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U.S. regulators have seized Republic First Bancorp and agreed to sell it to Fulton Bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said on Friday, underscoring the challenges facing regional banks a year after the collapse of three peers. The Philadelphia-based bank, which had abandoned funding talks with a group of investors, was seized by the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities. The FDIC, appointed as a receiver, said Fulton Bank, a unit of Fulton Financial Corp, will assume substantially all deposits and purchase all the assets of Republic Bank to "protect depositors". Republic Bank had about $6 billion in total assets...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a federal agency designed to purposely avoid oversight from Congress, with much fanfare recently introduced a public database cataloging all of the complaints it has received from consumers. “Consumer complaints are the CFPB’s compass and play a central role in everything we do. They help us identify and prioritize problems for potential action,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a press release announcing the new public database. The only problem? The database shows complaints about “payday lenders,” which are currently in Cordray's cross hairs, composed less than one percent of all complaints, far outnumbered...

Are lenders' credit score requirements for home buyers this spring too high — out of sync with the actual risks of default presented by today's borrowers? The experts say yes. What experts? The developers of the credit scores used by virtually all mortgage lenders. Executives at both FICO, creator of the dominant credit score used in the mortgage industry, and up-and-coming competitor VantageScore Solutions confirmed that mortgage lenders could reduce today's historically high score requirements without raising their risks of loss. In the process, many prospective buyers who currently can't qualify might get a shot at a loan approval. ....

Syracuse, N.Y. - New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has advice for people skeptical of mortgage lenders: "Never take your eyes off of them," he said Tuesday night in Syracuse. Schneiderman, a Democrat in his third year, held his second town hall since taking office. More than 250 people showed up at the Everson Art Museum. He brought six of his office's top staffers... Another person asked how the attorney general's office investigates workplace complaints involving undocumented workers. Terri Gerstein, who heads the labor section, said the office protects workers' rights regardless of immigration status. "We do not ask those...

Mortgage rates continue to hit new lows, but the ultra-low rates are out of reach for many would-be borrowers who can’t meet strict underwriting standards. And new national data suggests that underwriting standards for getting a loan are getting even stricter, too. FICO credit scores on all new loans closed in August averaged 750. That is nine points higher than one year ago, according to a survey of about 2 million mortgages by Ellie Mae Inc., a mortgage technology firm used by many lenders. For home owners who refinanced in August, the average FICO score was 769—even higher—at Fannie Mae...

Standard & Poor President Deven Sharma appeared before a House subcommittee and declared that a downgrade of US Treasury Debt is “virtually inevitable.” “From an investor’s perspective, whether the debt ceiling is raised, at best, is irrelevant,” Sharma asserted. “After all, it is the United States that is the borrower. A borrower granting himself permission to borrow more money is meaningless if prospective lenders aren’t willing to lend.” The key factor influencing potential lenders’ willingness to lend, according to Sharma, is the likelihood of repayment. “Current debt obligations and their projected growth under the Obama Administration evince a very palpable...

Imagine coming back to your home after being away a few weeks and finding the locks changed and the home trashed. That's what happened to Chris Boudreau of Brooksville. Boudreau showed us the home, which was stripped bare. Walking through the living room, he tells us "I used to have a couch, a sofa, a couple of end tables, a TV, DVD player, tapes and cabinet... but they are now gone." It happened after 21 Mortgage Corporation in Knoxville, which is Boudreau's lender, hired a local company to do the job.

Frank haunted by 2003 remarks on lendersPublished: Oct. 14, 2010 at 9:39 PM BROOKLINE, Mass., Oct. 14 (UPI) - Remarks about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., during a 2003 committee hearing have become a campaign issue in 2010. Frank said then that the two government enterprises were strong enough to withstand any threats -- and that if they did get into trouble they would not get a government bailout. Sean Bielat, the Republican seeking Frank's seat, has a clip from 2003 on his campaign Web site, "Retire Barney," and Frank has been struggling to...

Reid calls on lenders to halt foreclosures in all statesBy Jia Lynn Yang and Ariana Eunjung Cha Washington Post Staff Writers Friday, October 8, 2010; 4:10 PM Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called on major lenders to halt foreclosures across the country Friday following Bank of America's announcement that it will suspend all such proceedings until a review of possible paperwork problems is completed. Reid, who had sent a letter to major banks asking them to suspend foreclosures in Nevada, extended his concern to include all 50 states. "I thank Bank of America for doing the right thing by...

An early point about the Obama administration's new plan to help homeowners by forcing banks and lenders to reduce monthly mortgage payments to 31 percent of income, usually unemployment insurance: The new push, which the White House is scheduled to announce Friday, takes direct aim at the major cause of the current wave of foreclosures: the spike in unemployment. As noted in several places, the new health-care bill has already made the cost of employees more expensive and taken away capital that could otherwise have been used to hire workers. Farm-equipment manufacturer John Deere "said it expects its expenses to...

The Obama administration plans to overhaul how it's tackling the foreclosure crisis, in part by requiring lenders to temporarily slash or eliminate monthly mortgage payments for many borrowers who are unemployed, senior officials said Thursday. Banks and other lenders would have to reduce the payments to no more than 31 percent of a borrower's income, which would typically be their unemployment insurance, for up to six months. In some cases, administration officials said, a lender could allow a borrower to make no payments at all. The new push, which the White House is scheduled to announce Friday, takes direct aim...

The Obama administration today announced a new campaign to get mortgage companies to lower mortgage payments for struggling homeowners – and part of the strategy is some old-fashioned "name and shame." Share To date over 650,000 homeowners have entered into trial modifications under the Treasury Department's housing relief plan – a ratio of about one in five eligible borrowers. But the administration – frustrated with the performance of mortgage companies thus far – will now try to ratchet up the pressure on servicers, especially with 375,000 of these trial modifications set to convert to permanent ones by year's end.

The U.S. government's restructuring plan for Chrysler LLC is sounding alarm bells for those in the business of lending money who worry that the plan could subvert decades of standing legal precedent and investing principles. Banks, hedge funds and other investors that hold $6.9 billion in secured loans are being asked to release their contractual claims over Chrysler's assets in exchange for a fraction of what they are owed. Many lenders see that as a raw deal, because in the bankruptcy code's priority scheme, secured creditors are supposed to get paid before unsecured creditors such as employees. Investors worry the...

...But the real cause of the housing mess is a classic bubble in the housing market, the bursting of which has hammered lenders as well as borrowers. If the market had continued to rise, we never would have heard complaints about subprime loans. In fact, Washington had long encouraged these sorts of loans through the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) as a way to make marginal - largely minority - borrowers into homeowners. What's the difference between socially responsible loans extending the American dream to deserving people with poor credit histories and predatory lending? It's whether those loans work out or...

The two largest U.S. mortgage finance companies on Wednesday won approval to pump up to $200 billion into the distressed U.S. mortgage market, the latest step in government efforts to stabilize credit markets and save the economy from recession. Policy-makers at the Federal Reserve, regulatory agencies and the Treasury Department have let loose a flood of measures to battle rising home foreclosures and stabilize shaky markets, but some still see the need for a more direct government hand. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said it was immediately easing restrictions on Fannie Mae (FNM.N) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N) to...

They had small means and big hopes of owning a house. But African-Americans snared in the US mortgage crisis have seen the American dream turn into a nightmare many call "financial apartheid." The storm triggered by risky "subprime" loans has left many in ruins, forced out of their modest homes and furious at falling victim to financial dealings that have taken a particular toll on minority families. "People of color are more than three times more likely to have subprime loans," concluded the organization United for a Fair Economy in a recent report which estimated that minorities have seen between...

The real estate auction business is booming. Real Estate Disposition Corp is auctioning 2,000 homes in California and 575 in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. More states are coming up.

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Senator Barack Obama, vying for the Democratic presidential candidacy, vowed to change bankruptcy laws and cap interest rates during his campaign tour in Southern California, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. During what his campaign dubbed a "Roundtable on Economic Opportunity" there, Obama called for an exemption in the 2005 bankruptcy bill for people who can persuade a bankruptcy court that they filed for bankruptcy because of debts caused by medical expenses. His proposal also includes extending the 36-percent limit on payday loans to military members to all Americans; encouraging banks, credit unions and...

Judge Christopher A. Boyko of Federal District Court in Cleveland dismissed 14 foreclosure cases brought on behalf of mortgage investors, ruling that they had failed to prove that they owned the properties they were trying to seize.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that he has issued subpoenas to government-sponsored lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in his investigation into what he claims are conflicts of interest in the mortgage industry. Cuomo said he wants to know about loans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac purchased from banks, including Washington Mutual Inc. The subpoenas also seek to find out how the government-sponsored companies handle appraisals. Cuomo said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have agreed to his demand that an independent examiner, subject to the attorney general's approval, review all Washington Mutual appraisals and mortgages done with...