Mortgage Brokers Network specializes in recruiting and lead generation for results for brokers, lenders and banks nationwide. If you need to stimulate your business’s sales with increased origination activity and more fundings, they can help.  Mortgage brokers Network understands loan origination, recruitment and lead generation.  They are one of the few networks that truly understand the mortgage industry from the inside out and are the only B2B marketer that can guarantee results with every campaign. As an industry leader in recruiting for the banks and net branches, Mortgage Brokers Network provides the largest network of loan officers and active net branches in the country.  MBN helps loan professionals find the lender or bank that best suits their needs and financial goals.

*    FHA, VA, Reverse, Conventional Lenders
*    Loan Modification Law firms and Affiliates
*    Mortgage Training and Loan Officer Education
*    Mortgage Lead Generation
*    Loan Processing and Compliance
*    Mortgage News Alerts and Updates for Regulatory Bodies
*    Recruiting for Net Branches
*    Net/Virtual Branch Specialists
*    Mortgage Marketing with Direct Mail
*    Custom Web Design for Mortgage Companies
*    Debt Settlement Companies
 
Mortgage Lead Vault considers Mortgage Brokers Network a value added resource for companies looking to brand their business in the Mortgage Marketplace. Mortgage Brokers Network wants to maximize your mortgage or real estate B2B campaign so you can spend more time originating.  Visit MBN online at http://mortgagebrokersnetwork.com  or call them at 815 -230-9867 to get more information.

 

Conventional, VA and FHA mortgage rates remain at very low levels which are good news for homeowners seeking mortgage refinancing or new home buyers seeking affordable financing.  The thirty year fixed mortgage rates averaged 5.22% for the week ended Thursday, down from last week’s 5.25% average and 6.52% a year ago.  Interest rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages home loans were 4.63%, down from 4.69% last week and 6.1% a year earlier. Mortgage rates declined slightly this week after rising up last month, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey of mortgage interest rates. After dropping to record levels earlier this year, rates on the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose back above 5% as Treasuries gave up some of their gains and home buying activity picked up. Higher Treasury yields generally result in higher mortgage rates.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.73%, down from last week’s 4.75% and 6.05% a year earlier. One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs were 4.78%, down from 4.8% last week and 5.22% last year.  To obtain the interest rates this low, the fixed rate home loans and the five-year ARM rate will cost about 0.6 point and the one-year ARM required an average 0.5 point.

Featured Resources and Lead Providers
Debt Leads – Consumers want professionals to negotiate and settle their debt. Get Connected with Leads Outlet.		Loan Modification Leads – LMO provides internet, live transfer and direct mail leads for loan modification companies.

 

Bankrate Inc. agreed to be taken private by private-equity firm Apax Partners for $571 million, while the company also projected second-quarter and 2009 results below analysts’ expectations.  The planned sale comes as Bankrate’s results in recent quarters have weakened. The company operates Bankrate.com, a mortgage lead generation website offering home financing articles, mortgage news and tips to compare mortgage interest rates, home equity loans, credit lines, refinancing and credit cards.  Apax’s offer is $28.50 a share, a 16% premium over Tuesday’s closing price. The stock was above that price just last month, but is down 25% this year. Shares were recently at $28.37, giving some indication from investors that a higher bid might be forthcoming.

Meanwhile, Bankrate released preliminary 2nd-quarter results, showing profit dropped 54% to $1.9 million, or 10 cents a share, from $5.1 million, or 21 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 23% to $31 million.  Analysts estimated earnings of 30 cents a share on revenue of $37.5 million, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.  “Macroeconomic conditions have continued to impact financial advertising, particularly in our banking, home mortgage and credit card channels,” said Chief Executive Thomas R. Evans. He also predicted 2009 revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciations and amortization “will be well below the current consensus estimates” because of the soft financial-services advertising market
Article written by KATHY SHWIFF

 

According to Southern California mortgage brokers, the average interest rate on a thirty-year mortgage loan with a fixed rate dropped last week back down to the 5% range.  Mortgage rates declined down from the 5.25% to 5.5% range last month as the U.S. unemployment rate hit 9.5%.  Lead Executive, Dan Ambrose of the Lead Planet, a direct mortgage lead provider that specializes in high quality internet leads, said that, ”The demand for mortgage and loan modification leads increases every time the rates decline in the marketplace for consumers.” 

A soft economy means investors buy U.S. Treasuries for their safety, which drags down their yields and indirectly leads to lower fixed mortgage rates. California borrowers with good credit today can get a 30-year conforming, VA, or FHA mortgage as low as 4.875% with 0.625-point fee, said Jeff Lazerson, head of online brokerage Mortgage Grader in Laguna Niguel. That’s for “conventional” loans up to $417,000 that can be sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.  In most cases, these mortgage loans carry the lowest rates on the mortgage market. “Interest rates are lower because putting lipstick on a pig only works until you take a closer look…it’s still a pig,” Lazerson said. “In other words, the government and the Wall Street gatekeepers have been hyping that the economy is getting better. It’s not getting better. Some say, California consumers aren’t spending because they are worried about their jobs, if they haven’t already lost their jobs.” 

 

KMG announced another promotion with free internet leads for live transfer lead plans purchased from now until July 1, 2009. The lead generation company continues to facilitate successful direct marketing campaigns with promotions that help stimulate lead generation for companies ranging from start-up to fortune 500.

They manage their own IVR telephone marketing system and voice broadcasting software that enables companies the ability to utilize phone blast campaigns that dial data and transfer hot live leads to sales reps who are ready to take the calls.

For more info on live transfer campaigns, please visit, Free Mortgage and Loan Modification Leads >.

 

The Federal Reserve continues to lead the charge my taking measures to reverse the worst U.S. downturn since the Great Depression, announcing new plans to pump nearly $1.2 trillion into the home financing system.

Watch Federal Reserve Video on Mortgage Debt

The Fed has agreed to purchase up to $300 billion in Treasury securities over the next 6 months. The move, which follows similar efforts in Britain and Japan, is designed to bring down longer-term mortgage interest rates that influence mortgage lending and home financing.  The Federal Reserve also committed to purchasing another $750 billion in bad credit mortgage securities issued by mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae which became government properties during the 2007 mortgage bail-out.

 

Yes the Obama administration and the local governments are making every effort to lower the mortgage rates to stimulate the housing sectors nationally, but the higher home loan amounts and refinancing fees do not make it attractive for consumers on the sidelines waiting for the mortgage rates to slide even more. FHA mortgage rates have dipped back to 5% on fixed thirty year mortgages, but jumbo mortgage loans remain a full 1-2 percentage points behind the government refinancing options.

Bloomberg reported in a recent article that mortgage fees may become making it harder for people to seek refinancing. However, it is expected that the mortgage refinancing will hit a two year high. I am kind of contradicting myself, am I not? “David Rapaport, a professor at the University of California San Diego Medical School, is paying an upfront fee of $3,500 to refinance his mortgage at 5.13%. A year ago, his rate was 6.25% and there were no fees. “I’m happy just to be able to get a refinance and lower my mortgage payment,” said Rapaport, 57, who owns a 2-bedroom townhome in San Diego, where home prices have dropped 32% since June 2006. He is saving $264 a month with the new mortgage from CMG Mortgage, meaning it will take about a year to recoup the fees he paid.”  The Chicago Sun warned that homeowners need to be careful when getting a refinance loan.

 

Watch ABC News Nightline Video on Loan Modifications

ABC news sits down with the Harper family about their struggles to fight off foreclosure.  Mrs. Harper discusses the emotional anguish trying to modify their home mortgage with Indy Mac.  Congresswoman Maxine Waters gets involved to help this family attempt to negotiate a mortgage loan modification.

Maxine Waters talks about a two hour debacle with Bank ofAmerica.

 

Please contact us for mortgage leads, FHA leads at   loan modification leads.  Mortgage lead Vault is a direct lead provider who generates leads exclusively with internet leads, Live Transfers, voice broadcasting

 

Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd said on Monday he will refinance two mortgages that he took out in 2003 under Countrywide Financial Corp’s VIP program and later triggered a Senate ethics investigation.  The mortgage refinancing of his Washington townhouse and Connecticut home will end the Senate Banking Committee chairman’s transactions with Countrywide.  Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said he regretted doing business with Countrywide, which was once the nation’s largest home lender, and that he was publicly releasing all records in his possession related to the home loans.”I regret I did not do this sooner and I apologize to the people of Connecticut for the delay,” he said in a statement.  As chairman of the Senate’s banking panel, Dodd plays an influential role in overseeing mortgage finance laws that affect U.S. lenders, investment firms, international trade finance and housing.

Bank of America acquired Countrywide last year, which many blame for helping to inflate the massive housing bubble that burst last year and sent the global financial system and the U.S. economy into a tailspin.  Dodd said he and his wife “acted properly in our mortgage refinancing negotiations. We did not seek or expect any special rates or terms on our loans and we never received any.”  Dodd was offered the home loans as part of Countrywide’s VIP program. On Monday, Dodd said he was told that the VIP program was “nothing more than enhanced customer service” and his home refinancing reflected the overall market interest rate at the time.

The senator said he decided to refinance his homes in Connecticut and in Washington in the spring of 2003, when mortgage rates declined nationally to nearly a fifty-year low.  Documents released by Dodd showed he refinanced his Washington townhouse for $506,000 in a thirty-year adjustable mortgage with the first five years at fixed interest rate of 4.25%. At the time, the home had an appraised value of $792,000.  The mortgage refinancing of Dodd’s single-family home in Connecticut was for $275,042 in a thirty-year adjustable note with the first 10 years at a fixed interest rate of 4.5%, according to the documents. The home had an appraised value of $500,000. 

Watch Fox Video Exposing Chris Dodd’s Sweat–Heart Loan Deal from Countrywide

 

 

Mortgage leads continue to rise with low rate demands as loan application volumes continue to rise.  Many insiders point out though that very few applicants qualify to refinance their home, because guidelines have tightened and property values have plummeted. FHA mortgage leads are still hot! Choose from FHA streamline, cash out refinancing or Hope for Homeowners.

No points were charged on either refinanced loan, which the documents said was standard procedure for many homeowners in 2003.  Dodd also released a report from an independent firm, Cross Check Compliance, which analyzed market data on mortgage rates and fees from 2003 and concluded that the senator’s loans were in line with the overall market at that time. Dodd said that he and his wife would hire a third-party to negotiate the new loan terms on their behalf.  Article written by Kevin Drawbaugh. 

 

Furthermore, Bernanke said that the interest rates borrowers pay under the program could be reduced from the current level of about 8%, which remains so high because it is hard to find buyers for FHA loan backed securities. Bernanke also announced that would support putting borrowers into home mortgages they could afford now and down the road.  Industry sources said Wednesday that the U.S. Treasury is contemplating a plan to purchase mortgage-backed securities to reduce 30-year fixed mortgage rates down to 4.5% from their current 5.5% level, but it appears this plan might be aimed at helping new homeowners, not distressed borrowers seeking mortgage relief from FHA refinancing.  It becomes more and more evident that the government wants homeowners to be able keep their primary residence homes and avoid foreclosure with reasonable loan modifications.  Read complete article > Bernanke Cuts Rates and FHA Mortgage Rates Drop

 

HSBC’s mortgage unit will no longer accept business from mortgage brokers and mortgage banking correspondents. More than 300 employees will be impacted by the move.  HSBC Mortgage Corp. closed its indirect lending channels, according to a statement today from spokeswoman Kate Durham. 

This could have a negative impact for many brokers and mortgage lenders that depend on Household for mortgage products.  HSBC shut down their second mortgage division years ago, but completing cutting off wholesale home loans will hurt the mortgage broker world immediately.  Former Ditech mortgage executive said, “It’s a sad day in the mortgage broker world.”  Morris continued, “But rather than wallowing in the mire we need to adapt.”  Morris suggests “finding a good FHA mortgage lender or adding home loan modifications to your portfolio of financing services.”

 

Just three months after the U.S. government took over Fannie Mae, the biggest source of housing finance may need an infusion of fresh capital to stay in business.  Unfortunately for the American taxpayer, the Treasury may be forced to pump up to $100 billion to stop the company from swinging from the “conservatorship” status it acquired when the government took control of the company and its rival Freddie Mac to a “receivership” situation that would involve selling off assets to pay creditors.  The U.S. Treasury Department stands ready to inject $100 billion into each company to avert receivership. If Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac shut down, mortgage rates would soar, making it enormously difficult for the housing market to climb out of the worst slump since the Great Depression.  “Receivership is really not tenable” because of the importance of Fannie and Freddie to the economy, said Fred Cannon, chief equity strategist at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in San Francisco.

A Treasury infusion for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would boost market confidence in the government’s guarantee. Debt costs would drop and market access should increase, as a result, smoothing the companies’ ability to fund mortgage purchases and help stabilize housing, analysts said.  Conservatorship aims to preserve Fannie Mae’s assets as it works toward restoring health. The company on Monday reported a record $29 billion loss in the third quarter.  “If receivership meant liquidation, that would be the last thing that the U.S. mortgage market needs,” Cannon said, adding that a capital infusion is likely before year end.  FHA home loan products have completely taken over the market–share that Fannie and Freddie once dominated. 

Conservatorship is not a long-term solution, but “I don’t see any reason to push them into receivership prior to Congress addressing the structure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac” in the new administration.  The U.S. seized Fannie Mae and its smaller rival Freddie Mac in early September, saying the companies were so battered by the mortgage loan meltdown that they risked being unable to fulfill their mission of aiding housing.  Unfortunately, mortgage refinance loans have become so difficult because so many homeowners have migrated towards foreclosure or a loan modification.  Any of these foreclosure prevention options hurt the mortgage lenders profits. 

Fannie Mae said its regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, must place it into receivership if its assets fall below obligations, or if it has not paid debts, for 60 days.  “We do not know whether we will exist in the same or a similar form or continue to conduct our business as we did before the conservatorship, or whether the conservatorship will end in receivership,” Fannie Mae said.  If worsening housing and financial markets result in a sharp net loss again in the fourth quarter, and Fannie Mae’s assets are worth less than its liabilities at year end, the company said it will have to tap funds from the Treasury to avoid a mandatory receivership trigger under current statute.  “Unlike a conservatorship, the purpose of which is to conserve our assets and return us to a sound and solvent condition, the purpose of receivership is to liquidate our assets and resolve claims against us,” the company noted in its quarterly filing.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has said that conservatorship should be viewed as a “time out” while policymakers decide the companies’ future role and structure.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own or guarantee about half of U.S. mortgage loans.  “They need to be there in some form. I don’t know how you can set up something new to do their job in a reasonable period of time,” said Bill Cheney, president and chief executive of the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues in Rancho Cucamonga, California.  “Fannie Mae’s problems aren’t so encouraging but I can’t see the government really letting them go away,” he added.  Fannie Mae warned that if it must tap Treasury for cash it will raise its expenses and delay a return to profitability.  Among the risks, Fannie Mae said, is that the Treasury’s funding commitment might not go far enough.  “If we continue to experience substantial losses in future periods or to the extent that we experience a liquidity crisis that prevents us from accessing the unsecured debt markets, this commitment may not be sufficient to keep us in solvent condition or from being placed into receivership,” Fannie Mae said.  > Read complete mortgage article. (Written By Lynn Adler)

 

San Diego, California – Nationwide Mortgage Loans recently announced the roll-out of several new FHA products.  The mortgage lender extended the 203k FHA loan for home improvements and the 203S for fixed rate refinancing for homeowners trying to avoid foreclosures. 

According to mortgage banker, Bryan Dornan, “the company still remains focused on cash out refinancing so homeowners can consolidate debt and reduce their monthly payments.”  The FHA lender also said they would be rolling out the loan connected with Hope for Homeowners that would help borrowers modify their mortgage based on the market value. 

 

Yes the Democrat too want to stop or at least delay home foreclosures nationally.  The new mortgage plan emerged that some view as using families to use their retirement savings to assist and finance businesses that have the ability to create jobs. Critics contest that the plan would have little long-term effect. 

As Wall Street seemed to get some much needed energy Monday, Barack Obama visited this Rust Belt city and proposes new mortgage plan to help homeowners who are struggling to meet their monthly payments.  The Democratic presidential nominee challenged Congress and the Bush administration to help soften the fall for Americans after the economic financial melt-down continued to take its toll.  

The government approved measures to help businesses create new job opportunity that enables families to use their retirement savings in an effort to stop home foreclosures and stabilize state and local government budgets.  “We need to pass an economic rescue plan for the middle class, and we need to do it not five years from now, not next year — we need to do it right now,” he told 3,000 supporters in a convention center in this northwest Ohio city.

In a recent Los Angeles Times articles skeptics said the plan had popular short-term appeal but would have little impact on the underlying sources of anxiety and instability in the world economy.  “I would hope that both candidates would focus on making sure we have good long-term policies in place, rather than fine-tuning day-to-day concerns,” said Lee Ohanian, a professor of economics at UCLA.  Advisors to GOP presidential nominee John McCain said that Obama’s broader economic policy is flawed because he is proposing to raise federal taxes on upper-income people. McCain says such a tax hike would kill jobs because it would hit some of the economy’s most productive small businesses. Independent analysts have disputed this claim, and Obama has said that his plan would raise taxes on families making more than $250,000 per year.

McCain plans to unveil new economic proposals of his own today in Pennsylvania. Aides did not reveal any details about the scope of those plans.  Obama’s campaign said the new recovery package would cost $60 billion over two years, adding to an economic plan he unveiled in August that would cost $115 billion over two years. The new package included these major elements 

* Companies that added jobs this year and next would receive a $3,000 tax credit per new worker.

* Families would be able to withdraw up to 15% from their IRA or 401(k) retirement accounts, up to $10,000, without penalty.

* Families facing foreclosure would get a 90-day reprieve if they were working with finance firms taking part in the $700-billion rescue package Congress passed last month, and if they were making a good-faith effort to pay their mortgages.

* The Federal Reserve and Treasury would create an agency to lend money to states and cities caught in the credit crunch, such as California.

Some of these proposals, such as the foreclosure moratorium, could be put into effect under existing law. Others, such as allowing people to dip into their retirement accounts, would require legislative action.  Douglas Holtz-Eakin, one of McCain’s top economic advisors, said Obama’s new policies offered “nothing substantive” to help the American economy and called them hypocritical: “At the very time he’s threatening to weaken the American economy with tax increases, explosive spending proposals, expensive health mandates . . . he pretends to offer a ‘rescue package to Americans.’ ”   A McCain supporter, former Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), said he was skeptical of Obama’s proposal to allow families to withdraw up to $10,000 from their retirement accounts without penalty. “I’m not sure what impact that would actually have, except that it would be taking out of retirement-savings assets at a time when those assets are likely to be at a very low value, ” Portman said on a conference call set up by the McCain campaign.

Economists, investment advisors and real estate experts interviewed Monday said they approved of parts of Obama’s plan.  In general, they tended to favor some sort of moratorium on foreclosures, in large part because it has an expiration date and would give lenders and borrowers some breathing room until the panic subsides on Wall Street and at bank teller windows across the country.  “Ordinarily, I’m not in favor of moratoriums of any sort, but these are not ordinary circumstances,” said Kerry Vandell, the director of the Center for Real Estate at UC Irvine. 

However, some economists warned that the home foreclosure moratorium would just delay the resolution of rooted problems in the housing sector and mortgage market.  McCain recently proposedf proposed a $300-billion plan for the government to buy up bad home mortgage loans. Obama argued that this plan would force the Treasury to overpay for delinquent mortgages while rewarding “irresponsible” mortgage lenders.  The on;ly problem with Obama’s proposal is that Americans could be cashing in their 401k’s and pension plan at a time when their portfolio value was damaged.  Ironically, one could say his plan could have similiar affects as McCain’s plan to buy up bad mortgages.