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Discover: Student Loans a 'Train Wreck' for Taxpayers - (online.wsj.com) Rising federal student-loan debt and potential changes to how such loans
are treated under bankruptcy could be a "train wreck" for U.S.
taxpayers, Discover Financial Services President
Roger Hochschild said Monday. The executive, speaking at an investor conference
in New York, defended his company's foray into the student lending market,
stressing it adheres to high underwriting standards when approving loan
applicants. However, he accused the federal government, which now controls the
majority of student lending, of lax underwriting. "I actually think it's
going to hit all of us as taxpayers in terms of what it does for the federal
student-loan program and their utter and total lack of underwriting," Mr.
Hochschild said. "But I do not think it will be a train wreck for Discover
shareholders."
Gas hits highest price since October - (www.usatoday.com)
Another hit to consumers!!! Gasoline
prices have climbed past $3.60 a gallon nationally for the first time since
October in the government's weekly price survey. The price of a gallon of
regular unleaded stands at $3.611 in the survey released today, up 7.3 cents a
gallon from a week ago and 3.6 cents from the same week last year, the Energy
Informational Administration reports. Gas prices have steadily climbed since they
hit a low of $3.254 for the week of Dec. 17. They haven't hit $3.60 a gallon
since Oct. 22, the EIA pricing history shows.
Food
Stamp Program Could Face Big Cuts - (www.cnbc.com)
The approximately 47 million Americans who rely on the modern food stamp
program could see their monthly assistance cut this year because a recession-era benefits boost is set to expire. People who
receive food assistance — now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program, or SNAP — got a raise starting in April 2009, as part of the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The increase in benefits, which amounted to
about $80 more a month for a family of four, was part of a massive effort to
help mitigate the worst effects of the Great Recession.
Justice
Dept, states consider suing Moody's for bogus mortgage bond ratings - (www.reuters.com) The U.S. Justice Department and multiple states are discussing also
suing Moody's Corp for defrauding investors, according to people familiar with
the matter, but any such move will likely wait until a similar lawsuit against
rival Standard and Poor's is tested in the courts. Inquiries into Moody's are
in the early stages, largely because state and federal authorities have
dedicated more resources to the S&P lawsuit, said the sources, who were not
authorized to speak publicly about enforcement discussions. Moody's spokesman
Michael Adler and Justice Department spokeswoman Adora Andy declined to comment
for this story. Moody's in the past has defended itself against similar
allegations, including a 2011 congressional report that concluded the major
ratings agencies manipulated ratings to drive business.
REO-to-rental
is superior to principal forgiveness - (www.ochousingnews.com) So how exactly does that invalidate the argument that this is a good
private sector solution. What it does point out is the Fannie Mae almost
botched it by imposing too many restrictions. The free market is working
whereas the government regulated one is not. The Blackstone group, the biggest
player in the new REO to rental market, has spent $2.5 billion in the last year
purchasing 16,000 homes, a number that amounts to over $100 million per week.
Property records show that many of the homes Blackstone has acquired in Fulton
County over the last few months were purchased on the courthouse steps at the
monthly foreclosure auction, or through short sales—when a lender agrees to
accept less than the amount owed on a loan. The vast majority of these homes
are not empty, but occupied by homeowners who fell behind during the great
recession. Is that a bad thing? Blackstone probably kept most of these people
on as tenants so they wouldn’t have to move. What’s wrong with that? The sale
often represents the last nail in the coffin of foreclosure in Georgia, a
non-judicial foreclosure state where there is very little opportunity or time
to make good once a homeowner falls into default.
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