The Senate signaled overwhelming support for a foreclosure rescue bill despite a presidential veto threat and concerns that it could benefit the very lenders responsible for the expanding national crisis.Republican opponents of the bill sought to return the bill to the Banking Committee to clarify whether Countrywide Financial Services, or any other lender, was gaining [...]

Rates on home mortgages continued their climb this week, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hitting its highest level since September, Freddie Mac said.
Inflation again was the culprit that caused fixed-rate mortgages to rise, said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist.
“Fixed-rate mortgage rates continued to climb this week to the highest point in [...]

Countrywide, as one of the largest wholesale mortgage lenders pushing sub-prime loans, was sued for alleged deceptive mortgage practices by officials in its home state of California and in Illinois on Wednesday.
Marking the end of an era, shareholders the same day approved the company’s takeover by Bank of America  at a private meeting conducted by [...]

Presented with public records Wednesday, Cantwell spokeswoman Ciaran Clayton said that Cantwell originally obtained the mortgage on her Edmonds, Wash., home from U.S. Bank but that U.S. Bank subsequently sold the loan to Countrywide.
It’s a common practice for mortgages to be sold after they’re originated, and the transfer often happens without any involvement by the [...]

If you have a mortgage, carry credit cards and are considering a home equity loan to cope with soaring food and energy prices, you should be paying attention to what the Fed has to say.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve held a key short-term interest rate steady, following a series of steady rates cuts – a [...]

Does this make sense? Offering loans to home buyers without making them commit at least some of their own money as down payment?
How about you? Would you loan a complete stranger $500,000 to buy a home without making sure he or she had at least some skin in the game—especially with national home prices falling [...]

Most Americans overpay by thousands when purchasing their homes due to not understanding closing costs as cited by a new report from the Urban Institute. The study found that there are large unsupported variations in extra charges, title fees and other closing costs charged to home buyers, not to mention that minority borrowers pay hundreds [...]