Tag Archives: Refinance

With a lone dissent, the Federal Open Market Committee Wednesday voted no change in the target federal funds rate but agreed to expand its program to stimulate the economy by purchasing Treasury securities. The action is expected to keep mortgage rates at record lows. After the meeting, the FOMC released its quarterly forecast of the economy and interest rates with more members of the Committee seeing higher rates in 2014 than in the prior forecast. The FOMC said "growth in employment has slowed in recent months and the unemployment rate has declined but remains elevated."

Wells Fargo recently announced that it will accept refinance applications for homeowners with FHA mortgages only if their loans are serviced in-house by the mortgage lender. Vickee Adams, a spokesperson for Wells, said in an e-mailed statement that the lender currently services more than 500,000 customers with FHA home loans that could qualify to save money by refinancing under changes at the agency. The lender will start accepting only refinance applications for in-house loans on Tuesday.

Mortgage applications jumped by 18 percent from the week earlier, riding a refinance wave to numbers not seen since 2009, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The trade group found that the Refinance Index climbed up by over 19 percent from the week before, reaching the highest level for an index since April 2009. The refinance share of mortgage activity soared to 79 percent of total volume. He added that loans refinanced through the Home Affordable Refinance Program steadied in recent weeks.

Record-breaking low mortgage rates and rising home sales are leading to increase mortgage activity in New England, according to The Warren Group's Mortgage MarketShare Module. According to the data, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island have all seen strong mortgage activity so far in 2012, with Massachusetts showing the strongest numbers. Activity in the state is up more than 28 percent, rising to 99,097 in the first four months of the year ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô an increase from 76,930 during the same period in 2011. Purchase mortgages increased almost 13 percent year-over-year to 13,376.

The Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight continues to evolve as the monitor, a widely respected banking and housing finance chief, takes on new help from accounting and legal firms. Joseph A. Smith, Jr., onetime Federal Housing Finance Agency director-nominee, now responsible for overseeing servicer compliance under the $25 billion settlement, revealed Monday that BDO USA, LLP, would serve as the Raleigh, North Carolina-based office's eyes and ears. He spoke with MReport about the firm Wednesday.

The monitor responsible for reviewing $25 billion in settlement funds announced Monday that his office has selected BDO USA, LLP, to serve as the primary professional firm needed to oversee the nation├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós servicers. The firm will play a critical role in the oversight process as Joseph A. Smith, Jr., the former North Carolina banking commissioner selected by 49 state attorneys general to head up the settlement, begins the footwork necessary to fulfill terms and conditions under the landmark deal.

The number of loans refinanced through HARP in the first quarter of 2012 was nearly double the number of refinances in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's March 2012 Refinance Report released Friday. The report showed that 180,185 loans were refinanced through HARP during the year├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós first quarter, nearly twice the 93,190 refinances in the previous quarter. The month of March alone saw 79,470 loans refinanced with HARP, implicating nearly one in seven loan refinances in the quarter.

Three mortgage insurers wrote $7.1 billion in newly originated primary mortgage insurance in April, up from $3.7 billion last year, according to the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America. MICA said that the companies, including Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corp., Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp., and Radian Guaranty Inc., fielded new primary insurance from $6.7 billion in March. Some 30,575 borrowers used private mortgage insurance to buy or refinance their homes in April. The insurers reported 22,569 defaults and 20,678 cures in April.

The Responsible Homeowner Refinancing Act of 2012, introduced this month by Sens. Robert Menendez and Barbara Boxer, received backing from witnesses at a Senate Banking Committee hearing. The bill aims to address what the senators say are barriers impeding the success of the recently revised Home Affordable Refinance Program, commonly referred to as HARP 2.0. The bill aims to eliminate all upfront fees and appraisal costs for refinances, prohibit second-lien holders from unreasonably hindering refinances, and more.

A surge in refinance applications could propel mortgage originations by more than $200 billion in 2012, increasing to $1.28 trillion, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The trade group attributed estimates ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô upwardly revised from $1.26 trillion in 2011 ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô to account for a refinance boom sparked by the crises in debt-saddled Europe. The MBA said that it expected refinance originations would amount to $870 billion this year, an amount nearly identical to forecasts from last year, when HARP led the way in estimates.