According to the US General Accountability Office (GAO), the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit has spawned a lot of tax fraud, and the IRS has identified about 100,000 possibly fraudulent returns. It appears that billions of dollars have gone to taxpayers who weren’t eligible to take the credit–and the IRS wants its money back. A spokesperson for the agency stated that it will “vigorously pursue those who filed fraudulent claims.” Tax fraud carries penalties ranging from expensive fines to actual jail time with icky criminals and bad food. You don’t want to end up there. Continue reading ‘How to Take Your $8,000 Tax Credit without Going to Jail’
Loading ...
This may have happened to you–you shopped for your mortgage and found a good deal. You intelligently got an estimate of costs for your mortgage, but when you closed on your loan, the actual costs of your mortgage were MUCH higher. Of course you were angry, and you might have had to scramble to come up with extra money to buy or refinance your property. Well, the good news is that there will no longer be nasty surprises at closing. Starting January 1, 2010, if your actual costs aren’t very close to what the lender disclosed to you, you aren’t responsible for paying them–the LENDER HAS TO PAY THE EXTRA CHARGES. Continue reading ‘No Nasty Surprises at Closing: New Regulations for Good Faith Estimates’
Loading ...
If you are experiencing financial difficulties, you may have decided that you can’t afford to make your mortgage payment. Or you may be waiting for a loan modification from your lender. But in any event, if your checking or savings accounts are with a bank that also has your mortgage, you should move them–or you could lose them. Banks all over the country are raiding their customers’ accounts if the mortgage isn’t being paid. Continue reading ‘In Trouble with Your Mortgage Lender? Check Your Checking Account’
Loading ...
Experts say that rates on 30-year fixed rate mortgages have gotten as low as they will go and have begun rising. In fact, the spread between the 10-year treasury rate and the 30-year mortgage, which is typically 1.7% if you don’t pay any points, has increased to about 2%. But 15 year mortgage rates continue to drop–Today, 15-year mortgage rates are running about 1.3% above treasuries, close to .7 percent lower than 30-year fixed rates! Why is this happening? Continue reading ‘Why 15 Year Mortgage Rates Are so Much Lower’
Loading ...
With all the fanfare surrounding the Making Home Affordable program, it’s easy to forget that one of the largest causes of foreclosure remains unaddressed–most lenders refuse to modify or refinance home loans for the unemployed, even when simply refinancing to today’s lower rates would make the loan safer. Generally, there are guidelines that require the borrower to have sufficient income to refinance or make a modified payment before being granted a loan modification. So if you lose your job you are probably out of luck–in six months when you get a new one, you may have already lost your home to foreclosure. Well, Congress is trying to help you now. Continue reading ‘Joining the Party: Mortgage Loans for the Unemployed’
Loading ...
No, that’s not a misprint. It’s a HUD program called Good Neighbor Next Door and it’s designed to get valuable public servants into homes in their communities. If you buy a house under this program, you must commit to living in it for at least three years. Continue reading ‘Teachers, Firefighters, Police, and EMTs Can Get 50% Off Their Home Prices’
Loading ...
You’re in trouble with your home loan. Your income has dropped. Your expenses have not. You’ve been dipping into your savings to make your payments, and they’re almost gone. Your retirement account is all you have left. Can you get a mortgage modification? You check www.makinghomeaffordable.com and take the quiz on the site to see if you’d qualify for a mortgage modification. You do! Except that you don’t. What the site doesn’t tell you is that just because you are experiencing hardship doesn’t mean that your loan servicer is going to modify your loan–the program is voluntary and lenders all have their own criteria for determining who gets a modification–and who doesn’t. Continue reading ‘The Truth About Mortgage Modification: What www.MakingHomeAffordable.com Doesn’t Tell You’
Loading ...
Over half of homeowners who get a mortgage modification or forbearance don’t get the happy ending they expected. They simply get behind on their payments again according to a new report by bank regulators. More than 50% of mortgage borrowers with loans modified in the first half of last year had missed at least two months of payments a year later, government officials claimed. Continue reading ‘Mortgage Modification May Not End Mortgage Credit Problems’
Loading ...
You’ve heard it here before–this product, sponsored by USDA Rural Development, allows borrowers to get 100% financing at a low fixed interest rate if the property is in designated rural areas–which aren’t limited to the back of beyond. Property just outside city limits is often considered rural for the purposes of geting these loans. But you may have to hurry. Continue reading ‘USDA 100% Mortgage: A Thing of the Past?’
Loading ...
No, this isn’t a rerun of a previous post. Fannie Mae did toughen its guidelines ten weeks ago. And it’s doing so again.
Here are the latest changes:
- Lowered debt-to-income ratios to 45% maximum
- Minimum credit score increased to 620
- More loan-level pricing adjustments when MI is involved
Loan level pricing adjustments (LLPAs) can be found in Fannie Mae’s matrix (aka the Chart of Death) and can be unbelievably onerous. Continue reading ‘Fannie Mae Making Things Even Tougher. Again.’
Loading ...
(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)
