Posts Tagged Barack Obama

Unemployed? Refinancing Won’t Be Easy

Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Banks on Июль 20th, 2009

Mortgage rates are inching down, making refinancing more attractive for people who want to trim expenses. If you’re unemployed, however, your chances of successfully refinancing your home are very slim—especially if you can’t prove a steady source of income.

“A couple of years ago, it would have been technically very possible,” says Keith Gumbinger, vice president at mortgage information firm HSH Associates. As lenders have tightened standards, they’re now scrutinizing all aspects of potential borrowers’ financial lives.

“Income documentation is one of the primary ways lenders identify your ability to repay them,” says Mr. Gumbinger.

And while some homeowners may be able to use unemployment benefits to aid in qualification for a mortgage modification under the Obama administration’s Making Home Affordable plan, currently there isn’t much relief for the unemployed.

The Obama administration is exploring programs that could help unemployed workers get mortgage help, including possibly extending unemployment benefits, said Housing and Urban Development Department senior adviser William Apgar before the Senate Banking Committee last week.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Foreclosures rise 15 percent in first half of 2009

Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget on Июль 16th, 2009

The number of U.S. households on the verge of losing their homes soared by nearly 15 percent in the first half of the year as more people lost their jobs and were unable to pay their monthly mortgage bills.

The mushrooming foreclosure crisis affected more than 1.5 million homes in the first six months of the year, according to a report released Thursday by foreclosure listing service RealtyTrac Inc.

The data show that, despite the Obama administration’s plan to encourage the lending industry to prevent foreclosures by handing out $50 billion in subsidies, the nation’s housing woes continue to spread. Experts don’t expect foreclosures to peak until the middle of next year.

Foreclosure filings rose more than 33 percent in June compared with the same month last year and were up nearly 5 percent from May, RealtyTrac said.

«Despite all the efforts to date, we clearly haven’t got a handle on how to address the situation,»said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s senior vice president for marketing. Read the rest of this entry »

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Banks Oppose Financial Agency’s Costs; Consumers Seek Clarity

Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget on Июнь 23rd, 2009

U.S. bankers lined up against a new federal oversight agency proposed by President Barack Obama, even as consumer advocates back the regulator as a way to help people understand the financial products they use.

“It would simply complicate our existing financial regulatory structure by adding another extensive layer of regulation,” American Bankers Association President Edward Yingling said in remarks prepared for a House Financial Services Committee hearing today in Washington. Improving existing rules “is likely to be more successful, more quickly, than a separate consumer regulator.”

Financial products are too complicated to permit consumers to compare terms with ease, said Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard University law professor who has backed a federal agency, in remarks prepared for today’s 10 a.m. Washington hearing.

The Consumer Financial Protection Agency is part of Obama’s regulatory overhaul to rein in abuses that contributed to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The hearing is the first in a series by the House Financial Services Committee to transform the Obama proposal into legislation.  Read the rest of this entry »

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May U.S. foreclosures 3rd highest on month on record

Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Banks on Июнь 11th, 2009

U.S. foreclosure activity for May ebbed from April’s record, but mortgages still failed at a staggering pace as President Barack Obama‘s rescue programs had not had time to fully take root, RealtyTrac said on Thursday.

Foreclosure filings dipped 6 percent in the month but increased 18 percent from May 2008, marking the third highest month on record.

«There were almost one million foreclosure filings in a three-month period, and that’s simply unprecedented,» Rick Sharga, senior vice president at RealtyTrac in Irvine, California, said in an interview.

Temporary freezes on foreclosure activity ended in March. Failures of many seriously delinquent loans that were put on hold during those moratoria have been thrust back into the foreclosure cycle.

One in every 398 households with loans got a foreclosure filing in May. Filings, which include notices of default and auctions, were reported on 321,480 properties last month. Read the rest of this entry »

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White House: Budget deficit to top $1.8 trillion

Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget on Май 14th, 2009

With the economy performing worse than hoped, revised White House figures point to deepening budget deficits, with the government borrowing almost 50 cents for every dollar it spends this year.

The deficit for the current budget year will rise by $89 billion to above $1.8 trillion — about four times the record set just last year. The unprecedented red ink flows from the deep recession, the Wall Street bailout, the cost of President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus bill, as well as a structural imbalance between what the government spends and what it takes in.

As the economy performs worse than expected, the deficit for the 2010 budget year beginning in October will worsen by $87 billion to $1.3 trillion, the White House says. The deterioration reflects lower tax revenues and higher costs for bank failures, unemployment benefits and food stamps.

For the current year, the government would borrow 46 cents for every dollar it takes to run the government under the administration’s plan. In one of the few positive signs, the actual 2009 deficit is likely to be $250 billion less than predicted because Congress is unlikely to provide another $250 billion in financial bailout money. Read the rest of this entry »

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Obama to Crack Down on Business Taxes

Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Budget, Favourites on Май 5th, 2009

US President Barack Obama plans changes to tax policy certain to be unpopular with corporations with international divisions and individuals who use tax havens.

Obama’s two-part plan, which he is slated to unveil at the White House on Monday, also calls for 800 new federal tax agents to enforce the system.

The president’s proposal would eliminate some tax deductions for companies that earn profits in countries with low tax rates, as well as consider U.S. citizens who use tax havens in the Bahamas or Cayman Islands guilty of violating U.S. tax laws. If Obama wins congressional approval for the changes — and he faces a challenge on Capitol Hill — it could deliver $210 billion in tax revenue over the next decade.

Officials described the administration’s plan ahead of the announcement on the condition of anonymity so they wouldn’t upstage the president’s remarks. However, they acknowledged the political challenges facing the plan. The administration won’t seek a complete repeal of overseas tax benefits and, although the rule changes are narrower than some anticipated, business leaders still oppose them as a tax hike. Obama aides countered that the plan is a step toward a massive overhaul of international financial regulations the president has promised. Read the rest of this entry »

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