The latest FHA Single-Family Outlook report from the FHA shows that serious delinquencies continue to plague the FHA. The number of seriously delinquent FHA loans increased by 18.9% from last year to a record number of 711,082 mortgage loans. FHA loans classified as seriously delinquent amount to 9.6% of all FHA insured mortgages. A seriously […]
Congress Moves To Prevent FHA Collapse With “FHA Emergency Solvency Act”
February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Interest Rates At All Time Lows And Home Prices At Ten Year Lows – Why Are Home Sales The Worst Ever?
February 1, 2012 By 1 Comment
In Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s world, all he had to do was lower interest rates enough and housing prices would magically re-inflate. Wrong! Mortgage rates are at all time lows, home prices are at 2002 levels and owning a home is just as cheap as renting, yet the housing market remains mired in a […]
Foreclosure Inventory Near Record Highs, Attempts To Slow Foreclosures Is Prolonging The Housing Crisis
January 28, 2012 By 1 Comment
LPS Mortgage Monitor has come out with a comprehensive series of charts including the current level of foreclosures, delinquencies by year of origination, length of time homeowners have not made a payment in judicial states, states with largest drops in non-current mortgages and foreclosure rates in judicial vs non judicial states. The states with the […]
Four Banks Fail – FDIC Losses Approach $1 Billion On YTD Bank Closings
January 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Regulators closed four banks in Tennessee, Minnesota and Florida, bringing the total for the year to seven. Tennessee, with two bank closings, had previously not had a single bank failure since 2002. The combined assets of the two failed banks in Tennessee totaled $1.5 billion. Tennessee Commerce Bank of Franklin, TN, became the first billion […]
BankEast, Knoxville, TN, Closed By Regulators
January 27, 2012 By 1 Comment
Until today, the State of Tennessee, had seemed isolated from the banking crisis. For almost a decade, there were no banking failures in Tennessee, with the last one occurring on November 8, 2002. Tennessee’s luck came to an abrupt halt today with the closing of two banks – Tennessee Commerce Bank of Franklin, TN and […]
Patriot Bank Minnesota Closed By Regulators
January 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Minnesota, which had only two banking failures during 2011, got off to a fast start for 2012 with the closing of a small locally owned community bank. Patriot Bank Minnesota, Forest Lake, Minnesota, was closed by state regulators who appointed the FDIC as receiver. The failed bank was sold by the FDIC to First Resource […]
Tennessee Commerce Bank Fails – First Billion Dollar Bank Failure Of 2012
January 27, 2012 By 1 Comment
Tennessee Commerce Bank, Franklin, TN, with $1.2 billion dollars in assets, was closed today by state regulators. The failure of Tennessee Commerce is the largest banking failure of the new year and comes in a state that is a stranger to bank failures. Prior to today, the last banking failure in Tennessee was on November […]
First Guaranty Bank and Trust Co of Jacksonville, FL, Closed By Regulators
January 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
First Guaranty Bank and Trust Company of Jacksonville, Florida, the oldest bank in Jacksonville, was closed today by state regulators. The FDIC, named as receiver, sold the failed bank to CenterState Bank of Florida, N.A. First Guaranty Band and Trust was a family owned bank with a 62 year history. Inexplicably, according to the Bank’s […]
FDIC Issues 57 Enforcement Actions Against Problem Banks In December
January 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The FDIC issued 57 enforcement actions against banks in December 2011, down from 72 in November. The December enforcement actions included 9 consent orders, 19 civil money penalties, 4 prompt corrective actions, 3 voluntary terminations of insurance, 12 removal and prohibition orders and 10 orders terminating previous consent orders and cease and desist orders. A […]
Too Big To Fail Banks Get Bigger – Fundamental Financial Problems Worse Than 2008
January 24, 2012 By 1 Comment
David Stockman, former budget director in the Reagan administration, argues persuasively that the fundamental problems of the financial system are worse than in 2008. The “too big to fail” banks have become bigger, politicians have been bought and paid for, an entitled class of Wall Street financiers are being served by government policies and a […]