California A.G. Harris Now Signaling Willingness to Rejoin Foreclosure Talks
Bill Allows Tax-Free Use of Retirement Funds for Mortgage Payments
By Christopher Quinn, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Oct. 5, 2011
Georgia legislators introduced a bill to allow Americans to pay mortgages by withdrawing retirement funds, such as a 401(k) account, without penalty. The bill's sponsors, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Rep. Tom Graves, said they believe it would help people keep their homes in tough economic times.
California A.G. Harris Now Signaling Willingness to Rejoin Foreclosure Talks
By Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism, Oct. 7, 2011
Dave Dayen saw this one coming. When Kamala Harris said she was not willing to participate in the so called “50 state” attorney general mortgage negotiations, he recognized Harris’ refusal to join the New York attorney general Schneiderman’s group as a bad sign.
A Refi Plan Is Coming
By Jeffrey Sparshott and Tom Barkley, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 6, 2011
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday he expects a U.S. housing regulator in the coming weeks to detail mortgage refinance programs that could help the battered housing market. “My sense is, based on what I’ve seen…it’s going to be meaningful enough to make a difference,” Mr. Geithner said at a Senate Banking Committee hearing.
Want To Save $215 Billion? Eliminate the Mortgage Deduction
By Alan Zibel, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 6, 2011
Senate lawmakers said Thursday they want to be cautious about scaling back or eliminating the popular home mortgage-interest deduction to avoid further upsetting the troubled housing market. The U.S. tax code provides generous subsidies to housing, including deductions for home mortgage interest, property taxes and an exclusion from all or part of capital gains taxes on many sales. Many academics favor eliminating or at least scaling back many of these subsidies, particularly the mortgage-interest deduction.
Broader Jobless Rate Hits 16.5%
By Phil Izzo, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 6, 2011
The U.S. jobless rate was flat at 9.1% in September, but the government’s broader measure of unemployment rose to 16.5%, the highest rate this year. The comprehensive gauge of labor underutilization, known as the “U-6″ for its data classification by the Labor Department, accounts for people who have stopped looking for work or who can’t find full-time jobs.
NY Foreclosure Law Firm Settles with Feds for $2M
By Debra Cassen Weiss, ABA Journal, Oct. 7, 2011
A New York law firm once accused of “operating in a parallel mortgage universe” has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a probe into misleading foreclosure documents. The Steven J. Baum law firm did not acknowledge wrongdoing in the deal, but did admit occasional “inadvertent errors” it attributed to the high volume of foreclosures, according to the New York Law Journal, Bloomberg Business Week, the New York Post and a press release.