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Why Fannie And Freddie Need A Fix In January, Congress hopes to decide what to do about the federally backed companies that prop up the mortgage market MORE LOANS ARE BEING GUARANTEED BY THE GOVERNMENT … OUTSTANDING MORTGAGES BACKED BY FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC 41% 2006 49% 2009 … WHILE FORECLOSURES RISE … FORECLOSUR ... read more>>   Home Loans in Default Drag On The average U.S. borrower in the throes of foreclosure hasn't made a mortgage payment in 17 months, up from nearly 11 months two years ago -- and the time frame may get even longer. Banks and mortgage servicers, who collect payments for lenders, are taking more time to complete foreclosures because ... read more>> Housing Group Debuts Mortgage System NeighborWorks America, in Washington, has teamed up with Direct Lending Family, a technology company in West Dundee, Ill., to create a new online mortgage system to help the clients its member organizations serve find sound loans that allow them to buy--and stay--in a home. Housing counselors at th ... read more>>   It Is Not OK To Skip Out on A Mortgage I'm hearing that many home foreclosures are so-called strategic defaults. People who can afford to keep paying are repudiating their mortgage obligations because their property values have fallen, and they don't see them recovering for a long time. Homeowners figure that they can rent a similar hous ... read more>> No Big Rush on Help For Underwater Home Loans A government program intended to help hundreds of thousands of underwater homeowners is off to a slow start. Since its September launch, only 38 homeowners have refinanced mortgages through the FHA Short Refinance program, backed with $11 billion in federal funds. The Federal Housing Administration ... read more>>   What You Need to Know About Reverse Mortgages AGE MATTERS (INCOME DOESN'T). If you are 62 or older and have paid off your mortgage (or owe only a small balance), you may be able to tap your home equity to generate extra cash. You can take the money as a lump sum, a line of credit, monthly payments, or a combination of a credit line and regular ... read more>> Fees For Home Loans Increase The cost of getting a mortgage is rising as higher fees hit more borrowers, including those with stellar credit. For the first time since 2009, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are raising risk fees they charge lenders on loans they buy for resale to investors. The mortgage giants are also adding risk fe ... read more>>   BofA To Pay Fannie, Freddie 2.8B Dollars in Mortgage Case Bank of America said it agreed Monday to pay $2.8 billion to taxpayer-funded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to settle claims that it sold the mortgage giants bad home loans. The agreement is the biggest so far between Fannie and Freddie and lenders that sold them loans during the subprime lending boom ... read more>> A Milder Mortgage Meltdown This is the year thousands of homeowners with option adjustable-rate mortgages were supposed to default as their payments spiked. "Everyone identified option ARMs as a potential time bomb," says Guy Cecala, publisher of newsletter Inside Mortgage Finance. Low interest rates and a surge of early defa ... read more>>   A House, A House, My Kingdom For A House After five fruitless years of seeking a mortgage in Riyadh, 28-year-old Abdulaziz Al-Salem has some advice for his peers: forget it. "Homeownership in this country is nothing short of a nightmare," says the father of one. "If you're not descended from a wealthy family nor have an extremely successfu ... read more>>