| USDA program to aid rural home buyers
U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines has announced a partnership to benefit community bankers and rural home buyers in Iowa. As a part of its Mortgage Partnership Finance program, FHLB Des Moines will now purchase Rural Development's Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program loans from its qualifying members to help finance housing opportunities for rural residents.In Iowa, nearly 400 commercial banks, saving institutions, credit unions and insurance companies who are members of FHLB of Des Moines will have an added market for their loans by offering 100 percent financing to limited-income families in rural communities for homeownership. FHLB of Des Moines has more than 1,200 members in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota.USDA Rural Development's Guaranteed Loan Program helps low- and moderate-income individuals get the best possible financing package when buying a home without a large down payment.
With First Data sale, Hagerstown gets a taste of equity boom
The corporate raiders say they have changed, and certainly to a large degree that is true. In fact, they bristle at any ancestral reference to the infamous "Bonfire of the Vanities" days in the '80s, when hostile takeovers and junk bonds became part of the American lexicon. Indeed, there was nothing hostile about Kohlberg Kravis Roberts' agreement this week to purchase First Data Corp. for $29 billion. It was an attractive offer, and beneficial to the company and its shareholders. Whether it will be beneficial to the people who work for First Data, including 2,000 in the local branch of the credit card processing center, remains to be seen. KKR is a private equity company, which is a fancy way of saying it's just like you and me and a few of our friends - if we had several billion dollars in our checking accounts.
Mortgage fraud: The great American scheme
After years in the top five, the state overtook Florida to move into the No. 1 spot based on 2006 data compiled by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute (MARI), which will release a report on home-loan fraud in mid-April. The company, part of information services company ChoicePoint, is a clearinghouse for fraudulent home-loan activity reported mainly by mortgage lenders.
On a per-capita basis, Utah has 2 1/2 times the national average of loans containing alleged fraud or serious misrepresentation, said Jim Croft of MARI. In the category of subprime loans made to people with marginal credit, the rate of fraud is even worse - three times the national average, he said.
The state's dubious distinction is bad news for consumers. Utah lenders say residents pay more for their home loans - about one-quarter of a percentage rate higher - than people in other parts of the country because of the high level of fraud and increased risk of default.
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