Personal Finance Blog By MoneyRates - Mortgages
Mortgage Rates Drop, But Will Housing Recover?
May 14, 2010
Average 30-year fixed mortgage rates dropped under 5 percent this week to their lowest level so far this year, according to the latest survey by Freddie Mac. With rates continuing at such low levels, mortgages are about as affordable as they can get for buyers with good credit. But if you're looking to move up [...]
What Do Home Sales Have to Do With Your Savings Account?
January 26, 2010
Surely one of the lessons that all bank customers should learn from the bank meltdown of the past two years is that in the global economy, links between people--and people's money--are complex and multiplicitous. The connection between mortgage holders and savers, for example, is a storied one. Banks take deposits from savers and then lend out [...]
Banks Not Lending Is a Good Thing for CDs and Savings Accounts?
December 8, 2009
Banks continue to be very stingy with loans. Small businesses are being particularly shut out of the credit markets, much to the dismay of the Obama Administration, which needs the unemployment rolls to slim. However, there is another perspective to be viewed on this matter: According to a provocative but sensible argument posted at Yahoo Finance, banks [...]
Fannie Mae Tax Credit Debate Indicative of Tangled Web
November 5, 2009
In one of the more interesting bank stories of the new century, investment bank Goldman Sachs and renowned investor Warren Buffett want to buy $3 billion worth of federal tax credits from Fannie Mae, the government-owned mortgage finance company. Government regulators are unsure of the fairness of such a deal because the tax credits would reduce [...]
Mortgage and CD Rates: Opposites That Don't Attract
August 11, 2009
If you're looking for the best mortgage rates, you're happy when interest rates go down. If you're looking for the best CD rates, you're sad when interest rates go down. Money, Dreams, and Other People One group dreams of of homeowhership while the other grouup dreams of a comfortable retirement. Often, as in the case of [...]
