Government

About 56 percent of respondents to a recent survey by the National Low Income Housing Coalition said they support replacing the current mortgage interest tax deduction with an alternative that offers the same percentage deduction to all homeowners without taking income into account. The survey of a little more than 1,000 Americans also found that 63 percent believe tax deductions should only apply to those whose mortgages are $500,000 or less. The same percentage said the federal government should use savings it would incur from revising the mortgage interest tax deduction to end homelessness.

It was no surprise when mortgage rates dropped in the weeks following the Fed's announcement that it would purchase $40 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) each month until the labor market shows substantial improvement. Even with the record-low mortgage rates seen today, refinancing numbers are still not as high as expected. CoreLogic and Capital Economics highlighted different factors for the lack of refinancings in separate reports.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released to the public a letter urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to avoid proposals that may lead to unforeseen and unintended consequences harmful to the industry. In a letter published on the association's site, MBA president and CEO David Stevens urges CFPB to consider both borrower needs and servicer limitations when designing mortgage industry regulations. Specifically, Stevens asks CFPB to limit its rulemaking to the mandates required by the Dodd-Frank Act and to use its exemption authority to remove ""unduly burdensome"" requirements.

One in eight banks wouldn't be able to maintain adequate capital in a stressed economic environment, according to a Trepp report. The analytics firm released the results of its first Capital Adequacy Stress Test (T-CAST) of banks across the country, adapting the Federal Reserve's Comprehensive Capital Analysis Review (CCAR) Stress Test used on the 19 largest banking institutions in March.

Rep. Jim Costa (D-Fresno) introduced a House companion for the Responsible Homeowner Refinancing Act, which seeks to cut through red tape in homeowner refinancing to make the option more broadly available.

After a three-year battle, Ellie Mae and software developer DocMagic reached a settlement over an antitrust suit, the companies announced jointly. DocMagic first filed against Ellie Mae in August 2009, alleging antitrust violations, intentional interference with contractual relationships, interference with prospective economic advantage, and unfair competition, according to a company release sent out at the time.

First time claims for unemployment insurance fell to 339,000 — the lowest level since February 2008 — for the week ended October 6, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The drop was far steeper than market expectations of 370,000 initial claims.

Three mortgage relief companies are in hot water after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged them with using deceptive tactics to prey on distressed homeowners. The FTC filed three separate suits against Prime Legal Plans, American Mortgage Consulting Group, and Expense Management America for allegedly violating its Mortgage Assistance Relief Services (MARS) Rule, which prohibits certain practices commonly used by fraudulent mortgage assistance companies.

The long-running legal proceedings between MBIA Insurance Corporation and Countrywide Home Loans (acquired in 2008 by Bank of America) turned into a blame game Friday as the companies battled over liability for insurance losses on bad loans.

Equifax and its customers reached separate settlements with the FTC, agreeing to pay a total of $1.6 million for improper sale of consumer credit information. The FTC alleges Equifax sold more than 17,000 lists of people who met specific criteria, such as being late on their mortgage payments. Equifax is said to have sold the lists to Direct Lending Source, Inc., which in turn sold the lists to other third parties. The lists included information such as credit scores and detailed how many days past due consumers' mortgage payments were.