Headline News Archive

2008

January

20

• Taxes: Don't think of filing early. Get ready for another tricky tax season. Some last-minute tax legislation by Congress has once more turned something predictable and tedious into something that's confusing…

19

• What's behind the offers to raise credit scores?. A host of companies have cropped up in the last year that offer struggling subprime mortgage holders quick-fix programs aimed at raising their credit scores.…

• Want to refinance: Don't sit around. Is it a refi renaissance? Or a fast-closing window of opportunity? Nobody can say for certain, but there's no doubt about this: Thanks to the…

18

• Reverse mortgages aren't for everyone. After her husband died, Ernestine Boach felt she needed financial guidance. It was 2003, and Boach had just turned 62. An adviser urged her to…

• Foreclosures, lenders' preferred fix. At a time when mortgage lenders were touting efforts to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, delinquent borrowers were almost twice as likely to lose their homes…

• Washington se lanza al rescate de la economía. Usted podría encontrar cientos de dólares extra en su bolsillo dentro de unos meses, y el gobierno está esperando que usted salga a gastarlos. Los…

17

• Modificarían préstamos en caso de bancarrota. Una nueva ley que modificaría las regulaciones sobre bancarrota permitiendo a los tribunales alterar las condiciones originales de un préstamo hipotecario está creando polémica entre…

16

• Avoidable accidents can be costly lessons. The random wildfire, mudslide or earthquake aside, insurers say many losses can be prevented. Here's what you can do. Pam Copeland kicks herself when she…

• Consumo de carne de animales clonados. El gobierno de Estados Unidos ha autorizado el consumo humano de carne y leche provenientes de animales clonados, confirmó ayer la Oficina de Alimentos y…

• Apoyo en crisis de hipotecas. Un nuevo respiro para propietarios de viviendas que no han podido estar al corriente con el pago de su hipoteca y corren el riesgo de…

14

• States probe banks' role in risky loans. Authorities in New York and Connecticut are investigating whether Wall Street banks hid crucial information about high-risk loans bundled into securities that were sold to…

• Housing scams more than double. Federal mortgage fraud convictions have more than doubled in the past year, and the FBI expects a growth in foreclosure scams as the crisis over…

13

• Lenders compete for those with good credit. Remember trying to refinance during the real estate boom? You were lucky if your broker or lender returned your calls within two weeks. How that…

12

• Few lifeboats for people with mortgage troubles. The rolling tsunami of home-loan delinquencies and foreclosures is exposing serious problems in the mortgage industry's capacity to quickly handle borrowers' requests for help --…

• Cleveland sues 21 banks for home loans gone bad. The city of Cleveland, an epicenter of the nation's home foreclosure crisis, has sued 21 banks, claiming their subprime lending practices created a public nuisance…

11

• Underwater mortgage? How to stay afloat. There's hardly a homeowner out there who doesn't cringe at the thought of how far their home's value has sunk over the past year. But…

• Bank of America to buy Countrywide. Bank of America (BAC) said Friday it has agreed to buy Countrywide Financial (CFC) for $4 billion in stock, a deal that both rescues the…

09

• Baltimore sues subprime lender over race. The city of Baltimore yesterday sued a major national lender for engaging in what it describes as abusive practices that have created a foreclosure crisis…

• Forecasters: No quick end to housing ills. It could be a long slump. Housing prices in Massachusetts and the nation likely will keep falling through next year and beyond, according to a…

• Bush mulling boost for the economy. President Bush said Tuesday that he is watching very carefully to see if the struggling U.S. economy needs a short-term boost from the federal government.…

08

• Countrywide tells judge it 'recreated' letters. The Countrywide Financial Corporation fabricated documents related to the bankruptcy case of a Pennsylvania homeowner, court records show, raising new questions about the business practices…

• Foreclosure hotline looks for help. A month after the Bush Administration announced a plan to help troubled homeowners, one foreclosure counseling agency is looking for some help of its own.…

05

• Too good to be true tax myths. Every year at this time, I write a series of tax-related columns. The goal is to provide guidance for homeowners preparing to file income tax…

04

• Ways to cope despite real estate's dire outlook. If you'd asked housing economist David Seiders at this time last year to forecast the real estate industry's future, he would have told you to…

01

• Your money: A gaze back, a look ahead. Los Angeles Times Business columnists share resolutions and admonitions for a rewarding 2008. From Kathy Kristof, David Lazarus and Tom Petruno.