Making sense of the Financial Regulations Bill for Buyers

Filed under: Current Events, Current Mortgage Rates, Finance, Making Home Affordable, Mortgage, Mortgage Rates, Real Estate Market, Tax Issues, VRN | No Comments »

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Appraisal Foundation, Appraisal Institute In Dispute

House Offer Includes Sunset of HVCC

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Starting June 1, 2010 Fannie Mae is going to implement some changes to their underwriting process. Most of them are minor and will not have any impact, but the one that MAY change things is the lenders will be pulling a NEW credit report prior to ordering loan documents and/or closing.

Filed under: Credit, Credit Cards, Current Events, Finance, VRN | No Comments »

What’s the best way to prevent banks from taking reckless risks with customers’ money?
Do away with savings and checking accounts, says Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff.

In his new book, “Jimmy Stewart Is Dead: Ending the World’s Ongoing Financial Plague With Limited Purpose Banking,” Kotlikoff says checking accounts should be replaced with all-cash mutual funds.

And [...]

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The Fed reiterated its expectation that the benchmark fed
funds rate would remain “exceptionally low,” as it has since
December 2008, for “an extended period,” despite growing
concerns among policy makers that the stance was too
constraining.

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Mortgage interest rates change as often as two to three times in one day. Securing the lowest rate possible is every borrower’s goal. However, it’s impossible to time the finance market, just as it’s impossible to predict exactly when the housing market will peak or slide.

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DEAR BENNY: I am shopping for a new mortgage (I will refinance about $160,000 remaining on a condo worth about $300,000) and discovered my mortgage holder wants about $2,200 in closing costs. I just financed with this bank three years ago and have stellar credit. There seems to be no [...]

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Spurred on by the federal government’s economic recovery efforts, there have been numerous changes to the federal tax law for 2009 and 2010. Here’s what your small business needs to know now to take advantage of this year’s expiring rules and what it needs to keep in mind for next year.

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