Consumers keep spending, the economy keeps growing. Mortgage rates are easing lower this morning on just-released, slightly worse-than-expected Retail Sales data from December 2010. Excluding motor vehicles and auto parts, December's sales receipts were $1.5 billion higher from November. Analysts
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01/18/2011
For some homeowners, electing to take an adjustable rate mortgage over a fixed rate one can be matter of budgeting. ARMs tend to carry lower mortgage rates and, therefore, lower monthly mortgage payment as compared to a comparable fixed rate loan. Relative to fixed rate mortgages, current ARM pr
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01/18/2011
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Credit card debt, left unchecked, can pile up quickly. Especially for debtors making minimum payments. According to the Federal Reserve, a credit card balance of $5,000 at 23.99 percent APR won't pay off for 16,127 years
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01/18/2011
Mortgage markets gained last week as a combination of safe-haven buying and an improving economic outlook attracted new buyers. Demand for mortgage-backed bonds outweighed supply and conforming and FHA mortgage rates edged lower. Last week marked the second straight week that mortgage rates fell
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01/10/2011
On the first Friday of each month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its Non-Farm Payrolls report. More commonly called "the jobs report", the government's data include raw employment figures and the Unemployment Rate. The jobs report hit the wires at 8:30 AM ET today. It's making big waves
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01/10/2011
Starting April 1, 2011, loan-level pricing adjustments are increasing. Most conforming mortgage applicants will face higher loan costs. Loan-level pricing adjustments are mandatory closing costs. They're assigned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and based on a loan's specific risk to Wall Street in
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01/10/2011
The Federal Reserve released its December 14 meeting minutes Tuesday afternoon. There wasn't much there to disturb mortgage markets, thankfully. The "Fed Minutes" is an official recap of the most recent meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. It's published 8 times annually, 3 weeks after t
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01/05/2011
The housing market continues to expand, and surprise. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, November's Pending Home Sales Index gained 3 percent from October. A "pending home sale" is a home under contract but not yet closed. The index is now at its highest point since April 2010′s
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01/04/2011
Mortgage markets improved last week during a snow- and holiday-thinned series of sessions on Wall Street. Mortgage bonds improved on year-end profit-taking, mostly, leading conforming mortgage rates in Wisconsin lower. Last week marked the first calendar week in which mortgage rates dropped since
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01/04/2011
The Case-Shiller Index posted awful numbers in its most recent reading. Each of the index's 20 tracked markets showed home price deterioration between September's and October's respective report. Some markets fell as much as 2.9 percent. The drop in values is nothing about which to panic, howeve
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01/04/2011
