Fannie Mae, banks halt foreclosures for the holidays

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and a few large mortgage lenders have declared to postpone foreclosures on delinquent borrowers during the Christmas season. For homeowners with loans through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the moratorium will run from Dec. 19 to Jan. 2, 2012. During this time, legal and administrative proceedings for evictions may continue, but families will be allowed to stay in their homes, Fannie said in a statement.

Among some of the major banks that offer mortgage loans, Chase   Mortgage said it will not evict anyone between Dec. 22 and Jan. 2. Wells Fargo  will also suspend evictions during that period, but will not shut down its eviction process entirely.  Start of the New Year, it will be business as usual.

Source: CNNMoney

U.S. foreclosure activity hit 7-month high in Oct.-Florida in the top three.

More U.S. homes entered the foreclosure process in October than in the previous month. Florida, along with Pennsylvania and Indiana registered among the largest monthly increases. Nationally, the increase was up 10 percent from September, according to RealtyTrac.

The number of homes scheduled to be auctioned or repossessed by lenders also posted monthly increases.Notices of default, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions – warnings that can eventually lead to a home being lost to foreclosure – also hit a seven-month high in October.

The numbers are further evidence foreclosure activity is picking up.The rate that homeowners were 60 or more days late on their mortgage payment rose in the June-to-September period for the first time since the last three months of 2009, according to TransUnion.

The credit reporting agency said 5.88 percent of homeowners missed two or more payments, an early sign of possible foreclosure. That was up from 5.82 percent in the second quarter of 2011.

The number of U.S. homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth, represents another potential source of trouble for lenders. According to CoreLogic, as of June 30, some 22.5 percent of all U.S. homes are in this position. That’s 10.9 million properties. Another 2.4 million borrowers had less than 5 percent equity in their home, the firm said.

Industry experts say a housing market turnaround isn’t likely to occur as long as there remains a glut of potential foreclosures hovering over the market, so October’s increase in foreclosure activity means a potentially faster revival for housing. Read the entire story here.

Source: Florida Realtors/The Associated Press, Alex Veiga