Guaranty Mortgage

Gardening can save you money on fruits and vegetables — if you do it right.

Higher Jobless Claims Data Indicate Job Market Deterioration, Economists Say
Economists say the higher-than-expected initial jobless claims reading for the week ending June 21 and four-year high reached in continuing claims illustrates the continued deterioration of the U.S. labour market. “Three straight weeks of claims in the mid-380s is not good news; this is recession territory,” said Ian Shepherdson, Chief U.S. Economist at HFE. He noted that claims will move higher over the next few weeks as the… Read More Now

Soaring Gas Price Will Push Millions Off the Road, Says CIBC Report
Soaring world oil prices will drive the cost of gasoline in the U.S. into the stratosphere over the next two years, forcing many Americans off the road and drastically altering the driving habits of millions more, according to a report released Thursday by CIBC World Markets. American driving habits will have to undergo a massive change, they say, “mimicking the driving habits long adopted by Europeans who have faced much higher gas prices.”/p> The most fundamental, and unprecedented, change will be in the number of vehicles on the road, they contend… Read More Now

May PCE Core Deflator Rises Lower-Than-Expected at 0.1%
The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) core deflator, advanced by 0.1% (0.113%) in May, below expectations and contributing to a year-over- year change of 2.1% (2.139%), according to a report released from the Commerce Department on Friday morning. Read More Now

Auto gap insurance often prudent
Gap insurance can be prudent whether you own your car or lease it, says Bankrate car columnist Terry Jackson.

Delinquent owner lucky to have car
A car owner who is five months behind on payments should count his blessings, says Bankrate car columnist Terry Jackson.

Fed Creates Two New Entities for Risk Management and Communication
The New York Fed created two new entities on Thursday in an effort to improve the bank’s risk management and communications among regional and community banks. The Communications Group “was created in recognition of the increasing roles and responsibilities of the communications and regional and community affairs area in the Bank… Read More Now

A Frugal shopper’s best tip
Use a solar blanket from a camping supply story to filter out the heat and cut down on energy bills.

Penalty fee makes bad investment worse
A 9 percent surrender charge makes fleeing a bad investment tough, says Dr. Don Taylor.

A Frugal shopper’s best tip
Our winners decide teenagers can best learn how to budget by handling their own money.

Our winners decide teenagers can best learn how to budget by handling their own money.

A wacky housing bill
The Senate is about to pass a problematic bill to address the housing meltdown.

Help reaching WaMu
A woman finally finds help with her mortgage after six months of trying to reach someone at Washington Mutual.

The central bank has finished its aggressive rate-cutting campaign that began in September.

Dr. Don: Why build a CD ladder?
It keeps you from trying to time the market.

HSBC Mortgage Services notified the Commonwealth of Virginia of layoffs on Tuesday. HSBC noted the move was a “permanent reduction.” The layoffs impact 48 employees, according to data from a Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification.

Callable, bump-up and step-up CDs offer higher yields than their ordinary cousins, but need to be judged carefully.

Capital gains tax on a home
When an owner-financed mortgage is refinanced, capital gains tax may not be due, says CPA George Saenz.

Rebuilding credit after Chapter 7
The damage to a credit report after bankruptcy can be repaired in time, says the Bankruptcy Adviser.

Locking peace of mind
Buying a house is stressful enough; remove a source of unnecessary stress by locking a mortgage rate instead of floating.

Bond owners can keep sale hush-hush
Bond owners do not have to disclose sale information to anyone but the IRS, says Dr. Don Taylor.

Help reaching WaMu
A woman finally finds help with her mortgage after six months of trying to reach someone at Washington Mutual.

FHA: DPAs are DOA
FHA’s Brian Montgomery, has made the rounds over the last month, trying to talk Congress into banning popular down payment assistance programs.

A very good question, dodged
The question has to do with mortgage rates and where I think they’ll go.

With CDs, don’t be ‘long and wrong’
Right now, certificate of deposit yields are flat across all maturities, so there’s little interest rate reward for locking up your money for years, says Dr. Don.

Plant a garden, harvest savings
Gardening can save you money on fruits and vegetables — if you do it right.

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators (AARMR) announce that six more states — Connecticut, Louisiana. Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Vermont — will begin using the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) beginning July 1st. The eight states currently using NMLS are Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Rhode Island and Washington. To date, 42 state agencies representing 40 states have committed to participate. Read More Now

Help reaching WaMu
A woman finally finds help with her mortgage after six months of trying to reach someone at Washington Mutual.

Treasury’s Ryan Says Financial System Should Allow Banks to Fail
Speaking in London at Euromoney’s Global Borrowers Investors Forum 2008, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Markets, Anthony Ryan said the financial system needs to become robust enough to allow for bank failures… Read More Now

Treasury’s Steel Says De-Leveraging, Re-Pricing of Risk to Continue
U.S. Treasury Under Secretary Robert Steel said the current de- leveraging in the financial sector and re-pricing of risk will continue for some time and that financial conditions will improve, though “not in a straight line.” Speaking at a keynote address to the Managed Funds Association in Chicago on Monday, Steel said he is optimistic that… Read More Now

Case Shiller Home Price Index Declines by Record Annual Levels in April
The S&P Case-Shiller home price index continued to deteriorate in April as the 20-city composite index posted a record annual decline of 15.3%. The Case-Shiller index has fallen every month since peaking in July 2006. The month-to-month decline in home prices was 1.36%, compared to the 2.17% loss in the previous month… Read More Now

Locking peace of mind
Buying a house is stressful enough; remove a source of unnecessary stress by locking a mortgage rate instead of floating.

Consumer Confidence Plummets to Lowest Level Since 1992
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index for June tumbled to levels not seen since 1992 at 50.4 in Tuesday’s report, led by a near 10-point decline in the present situation component. Economists were looking for a moderate decline to 56.0. The previous month’s reading of 57.2 was revised upwards to 58.1. The three-month average for consumer confidence is now at 57.1, down from 62.3 last month. One year ago, the index stood at 105.3… Read More Now

Gardening can save you money on fruits and vegetables — if you do it right.

Banks In Play
BankUnited Financial Corp. announced a $400 million public offering of its Class A common stock. Fremont General Corp. filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, clearing the way for it to sell most of the assets and all of the deposits of subsidiary Fremont Investment & Loan to CapitalSource Bank, the company said. Wells Fargo & Co. will acquire the banking operations Farmers State Bank of Fort Morgan, parent F.S.B. Bancorporation Inc. announced.

Groups Reject RESPA Reform
The Mortgage Bankers Association and the Consumer Mortgage Coalition question whether consumers would benefit from proposed Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act reforms by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development because of implementation costs, a potential failure to obtain volume discounts and an information overload that will discourage consumers from reading all the material. The Real Estate Services Providers Council criticizes what they see as an emphasis on price over service and suggests the proposal would ban legitimate incentives offered by a company’s one-stop shopping services that benefit consumers. The National Association of Mortgage Brokers complains that the proposal focuses only on yield-spread premiums while ignoring other types of compensation, and thus “obfuscates and confuses” originator compensation.

15 fab (but cheap) gifts for Dad’s Day
Make Father’s Day special with these love-filled gifts that cost you little or nothing!

Mortgage rates on the rise are hurting all the responsible folks who put off buying a house during the bubble.

A very good question, dodged
The question has to do with mortgage rates and where I think they’ll go.

Philadelphia Fed’s June Manufacturing Falls to -17.1
Manufacturing in the region covering eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware remained in decline for the seventh consecutive month in June, as the slowdown accelerated following the previous month’s improvement, according to the Philadelphia Fed’s Manufacturing survey. Read More Now

FHA: DPAs are DOA
FHA’s Brian Montgomery, has made the rounds over the last month, trying to talk Congress into banning popular down payment assistance programs.

Help reaching WaMu
A woman finally finds help with her mortgage after six months of trying to reach someone at Washington Mutual.

The job sectors in California that have been hardest hit by the popped real estate bubble are residential construction, mortgage finance, real estate and the manufacturing of home furnishings, according to a quarterly report from UCLA. And no recovery is in sight for mortgage jobs. “The home mortgage finance industry, centered in California, was structured, in part, to provide financial services for a market which has now disappeared,” the authors wrote. “As a consequence it will suffer a permanent loss of jobs.”

Help reaching WaMu
A woman finally finds help with her mortgage after six months of trying to reach someone at Washington Mutual.

Quicken Reduces Headcount
Quicken Loans Inc. laid off 250 employees this week, a spokeswoman told MortgageDaily.com. Those impacted were in a variety of positions, she said. The spokeswoman explained that the actions were the result decreased loan volume and increased efficiencies gained from technology investments.

A very good question, dodged
The question has to do with mortgage rates and where I think they’ll go.

Checking out options for your grill
These days you can add a rotisserie, smoker or even infrared.

Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee on risk management and systemic risk, Federal Reserve Vice-Chairman Donald Kohn said that while liquidity pressures have eased, the Federal Reserve must protect the markets from a possible relapse. Kohn said that home loan losses are increasingly significantly and that the commercial real estate market needs to be supervised closely. Kohn added that… Read More Now