Amy Bonitatibus

Banks Use Punishment to Ditch Troubled Loans: Mortgages

Banks that agreed to help troubled borrowers as part of a settlement with regulators over foreclosure misdeeds are spending most of the promised aid on sales that displace homeowners and forgiveness that erases home equity loans from their books.

Bank Risk Tumbling as Liquidity Rule Loosened: Credit Markets

The cost of protecting bank bonds from default has fallen to the lowest level in as much as 20 months, pushed down at the same time regulators are loosening reserve rules and measures aimed at staving off another credit seizure.

JPMorgan Reports 53% Earnings Increase as Mortgage Fees Rise

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest U.S. bank by assets, said fourth-quarter profit rose 53 percent, beating analysts’ estimates as mortgage revenue more than doubled and the lender set aside less for future losses.

Banks’ $8.5 Billion Deal Kills Review That Never Saw Results

A foreclosure-review system that failed to compensate mistreated borrowers has been mostly scrapped in an $8.5 billion agreement with the largest U.S. mortgage servicers.

U.S. Mortgage Firms Said to Near $10 Billion Settlement

U.S. regulators led by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will replace a largely fruitless effort to find victims of botched foreclosures at the 14 biggest mortgage servicers with flat penalties, five people briefed on the talks said.

Fannie Mae Suspends Use of Stern Law Firm From Foreclosure Work

Fannie Mae , the largest provider of mortgage financing in the U.S., said it halted referrals to a Florida foreclosure-processing law firm that’s being investigated by the state attorney general.

Banks Hiring for Home Loans as U.S. Rebounds

U.S. banks that have been earning record profits from home loans are adding or transferring thousands of staff to catch up with demand for refinancing after shortages blocked homeowners from getting lower rates.

Cheap Money Era That Saved U.S. Housing Seen Bottoming

The era of increasingly cheap money that fueled the housing recovery and record home-lending profits is showing signs of ending in the mortgage bond market.

Fannie Mae Silence on Taylor Bean Led to $3 Billion Fraud

The first sign of what would ultimately become a $3 billion fraud surfaced Jan. 11, 2000, when Fannie Mae executive Samuel Smith discovered Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. sold him a loan owned by someone else.

Merrill Fined, Repsol Probe Request, Fannie Mae, Argentina: Compliance

Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit will pay $1 million to resolve claims that supervisory failures enabled a Texas-based representative to operate a Ponzi scheme using a company account.

"By leveraging our skilled and experienced employees, we avoid the costs of recruiting, hiring and training new employees and of paying severance for roles we no longer need."

- Amy Bonitatibus on Nov 19, 2012

Fannie Mae

New York

Charlotte

Federal Reserve

Syria Says Israel Strike Sends Fireball Into Night

Malaysia Counts Votes as 55-Year Government Rule on Line

Gillard Says Aussie’s Strength Forces ‘Grave’ Budget Decisions

Berkshire Cash Hits Record $49.1 Billion as Profit Climbs

Fusion Scientists See Progress as Obama Shows No Ardor