What is considered “modestly higher mortgage costs for average homeowners”? Modestly higher doesn’t mean the same to Congress and the Treasury Department as it does to you and me.

Related Articles

• The End of the Road for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac? (foxnews.com)
• Treasury eyes wind-down to smaller Fannie, Freddie (marketwatch.com)

Fannie Launches Interactive Video to Help Borrowers Avoid Foreclosure

By Carrie Bay of DSNews

The GSE has unveiled an interactive multi-media tool called WaysHome, designed to educate distressed homeowners about their options to avoid foreclosure, help them to make informed decisions, and motivate them to take action and seek assistance.

“In 2011, an estimated four million homes will be at imminent risk of foreclosure,” said Jeff Hayward, Fannie Mae SVP. “As we enter a new year, the company is expanding its efforts to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure — WaysHome is an innovative tool to help achieve this goal.”

The interactive WaysHome video goes live on Thursday on Fannie Mae’s KnowYourOptions Web site and is free to use. The innovative technology allows homeowners to put themselves in real-life situations that they can identify with, make financial choices, and immediately see the outcomes of those actions.

Continued here:  Fannie Launches Interactive Video to Help Borrowers Avoid Foreclosure.

Related Articles

• Fannie Mae Launches WaysHome™ Interactive Video Tool to Help Struggling Homeowners (prnewswire.com)
• You: Fannie, Freddie say firms triggered crisis (washingtonpost.com)
• Fannie, Freddie Spar With Regulators on Foreclosures (businessweek.com)

Does higher mortgage rates lower the chance of a housing recovery?

In today’s NASDAQ News some analysts are saying that the increase in mortgage interest rates over the past few weeks will hinder the housing recovery as it will make it less lucrative for people to buy.

For what it’s worth, I don’t agree.

I feel the decision to buy a new home is more often than not an emotional one, not a financial one.  People buy a new home because they want it, not because they can get a lower interest rate.

What will happen is that people will qualify for slightly less home since interest rates are directly related to mortgage payment which is directly related to debt-to-income ratios.

What higher interest rates will do is slow the number of mortgage refinances.

Hopefully, we’re near or at rock-bottom in the housing market.  Foreclosures are down and interest rates are returning to a “healthy” level where it has been during the most abundant times in our economic history.

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Fannie Mae to help veterans struggling with payments and BofA halts foreclosures in 50 states now

Fannie Mae has announced new initiatives to help veterans and their families that are struggling with making their mortgage payments due to hardship by giving a six month forbearance on mortgage payments to those military families who’ve experienced a death or injury in the line of duty.

The company also announced the creation of a special hotline, 877-MIL-4566, available to all service members to receive guidance about their mortgage options and enlist assistance.

For more information, visit www.fanniemae.com and www.KnowYourOptions.com

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Bank of America now halts foreclosures in all 50 states

Under the dark cloud of investigations into the foreclosure process of Bank of America and their sometimes creating and forging required documents they couldn’t locate to foreclose on a borrower, BofA has not halted foreclosures across the nation. How this affects Utahans is yet to be seen, but I’m sure it will buy some people a little time.

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