Items of Interest:
NY Times;
Determining Who Rides the Lifeboat -- As the mortgage crisis spilled over into a credit squeeze that threatened to bring down Wall Street, the government has tried to find ways to prevent disaster while not helping those who do not deserve help.
That can be seen in the program the Federal Housing Administration initially offered to homeowners facing ballooning mortgage payments. It would refinance their mortgages, but only if they had proved they were deserving by keeping current on the payments before the interest rate reset.
It turns out, as Rachel L. Swarns reported in The New York Times this week, that there are not enough of them who need help. So the program has been expanded to allow refinancings for those who had missed no more than two payments — but only if there were extenuating circumstances, like lost jobs, pay cuts or illnesses.
We want to help homeowners in trouble, but only if they are deserving. Alfred Doolittle would not be surprised ...
- Fast and Easy Fannie - Seeking Alpha
- Dangerous Optimism in Homebuilders - Seeking Alpha
- U.S. Offers 0% for First Time on Inflation-Linked Savings Bonds - Bloomberg
- Tricks credit card companies play: Seven to watch out for -- WalletPop
- Realtors forecast 24% price drop for California houses - Lasner, Orange County
- Greenspan and Critics Misread Housing - John Tamny, RealClearMarkets
- Too Many People Own Homes - Joshua Rosner, New Republic
- The Predatory-Lending Fight Is a Decade Old - Stanley Foodman, IBD
