All About Insurance

News

Consumer Spending Expected to Pick Up in Coming Months

Screen Shot 2015-03-03 at 6.19.46 PM

According to a new report by CNBC, economists on Wall Street and at the Federal Reserve tend to agree that consumer spending is likely to increase at a more rapid pace in the coming months.

As reporter Michael K. Farr pointed out, “This expectation is based upon several factors, but the two most commonly cited are the improvements in the labor market and the drop in energy prices.”

If the experts are correct, then retailers should begin benefitting from the phenomenon any day now, with stores like Wal-Mart, Target and dollar stores likely to see the earliest signs of spending.

Image via flickr/401(K) 2012

Continue to original source.

Auto Insurance

Wells Fargo Caps Subprime Auto Loans

Screen Shot 2015-03-03 at 10.25.36 AM

Wells Fargo announced on Monday that it has put a cap on the amount of money it will loan to subprime borrowers.

As reported by CNBC, according to execs, the San Francisco-based banking giant “is limiting the dollar volume of its subprime auto originations to 10 percent of its overall auto loan originations.”

Last year, that number was $29.9 billion. The new ruling will affect borrowers with credit scores of 640 or lower.

Image via flickr/Mike Mozart

Continue to original source.

All About Insurance

February Mortgage Rates End Bad Month on Good Note

image

February was a less-than-stellar month as far as mortgage interest rates go, but as it drew to a close over the weekend, consumers saw modest gains.

By Friday afternoon, rates slipped to as low as 3.75 percent for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, though 3.85 percent has been commonly quoted as well.

“Rate markets enjoyed a sedate Friday to end the month, with minor pricing improvements on my rate sheets,” said Ted Rood, a senior originator. “While we’re still closer to the rate highs for February than the lows seen early in the month, at least we’ve regained some ground, and appear to be in a ‘wait and see’ mode at the moment.”

Image via flickr/Simon Cunningham

Continue to original source.

News

FHA Publishes Its Middle Class Promise

houses

Biniam T. Gebre, the Acting Federal Housing Administration Commissioner and Acting Assistant Secretary for Housing, took to the FHA’s blog on Thursday to share an impassioned note about the organization’s recent decision to decrease its PMI premiums.

In a piece titled “FHA’s Middle Class Promise,” Gebre goes on to explain that it’s all good news – there is no catch – and that there is no reason to believe the lessened fees will lead to another housing market crash.

“We believe it’s time to reduce our prices to make it possible for nearly quarter of a million credit-worthy families to purchase their first home in the next three years,” he wrote. “Still, there are some who don’t want us to reduce our annual insurance premiums. These critics claim this is somehow a return to the days of subprime lending when loans were approved for borrowers who had no business buying a home and set the nation on a path to ruin. This reduction doesn’t change who qualifies for an FHA loan; it only changes the price someone pays for an FHA loan. Let me be clear – FHA has never, is not, and will never engage in the sorts of lending practices that triggered the housing crisis. Unless one is trying to make a distinction, using the words ‘subprime’ and ‘FHA’ in the same sentence is not factual. The borrowers that FHA serves are not subprime. They are in fact the prime example of families pursuing the American dream.”

Image via flickr/woodleywonderworks

Continue to original source.

All About Insurance

Experts Weigh in on When to Refinance

refi

With interest rates falling to record lows in recent months, more homeowners have been refinancing their mortgages than ever before.

Still, there are plenty who didn’t jump on the bandwagon, and that’s ok.

The Wall Street Journal asked John Schleck, centralized and online sales executive at Bank of America Home Loans, how to know when the time is right to pull the trigger on refinancing, and he had some helpful tips.

“A general rule of thumb for mortgage borrowers is to refinance when rates decrease by half of a percentage point,” the newspaper gathered from Schleck’s points. “But because of their larger loan size, jumbo borrowers may save substantially even with one-eighth of a percentage-point drop.”

Image via flickr/Simon Cunningham

Continue to original source.

News

U.S. New-Home Sizes Set Record in 2014

big house

Houses in the United States continue to get bigger and bigger, as new-home sizes reached a record high in 2014.

According to the Commerce Department, the median size of new homes completed in 2014 was 2,415 square feet, up slightly from the year before.

“The American dream is still to chase the big beautiful home with the lavish master suite and the spectacular gourmet kitchen and the finished basement that has the wine room and the media room,” said Douglas Yearley, chief executive of luxury home builder Toll Brothers Inc.

Image via flickr/Laurie Avocado

Continue to original source.

News

Low Inventory Could Lead to Slow Spring Sales

houses

According to a new report by CNBC, home prices are beginning to soar once again, as the number of houses for sale continues to remain low.

And, as one expert points out, that could mean bad news for springtime home sales, as high prices were the main factor in last year’s weakened market.

In all, there were nearly 9 percent fewer homes for sale in January 2015 than there were the year before.

“January’s inventory data suggest a continuation of the tightening trend we identified last month in the December data, and with a shortage of inventory typically comes increased home prices,” said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at Realtor.com. “Half of the 200 markets Realtor.com tracks experienced year-over-year price increases of at least 6 percent in January.”

Image via flickr/Tom Caswell

Continue to original source.

News

Report: Goldman Sachs Could Face Mortgage-Bond Lawsuit

goldman sachs

The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch reported on Monday that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. could soon be hit with a mortgage-bonds lawsuit stemming from the 2008 financial crisis.

According to the news site, the financial giant was informed by federal prosecutors in December of the potential civil lawsuit.

Prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of California have reportedly “primarily concluded” that Goldman Sachs had “violated federal law in connection with underwriting, securitizing and selling mortgage bonds,” according to MortgageWatch.

Image via flickr/Spoon Monkey

Continue to original source.

News

Report: HUD Gives $37M in Subsidies to Wrong People

money

CNBC reported on Friday that more than $37 million in monthly housing subsidies for people in need landed in the wrong hands last year, and it’s all because the Department of Housing and Urban Development has not yet figured out how to accurately verify who is eligible for its program.

“If HUD does not strengthen its controls, it will pay at least $448 million over the next year in subsidies for public-housing units occupied by noncompliant tenants that otherwise could house compliant households,” a report by HUD’s Inspector General reads.

The program is intended to provide housing subsidies for low-income people who are trying to get back into the job market and meet the “community service and self-sufficiency requirement,” which is defined as being between the ages of 18 and 62 and logging a minimum of eight hours of community service or job training each month.

Image via flickr/401(K) 2012

Continue to original source.

News

Mortgage Rates on the Rise for Second Consecutive Week

up

Although fixed-rate mortgage rates remain at historic lows, Freddie Mac revealed on Thursday that they have risen for the second consecutive week.

According to the organization’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 30-year fixed rate mortgages averaged 3.76 percent this week, up an average of 0.6 points from last week.

“Mortgage rates rose for the second consecutive week as 10-year Treasury yields surged,” said Len Kiefer, deputy chief economist for Freddie Mac. “Housing starts declined 2 percent to a seasonally adjusted pace of 1.065 million units and housing permits dipped 0.7 percent in January. However, homebuilders remain confident about new home sales although slightly tempered from last month as the NAHB Housing Market Index slipped 2 points to 55 in February.”

Image via flickr/ FutUndBeidl

Continue to original source.