Clark Howard Show Notes January 3 2011 – Personal Finance Resolutions for 2011, Economic Outlook, Mortgage Market Outlook
Personal Finance Resolutions
January: State of the State: Your Finances
February: Deal with Holiday Credit Hangover
March: Get Your Taxes Ready
April: Plan for Summer Break
May: Insurance Check-up
June: Start Holiday Saving Account
Wall Street Opens 2011 With A Bang
(Reuters) – Stocks rose on Monday, lifting the Nasdaq 100 to a 10-year high, as investors bet a 2010 rally would continue in the new year and factory and housing data pointed to a strengthening recovery.
The Institute of Supply Management’s manufacturing survey grew for a 17th straight month in December, adding to recent evidence the recovery was picking up steam, while the Commerce Department said construction spending increased to its highest level since June.
“We are starting the year off on the right note here. Everybody’s back and suddenly everybody realizes that the economy is pretty good,” said Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco.
“There is a lot of money in cash, a lot of money in bonds that would like out of bonds, and it’s only natural with the economic improvement it’s finding its way to equities.”
Bank of America to Buy Back Bad Loans From Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Bank of America Corp. (BAC) expects to take a provision of about $3 billion in the fourth quarter to buy back bad loans from Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC) that were issued by its troubled Countrywide Financial unit.
The move represents the latest effort by the Charlotte, N.C.-based banking giant, which acquired mortgage originator Countrywide in 2008, to respond to the housing crisis. Countrywide’s mortgages turned into some of the worst mortgages issued during the crisis and, ever since Bank of America bought the lender, the bank has had to handle growing loan losses.
Fannie and Freddie have been stepping up demands that lenders take back defaulted loans when they find that the mortgages didn’t conform to their lending guidelines. The two giant mortgage buyers have been operating under federal conservatorship since September 2008. Keeping them afloat has cost taxpayers about $134 billion so far.
Last week, Fannie reached a $462 million settlement with Ally Financial Inc. to cover potential repurchases on $292 billion in mortgages.
Taken together, the Ally Financial and Bank of America settlements will result in a recovery of $3.3 for taxpayers, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said.
“While these agreements are an important step, (Fannie and Freddie) have other outstanding claims across a range of counterparties and they are being pursued,” said Edward DeMarco, acting director of the housing agency, in a statement.
Bank of America also said it has received confirmation from the Federal Reserve that the company fulfilled its commitment to boost its equity by $3 billion, a condition of its repurchase of $45 billion in preferred stock in December 2009 acquired as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. It faced a year-end deadline to raise the equity and sought to raise the capital by selling assets.
READ MORE: Bank of America to Buy Back Bad Loans From Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
READ MORE: Bank of America Press Release Announcing Buy Back of Bad Loans From Fannie and Freddie
Manufacturing and Construction Tick Up
NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Manufacturing activity in the U.S. expanded in December, led by strength in new orders and production, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing Report on Business.
More on Economy
The Purchasing Managers’ Index, or PMI, rose to 57% from 56.3% in November. That was in line with estimates. Economists expected the index to rise to 57.3%. A reading over 50 indicates expansion. The index is based on a survey of purchasing and supply managers nationwide.
And from the Commerce Department:
Construction spending in November 2010 was $810.2 billion, up 0.4 percent from October 2010 but down 6.0 percent from November 2009.
Not great news, but you wouldn’t know it from the stock market, which soared on the first trading day of 2011.
Pay Down Your Debt In 2011, Says David Bach
Debt has reached epidemic proportions in America. As of early 2010, 54 million American families owed a total of $866 billion to credit card companies alone – an average of over $16,000 each. At the same time, home equity has dropped and 7 million American families have fallen behind in their mortgage payments.
Good debt used to be debt to pay for higher education (college, masters’ degrees) and bad debt was credit card debt. But the thinking now is that any debt you can’t afford is a bad debt. So, it’s time to pay it down.
Take the David Bach Debt Free Challenge. Best-selling author David Bach wants to get 1 million Americans to pay down $1 billion in debt. You can take the Debt Free Challenge by going to DebtFreeChallenge.com and receive a free 30-day trial of Debt Wise (from Equifax, Bach’s partner in this) and a free downloadable chapter of “Debt Free For Life: The Finish Rich Plan for Financial Freedom.
Find David Bach at the Equifax Personal Finance Blog soon.
HSH Mortgage Outlook for 2011
Mortgage information publishers HSH have come up with a list of 8 factors that will affect the mortgage market in 2011, including:
- Creation of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.
- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac proposal for change
- Improving Economy
- The return of the homebuyer
- Distressed real estate
- The end of Making Home Affordable (HAMP)
- Record low mortgage rates
- End of the QEII (Federal Reserve’s Quantitative Easing Part II)
READ MORE: HSH Mortgage Outlook for 2011
Small Business Taxes Made Easy by Eva Rosenberg, Taxmama
Eva Rosenberg works with me at the Equifax Personal Finance Blog where she writes about tax issues. She is also the author of several books, including Small Business Taxes Made Easy, 2nd Edition.
If you’re a small business owner, you’ll find no better resource than this book. Eva makes it easy to understand what you have to do to stay on top of all kinds of small business tax issues.
Clark Howard Show CALL OF THE DAY
Randi called wanting to find out how to contact the CEO of a major bank about her loan modification. I’ve blogged extensively about this on my CBS MoneyWatch.com Home Equity blog. But, here are three important posts (with links to more):
Loan Modification Hell – Join The Club
With 863 comments, this is the post that began the conversation.
Loan Modification Hell – All The Posts
Loan Modification Hell: How to Find Your Mortgage Lender or Bank CEO
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Are you reading Ilyce’s MoneyWatch.com blog?
You should be. Find Ilyce at CBS MoneyWatch.com
“This year, I/we resolve to: communicate more about finances in a “relaxed” way. Also, to get a savings/holiday/emergency fund going…My hubby says, “To win the lottery and pay off the house”! lol Happy New Year to you and the Fam, Ilyce!”
Sounds you had a great show. Tons of great stories here, wish I could have listened in but I was at work.
We’ll post the show in a few days. The woman who sends them to us from WSB is on vacation until later this week. You can always listen to our shows on ThinkGlink.com. Look for the audio podcast link. (They’re on iTunes as well!)
I can’t tell where the ads stop and the content starts. What happened with the show notes about the call-ins, particularly that lady whose personal possessions had been stolen by the county?
I’m looking for the information about health insurance advisors and how you find one. This CAN be associated with but is not limited to eldercare issues.
MG: Try Caring.com as a place to find out information about eldercare issues. There is an Association of Health Insurance Advisors. And, you can get information about Medicare health plans at Medicare.gov and CMS.gov. Hope this helps.
GW: We’ve passed that call along to Clark’s team which will hopefully help her. Her story was one of the worst that I’ve heard in my 13 years of association with WSB. Sorry that the ads are getting in the way. It’s how we keep this site free. The calls aren’t listed in the show notes – just the information that I talked about at the top and bottom of the show. The show will be posted in a few days, and you can listen to it again if you like. Or, if you have a specific question, I’ll see what I can dig up. Thanks for listening.