Moody’s Investors Service downgraded $33.4 billion of securities backed by subprime mortgages, saying losses on delinquent home loans will continue to rise, while noting that mortgage servicers likely won’t modify loans to help borrowers avoid default.Freddie Mac said average rates on 30-year fixed mortgages rose last week, from 6.37% to 6.40%, while the 5-year ARM edged up slightly, from 6.11% to 6.12%.
Countrywide is believed to have shut down 28 Full Spectrum Lending offices on October 10th, bringing the total number of closures to 66 since July.
Today at 12:00 p.m (10/11/07). the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America launched a national boycott of Countrywide, alleging predatory lending and failure to help homeowners in need.
Meanwhile, at Beazer Homes, an internal investigation found evidence that employees of the Company’s Beazer Mortgage Corporation subsidiary violated certain U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (”HUD”) regulations, dating back to at least 2000.
Regional bank M&T Bank Corp. said Thursday its third-quarter earnings dipped 5 percent from a year-ago due to an increase in its loan loss provisions and for losses related to its investment in Bayview Lending Group LLC.
Lloyds TSB claimed that demand for its Islamic mortgage product has gone “through the roof”, with a recent Datamonitor report predicting the Islamic mortgage market will grow by 47 percent a year, reaching £1.4 billion by 2009.
The HUD is proposing a change to their down payment requirement on FHA loans, which may block homebuyers from accepting gifts of down-payment funds from nonprofit organizations.
Countrywide chief Angelo Mozilo is being investigated by the SEC for possible insider trading, focused on changes he made to his stock-selling program that accelerated the dumping of shares before the lender began to fall.
