Refinance Free Credit

The infamous Pick-a-Pay is coming home to roost at Wachovia Corp. (WB: 16.22, -4.14%), with Fitch Ratings warning on Friday of a likely downgrade to the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank over concern about the company’s mortgage exposure. It’s a warning that some insiders told HW Friday afternoon was long overdue. Put bluntly, the bank holds a [...]

The bail out plan that Congress is hard at work trying to pass may not do much in terms of actually helping anyone.  Government estimates show that only 400,000 people could benefit from the new FHA-driven refinance/loan modifications while more than 3,000,000 folks are actually 60 days down (or late) on their mortgage.

This refrain is all-to-common in trying to solve the mortgage mess.  FHA Secure, remember that one?  How many folks are being helped there?  Not many.  Loan modifications?  You don’t see those coming through in huge numbers either.  The tough reality is that with so much money at stake, so much declining equity, so much debt, so little additional borrowing capacity there is very little room to actually do something that works.

Or maybe the answer is doing little is the best answer.

A great article from the New York Times on the plight of lawmakers whose ham-handed attempts at help continue to fall short of main-street needs.

Those stark numbers not only illustrate the challenges for the lawmakers trying to provide some relief to their constituents but also hint at what the next administration will be facing after the election. While the proposed program would help some homeowners, analysts say it would touch only a small fraction of those in trouble — the Congressional Budget Office estimates it would be used by 400,000 borrowers — and would do little to bolster the housing market.

“It’s not enough, even in the best of circumstances,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com. The number of people who will be helped “is going to be overwhelmed by the three million that are headed toward default.”

Share This

Eric Hovde penned a piece this weekend that deserves a close read, especially if you happen to be a U.S. Senator — and I know that more than a few now read HW each week. His point is one that our editorial team has been hammering since at least August of last year: that housing [...]

STWRY | charts | news | PowerRating -- Israel-based contact center productivity solutions provider Jacada has announced the sale of its application modernization business to Germany-based Software AG for $26 million to focus on call center solutions business. The company will sell the intellectual property and related customer contracts associated with ...

IA Systems, an Open Solutions business unit and a provider of lending software and services for financial institutions, announced that Rivermark Community Credit Union, a $370 million asset-size credit union headquartered in Beaverton, Ore., selected StreamLend(R: 46.78, +1.44, +3.17%) Velocity. This paperless, end-to-end loan origination system (LOS) was chosen ...

Burntsand Inc. (Burntsand) (TSX:BRT), a North American Integrated Information Management services company, today announced the signing of contracts valued at $1.4 million in services revenue. The contracts, which cover .NET application development work, will extend four Burntsand project teams at a leading financial services client for various periods between 6 ...

PCMXF | charts | news | PowerRating -- Digital TV technology company Pace Micro Technology has entered into an agreement to acquire the set-top box and connectivity solutions business of Royal Philips Electronics for GBP68 million to enhance its product portfolio and expand customer base. As a part of the ...

Emdeon Business Services announced today that it has acquired IXT Solutions, an innovator of consumer (patient) billing and payment solutions. This acquisition adds the industry's leading online patient billing, eCashiering, return mail management and lockbox services to Emdeon's existing suite of patient billing and payment solutions. These new services extend ...