I don't approve of political jokes.  I've seen too many of them get elected.

Indymac announced additional restrictive guideline changes, especially in the state of Florida. They adopted (in all states) the 5% reduction in LTV in “declining markets”, including those identified by Fannie Mae DU as "being located in either an area of declining home prices or in an area where it may be difficult to assess home values." For Indy’s loans in Florida they are requiring full doc only, Second Home and Investment Property transactions are limited to a maximum 60% LTV / CLTV, and for primary residences the maximum LTV and CLTV otherwise available for the transaction type must be reduced by 5%.

An agent wrote, “I pulled credit, over the weekend, with no phone numbers or data listed other than name, social & address, and my client has since received 3 phone calls from various lending institutions stating that he recently had his credit pulled and they can offer better rates. My client was furious…” Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras says her agency has done a credible job regulating the Big Three credit bureaus. But there is criticism that the FTC has given Experian, Equifax and TransUnion too much latitude to profit from the sale of credit data to lenders and consumers, especially since federal agencies, that are supposed to be looking out for the consumer, are really protecting the companies that do bad things the agencies were set up to prevent. In February, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers criticized the FTC for giving the credit bureaus tacit approval to keep selling listings containing personal and financial data of prospective borrowers. Some unscrupulous lenders used trigger lists to contact people who recently filled out a loan application, and then pitched them alternative mortgages. Most applicants never knew the bureaus were placing them on trigger lists and were surprised to be deluged by phone calls and e-mails. In addition, privacy and consumer advocates are calling for the FTC to do more to bring order to the profusion of websites selling credit scores and credit services derived from credit data sold exclusively by the Big Three.

A little slow this morning? So is the market. Many folks are on vacation, the 10-yr yield stands at 4.23%, mortgage prices are worse by less than .125 in price, and there is no market-moving economic news scheduled for today. We do, however, have to grapple with $35 billion in 2 and 5-yr Treasury auctions today and tomorrow. The first piece of economic data released this week will be will be posted at 8:30AM EST when the Commerce Department will give us November’s Durable Goods Orders, expected +2.5%. This data gives us an important measurement of manufacturing sector strength by tracking orders for big-ticket items or products that are expected to last at least three years. We also have the release of the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) for December. It is expected to show a small decline from October’s level with a reading of 87.0. A higher reading would be considered bad news for bonds and mortgage rates.

What is the latest on FHASecure loans? In a news story from Reuters last week, this program announced by President Bush in August has aided just 266 borrowers so far, according to government data released last Monday. HUD data shows that there have been 1198 total FHA Secure applications thus far nationwide and 155 FHASecure refinancings in November.