Wells Fargo says internal error caused more home foreclosures than expected
By Reuters Nov 6 (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co said on Tuesday an internal underwriting error had caused it to reject home loan modifications, resulting in the bank foreclosing more homes than expected. The bank said in a filing with regulators that an expanded review found that 870 customers were incorrectly denied mortgage changes, leading to 545 of them losing their homes. This comes after the bank in August had for the first time disclosed a calculation error in an internal underwriting software had caused 625 borrowers to be incorrectly denied mortgage loan modifications under a federal assistance program,...
What the new tax law
By Bill Bischoff The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) trimmed two important tax breaks for homeowners and left another big one completely untouched. In my last column, I covered how the new law can limit itemized deductions for real property taxes and how it left the valuable home sale gain exclusion break untouched. In this column, I’ll cover how the new law limits itemized deductions for mortgage interest. New limits on home mortgage interest deductions For 2018-2025, the TCJA generally allows you to deduct interest on up to $750,000 of mortgage debt incurred to buy or improve a first...
Trump tax cuts fail to provide boost to nation’s GDP
Low GDP reflects current “housing crisis” By Kelsey Ramírez Gross domestic product was a disappointment, shrinking in the first quarter despite the recent tax cuts passed at the end of 2017 Real GDP increased at an annual rate of 2.3% in the first quarter of 2018, according to the advance estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This is down from the fourth quarter’s increase of 2.9%. “The slowdown in GDP growth to 2.3% annualized in the first quarter, from 2.9% in the final quarter of last year was something of a disappointment since the tax cuts should have provided...
CCFPB Finalizes Revisions to TRID Timing RulesFPB Finalizes Revisions to TRID Timing Rules
By Jann Swanson The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has announced a technical change to its October 2015 "Know Before You Owe" mortgage disclosure rule. The change to what is generally known as the TILA-RESPA Rule or "TRID' relates to when a creditor may compare loan closing-related charges paid by or imposed on the consumer to the amounts disclosed on a Closing Disclosure as opposed to a Loan Estimate, in order to comply good faith rules. When TRID originally went into effect it was accompanied by new Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure forms that are provided to consumers when they...
Freddie Mac Forecast: Lots of “Ifs” and “Buts”
By Jann Swanson Freddie Mac's economists say, "The broader economic environment remains favorable for home sales," but they add a lot of caveats to that statement. Sales are holding up so far, despite the increase in mortgage rates, but will that continue? Sales started recovering in 2010, with the aggregate of new and existing sales growing annually except for 2014; largely because rates rose that year. Rates are not necessarily the only driver, however, from 2016 to 2017 home sales rose along with rates. Of course, sales depend on the interaction between demand- and supply-side factors. Demand factors include demographics,...
