Mortgage Rate News

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Foreclosure definitely affects your credit score. Indeed, since it is such a huge loan, a form of credit, your mortgage can make a big dent in your credit score. If you lose your home to foreclosure, then you could see a drop of between 200 and 300 points. That is a huge ding — especially if your credit score was already struggling in the mid-600 range. Not only that, but a foreclosure will stay on your credit report for seven years.

In order to avoid having a foreclosure on a credit report, you might try to get your lender to agree to some other options, such as a deed lieu of foreclosure or a short sale. It is important to be careful in these instances, since there is still an impact to your credit score.

Deed in lieu of foreclosure

In this arrangement, you actually return the deed to the mortgage lender. You still lose the house — the lender owns it — but you are forgiven the balance of the mortgage. But when you negotiate this option, you will have to convince the mortgage lender not to report it as a foreclosure. Some lenders will report this as a foreclosure, and that will then impact your credit score. Even if your mortgage lender does not report the transaction as a foreclosure, if it has been preceded by months of late or missed payments, you will find that your credit score has been impacted by that.

Short sale

A short sale is when the lender agrees to let you sell the home for less than you owe on it. The difference is usually forgiven by the lender. Again, if you have late or missed payments as a result of falling behind, you can see damage to your credit score.

It is important to note that after any of these transactions, it will take two or three years before you can buy a home again.

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For the third month in a row, foreclosures have declined. October saw a decline in home owners ready to lose their homes. Thanks to programs aimed at helping home owners refinance or modify their loans, foreclosures have been slowing. However, as BloggingStocks reports, there are still concerns for the future:

The number of homeowners on the brink of losing their homes continued to decline in October for the third straight month, as foreclosure prevention programs helped more borrowers. But foreclosure filings are still up 19% from a year ago, reaching more than 332,000 households, or one in every 385 homes. Rising unemployment could threaten the stabilizing trend.

Programs to help at-risk home owners aren’t much good if these home owners do not have jobs that can provide income. Therefore the continued weakness in the labor market is providing some concern. Advance unemployment data for last week is offering some hope, though. Jobless claims appear to have dropped by quite a bit, bringing the number down to around 502,000. This is the lowest it’s been for months.

However, the fact remains that jobs are still being lost.  They are being lost at a slower rate, but they are still being lost nonetheless. A dramatic reduction in the pace of job losses will be needed in order to provide a solid basis for economic recovery and quiet fears of continued destabilization in other parts of the economy.

At any rate, there is optimism that slowing unemployment will help matters in the housing market, also leading to slowing foreclosures. And, as more people take advantage of government programs meant to help them afford their homes, there is a strong likelihood that they will not have to be subject to foreclosure. And that in turn may help keep the housing market from sliding back into another dip next year.

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Freddie Mac saw a 3rd quarter loss of $5 billion as foreclosures continue to cause problems and the economic climate makes things difficult for individuals. Freddie Mac also expects, at some point, to request more funds from the U.S. Treasury. HousingWire reports on the state of the housing market and the mortgage market:

“We continued to see some positive housing market developments, including higher volumes of home sales and modest increases in house prices in certain areas of the country,” said CEO Charles Haldeman. “However, we believe that factors like high unemployment, excess inventory and rising foreclosures will continue to impede a full recovery for some time and put further downward pressure on house prices. We expect to request additional funds from Treasury as this prolonged deterioration of market conditions continues to negatively impact our financial results.”

Guaranty programs continue to see government support as the Obama Administration moves to help guaranty loans and provide insurance so that people can refinance their homes or get loan modification. However, it may not be enough. Foreclosure continue to mount, and these programs are still largely voluntary on the part of mortgage lenders. Additionally, loans need to be serviced by Fannie or Freddie in order for borrowers  to take advantage of many of the programs.

In the end, there is still a long way to go. Freddie Mac is likely to see more quarters of loss. Fannie Mae is also expected to continue to struggle. Fannie is also looking into more help from the Treasury Department’s senior preferred stock purchase program. It will be a long road ahead, but with Congress extending the first time home buyer credit, and other programs continuing, it is likely that the government will attempt to support the housing market for quite some time. The only question is whether or not the housing market will be able to survive without government help down the road.