Linkage: Loan standards easing, homes as ATM machines

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- Allowable debt to qualify for a mortgage going higher(washingtonpost.com)
- Half of refinancers took cash out in Q1, highest since 2008(wsj.com)
- Home equity loans with zero interest, zero payments!(financialsamurai.com)
- Non-housing debt rising and now late payments rising too(bloomberg.com)
- 25 million Americans might find their mortgage tax deduction useless (bloomberg.com)
- Dropping rates help fintechs for now, but shakeout still coming(bizjournals.com)
- Trump picks one of Mnuchin's former banking/lending colleagues to run OCC (housingwire.com)
- Q1 volume & profit down at independent mortgage lenders(mba.org)
- Rural America is the new inner city(wsj.com)
- Do social security numbers matter anymore? Yes, too much unfortunately. (bloomberg.com)
Higher debt-to-income ratios and more cash out on mortgages. You can now get a home equity loan with no payments. And non-mortgage debt has risen for awhile and now the late payments are rising too. Is the credit cycle taking a turn for the worse? Depends on who you ask.