In this March 22, 2013 file photo, the exterior of the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. As millions of Americans file their income tax returns, their chances of getting audited by the IRS have rarely been so low.
Category: Mortgage
Trump should repeal Dodd-Frank legislation
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know anything mentioning the president’s name is going to cause back and forth between Democrats and Republicans. This column is not intended to be political in any way, but rather my own commentary on the Dodd-Frank legislation, its effects and why doing away with it will be a positive for our industry.
Senate confirms Carson, Perry for housing, energy posts
Two of President Donald Trump’s former rivals for the GOP White House nomination won Senate confirmation Thursday to join his administration. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was confirmed as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development on a vote of 58-41.
Next up in the Senate: Ben Carson, slated for HUD vote
The next Trump administration Cabinet nominee up for a vote in the Senate is celebrated neurosurgeon Ben Carson. Approval is expected when senators vote Thursday on President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Twitter mocks Democrat response
Twitter lit up late Tuesday night to mock former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, who delivered a stilted response to President Trump’s speech from a coffeehouse. Beshear appeared to be picked to respond because he’s from a working-class state that Democrats are now desperately looking to win back.
Business news in brief
The glut of corn that’s been driving down prices is finally starting to ease, and hedge funds are betting that will help spark a rally for the commodity. U.S. corn inventories are expected to drop before the 2018 harvest as farmers curb plantings and demand stays robust, the Department of Agriculture said Friday.
GOP Tax Plans Could Eliminate Popular Tax Breaks
When Republicans say they want to lower taxes and get rid of loopholes to make up the lost revenue, they’re talking about eliminating some very popular tax breaks enjoyed by millions of people. That’s why making big changes to tax laws is so hard – and why it hasn’t been done for 30 years.
RBS posts 6.96bn loss
Royal Bank of Scotland reported a sharp rise in losses on Friday as higher misconduct charges and restructuring costs underscored the challenges facing the lender nine years after it was bailed out in the world’s biggest bank rescue. RBS, which has not made an annual profit since 2007, booked 6.96 billion pounds of losses for 2016, against a 1.98 billion pound loss in the same period a year earlier.
Real Estate Consequences of the GOP Tax Reform
The Trump Presidency is off to a very lively start, and tax reform is one of the big issues. Last summer Speaker Paul Ryan put out a plan called ” A Better Way ” that set forth a number of significant changes to the U.S. tax code.
RBS to Miss Target for Asset Sale – Takes $920 Million Charge
The bailed-out lender is exploring an alternative plan after saying it will miss an EC target to dispose of assets, including Williams & Glyn, and repay state aid Bailed out British lender, Royal Bank of Scotland said Friday that it will miss a European Commission deadline for selling off assets, including its Williams & Glyn division, and repaying taxpayer aid given to it during the financial crisis. It will report a A 750 million exceptional charge when it reports full-year results on Feb. 24 and is now considering an alternative plan for repaying state aid.
Records dispute Treasury nominee’s denial of mortgage-crisis ‘robo-signing’
A bank founded by Steven Mnuchin, President Donald Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary, engaged in ethically questionable foreclosure practices in Washington state-including so-called “robo-signing” of documents. OneWest Bank employees robo-signed numerous foreclosure-related filings in the Seattle area, documents show.
Trump, GOP move to quash tighter financial rules
Just three weeks into his administration, President Donald Trump and his allies are moving quickly to dismantle the web of regulations the government passed after the 2008 financial crisis to tighten oversight of banks and protect consumers and taxpayers. Trump has branded the 2010 Dodd-Frank law – which imposed many of the rules – a “disaster.”
Donald Trump delays RBS toxic mortgage fine
Sacking of acting US attorney general Sally Yates could further delay RBS’s efforts to agree fine for its sales of toxic mortgage debt The sacking of acting US attorney general Sally Yates could further delay Royal Bank of Scotland’s efforts to agree a fine for its sales of toxic mortgage debt. President Donald Trump fired Yates, 56, when she refused to defend his travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim countries.
Mnuchin’s denials don’t match record
Sen. Orrin Hatch says no, that the man nominated by President Donald Trump to be treasury secretary told the truth when he asserted that his former company, OneWest, had not engaged in the practice of “robo-signing” mortgage documents. That’s despite dozens of court cases uncovered by The Dispatch that showed OneWest officials’ robo-signatures, along with sworn testimony from one of his vice presidents describing how she did it.
EDITORIAL: Nevada Supreme Court rules for investor in super lien case
The Nevada Supreme Court perpetuated an absurd injustice last week when it decided that property rights and due process don’t apply to mortgage lenders. The justices ruled in favor of a speculator who in 2013 claimed clear title to a Las Vegas property by simply paying off $6,900 in back HOA dues despite the fact that Well Fargo held an $81,000 note on the home.The dispute concerned a poorly written Nevada law passed in 1991 and intended to shield homeowner associations from financial stress triggered by delinquent dues payments.
Major commercial players split on state of the RE cycle: survey
Major stakeholders are split on whether the market has already hit its peak, according to a survey conducted by one of the country’s largest commercial real estate trade groups. The report from the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council , whose members include giant asset managers like BlackRock and New York developers like Fisher Brothers, noted that 55 percent of respondents at the group’s annual conference concluded that the real estate market has already passed its high point, while another 43 percent said the market is still moving through the middle of the cycle.
To sidestep boycott, Senate committee changes rules to approve Mnuchin, Price
Republicans on a Senate committee have approved Steve Mnunchin, Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary, and Tom Price, the nominee for health secretary. To sidestep a Democratic boycott of the committee, the GOP members on the Senate Finance Committee changed the rules to allow the confirmation to proceed to the Senate floor.
What does President Trump mean for housing?
It’s early days in President Donald Trump’s administration, but he’s already moving fast to make changes in the housing market. What does President Trump mean for housing? It’s early days in President Donald Trump’s administration, but he’s already moving fast to make changes in the housing market.
Elections Have Tax Consequencesby Kevin D. WilliamsonIf you have…
If you can’t – well, the view from Santa Monica is very different from the view from is very different from the view from Elmira in upstate New York. Progressivism in the United States used to be a school of political action, but today it is mainly a highly refined lifestyle – one that Republicans may be on the verge of making a little more expensive.
Royal Bank of Scotland earmarks further A 3.1bn for US mortgage mis-selling claims
Royal Bank of Scotland is preparing for further costs from claims of mis-selling mortgages in the US. Picture: Philip Toscano/PA Wire Royal Bank of Scotland has set aside another $3.8bn to settle claims from US authorities that it mis-sold risky mortgage securities in the run-up to the financial crisis.
UPDATE 2-RBS sets aside $4 bln for ‘painful legacy ‘ of US loan mis-selling
LONDON, Jan 26 Royal Bank of Scotland has taken a 3.1 billion pound provision as it prepares to settle claims in the United States that it mis-sold toxic mortgage-backed securities in the run up to the 2008 financial crisis. The provision means that state-backed RBS is unlikely to make a profit in 2016, the ninth straight year the bank has failed to make an annual profit.
Elizabeth Warren, Hater of Banks, Skirts Ethics Rules to Protect Sweet Deal With A Bank
There’s nothing more nauseating than a politician who does a whole lot of grandstanding, finger-wagging, and who has massive bouts of self-righteousness. It’s even worse when information is discovered to reveal the finger-wagger as a big fat hypocrite, and that is what happened with Elizabeth Warren.
Nation-Now 7 mins ago 1:23 p.m.What Trump’s first executive action on …
President Donald Trump is joined by the Congressional leadership and his family in the President’s Room of the Senate, at the Capitol in Washington, January 20, 2017. Photo by J. Scott Applewhite – Pool/Getty Images) President Donald Trump blocked an Obama administration policy Friday that would have reduced the cost of mortgages for millions of home buyers.
What Trump’s first executive actiona
President Donald Trump is joined by the Congressional leadership and his family in the President’s Room of the Senate, at the Capitol in Washington, January 20, 2017. Photo by J. Scott Applewhite – Pool/Getty Images) President Donald Trump blocked an Obama administration policy Friday that would have reduced the cost of mortgages for millions of home buyers.
President Trump’s First Hours In Office
Within hours of taking the oath of office, new President Donald Trump signed his first executive order in the Oval Office while the press looked on. Making good on his promise to get started on “Day 1,” President Trump and his administration got right to work on Friday, taking steps to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and announcing the reversal of their predecessors’ plans to reduce mortgage insurance premiums on federally insured home loans.
Pen is put to paper on filling Cabinet, repealing health law
Later, with a swift stroke of a pen, Trump signed an executive order on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that his spokesman, Sean Spicer, said would require government agencies to “ease the burden of the law.” The order declares that Trump’s administration will seek the “prompt repeal” of the law and that the government should prepare to “afford the states more flexibility and control to create a more free and open healthcare market.”
Trump begins to set up his administration
President Donald Trump quickly assumed the mantle of the White House and began setting up his new administration on Friday, signing a bill that allows retired Gen. James Mattis to serve as his defense secretary, as well as the nomination papers for his other Cabinet choices.
Treasury Nominee Steven Mnuchin’s ‘Avatar’ Profits Shelter Attacked at Confirmation Hearing
On Thursday morning, Steven Mnuchin, the president-elect’s nominee to head the U.S. Treasury Department, appeared before the Senate Finance Committee. Although the bulk of the confirmation hearing was expected to focus on his positions on tax reform and his role during the mortgage crisis nearly a decade ago, his Hollywood connections got some heavy attention with an attack on where his profits from Avatar were funneled.
Trump’s Treasury pick Stephen Mnuchin facing criticism over foreclosures
Donald Trump ‘s pick to lead the Treasury Department, Stephen Mnuchin , built his reputation and his fortune as a savvy Wall Street investor. But one of those investments has put him in the crosshairs of Democrats as he heads into his confirmation hearing Thursday: sub-prime mortgage lender IndyMac bank.
Trump’s Treasury pick facing criticism over foreclosures
Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Treasury Department, Stephen Mnuchin, built his reputation and his fortune as a savvy Wall Street investor. But one of those investments has put him in the crosshairs of Democrats as he heads into his confirmation hearing Thursday: sub-prime mortgage lender IndyMac bank.
Your expat vote can make a difference to those back home with skin in the game
My return to America came after five years in Tokyo, a drop in the bucket next to many of my “lifer” expat colleagues who had accrued wives, kids and mortgages. Their lives weren’t fully checked into either Japanese or American existence, and I was somewhere in the middle myself.
DOJ: Deutsche Bank Agrees to Pay $7.2 Billion for Misleading Investors an hour ago
Deutsche Bank AG reached a final settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over its handling of mortgage-backed securities before 2008, resolving one of its biggest litigation risks. The bank agreed to pay $7.2 billion and admitted to misleading investors, according to the Justice Department.
National View: Economic brinkmanship
On March 4, 1933, at the bottom of the worst financial and economic crisis to afflict the United States since the Civil War, Franklin D. Roosevelt took office as president. Two days later, Roosevelt acted to stanch the collapse by suspending gold payments, imposing a four-day “bank holiday” and arranging emergency assistance for banks when they reopened.
Tax help breaks legislative ice, but bigger fights loom
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton addresses reporters Tuesday morning prior to the start of the 2017 Minnesota State legislative session. The Democratic Governor will face stiff challenges in his final two years with Republicans controlling both the house and the senate.
Quicken Loans founder accuses DOJ of shakedown
Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert, whose company has refused to settle a lawsuit with the Department of Justice, said he’s looking forward to new leadership under President-elect Donald Trump. The Justice Department sued Quicken in 2015 following a three-year investigation, claiming the Detroit-based company approved hundreds of mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration that didn’t meet federal guidelines.
Why are Chicago homeowners leaving money on the table?
The city gave 155,000 middle- and low-income homeowners a one-time chance to significantly soften the blow of a property tax hike. But few have taken the opportunity.
Laurence Fink: The Trillion-Dollar Deadhead
Among the current crop of Wall Street financiers, Laurence “Larry” Fink has received the greatest number of awards and plaudits. He is the CEO and Chairman of BlackRock , the world’s largest multinational investment management corporation.
Credit Suisse: DOJ Settlement Resolution Provides Earnings Clarity
Credit Suisse’s litigation settlement with the DOJ over its pre-financial crisis mortgage-related underwriting and securitization practices provides better clarity over the bank’s litigation expenses over the upcoming years. Thesis : Progressive ROE normalization to just 7% by 2021 and book value of equity growth of 3%-5% year-over-year would project to generate annualized returns of ~10% over the next five years.
GOP plans to cut tax rates and brackets
Congressional Republicans are planning to simplify a complicated tax code that rewards wealthy people with smart accountants, as well as corporations that can easily shift profits and jobs overseas. Overhauling the nation’s tax system is a heavy political lift that could ultimately affect families at every income level and businesses of every size.
Column: Populism, real and phony
Authoritarians with an animus against ethnic minorities are on the march across the Western world. They control governments in Hungary and Poland, and will soon take power in the United States.