Origination

In January 2009, Bank of America received its second bailout of $20 million from the Fed to help stabilize the company after its purchase of Merrill Lynch. At the time, Merrill Lynch had lost more than $15 billion in the previous quarter and Bank of America had lost $2.4 billion.

U.S. foreclosures soared in 2008. At that time, one in every 54 households was getting at least one filling notice and nearly 3.2 million foreclosures were filed in 2007. Loss mitigation programs were created in response to the crisis. Now, Watt believes the need for these programs will wind down. An estimated 3.2 million borrowers have completed a HARP refinance since it was introduced in 2009, including more than 95,000 in New Jersey, according to the FHFA.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac released a mortgage program allowing borrowers to put a down payment of a little as three percent, in December of last year. The program was set to target individuals with good credit, but low cash flow. This program has drawn much controversy, with some saying this kind of risky lending is what caused the financial crisis.

Before the recession about 15 percent of Americans had a FICO score less than 600, while after the recession about 25 percent of Americans had the same low score, according to a study released in 2010 by Deutsche Bank. More recently, the Urban Institute and Encore Capital Group's Consumer Credit Research Institute found that one-third of consumers with credit files had debt in collection. That report, which examined TransUnion credit data from 2013, found 77 million Americans have debt 180 days past due, with the average person having about $5,178 in credit card, utility bill, or medical bill debt.

In his testimony, Cordray stated the CFPB is “committed to an even-handed approach to rulemaking that maintains important protections for consumers while listening to all stakeholders and making changes where appropriate."

Because Compare is an ad product, Google makes money every time a consumer makes a decision based on information from one of its recommendations. The more money at stake, the more money Google makes in the end. Entering the mortgage industry could mean big profit for Google based on Google trends. Trends show people are searching for information on mortgage loans more than car insurance and almost as much as credit cards.

Privately funded construction dropped 0.5 percent from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $697.6 billion in January from $700.9 billion in December. The monthly total, however, was 0.5 percent above the estimated $694.1 billion of construction put in place in January 2014.

Wells Fargo is alleged to have received insurance money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development even after some loans had defaulted. The bank allegedly submitted over 100,000 FHA loans said to be under HUD compliance and eligible for insurance, knowing that the loans were too risky and did not qualify.

President and CEO of Genworth Mortgage Insurance and Chair of U.S. Mortgage Insurers Rohit Gupta testified on behalf of the Mortgage Insurance Industry (MI) at the House Financial Services Committee Housing and Insurance Subcommittee today stressing the need for balance between the roles of the Federal Housing Administration and MI when to comes to taxpayers.

The current 30-year fixed mortgage rate on Zillow mortgages has taken a slight dip down to 3.76 percent after reaching a 13-week high of 3.85 percent on Tuesday.