Moody’s Expects HAMP Missteps to Prolong Home Price Declines – DSNews
“It is looking likely that foreclosures will hit the market more slowly than we had anticipated, mitigating but prolonging the price decline.”
What Mortgage Modifications Say About the Housing Market – CNBC, Diana Olick
So good, right? More mods. More borrowers staying in their homes. Well, maybe. The numbers are going in the right direction, but they are a small fraction of the pile of the 5.6 million loans that are currently delinquent for some period of time.
The problems with hardship letters – Felix Salmon
I suspect that a large majority of the people who are asked for a hardship letter do not understand what they’re being asked for, and will end up writing something which at best won’t help and at worst will be positively counterproductive.
The $555,000 Student-Loan Burden – The Wall Street Journal
There is an estimated $730 billion in outstanding federal and private student-loan debt, says Mark Kantrowitz of FinAid.org, a Web site that tracks financial-aid issues—and only 40% of that debt is actively being repaid. The rest is in default, or in deferment, which means that payments and interest are halted, or in “forbearance,” which means payments are halted while interest accrues.
Shadow Inventory Of Troubled Mortgages – The Big Picture, Barry Ritholtz
Credit markets flash hottest warning signal since crisis – Telegraph, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
European credit markets are flashing the most serious warnings signs in a year as the yields on risker bonds rise sharply and a string of companies cancel share flotations, raising fears that the recovery may falter in coming months.
The Federal Reserve’s Exit Strategy: Unlegislated Bailout of Fannie and Freddie – John Hussman
If one is alert, it is evident that the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury have disposed of the need for Congressional approval, and have engineered a de facto bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, at public expense.
TransUnion: Mortgage Delinquencies at All Time High – Calculated Risk
…there is wave of adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) that have yet to reset. Many of these are Option and Alt-A loans. When the interest rates on these loans reset many consumers potentially will not be able to meet their debt obligations.
Is The Second Leg Of The Credit Crisis Starting? – The Big Picture
The “Great Recession” has essentially only resulted in deleveraging of the financial sector. The overall levels of debt are still rising, thanks to a very modest deleveraging of the non-financial sector and a big releveraging of the government sector.
Shadow Inventory of Homes to Take Nearly 3 Years to Clear: S&P – HousingWire
The “shadow inventory” of bank-repossessed properties, as well as distressed mortgages facing foreclosure, will take nearly three years to clear at the current sales rate, according to a report from the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P). The analysts add that during this period many servicers will likely shift their emphasis from mortgage modification to loan liquidation.
