MORTGAGE

The U.S. House and Senate voted to increase the threshold of mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Adminstration (FHA) to $729,750, a move that would give more homeowners access to lower interest rates.

Congress on Thursday found a rare moment of accord in the budget fights that have paralyzed Washington this year as lawmakers voted to extend government funding through December.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's decision to evict Occupy Wall Street protesters from Zuccotti Park Tuesday has forced the movement to re-evaluate its strategies. IBTimes spoke to Fordham University Sociology Professor Heather Gautney about how the movement has successfully regrouped and where it's headed.

A third of older Canadians will be paying off their homes until their 70s or even later, well past the age they hope to retire, according to a poll by Royal Bank of Canada released on Thursday.

Delinquent U.S. mortgage payments fell to 7.99 percent in the third quarter, down from 9.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Assocation.

The British government has agreed to sell Northern Rock, the failed mortgage lender it nationalized in 2008, to Virgin Money, the banking arm of Richard Branson's Virgin empire.

The British government has agreed to sell Northern Rock, the failed mortgage lender it nationalized in 2008, to Virgin Money, the banking arm of Richard Branson's Virgin empire.

Top executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac defended their lucrative pay before a House panel on Wednesday, one day after lawmakers approved suspending top executive compensation packages and moving the firms' thousands of employees onto a pay scale that lines up with federal financial regulators.

The Federal Housing Admistration said in its annual financial report that its cash reserves had fallen to $2.6 billion, down from $4.7, intensifying the likelihood of a taxpayer bailout.

Newt Gingrich earned between $1.6 million and $1.8 million as a consultant for the government-sponsored mortgage company Freddie Mac, far more than the $300,000 contract he disclosed in a recent debate, according to a Bloomberg News investigation. The advice he reportedly gave them contradicts his recent criticisms of the company.

Sales of existing homes in Canada rose in October to the highest level since January, boosting forecasts for national resale activity for 2011 and confirming Canada's housing market remains robust.

With a banking sector that seemingly cycles from reticence to lend, lending at prohibitive interest rates, and outright banker-to-banker mistrust (the latest round of which is being driven by renewed concern about Italy's debt), is today's U.S. banking sector where Framer/Founding Father Alexander Hamilton wanted it to be?

Applications for U.S. home mortgages dropped last week, erasing the gains of the week before as demand for refinancing evaporated, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Bank of America Corp. learned a lesson from its abandoned debit card fee and will work to provide transparency and fair pricing to customers while producing a return for shareholders, Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said on Tuesday.

Even after Bank of America backed off its $5 monthly debit card fee, banks are still raising existing fees and tacking on new fees in order to garner additional revenue.

Is now a good time to consider the shares of American International Group (AIG)? And what, if anything, does AIG's stock price say about the U.S. economy?

FBR Capital Markets said the broad changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) were outlined by U.S. President Barack Obama's administration on Oct. 24. However, the release of most of the technical details was delayed until Nov. 15.

The Federal Housing Administration, which guarantees around a third of U.S. mortgages, faces dwindling cash reserves and could require a taxpayer bailout, according to a forthcoming study by Joseph Gyourko, a professor at the Wharton School.

After 13 years together, Maggy Porter and Arlene Bronfman began to talk last June about marriage when New York State passed its Marriage Equality Act.

The U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate dropped slightly to 3.99 percent in the week ending Nov. 10, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

U.S. foreclosure filings increased by 7 percent in October to a seven-month high, according to data from RealtyTrac.