Due to higher treasury rates, last week the mortgage rates went up a bit. 10-year U.S. Treasury rates were up at 3.65 percent compared to 3.30 percent of the week earlier. Still the rates are quite low if we see them in long-term historic perspective.

These low interest rates are bringing back the home buyers. It the trend continues, the housing crisis might be near it’s end. Mortgage re-finance activity is also picking up pace as result of low interest rates.

According to to Mortgage Banker’s Association the Refinance index rose more than 17 percent from the weak earlier.

National Association of Realtors also reported that Pending Nome Sales index is also creeping up slowly for last 4 weeks.

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Home Equity Loans are a type of secured loans in which the homeowners can successfully borrow money by using the house as collateral. People who are looking for a large amount of money or those who do not have good credit usually take it. It is a second mortgage and so should not be confused with a home equity line of credit.

 
Money lenders consider Home Equity Loans safe as the risk factor associated with them is lower due to the submission of the collateral. Home equity loans can be used for various purposes such as home improvement, for covering educational expenses, buying another house, holidays abroad or consolidation of higher interest debts. But you have to be very careful when deciding which financial institution to take loan from as there are various ways through which scammers can cheat you which might lead to you losing your home. Thus, it is very important that you do adequate research prior to choosing the lender.

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Increased unemployment is becoming the major cause of foreclosures. Obama Administration’s plans to keep people in their homes are shattering at their best. shattering with them are the dreams and hopes of millions  who want to see an  end to housing crisis and rebound  of nation’s failed economy.

Experience tells us, that in past few recessions, it was the real-estate sector that triggered all the right area’s of economy to stimulate it back to normal. real-estate industry helped in increasing production, creating jobs and spreading wealth. In all the previous recessions, investors jumped in at right time to take advantage of lower prices but no such miracle is happening this time around.

Even the consumers with good credit standing, who got themselves locked into fixed rate mortgages ,are finding it difficult to make their mortgage payments as things have changed for them. most of them are jobless now. Foreclosures are likely to increase in numbers and home prices will go down even more.

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Refinancing can be defined as a replacement loan, with a lower interest rate and a different financial institution. Refinancing is the best solution if you are paying high interest rates on your mortgage.

Howsoever, there are some pros and cons of Refinancing.

Pros of Refinancing

1. You will be able to get a home loan at a lower rate.
2. Refinancing will  enable you to extend the repayment term of your mortgage. It will reduce your monthly installment appreciably.
3. By applying mortgage refinance, you can switch from a variable rate mortgage to a fixed rate mortgage.
4. If you refinance, there will be an increase in your mortgage amount. With this increase in mortgage amount, you can pay off all your previous debts.
5. There is no need to pay any mortgage insurance when you opt for refinancing.

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Mortgage interest rates for Jumbo loans have also gone down in previous week. Due to this decline, the difference between normal mortgage rates and jumbo rates is also reduced. Spread has narrowed so to speak.

During Last year, as we entered the credit crisis, banks were very reluctant to give Jumbo Loans. For those lucky few, who got the loan, the interest rate charged on Jumbo loans was sky high. I know a friend who paid 2.5 percent more than the prevailing interest rate for conforming mortgage rates.

Current trend in jumbo mortgage rates is that it is now back to normal. By normal, it means that you can now easily find a Jumbo Loan with mortgage rates that are only less than one percent above the conforming mortgage rates.

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When you want to buy a house on loan, you must consider all your options carefully before choosing one of them. You must decide which mortgage is best for you and then settle for it when you are completely satisfied with it. Fixed-rate mortgage and adjustable-rate mortgage, both have their pros and cons.

With a fixed-rate mortgage you know that your principle and interest payments will stay the same and never change throughout the life of the loan, regardless of market conditions. A fixed-rate mortgage is an excellent choice in a low interest rate environment. You can get your loan for home purchase or refinance at a low rate which will ensure a low monthly payment for the life of the loan.

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If we look into history of different countries we will find that different countries faced the financial crises at different times. As the world is facing now financial crisis now also, the question comes in mind that who are those who run this finance horse, what are the reasons which leads to financial crises? Or is there is someone who is holding all the strings and keep them pulling? So many questions come in mind when mind starts thinking about it.

Well I had searched about this and compiled these ten nasty crises. Check out these ten dramatic crises.

1 – Argentine economic crisis (1999 – 2002)

Argentinean economy was destabilized in 1980s when Latin American Crisis struck it. Argentine was an import dependent country where people usually convert their peso into dollars to feel secure. The high inflation rate leads its currency to lose the confidence and adding oil to fire the government that time spent generously on itself while ignoring the country’s crumbling industrial infrastructure.

Mexico and Brazil were the major trade partners of the Argentine in 1980s both countries suffered the economic crises which spread out in Latin America. Brazil’s currency was devalued in 1999 that damaged a lot Argentinean exports and adding fuel to fire the dollar was revalued giving a harsh blow to Argentinean Peso.

Till 1999 the country was having 3^rd consistent year of economic decline but the government haven’t devalued the peso, which made the crisis worse. In such conditions the investors ran on banks for dollars to send abroad for safety. Meanwhile the government freezes everyone’s bank accounts. This step of the government raised violence amongst citizens and protests through out country were started. The government was collapsed in 2001. While in crisis the people were bartering for goods because lack of cash, many people eked out a living by scavenging cardboard for recycling plants.

The new government 1^st tried to setup a third currency between dollar and peso but that failed. Then it instructed the banks to convert all dollars into pesos. That step worked and peso was lead to diminish in value. Because of that exports got higher and in meanwhile the government tightened its tax policies, improves social welfare, encourages business growth and put the reserve dollars up for sale in market. The country got the surplus trade because of its agricultural products anyhow its still struggling with inflation.

Lesson

Freezing bank accounts leads the crises to get worst. It can’t be a smart step to tackle the crisis.

2 – Russian Financial Crisis (1998)

The Russian government in 1993 introduced inflation-free short-term treasury bills known as GKOs to finance the country’s deficit. GKOs were traded on currency exchanges. Most of it was state owning while only 1/3 of funding came from foreign speculators who were attracted by high interest rates. Like a classic Ponzi scheme the government used proceeds from sales of new GKOs to payoff interest on matured bills.

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Mortgage rates went down sharply last week. It is the sharpest decline we have seen over a peed of past few weeks. Home mortgage rates have come down intensively from the peak in June 2009. The most obvious reason for this is that world economy in general and US economy in particular is showing signs of late recovery. Some economic pundits are even saying that we have not seen the bottom yet!

Week Economic Outlook

Amidst of all this week economic data, and poor financial outlook, U.S. Treasury rates have declined significantly. Federal Reserve Bank is in no mood to touch the interest rate in near future. This situation is likely to keep Fed fund’s target rates between zero percent and one quarter of a percentage. U.S. economy is very less likely to rebound swiftly. Even European Union has also moved it forecast for economic recovery to late 2010 or early 2011.

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Defaults and Late payments on home-equity loans and credit cards are climbing to the highest levels. According the the American Banker’s Association the figures are alarming and disturbing.  The worst hit area is home-equity loans. If this trend continued, it has a potential to develop into a major credit crisis in near future.

How This Happened?

In my opinion availability of cheap credit and rising house prices during early part of this decade created a window for home owners to take home-equity loans. Consumers were literally treating their homes like they were liquid assets (cash in bank or ATM). They were buy consumables and services(insane). All was well until the home prices started going down and down. The market collapsed and the consumers were left in pile of debt.

The data shows that default rates on home equity loans have climbed to more than 3.5 percent in first quarter of 2009. The late payments on credit cards is also touching 2% levels. This is a big jump compared to the figures this time last year.

One in 9 American is Jobless

The major contribution in this mess is Un-employment. According to official data, every 1 in 10 person is out of job. This is national average. there are states where every 1 in 8 people is out of job. worse thing is that is just a beginning. Job losses will keep on rising and people’s ability to pay their bills will come to a grinding halt.

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Again there has been a fall in the U.S. long-term fixed mortgage rates. The rates fell for the third time in four weeks. The rates have slid down up to lowest level in six-weeks.
In the week ended on July 9, the average 30-year rate have declined to 0.12 % point to 5.20 %, it was said by Freddie Mac on Thursday.

The rate was 6.37 % a year earlier; it is said by the second-largest U.S. home funding company.

In a statement it was said by Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, that the Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have fallen for the second week in a row to the lowest level in six weeks amid market concerns over a weakening labor market.

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