As I mentioned yesterday, DSL users were finally going to see our bills go down without the infamous Universal Service Fund imposed by Verizon.  And now Verizon announced it will impose new fees which strangely negates any savings we would have had.

The FCC deregulated DSL as an information service.

Verizon told AP the added fees were because of "new costs that we’ve developed over the past year as we’ve been developing and delivering this standalone DSL service. That service doesn’t have the benefit of the revenue that was coming in from voice."  However the email Verizon sent me words it differently: "This surcharge is not a government imposed fee or a tax; however, it is intended to help offset costs we incur from our network supplier in providing Verizon Online DSL service."

Of course they defend themselves they were simply redirecting the USF fees into its  pockets. Verizon was one of the main proponents of DSL regulation and its removal from the Universal Service Fund.  And this is the company that wants to regulate the Internet and prioritize traffic and swears they will never abuse of it.  Yes, right!

Click here for the original article on BetaNews.

The MBA reported the mortgage loan application volume increased by 1.4 percent from a week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 0.4 percent compared with the previous week but was down 25.6 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index was up 0.9 percent.  The four week moving average is down 0.8 percent for the Purchase Index, while this average is up 3.7 percent for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 39.6 percent from  previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage share of activity decreased to 27.2 percent of total applications from 27.6 percent the previous week. The ARM share is at its lowest since February 2004.

Eventhough those numbers are pretty low in difference, it shows many people are moving to renegotiate their mortgages hoping to find a better rate of locking themsleves in a better deal.  We will see more and more lenders and banks find exotic products to make sure they do not get caught up in a wave of foreclosures.   it is in a bak’s best interest to have its clients bringing in money and not have it’s assets locked in auctions.

Here is the Mortgage Bankers release.