A new mortgage proposal is now floating around Washington, one which intends to make the lending process clearer and less confusing – but not for VA loan borrowers.
The idea comes from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the intent is pretty good: mortgage borrowers should have a solid understanding of their loans and to do that lenders should make appraisals automatically available without cost at least three days before closing.
Few people use the term “sequestration,” and, until a few weeks ago, it was a word rarely seen in print. But now it has become the word of the hour, because sequestration has the potential to hurt military households.
To understand what’s going on and how you might be affected we need a little background. This is the political season, so everything in Washington is an issue. One of the biggest issues concerns the federal budget and how to cut spending, raise revenue or both.
Pension worries are a growing issue for workers nationwide. Many states, counties and cities want to slash costs and are seeking to reduce government pension benefits. At the federal level, a process called “sequestration” is set to reduce spending in the name of “small government,” an approach that could slash VA benefits unless modified and monitored.
Speaking in Reno this week before the Veterans of Foreign Wars, President Barack Obama came out strongly against reduced benefits for vets and their families and re-affirmed a special allocation of funds.
Cash is a wonderful thing. It may be true that it can’t buy love or happiness, but it sure is useful when it comes to groceries, gasoline and mortgage payments.
Real median household income, says the Census Bureau, reached $49,777 in 2009. That’s 5 percent less than households earned a decade earlier, in 1999, when they typically took in $52,388.
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In recent months mortgage rates have plummeted and plunged to depths rarely seen.
“Fixed-Rate Mortgages Lowest on Record,” said a recent Freddie Mac news release.
If you’re a borrower the news on the mortgage front has only been good. There can’t possibly be a mortgage shortage when rates are in the dumper — low rates have to mean the supply of cash is outstripping loan demand.
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