Freddie Mac

The Obama administration's new plan to stimulate refinancings of FHA mortgages is likely to help large numbers of homeowners — even those who are deeply underwater — cut their monthly costs by switching to a loan with a rate below 4%. Here's a quick overview of the "streamline refi" program and what it will take for you to qualify. First, the baseline criteria: Your current home loan must be FHA-insured and must have been put on the Federal Housing Administration's books no later than May 31, 2009.

Record low interest rates for 30-year mortgages edged down another tick, Freddie Mac said in its latest survey , which showed lenders across the nation offering the benchmark loan at 3.78% compared to 3.79% last week. The typical rate on a 15-year fixed loan held steady at 3.04%. Sales of new homes were rising in a recent survey, with the low rates helping to make housing more affordable. But many homeowners are trapped in homes worth less than their mortgages, restraining home resales and holding back the recovery in the housing markets.

Distancing himself from Republicans on housing issues, President Obama pitched a $5-billion to $10-billion plan to help a key segment of struggling homeowners — those still making monthly payments, but on underwater mortgages. Obama proposed Wednesday to help about 3.5 million people with good credit who are unable to refinance at historically low rates because their homes are worth less than their mortgages. He argued that those homeowners — and the country — couldn't afford to let the housing market bottom out, as many Republicans, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney, have advocated.

WASHINGTON - In a potential turning point for one of the biggest financial crisis bailouts, Fannie Mae reported a first-quarter profit and - for the first time since the government seized it in 2008 - does not need a quarterly infusion of taxpayer money. The $2.7-billion profit that the giant housing finance company posted Wednesday was its largest since the housing bubble burst in 2007 and is another signal that the real estate market finally might have hit bottom. "It's always hard to call a turn until everything is in the rear-view mirror," said Susan McFarland, Fannie Mae's chief financial officer.

The most ambitious federal mortgage program to date aimed at millions of underwater homeowners is poised to take off in the coming two weeks, yet some key issues could hinder borrower participation. One of them involves something most owners know nothing about: Who was your mortgage insurer on your underwater loan? Though it was announced by the Obama administration late last year, "HARP 2.0" — the second version of the Home Affordable Refinance Program — will finally hit full stride around the middle of this month, when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac finish tweaking their automated underwriting systems to accept applications, and lenders and mortgage insurance companies start handling large volumes of requests.

Dear Liz: I have an adjustable-rate mortgage that is currently at 3.125%. I'd like to fix the rate, but no one will even discuss it with me because my house has been appraised at less than $100,000 and the balance of the mortgage is $144,319. I have never been late, and my credit scores are above 800. What can I do? I don't want a mortgage modification. I just want a fixed rate. Answer: If your loan was backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, and if it was originated before June 1, 2009, you may be in luck, thanks to recent improvements to the federal government's Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP.

WASHINGTON — If you're one of the estimated 11 million homeowners burdened with an underwater mortgage, a new federal policy change could be good news: Starting in June, when you want to do a short sale to shed your mortgage and avoid foreclosure, you may not have to wait for months to hear back from your bank when you submit an offer from a potential purchaser. Instead, if your loan is owned or securitized by either of the dominant conventional mortgage market players — Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac — you can expect a response within 30 business days, with a final decision taking no more than 60 days.

The mortgage market told a sad story throughout 2011: record low rates, but few people taking advantage of them to buy homes. The likely scenario in the new year, according to many analysts, is more of the same. Although the Federal Reserve has pledged to keep rates low through 2013, the experts say high unemployment and home prices that are still falling in many areas provide little incentive for stressed-out consumers to surge back into the housing market. "I think there may be a little bit of an uptick in units sold," said Doug Duncan, vice president and chief economist at mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae. "But home prices will probably be down again, so the total dollars spent on purchases is likely to be pretty close" to 2011.

In reaping a $25-billion profit on mortgage-backed securities, the Treasury Department showed that some bailout programs are able to make money. But taxpayers still are likely to end up tens of billions of dollars in the red from the federal government's unprecedented efforts to stabilize the financial system after the 2008 global credit crisis and the deep recession. Besides the $225-billion mortgage bond program, which began during the financial crisis to keep the housing finance market afloat, the bank bailout portion of the $700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program was the only major program so far to turn a profit.

WASHINGTON - Pressure is mounting on a key federal regulator to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce loan principal amounts for struggling homeowners, after disclosures that a plan to do that was scuttled even though it was aimed at saving taxpayer money and helping to heal the housing market. Fannie Mae officials in 2009 supported principal reductions in some cases and crafted a pilot program that would have cost only $1.7 million to implement but could have provided more than $410 million worth of benefits to homeowners, according to internal company documents cited by two House Democrats.

As California pushes to get more homeowners into a $2-billion foreclosure prevention program, some Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac borrowers may see their mortgages shrunk through principal reduction. State officials are making a significant change to the Keep Your Home California program. They are dropping a requirement that banks match taxpayers funds when homeowners receive mortgage reductions through the program. The initiative, which uses federal funds from the 2008 Wall Street bailout to help borrowers at risk of foreclosure, has faced lackluster participation and lender resistance since it was rolled out last year.

WASHINGTON — Government-controlled mortgage giant Freddie Mac is requesting $19 million in additional federal aid after posting a loss for the first quarter of this year. That is less than the $146 million that Freddie received from the government for the fourth quarter of 2011. The company received $7.6 billion for all of 2011 and $13 billion for all of 2010. McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac said Thursday that its net loss attributable to common stockholders was $1.2 billion, or 38 cents a share, in the January-March period.

WASHINGTON - Pressure is mounting on a key federal regulator to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce loan principal amounts for struggling homeowners, after disclosures that a plan to do that was scuttled even though it was aimed at saving taxpayer money and helping to heal the housing market. Fannie Mae officials in 2009 supported principal reductions in some cases and crafted a pilot program that would have cost only $1.7 million to implement but could have provided more than $410 million worth of benefits to homeowners, according to internal company documents cited by two House Democrats.

WASHINGTON — If you're one of the estimated 11 million homeowners burdened with an underwater mortgage, a new federal policy change could be good news: Starting in June, when you want to do a short sale to shed your mortgage and avoid foreclosure, you may not have to wait for months to hear back from your bank when you submit an offer from a potential purchaser. Instead, if your loan is owned or securitized by either of the dominant conventional mortgage market players — Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac — you can expect a response within 30 business days, with a final decision taking no more than 60 days.

Freddie Mac's latest survey shows fixed mortgage rates inched higher this week, with lenders offering 30-year loans to solid borrowers at an average 3.90%, up from 3.88% a week ago. The rate for 15-year loans rose from 3.11% to 3.13%. Borrowers would have paid about 0.75% of the loan amount in upfront lender fees to obtain the loans, Freddie Mac said. The weekly survey of lenders assumes that the borrowers have good credit and 20% down payments, or 20% home equity if they are refinancing.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration probably will make a profit on all the bailout money spent to prop up banks and other companies, as well as struggling homeowners, devastated by the Great Recession, according to the latest federal projections. Over the next 10 years, the taxpayer-funded bailouts could produce as much as $163 billion in profits, in a best-case scenario, from repayments, stock sales, dividends and interest paid by banking and insurance firms, auto companies and mortgage finance companies.

Homeowners who lose their jobs will be able to skip payments on loans backed by Freddie Mac for up to a full year under a new policy taking effect Feb. 1 at the mortgage finance giant. The change, doubling the forbearance extended to the unemployed, squares Freddie Mac's policies with those that its sister company, Fannie Mae, adopted in September 2010. The two firms, operating under government conservatorship since nearly melting down three years ago, own or guarantee more than half of all U.S. mortgages.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could save $1.7 billion by reducing the amount that some underwater homeowners owe on their mortgages, according to a preliminary analysis by the regulator for the seized housing finance giants. But a principal reduction program by the government-owned companies, which many economists, lawmakers and state officials have called for, would not solve the housing market's problems, the head of the regulating agency said Tuesday. In addition, it could encourage homeowners who are making their monthly payments to fall behind in order to reduce the principal on their loans, adding to the $188 billion in taxpayer money already pumped into the companies to keep them afloat, said Edward DeMarco , acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration expects to recoup all the bailout money spent on banking and insurance firms, auto companies, mortgage finance companies and struggling homeowners during and after the 2008 financial crisis -- and likely turn a profit. By 2022, the bailouts are expected to produce a profit for taxpayers - as much as $163 billion in a best-case scenario. That's a stark turnaround from predictions of hundreds of billions of dollars in losses in the immediate aftermath of the unprecedented interventions.

WASHINGTON — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could save $1.7 billion by reducing the amount that some underwater homeowners owe on their mortgages, according to a preliminary analysis by the regulator for the seized housing finance giants. But a principal reduction program by the government-owned companies, which many economists, lawmakers and state officials have called for, would not solve the housing market's problems, the head of the regulating agency said Tuesday. In addition, it could encourage homeowners who are making their monthly payments to fall behind in order to reduce the principal on their loans, adding to the $188 billion in taxpayer money already pumped into the companies to keep them afloat, said Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.