The Obama administration unveiled a budget for the next fiscal year that proposes levying fees for the nation├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós largest banks, selling off government-occupied real estate, and expanding services for the Federal Housing Administration. The $3.8-trillion budget calls for a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee to offset costs to the Troubled Asset Relief Program and mass refinance program. If passed by Congress, the fee would raise $61 billion from financial institutions with $50 billion or more in assets over the next decade. The fee draws on recent themes from the president.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray recently presented the agency's budget to lawmakers on the House Financial Services Committee.

The story for mortgage rates stayed the same Thursday, with the specter of sovereign default keeping investors close to Treasury debt and interest for home loans at all-time lows. Both GSE Freddie Mac and finance Web site Bankrate.com reported yet more troughs for fixed-rate mortgages, failing to break with more than two months of low interest rates for home loans. For Freddie, the 30-year loan remained unchanged from last week at 3.87 percent, even while Bankrate.com found new record-breaking lows for the same at 4.10 percent, down from 4.14 percent last week.

Mortgage application volume fell 1 percent from the week before, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Releasing the latest weekly figures, the trade group said that mortgage applications remained unchanged on a seasonally unadjusted basis.The Refinance Index went up by 0.8 percent to crest at the highest level since August last year, while the Purchase Index contracted by 8.4 percent from the week before. It fell by 3.3 percent on an unadjusted basis.

The mortgage subsidiary for Citigroup settled claims that it misrepresented government-backed loans Wednesday by agreeing to pay $158.3 million in damages. The payout means that CitiMortgage acknowledges that it qualified nearly 30,000 bad loans for government insurance, a move that bilked the Federal Housing Administration out of millions of dollars as more than 30 percent of the mortgages went into default. The settlement resolves a suit filed by the civil fraud unit at the office of Manhattan U.S. attorney.

Modifications to the Home Affordable Refinance Program will likely benefit small loan originators this year, even while refinance share of activity beats market expectations, FBR Capital Markets said in a note Wednesday. Paul Miller, an analyst with the research arm of the investment bank, attributed the information to D.C. insiders and government contacts, which hold that approximately 3.5 million to 4 million loans will enter the refinance program this year.

Negative equity, tight mortgage credit, and an overhang of foreclosed properties conspire to delay a full-fledged housing rebound and economic recovery, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday. He said that the inability ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô or unwillingness ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô of lenders to lend puts the brakes on much-needed activity by first-time and repeat homebuyers. He cited a contraction in mortgage credit outstanding for U.S. homes by about 13 percent, with mortgage originators reluctant to lend to otherwise eligible borrowers.

House lawmakers passed legislation Friday that prohibits insider trading among their members, amending the bill to ban controversial multimillion-dollar bonuses for senior-level executives with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The lower chamber cleared the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act by a vote of 417 to two. An amendment to the legislation bars executives from receiving bonuses while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain in federal conservatorship. This is the second insider-trading bill from Congress to prohibit bonus pay for GSE executives.

State and federal regulators closed banks in Indiana and Illinois Friday, raising the national tally for failures to nine for 2012. Shelbyville, Indiana-based SCB Bank fell dark with about $182.6 million in total assets and $171.6 million in total deposits. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency closed the institution and appointed the FDIC to carry out responsibilities as receiver. The OCC also closed Charter National Bank and Trust in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The bank went under with $93.9 million in total assets and $89.5 million in total deposits.

More than a year's worth of rumors, negotiations, and reversals concluded Thursday with a $26-billion mega-settlement between government officials and the nation├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós five largest mortgage servicers. The size and scope of the settlement makes it the largest endeavor by state and federal officials in U.S. history. Federal officials and 49 state attorneys general closed a deal with Ally Financial Corp., Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo that supplies homeowners in distress with new relief and establishes new servicing standards.