| Mortgage rates lifted as lenders feel pain
The credit crunch on Thursday forced three of the UK's biggest lenders to tighten the supply of home loans and charge more for them in moves that are likely to put further pressure on the property market. Millions of home loan borrowers now face higher interest rates as banks pass on higher wholesale funding costs as conditions worsen in money markets. .
Hypocrisy That's Hard to Bear
Well, isn't this rich: Max Baucus of Montana and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Finance Committee are suddenly in a lather that taxpayer funds might be implicated in the Federal Reserve's rescue of Bear Stearns. .
Scant loan relief in valley
Silicon Valley homeowners hoping to take advantage of new rules designed to slash interest rates on their hefty mortgages are learning that what looks good on paper doesn't always work in the real world. Nearly two months after Congress passed a stimulus package that changed the definition of a "conforming" loan to include amounts up to $729,750, interest rates on bigger loans remain stubbornly high and lending criteria remain tight. The upshot: Few homeowners have found relief from worries that their mortgages could stretch their budgets to the breaking point. "The objective was to help people with ticking-time-bomb loans, but the rates are so high it doesn't help them," said Brian Wendt, a mortgage broker with First City Bancorp Mortgage in Campbell. "It's a tease," added Debi Zentner, a broker with Diversified Capital Funding in Pleasanton.
|
