December 2008 - MND NewsWire

Interest rates continued their slow but steady decent during the week ended December 31 according to results of the Primary Mortgage Market Survey released by Freddie Mac Wednesday morning. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) hit yet another historic low during the week averaging 5.10 percent, the lowest rate since Freddie Mac initiated the survey in 1971. A week earlier the 30-year averaged 5.14 percent, the record low at that time. Fees and points dropped from 0.8 to 0.7 this week. The 15-year

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the government has had to face the current financial crisis without all the means to do so effectively, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. "We're dealing with something that is really historic and we

After months of failed attempts, General Motors' financing arm, GMAC , was granted bank holding status from the Federal Reserve on Dec. 24 in a move that will allow the struggling firm to access funds from the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief

Weekly mortgage applications in the United States rose in the week ending Dec. 19, according to data released from the Mortgage Bankers' Association (MBA) on Wednesday, which reported a 48.0% week-over-week increase in applications. In the previous

U.S. house prices continued to decline in October, according to data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency ( FHFA ), which recorded a 1.1% drop for the month. The fall was slightly better than economists' expectations for a 1.3% decline, and the

Remember a week or so ago a story about how credit card issuers and home equity lenders are cutting back on credit lines even to good customers and/or dramatically raising interest rates? Well, there is a new wrinkle. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported on Sunday that some credit card companies have gone beyond looking at how much its customers spend or how promptly they pay and are now evaluating where they live and even more remarkable, where they shop . In other words, redlining is apparently

After a gruelling several weeks, the U.S. government announced Friday it will extend short-term funding to General Motors and Chrysler , allotting $13.4 billion in immediate funding to the two automakers and an additional $4.0 billion contingent on the