The Mortgage News Today

New Rates today from Bank of America

2011-04-29T20:39:00.001-07:00

Mortgage Rates improved yet again today with the Federal Reserve announcing that it would keep interest rates low and continue with its monetary easing plan performing year bond purchases through June.

Home purchase mortgage rates are about the same as they were in mid-December at Bank of America(NYSE:BAC). 30 year fixed-rate mortgages have an interest rate of 4.75% at the bank today with an APR of 4.951%. 20 year fixed-rate loans fell to 4.50% with a 4.771% APR.

The best 15 year fixed mortgage interest rate is now 4.00% with an APR of 4.361%. Adjustable-rate mortgages or ARMs are available at the bank starting at 3.25% for the five-year loan, 3.625% for the seven-yearloan and 4.25% for the ten year loan.

Refinance mortgage rates at the bank remain favorable with the 30 year fixed refi at 4.75% and an APR of 5.00%. The 20 year fixed refi is 4.625% with an APR of 4.92% and the 15 year fixed refi is 4.125% with an APR of 4.515%.

Five-year ARMs are 3.375%, seven-year ARMs are 3.75% and ten-year ARMs are 4.25% today.

Find additional information online at www.BankofAmerica.com.

Taken from personalfinancialbulletin.com

Farkas $3B Dollar Mortgage Fraud

2011-04-19T06:01:00.000-07:00

Gov't: Mortgage co. owner Farkas led $3B fraud

(AP) – 19 hours ago

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Prosecutors told a jury Monday that the owner of what had been one of the nation's largest private mortgage companies ran one of the largest and longest running fraud schemes in the U.S., dismissing his assertion that he was unaware of the crimes that occurred around him.

A federal jury heard closing arguments in the case against Lee B. Farkas, the former chairman and majority owner of Ocala, Fla.-based Taylor Bean and Whitaker. Prosecutors said Farkas was the ringleader of a scheme that has already resulted in six guilty pleas to a fraud that totaled nearly $3 billion. Taylor Bean collapsed in 2009, causing its more than 2,000 employees to lose their jobs. Taylor Bean's primary banker, Alabama-based Colonial Bank, also collapsed in 2009 — the sixth-largest bank collapse in U.S. history.

Federal officials have said the case against Farkas is the most significant to develop out of the nation's financial crisis.

Farkas' lawyer, Bruce Rogow, told jurors that the six executives at Taylor Bean and Colonial who struck plea deals and testified against Farkas skewed their testimony in hopes of receiving lighter prison sentences.

"Those six co-conspirators pled guilty to save themselves because they didn't have the courage that Mr. Farkas did" to go to trial and make the government prove its case, Rogow told the jury.

Farkas testified in his own defense Friday, telling the jury he believed he did nothing wrong as Taylor Bean waged a long-running campaign to get its finances in order. He testified that he was unaware and uninvolved in details of some of the largest, most significant aspects of the alleged fraud.

According to prosecutors, the fraud began in 2002, when Taylor Bean overdrew its main account with Colonial by several million dollars. Mid-level executives at Colonial agreed to transfer money into Taylor Bean's accounts at the end of each day to avoid generating overdraft notices, a process known as "sweeping."

As the hole grew to well over $100 million, Taylor Bean and a handful of Colonial executives concocted a scheme in which Taylor Bean sold hundreds of millions in worthless mortgages to Colonial, mortgages that had already been sold to other investors. More than $1 billion in such phony mortgages were eventually sold to Colonial, which listed them on its books and on its quarterly reports as legitimate assets, prosecutors alleged.

In a related scheme, Taylor Bean created a subsidiary called Ocala Funding that sold commercial paper — essentially glorified IOUs — to banks including Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas. But prosecutors said the collateral that supposedly backed that commercial paper was worthless, and when Taylor Bean collapsed in 2009, the two banks lost roughly $1.5 billion.

Finally, Taylor Bean tried to use its cooked books to help Colonial secure more than $500 million in funding from the federal bank bailout program, called the Troubled Assets Relief program (TARP). At one point, TARP issued conditional approval for the funding, but neither Colonial nor Taylor Bean ultimately received any TARP funds, and investigators with TARP, along with the FBI and other agencies, eventually helped uncover the fraud.

Prosecutors said Farkas exploited the Colonial bankers who first agreed to cover up his overdrafts, knowing they would be in trouble with their bosses if their assistance was discovered. According to testimony, Farkas summed up the Colonial bankers' problem succinctly in a conversation with then-Taylor Bean President Raymond Bowman, telling him: "If I owe you $100, I have a problem. If I owe you $1 million, you have a problem."

"The defendant knew about the fraud scheme and knew it was wrong," prosecutor Charles Connolly told the jury, saying it was simply not credible to believe that the owner of a company with annual profits in the $25 million range would be unaware of a $3 billion hole, especially in light of more than 100 e-mails entered into evidence in which Farkas discussed various aspects of the alleged fraud.

Prosecutors said Farkas was motivated by greed and a lavish lifestyle that included a private jet, a seaplane, houses up and down the East Coast, a collection of several dozen classic cars and an executive dining room at company headquarters that served pheasant and caviar.

Rogow said the evidence of Farkas' extravagance was a red herring designed to inflame to the jury, "a populist kind of thing they were trying to foist on you."

The jury began deliberations Monday afternoon on 13 counts of bank fraud, wire fraud and securities fraud, and an additional conspiracy county. Farkas, 58, could face up to life in prison.

--Taken from Associated Press

Mortgage Prototype by Consumer Finance Agency

2011-04-18T11:58:00.001-07:00

By Doug Cameron 
   Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Dow Jones)--The new U.S. consumer finance watchdog will next month start testing a new version of the standard mortgage disclosure form, the academic overseeing the agency's creation said Monday.

The planned revamp of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, or RESPA, form was a key priority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, ranking ahead of improved disclosure for credit card products.

"In May, we will be looking at our first [mortgage form] prototypes," Elizabeth Warren told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of a banking conference in Louisville, Ky. The agency has been consulting with banks on the format and content of the RESPA revamp for a number of months.

Formal rule-writing will not start until after its launch on July 21. Warren provided few other details of the agency's rule-writing initiatives beyond mortgages and credit cards.

"The much bigger part of what we do will be supervision and enforcement," she said. She said ramping up the agency's oversight of thousands of non-bank financial institutions "would be a long slope."

Warren, the White House adviser tasked with preparing the new agency for its launch, also said the proposal contained in the 2011 federal budget for the agency's finances to be scrutinized via audit didn't challenge its independence.

"I still feel comfortable with two audits," she said.

The new agency's remit and structure remains under intense scrutiny, and the White House has yet to nominate a director for the agency, created as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reforms.

She told bankers that the notion of the agency being overseen by a five-person panel of commissioners had been discussed last summer.

"The idea of going back to try and change that piece is just designed to throw sand in the gears," she said. Critics concerned about regulatory overreach have called for the agency to be overseen by a bipartisan panel rather than a single director.

-By Doug Cameron, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4135; doug.cameron@dowjones.com

Todays Rate

2011-04-17T20:25:00.001-07:00

(LoanSafe.org) – This week is ending with very few lenders making any big changes with mortgage rates staying pretty stable throughout the week. However, the lenders that did change rates. seem to have mostly decreased with only one increase that was found today.

No loans changed today at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage under their home purchase or refinance programs.

At Chase Mortgage, only 30-year fixed loans decreased under their refinance program.

Bank of America Home Loans was the lender who revealed an increase this morning, which is 7-year ARMs under their refinance program.

US Bank revealed the most changes this morning. 30, 20, 10 and FHA 30-year fixed loan programs saw rates decreased along with 3 and 5-year ARMs at US Bank.

Wells Fargo Home Purchase Rates:

30-year fixed: 4.875%
30-year fixed FHA: 4.750%
15-year fixed 4.250%
5-year ARM: 3.250%
5-year ARM FHA 3.625%

Wells Fargo Refinance Rates:

30-year fixed: 5.000%
30-year fixed FHA: 4.750%
15-year fixed 4.250%
5-year ARM: 3.500%
5-year ARM FHA 3.625%

Chase Home Purchase Rates:

30-year fixed 4.875%
15-year fixed: 4.000%
7/1 ARM 3.625%
5/1 ARM 3.125%

Chase Refinance Rates:

30-year fixed 4.875%
15-year fixed: 4.125%
7/1 ARM 3.750%
5/1 ARM 3.375%

Bank of America Home Purchase Rates:

30-year fixed 4.875%
15-Year Fixed Rate 4.125%
7=year ARM 3.625%
5-year ARM 3.125%

Bank of America Refinance Rates

30-year fixed 4.875%
15-Year Fixed Rate 4.125%
7=year ARM 3.750%
5-year ARM 3.250%

US Bank Fixed Rates

30-year fixed 4.750%-4.875%
20-year fixed 4.375%-4.750%
15-year fixed 3.875%-4.250%
10-year fixed 3.500% – 3.875%
FHA 30-year fixed 4.750%
FHA 15-year fixed 4.250%

US Bank ARMS

3-year ARM 2.625% – 3.250%
5-year ARM 3.125% – 3.375%

DISCLAIMER: Maximum Original Principal Balance for Loans Closed in 2011

Places: Continental United States Alaska, Hawaii, Guam

Units General Higher Cost General Higher Cost
1 $417,000 $729,750 $625,500 $938,250

2 $533,850 $934,200 $800,775 $1,201,150

3 $645,300 $1,129,250 $967,950 $1,451,925

4 $801,950 $1,403,400 $1,202,925 $1,804,375

The limit may be lower for a specific high-cost area; use the Loan Limit Look-Up Table above to see limits by location. These limits are the same as the 2010 high-cost area loan limits and apply to all loans originated on or before September 30, 2011. Loans originated on or after October 1, 2011, will use the “permanent” high-cost area loan limits established by FHFA under a formula of 115% of the 2010 median home price, up to a maximum of $625,500 for a 1-unit property in the continental U.S.

Welcome

2011-04-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

This blog is going to be about the fluctuating mortgage rates in todays economy and todays time. We will focus on the best deals and where the industries are taking the rates. The way the mortgages fluctuate will be investigated briefly through these series of blogs.