When weighing financial-aid offers, among students’ concerns are how much debt they will have at graduation and how much they will owe in loan payments each month.

The Treasury Department late Friday unveiled a new plan to expand the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) by increasing the incentive fees it pays investors including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for agreeing to reduce the principal amount of a mortgage.

Manager Activity: Autos Book Runner Amount (US$ Mil) Rank Mkt.

2012 2011 2010 ABS (Public + 144A) 26,097.7 17,569.6 19,548.5 ABS (Public + 144A excluding CDOs) 25,917.2 16,449.8 19,373.5 ABS (Public Only) 20,964.1 9,977.2 7,986.0 ABS (144A Only) 5,133.5 7,592.4 11,562.5 Non-Agency MBS 4,340.1 10,986.2 2,134.6 Agency MBS 15,750.9 51,829.5 88,313.2 CMBS 1,990.1 7,580.0 2,048.0

MORTGAGE DATA 30-yr. Fixed 15-yr. Fixed 5-yr Treasury 1-yr Treasury- MBA Refi Home Purchase Rate Mortgage Rate Mortgage Indexed ARMs Indexed ARMs Index Index Week ending 03/01/12 3.90%

Panelists discussed similar housing themes to those that were covered in 2011 at the ASF 2012 Future of U.S. Mortgage Finance panel.

There was much focus on the U.S. consumer at American Securitization Forum's (ASF) ASF 2012 held in Las Vegas.

It may be too early to declare who the winner is, but Bank of America's willingness to settle the $8.5 billion Countrywide suit hints at how big the litigation problem might be for mortgage originators in the courts today.

Monolines that have brought MBS lawsuits to court have used the same facts that class actions and put-back claims have made, but have used a different theory of law as a legal basis for their arguments.

If you are in a class action and someone is representing you, you have the right to "opt out" and bring your own action.

Put-back litigation continues to be a fight for information. Trustees might know that loans within the securitization pool are in breach, the question is whether they are willing to provide the information to investors who need it.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is changing the way it monitors the loan performance of its largest lenders as part of a rule to clarify and codify its indemnification practices.