The big news from the weekend is that the Senate passed the housing relief bill that has been wending its way through Congress for the past few weeks. And President Bush has promised to sign the bill into law, meaning that soon some folks will see some relief.
But the bill does more than simply bail out the participants in the mortgage market mess. Others may benefit as well. Here’s who will benefit from the housing relief bill:

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These two government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) are getting the ultimate bail out. The housing relief bill authorizes the government …read more

Warren Buffett has had a busy week. He took his $12 billion offer to reinsure bond insurers off the table, and he took mortgage lenders to task. And he has a good point. After all, with subprime mortgage debt threatening the economy, mortgage lenders have got us into quite the mess.
“But wait,” you say. “Didn’t someone have to decide to take on these mortgages?” And that’s just the point that Dan at Property Crossroads makes regarding the current mortgage mess:
 Of course, the lenders aren’t the only ones who screwed up during the housing boom. Borrowers got too greedy, stretching themselves …read more

One of the beefs that many mortgage lenders and the National Association of Realtors have had when it comes to “economic stimulus” has been a lack of attention for the conforming loan limit. Now, that is likely to change.
In all the hoopla surrounding last week’s tax rebate announcement, the fact that the new plan allows for a temporary raise to the conforming loan limit was lost. The Seattle Times reports on this conforming loan limit move:
It would raise loan limits temporarily above $700,000 for the quasi-government entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which fund the bulk of the nation’s mortgages. …read more

The Fed is scrambling to figure out what to do in order to slow (maybe try to prevent) the coming recession. Some would argue that, really, it’s already here. At any rate, the Fed cut a key interest rate yesterday. Because Wall Street was really hoping for a bigger bailout (25 basis points just wasn’t enough), stocks had issues.
And, in an effort to ward off criticism that the Fed is more concerned with inflation than it is with the credit crisis, the Fed unveiled a plan this morning to inject cash liquidity into the financial markets.
But the bottom line is …read more

Yesterday, the House rushed to pass their version of a bill that is supposed to stop predatory lending. But the general consensus is this: nobody likes it. Not consumer groups, not the mortgage industry. Well, Inman News reports that some might like it:
Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla., called HR 3915 “the landlords and lawyers relief act,” because he said it would make it more difficult for renters to become home buyers, and make lenders and the investors who back them more vulnerable to lawsuits.
Why are so many hating on what appears, at least by the long title (Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory …read more

While the predatory lending bill introduced into the House earlier this week does, in fact, show some promise in curbing some of the practices that led to the subprime lending crash, it is somewhat low on education.
Even though mortgage lenders and other creditors, such as credit card companies, do deserve some of the blame for the current credit crisis situation, some of the blame does rest on us. After all, we were the ones that bought into the idea of easy money that can help us get what we want now.
The bottom line is that more education is needed in …read more

You probably already know that your credit score is important. You know that several factors go into your FICO score, and you know that many people who look at your credit score. And, of course, your credit score is a big deal when it comes to getting a home mortgage. So you need to know what you can do to keep it in good shape. Here are 7 things you can do to give your credit score a boost:

Pay your bills on time and in full. This is a biggie. Missed payments, or payments that come in below the minimum …read more