Business
Obama to hold news conference on housing
Iran’s nuclear ambitions will also command attention in the aftermath of his meeting Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Tension over Iran has already contributed to higher oil prices, and Israel’s threats of pre-emptive military strikes to prevent Tehran from building a nuclear bomb have dominated Washington discourse for weeks.
Other developments in the Middle East, where turmoil has soured some of the promise of last year’s Arab Spring, are also likely to be addressed. Syria’s bloody crackdown on protesters has increased pressure on Obama to intervene. Republican Sen. John McCain on Monday urged the United States to launch airstrikes against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime to force him out of power.
Under the housing plans Obama was to announce Tuesday, federal housing administration (FHA)-insured borrowers would be able to refinance their loans at half the fee that the FHA currently charges. FHA borrowers who want to refinance now must pay a fee of 1.15 percent of their balance every year. Officials say those fees make refinancing unappealing to many borrowers. The new plan will reduce that charge to 0.55 percent.
With mortgage rates at about 4 percent, the administration estimates a typical FHA borrower with US$175,000 still owed on a home could reduce monthly payments to US$915 a month and save US$100 a month more than the borrower would have under current FHA fees.
Though 2 million to 3 million borrowers would be eligible, the administration official would not speculate how many would actually seek to benefit from the program. The FHA provides mortgage insurance on loans made by FHA-approved lenders throughout the United States and its territories. The loans typically go to homeowners who do not have enough equity to qualify for standard mortgages. It is the largest insurer of mortgages in the world.
For service members and veterans, Obama will announce that major lenders will review foreclosures to determine whether they were done properly. If wrongly foreclosed upon, service members and veterans would be paid their lost equity and also be entitled to an additional US$116,785 in compensation. That was a figure reached through an agreement with major lenders by the federal government and 49 state attorneys general.
Under the agreement, the lenders also would compensate service members who lost value in their homes when they were forced to sell them due to a military reassignment.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
