Morgan Loan Mods are slow like everyone else

I read in the WSJ today that Morgan's servicing unit (Saxon - remember them from the heydays of subprime?) has modiified only 6% of their servicing portfolio. That's not a surprise. Modifications, even the FNMA, Freddie MAC prime loan modifications are put on the back burner at all the major banks that I know of. These loans actually don't require much to close, less than a traditional refinance, but for some reason despite the easy approval process, they take much, much longer to get looked at.

It's odd since it's my understanding that the gross margins are actually pretty good on them. I guess it's just one of those things.

Meet the Feds

FED TO BUY ADDITIONAL $750 BLN OF MBS, $100 BLN OF GSE DEBT
FED LEAVES TARGET INTEREST-RATE RANGE UNCHANGED AT 0% TO 0.25%
FED TO PURCHASE UP TO $300 BLN OF LONGER-TERM TREASURIES
FED SAYS INFLATION MAY PERSIST BELOW `BEST' LEVEL
FED SAYS NEAR-TERM ECONOMIC OUTLOOK IS `WEAK'
FED SEES `EXCEPTIONALLY LOW' FUNDS RATE FOR `EXTENDED' PERIOD
FED TO CONTINUE MONITORING BALANCE SHEET SIZE, COMPOSITION
FED VOTE ON MONETARY POLICY IS UNANIMOUS *FED SAYS ECONOMY `CONTINUES TO CONTRACT'
FED TO BUY TOTAL OF UP TO $1.25 TRILLION OF AGENCY MBS IN 2009
FED TO BUY TOTAL OF UP TO $200 BLN OF GSE DEBT IN 2009
FED SAYS TALF TO EXPAND TO INCLUDE OTHER `FINANCIAL ASSETS'
FED SAYS INFLATION WILL REMAIN SUBDUED *FED TO USE `ALL AVAILABLE TOOLS' TO HELP ECONOMY RECOVER

Looks like rates are going lower...

Crime...boy I just don't know

Uncle Bernie's run off with rich people's money and now they are broke like the rest of us. The newspapers are full of articles about Madoff's scheme and the repurcussions of it on the victims, the community and the financial community as whole.

Meanwhile it seems that we are in a bona fide refi boom. 30 year fixed rates are the lowest since 1971 according to Freddie Mac. Borrowers must pay a discount point to truly get into the mid 4s, but points are no longer the devil. PMI is the devil now. Borrower's cannot seem to qualify for it, unless they really don't need it. That's going to be difficult for borrower's who purchased a home with less than 20% down and now want to reduce their rate and thus their payment. This could mean the difference between staying in their home or not.

Something needs to be done about some common sense Private Mortgage Insurance qualifications. There are good paying borrowers out there who could find some relieif right now if the mortgage insurance qualifications weren't so unruly.