Our Changing Globe

Archive for the ‘mortgage company’ Category

Is it Time to Foreclose on Your Bank?

www.triplepundit.com12/5/11

A look back at the role of corporate banks during the financial crisis of 2008 and a look at other options such as Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs).

Daily Kos: Bank foreclosing on businesses that have paid their …

www.dailykos.com12/24/11

First off, how in the hell can it be legal for a bank to foreclose on a loan if the payments have been made on time? Second, less operating income and falling property values “Compelled the bank to act.” Seriously? We are in …

It certainly is a changing globe!

Five months ago Bank of America filed foreclosure papers on a Florida couple who didn’t owe anything on their home.

The homeowner’s, the Nyergers, were later forced to take the case to court because Bank of America refused to accept their proof that they’d paid cash for their home.

A Collier County judge immediately accepted the family’s evidence, confirmed the Nyergers’ claims, and told Bank of America to pay all legal fees.

The bank refused, and the family’s attorney did exactly what the bank had tried to do to his clients, he seized the bank’s assets.

A truck and sheriffs arrived at the bank with orders to remove assets from the bank and within an hour of being locked out of his bank, the branch manager handed over a check for the legal fees.

Supply-Side Economics | The CERF Blog

www.clucerf.org1/10/12

As early as the 1950s, Mundell proposed an economic policy program of tight monetary policy to stabilize the value of the currency and low tax rates to stimulate economic activity. During the late … The Reagan Scenario included a sharp drop in inflation, a recession in 1982 due to tight monetary policy, passage of the Kemp Roth tax cuts and an economic boom starting in 1983. … Inflation and interest rates are much lower and tax rates are lower as well. While a high …

The hidden dangers of low interest rates | David Cay Johnston

blogs.reuters.com1/10/12

Low rates also come at a cost, cutting income to older Americans and to pension funds. This forces retirees to eat into principal, may put more pressure on welfare programs for the elderly, and … If rates return to, say, 6.64 percent, the level they were in 2000, one year's interest costs would equal the individual income taxes for all of 2011 plus the first few weeks of 2012. Last week , rates took a step in that direction. The yield on the 10-year bond, a benchmark for other …

President Obama’s recent claim to homeowners, that refinancing their mortgage loans at a lower rate, equates to a tax cut, doesn’t ring true for many tax experts.

Obama said at a recent press conference that the housing plan his administration had launched, had “already contributed to a spike in the number of homeowners who are refinancing their mortgages, which is the equivalent of another tax cut. The main message we want to send today is that there are 7 to 9 million people across the country who right now could be taking advantage of lower mortgage rates and that is money in their pocket”.

What Obama failed to mention however is that unlike the housing boom that led to the current financial crisis, this time, only borrowers with strong credit ratings and stable jobs will be able to save money if they refinance.

Obama’s announcement caused many tax analysts, including Gil Charney, who is an analyst for The Tax Institute at H&R Block to shout “foul”;

“While there could be overall savings by refinancing and lower monthly payments, there also could be reduced tax benefits as less interest is paid. Also refinancing could extend the period before the mortgage is fully paid off, so this might not be desirable for someone who wants to be mortgage-free. Therefore, someone about to make a financial decision should take their complete financial picture into account, not just their tax situation”.

In fairness to Obama, some analysts like Mark Steber, who is vice president of tax resources at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service did express a more supportive viewpoint, “While generally there is no tax advantage to refinancing at a lower rate, an individual can save on the total out of pocket costs each year over the life of the loan. Though a tax bill will actually increase after refinancing, the increase in taxes may be less than half of the total difference in interest paid, so the taxpayer may save more money than their taxes increase, therefore resulting in net savings”.