Mary’s Weekly Digest
of Community Capital News

News

Banks in Push for Pact
The Wall Street Journal by Ruth Simon, Nick Timiraos and Dan Fitzpatrick, Dec. 13, 2011
Five large lenders could be forced to make concessions worth roughly $19 billion as bank representatives and government officials push to put the finishing touches on a settlement of most state and federal investigations of alleged foreclosure improprieties.

Fed bashing gone wild
The Washington Post by Robert J. Samuelson, Dec. 12, 2011
The further we get from 2008, when the American economy flirted with another Great Depression, the more people forget what happened and create stories that satisfy some political, ideological or journalistic urge. Among the biggest losers in this revisionism is the Federal Reserve.

Thinking Deeply On Risky Lending
The Wall Street Journal by Ruth Simon, Dec. 12, 2011
Many companies that collect mortgage payments hire outside firms to train employees and develop scripts for them to use when talking to borrowers. But Ocwen Financial Corp., which specializes in risky loans, has its own team of social psychologists.

Mortgage Default Risk Edging Toward 'Normalcy'
DSNews.com by Carrie Bay, Dec. 12, 2011
Lenders and investors should expect defaults on mortgage loans currently being originated to be 31 percent higher than the average of loans originated in the 1990s, according to a new report from University Financial Associates (UFA).

Feds try out simpler credit card agreement
The Detroit News by Candice Choi and Julie Pace, Dec. 12, 2011
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released a prototype of a credit card agreement that's written in plain English. The idea is to sweep away the legalese and make it easier for consumers to understand a card's costs and terms.

Fed: House Flipping Led to Deeper Housing Collapse
DSNews.com by Carrie Bay, Dec. 12, 2011
Real estate investors who used mortgage credit to purchase multiple residential properties with the intent of flipping, or reselling them within a short period of time, played a larger role in fueling the housing bubble than previously recognized.

Homing in on Fannie, Freddie
The Wall Street Journal by Nick Timiraos, Dec. 12, 2011
When Steve Linick first met senior managers at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac early this year, he told them he would be no ordinary Washington regulator. His office has the power to make arrests, issue subpoenas and conduct searches, and some of his employees carry badges and guns. He hasn't hesitated to deploy those resources as the inspector general of the mortgage-finance companies' regulator, the Federal Housing Financing Agency.

Household debt shrinks for 13th straight quarter
MarketWatch by Steve Goldstein, Dec. 8, 2011
Households reduced their debt in the third quarter for the 13th straight period as the housing market bust continues to reduce demand for mortgages.

Lending to Borrowers with Negative Equity: Spotlight on the FHA's Negative Equity Program
Mortgage News Daily by Rob Chrisman, Dec. 8, 2011
There are a number of lenders that participate in the FHA's Negative Equity program. The FHA allows negative equity write downs, or 'short refinance' where the lender agrees to write down at least 10% of the unpaid principal balance. The program sunsets December 31, 2012.

Consumers Still Pay the Credit Card Bills Before the Mortgage
National Mortgage News by Kate Fitzgerald, Dec. 8, 2011
The trend of U. S. credit cardholders putting credit card payments ahead of mortgage payments that began in early 2008 shows no sign of abating in the immediate future even as the economy gradually improves, TransUnion LLC analysts say.

TransUnion Sees Decline In 2012 Mortgage, Credit Card Delinquencies
The Wall Street Journal by Ben Fox Rubin, Dec. 7, 2011
Mortgage loan delinquency rates are expected to continue their slow decline through 2012, while credit card delinquencies should remain at their historic lows next year, financial information and risk management firm TransUnion said.

Federal Charter for Nonbanks Would Harm the Unbanked
BankThink by Kevin Prochaska, Dec. 6, 2011
This legislation will provide the means for a powerful group of pay day lenders, subsidiaries of national banks and others to circumvent existing federal, state and local regulatory oversight, including provisions within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau set forth to rein in predatory lending tactics by nonbank institutions.

Reports & Papers

CREDITORS' CONTEMPT [PDF]
Loyola University by Lea Shepard, July 2011

FRB Atlanta Community Development
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Third Quarter 2011

Mortgage Rates Stay Low Helping to Keep Housing Affordability High
FreddieMac, Dec. 8, 2011

Conferences

American Economic Association/Allied Social Science Associations Annual Meeting
American Economic Association/Allied Social Science Associations, Hyatt Regency Chicago, Chicago, Ill., Jan. 6-8, 2012