News

2009

April

10

• Stimulus money being doled out slowly. Building repairs are underway on public housing in Imboden, Ark., and Cumberland, Ill., states across the country are receiving money to weatherize the homes of low-income residents, and the Silver Star Construction Co. is about

• Es momento de refinanciar hipotecas. El presidente Barack Obama pidió ayer a las familias estadounidenses que aprovechen la reducción de las tasas hipotecarias para refinanciar sus viviendas. “Nos encontramos en un momento en el que la gente puede aprovecharse

09

• El Presidente llama a refinanciar las hipotecas. El presidente de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, animó este jueves a las familias a aprovechar los bajos tipos de interés que se ofrecen actualmente en el mercado inmobiliario, especialmente para refinanciar sus hipotecas. "Estamos

08

• El gobierno advirtió contra estafas. El Secretario de Vivienda, Shaun Donovan, pidió la colaboración de los medios hispanos, para difundir líneas de ayuda seguras para que las familias hispanas puedan evitar las estafas y refinanciar sus créditos

07

• Bailout money for credit rating agencies questioned. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal Monday said he has opened an investigation into why a Federal Reserve bailout program will steer up to $400 million to the three largest credit rating agencies, which have been widely

• Foreclosure scams are target of crackdown. Federal and state officials are cracking down on foreclosure-rescue scams, the Obama administration said yesterday as it pledged to take on a growing industry that's targeting borrowers who are trying to save their homes. The

06

• Using bankruptcy to reduce foreclosures. We always hear how bad foreclosures are for everybody. The homeowner is put out on the street. The bank goes through an expensive process of unloading a house it didn't want. And neighbors see the

• Record number of consumers fall behind on loans. A record number of consumers are falling delinquent or into default on their loans, a problem that some economists say will only get worse this year. A record 4.2% of consumer loans were delinquent at least 30

05

• When to use a mortgage broker. It’s a bad time to be an honest mortgage broker. In recent months, some of the biggest companies in real estate have decided to stop working with brokers. Chase won’t lend to brokers’

• Locking in the best mortgage rate. Refinancing today is not the same game it was a few years ago, when homeowners with even a modest amount of equity and just so-so credit could score a great loan. You now need good

• Government plan to fight loan scams. The Obama administration will announce Monday a multi-agency effort to combat loan modification scams. As the country's foreclosure rate rises, companies have popped up offering to help borrowers save their homes. But banks and consumer

04

• How to reform the mortgage market. Congress is preparing to take up a comprehensive plan that would fundamentally reform the home mortgage market, starting this year. Had the same rules and standards been in place earlier in the decade, congressional supporters

02

• Lenders struggle to find cash for refinancing. Now that mortgage refinancing is popular again, one big concern is that there won't be enough money to keep up with the demand. Mortgage bankers say the money they borrow to finance home loans --

March

31

• Stipends help make communities MoneyWi$e (Consumer Action and Capital One provide small grants to local groups for consumer education). San Francisco — (March 31, 2009) – National consumer advocacy group Consumer Action and Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) announced today that their joint MoneyWi$e financial literacy program will award 18 stipends totaling $53,000 to community groups

29

• Home swaps help make vacations affordable. Swapping houses with other would-be vacationers is a way to stay away from home for free. "The word's getting out that exchanging homes is really a recession-beater," HomeExchange president Ed Kushins said. HomeExchange.com is

28

• What might be hurting home values. Are low-balled value estimates on short sales and bank-owned foreclosures artificially depressing property values in neighborhoods across the country? Growing numbers of appraisers and consumer groups think the answer is yes and they are demanding

26

• Tent cities are taking root. As the operations manager of an outreach center for the homeless here, Paul Stack is used to seeing people down on their luck. What he had never seen before was people living in tents and

• Esperando la ley de Bancarrota. Los hispanos atrapados por créditos hipotecarios de alto riesgo centran sus esperanzas en una reforma a la ley de Bancarrota que sería un alivio financiero para miles de familias. Con esta reforma, miles

24

• Shining light on the bailout effort. In the days after President Obama's inauguration, Neil M. Barofsky, the chief watchdog overseeing the $700 billion federal bailout of the financial system, walked up from his office in the basement of the Treasury building to

23

• Frugal families doing own chores. Beth Rogers is taking the family's finances into her own hands -- literally. The 35-year-old from Fayetteville, Ark., ditched her weekly housekeeping service and now mops her own floors. She and her husband, Stanley, work