BIG REVERSAL ON MORTGAGE STANDARDS WSJ’s
Post# of 5789
Posted On: 05/15/2014 5:57:59 AM
BIG REVERSAL ON MORTGAGE STANDARDS
WSJ’s Nick Timiraos and Deborah Solomon: “The Obama administration and federal regulators are reversing course on some of the biggest postcrisis efforts to tighten mortgage-lending standards amid concern they could snuff out the fledgling housing rebound and dent the economic recovery. … Watt … said the mortgage giants should direct their focus toward making more credit available to homeowners, a U-turn from previous directives to pull back from the mortgage market. … In coming weeks, six agencies, including Mr. Watt's, are expected to finalize new rules for mortgages that are packaged into securities by private investors.
“Those rules largely abandon earlier proposals requiring larger down payments on mortgages in certain types of mortgage-backed securities. The steps mark a sharp shift from just a few years ago, when Washington, scarred by the 2008 crisis, pushed to restrict the flow of easy money that fueled the housing bubble and its subsequent bust. Critics of the move to loosen the reins now, including some economists and lenders, worry that regulators could be opening the way for another boom and bust.”
http://on.wsj.com/1glwksJ
(0)
(0)