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Fed Chair, Ben Bernanke, knows a good interest rate when he sees it. The Fed chair has refinanced the mortgage on his three-bedroom, attached town home in Washington, D.C. twice since 2009.

Most recently Bernanke refinanced on his home in September shortly after the Fed announced “Operation Twist,” which was a rare move by the Fed to publicly vow to keep long-term interest rates low for the next two years. (…)

More than one in five American home mortgages are underwater.

An estimated 10.7-million households, or 22.1% of all homes with mortgages, had more debt on the properties than they were worth in the third quarter, according to Santa Ana research firm CoreLogic. This is a slight decline from the 10.9 million properties that were underwater in the second quarter.

“Although slightly down, negative equity remains very high and renders many borrowers vulnerable when negative economic shocks occur, such as job loss or illness,” CoreLogic chief economist Mark Fleming said in a statement. “The nearly $700-billion mortgage debt overhang has touched many corners of the market, and this overhang is holding back the recovery of the housing market and broader economy.” (…)

“The nation is not even halfway through the foreclosure crisis,” suggests a new report from the Center for Responsible Lending, “Lost Ground, 2011.” In the report, the Center for Responsible Lending analyzed 27 million mortgages issued over a five-year timespan.

Researchers found that at least 2.7 million mortgages issued from 2004 through 2008, or 6.4 percent, have ended in foreclosure as of February 2011. Also during that time period, researchers found that 3.6 million households — or an additional 8.3 percent — are still at immediate or serious risk of losing their homes, according to the study.

The Csira Group specializes in assisting homeowners who have found it difficult to maintain their mortgage commitments. Please contact us if we can provide assistance or counseling along these lines.