All posts tagged TARP Fund

Obama’s Financial Stability Plan

by Justin Miller on March 4, 2009 in Bailout, Economic News, Foreclosure, Loan Modification with No comments

I haven’t had a chance to read everything in its entirety.  It seems as though the 2 most important links are “Making Home Affordable Refinance and Modification Options” and “Modification Program Guidelines.”  I will communicate more information once my lenders start to implement it and send out communications on how everything will work.  I will only be able to help on the refinancing end for borrowers not behind.  This will not be able to help everyone but it is a step in the right direction.  Although there will be many critics we need to start to be more positive about these changes.  There is no cure all but if we instill confidence it will get our economy moving in the right direction again. 

 

Here is what the AP said.  “The Obama administration is kicking off a new program designed to help up to 9 million borrowers stay in their homes through refinanced mortgages or loans that are modified to lower monthly payments.

The Treasury Department on Wednesday released detailed guidelines designed to let the lending industry know how to enroll borrowers in the program announced last month.

To help borrowers determine if they are eligible, the government has put answers to common questions and assessment tools on the Web site http://www.FinancialStability.gov.

“It is imperative that we continue to move with speed to help make housing more affordable and help arrest the damaging spiral in our housing markets,” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement.”

Here is a report from Fox Business on the package too.   

http://foxbusiness.proteus.com/content.html?contentId=26610

Banks Paying Back TARP Money?

by Justin Miller on February 4, 2009 in Bailout with No comments

I wonder how many banks are going to follow in Goldman Sachs’s footsteps.  Reuters reported that Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Financial Officer David Viniar said the bank is keen to avoid restrictions it agreed to after receiving funds from the U.S. government late last year and it is looking to pay the money back as soon as possible.

The investment bank, which received a $10 billion capital injection from the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program in October, is not happy with the strings that came attached to the money.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Goldman-Sachs-CFO-seeks-to-rb-14252293.html 

Banks Hired Foreign Workers

by Justin Miller on February 2, 2009 in Bailout with No comments

This is absolutely absurd.  According to the article below, “Banks collecting billions of dollars in federal bailout money sought government permission to bring thousands of foreign workers to the US for high-paying jobs, according to an Associated Press review of visa applications.

The dozen banks receiving the biggest rescue packages, totalling more than $US150 billion ($A230.1 billion), requested visas for more than 21,800 foreign workers over the past six years for positions that included senior vice presidents, corporate lawyers, junior investment analysts and human resources specialists. The average annual salary for those jobs was $90,721, nearly twice the median income for all American households.

The figures are significant because they show that the bailed-out banks, being kept afloat with US taxpayer money, actively sought to hire foreign workers instead of American workers. As the economic collapse worsened last year – with huge numbers of bank employees laid off – the numbers of visas sought by the dozen banks in AP’s analysis increased by nearly one-third, from 3,258 in fiscal 2007 to 4,163 in fiscal 2008.”

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/mobile/business/736447/bailout-banks-sought-foreign-workers?_sp=2045&_s=a2fc4b91-f0d0-44e6-8696-0e18c931c576

More Bank Say No To TARP Funds

by Justin Miller on January 31, 2009 in Bailout with No comments

Why would a bank not want money from the TARP fund?  According to the article below from The Wall Street Journal, A growing number of healthy banks are rejecting funds from the Treasury Department’s $700 billion bailout partly over concerns that the U.S. may impose tougher restrictions on institutions that take government cash.

At least 50 banks that qualified for aid have rejected the Treasury’s funds, say government officials, bank executives and the Government Accountability Office, who cite the prospect of new strings as a factor.

“There is a provision that allows the government to unilaterally change the rules and that is of great concern to us,” said Rick Adams, executive vice president at United Bankshares Inc. of Charleston, W.Va. “There’s a big fear of the unknown.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123336063516635301.html?mod=todays_us_money_and_investing

More Shady Politics

by Justin Miller on January 22, 2009 in Bailout with No comments

In the article below you will see how Barney Frank got one bank TARP money that never should have. 

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123258284337504295.html?mod=todays_us_page_one  

The TARP Funds 2nd Half Is Set For Release

by Justin Miller on January 16, 2009 in Bailout, Foreclosure, Loan Modification with No comments

According to the article below from The Wall Street Journal, the senate has cleared the way for the Obama administration to have access to the remaining $700 billion from the TARP fund.  “To overcome political objections, the incoming Obama administration pledged to spend $50 billion to $100 billion on a “sweeping” foreclosure-prevention effort. It also said it would impose tougher restrictions on banks that receive government aid, including requirements on banks to lend money, increased restrictions on executive compensation and curtailed dividend payments for some firms.” 

This could really help to stabilize the current real estate market.  Stopping foreclosures and getting the banks to lend is the key to stimulate the economy.  It is not just a matter of supply and demand in my opinion. 

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123205759811587287.html?mod=todays_us_page_one 

TARP Funds Might Be Used For Foreclosures

by Justin Miller on January 10, 2009 in Bailout, Foreclosure, Loan Modification with No comments

The Wall Street Journal reported that the federal government should devote at least $50 billion of the remaining financial-rescue funds toward a plan to prevent foreclosures, said House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank Friday.

Barney Frank is also planning to layout restrictions on the remaining $350 billion.  This should have been done from the get go.  I understand it’s a Catch 22 with the banks because they are told they need to lend the money that is given to them but at the same time keep their balance sheets looking strong.  It is hard to do both.

As I have said over and over again, this is not just a supply and demand issue.  We need to stop foreclosures which in turn will stop values from dropping so significantly. 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123154832898469935.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

The TARP Fund Is Making Us Money

by Justin Miller on January 7, 2009 in Bailout with No comments

It seems as though our taxpaying dollars being used for the bailout were invested at the right time.  The Wall Street Journal reported that “Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is getting a better return than most fund managers.

Mr. Paulson took a lot of heat for cobbling together much of the strategy for the government’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, on the fly. Three months later, however, Mr. Paulson and his team are awash in gains.

New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg estimated that the bailout program has had a gain of about $8 billion in the past three months. “The TARP, for all its warts, has involved using tax dollars to invest in assets that will have a return to the taxpayer,” Sen. Gregg said. “In fact, the estimate to date is that the TARP has actually had a gain of about $8 billion, while recapitalizing the financial system. With this type of stimulus, there will be little, if any, long-term increase in the debt.”

If TARP keeps going along the same lines, it will put to shame many professional U.S. private-equity funds with decades in the business.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123130479111660343.html?mod=todays_us_money_and_investing