MFI-Miami

10 Reasons I'm Glad To Be Doing Business in America

I totally agree with you, Mark. I do think this was a wake up call to the nation that the our right to the pursuit of happiness doesn't include an endless shopping spree with fee money.

Common Sense: My Solution to the Mortgage Crisis

Such mortgage reviews you recommend already exist. They are called Forensic Mortgage Audits and any consumer can go on the web and find a company that does them.

RESPA and TILA already give the homeowner the right to rescind their mortgage if any one involved with preparing the financing committed fraud against the homeowner. The problem with giving the lender back the home in cases were client may have lied, is how do you prove it? In 95% of the cases involving mortgage fraud, the courts have ruled on the side of the consumer.

Even After the Bailouts, Housing is Still a Mess

The homeowner just needs to be educated on what their options are. If they knew what their rights were under TILA and RESPA, they could easily escape the the clutches of the toxic mortgages they are in without the need for governernment help.

Mortgage Delinquencies Continue to Climb, Watch Out for Other Loans

Option-ARMs are going to be a nightmare when they start going off in massive numbers. The reason being, they were sold to consumers who did not understand them by Loan Officers who did not understand them coupled with lenders who allowed people to be qualified by the start rate not the fully indexed rate. Then followed it up with sloppy underwriting.

A Solution to the Mortgage Foreclosure Mess

It think you are correct in your observation about APR as an attempt to clarify the actual mortgage obligation and then creating more confusion. In my 10 years of being a mortgage broker, the one issue that confused consumers the most was the APR calculation on the Truth-In-Lending statement. I constantly received the question, "I thought my interest was X% why does my APR statement say Y%?"

In an ARM mortgage, there is no way to calculate what the new payment will be after the recast. I do like your idea of using a pre-set payment schedule on ARM loans. However, if the American consumer doesn't become more business savvy soon, the only products available will be fixed programs.