Today’s must-read mortgage and housing links. Plus two fun ones…

-Is the $26b mortgage settlement going to help you? Not Now, sadly (official settlement site)

-Does China’s Big Bet On U.S. Mortgages Mean QE3 Coming? (Jody Shenn, Bloomberg)

-CitiMortgage to Pay $158m to settle suit on shoddy FHA Loans (WSJ, CNNMoney)

-FHA Defaults Up 9th Straight Month (HousingWire)

-Property Valuation Fraud Risk Up 8% In Q42011 (NationalMortgagePro)

-The business of trademarking New York Knick Jeremy Lin (SmartMoney)

-CHEESY PICTURE ALERT: Incredible Perks For Credit Cards of the Rich (FiscalTimes)
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That first link says it all for consumers wondering if the mortgage settlement is going to help them near-term. And here’s some select news/commentary on the settlement since last week from…
–National Association of Attorneys General
–PIMCO
–Rob Chrisman
–Reuters’ Felix Salmon
–WSJ’s Nick Timiraos
–Dick Bove on CNBC
–Firedog Lake
–Bloomberg
–Naked Capitalism
–NY Times