It’s fairly impossible to follow Administration math on the HAMP program, which is part of the TARP authorization. I’ve seen HAMP alternately described as a $75 billion, $50 billion, $45.6 billion and $29 billion program. And the White House has carved money out of HAMP for other housing programs like the Hardest Hit Fund. So [...]

One thing we don’t have a great handle on is how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will play a role in the foreclosure fraud settlement, and more to the point the ongoing issues in the mortgage servicing industry. CFPB Director Richard Cordray goes some way to explaining their perspective in a Politico op-ed. The CFPB [...]

We’re going to have to endure this line of argument from those savvy business reporters, and Diana Olick is at the head of the pack, so we might as well take on this argument about the foreclosure fraud settlement directly. Let’s take a step back for a second to remember the fall of 2010, when [...]

I think I’ve made my position on the foreclosure fraud settlement pretty clear. Nevertheless, there’s a time to stew and a time to figure out how to make this work as well as possible. I think there are some tangible steps that can be taken, if not to improve the deal, then to improve housing [...]

JPMorgan Chase estimates that 500,000 new loan modifications will result from the Administration’s changes to the embattled HAMP program. I’m skeptical of this projection, but let’s hear it out: JPMorgan Chase [[JPM]] analysts said in a report Monday they expect 1.7 million additional borrowers could qualify for the program under the more lenient DTI requirements [...]

Yesterday I looked at the Administration’s new housing policies, particularly the mass refi plan they sent to Congress. Now, maybe that’s not something to focus on specifically, because John Boehner sealed the deal on that yesterday by saying that he has no interest in the government helping homeowners: “One more time? We’ve done this. We’ve [...]

I’m going to have more about housing today because, you know, it’s Thursday. But before I do I wanted to put into context one reason why we’re not getting the housing policies we need in this country. We can talk about official malfeasance or conservative demonization but a lot of this has to do with [...]

So the President delivered his remarks on this collection of housing policy announcements today, or should I say stimulus policy. As expected, it included this mass refi proposal, along with the announcement of the beginning of GSE sales of foreclosed properties to investors for them to covert into rentals. There was also this other piece [...]

The Administration will release details on its mass refi proposal today, which is a bid to increase funds in the hands of homeowners at a low cost to the government. Notice I didn’t say that it’s a housing policy. Because it isn’t. This is a stimulus policy, which could be effective depending on the scale. [...]

Hey, remember HAMP? That’s the program that was supposed to help four million borrowers lower their mortgage payments and avoid foreclosure? The one that promised $50 billion for that purpose? The one that’s actually provided temporary relief for around 900,000 borrowers, used about 6% of the money earmarked, and also the one that’s been used [...]

Former Obama Administration transition official Mike Lux was the first to report that the liability release on foreclosure fraud “looks tight.” In other words, the release is limited to mostly post-crisis conduct, basically robo-signing and servicer abuse. Private right of action would still be available under any settlement – Attorneys General cannot stop the right [...]