News

2009

March

23

• Bankruptcy 're-reform' now on table. Cash-strapped families are seeking bankruptcy protection at nearly the same rate and in the same manner as they did before the much-debated 2005 bankruptcy law reform, a trend critics say proves the reform was a failure.

22

• Homebuyers forced to learn the old rules. At the height of the housing boom, many borrowers had to stretch to afford a house, in some cases agreeing to spend half their monthly earnings on their home. We all know how that turned

• Eager to strike racist property covenants. SOUTH GATE, Calif. - Hector De La Torre, the son of Mexican immigrants, was dismayed when he discovered a piece of paper in his property records that would have prevented him from buying his home

21

• A big boost for buyers seeking jumbo loans. New money is about to flow into a part of the real estate market that has been squeezed hard by the credit crisis: mortgages too large to be purchased or backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie

19

• It’s the regulations, not the regulator. It has become a truism of the financial crisis that the system was prone to collapse because there was no single regulator who had the legal tools and authority to prevent a systemwide meltdown. That

• Countrywide's 'special' loan program. Executives at Countrywide Financial, one of the biggest names of the housing boom, routinely violated internal company policies to provide below-market rates on home loans to the politically connected and powerful, according to a congressional

• How will the Fed's actions affect you?. The Federal Reserve yesterday renewed its commitment to encouraging consumer lending by announcing steps aimed at helping push down interest rates. Here are answers to questions about how those steps might affect consumers: Q: I'm

17

• Mortgage fraud up as credit tightens. Mortgage fraud jumped by 26 percent last year even though fewer loans were issued nationwide, and Maryland ranked among the top five states with the most serious problems, according to an industry study released yesterday. The

• Se extiende por el país el fraude hipotecario. La industria hipotecaria, que está realizando un escrutinio mucho más cuidadoso luego de una verdadera inundación de impagos, reportó un número récord de incidentes de fraude hipotecario realizados el año

15

• Tax law changes for 2008 tax year. Economic stimulus payments are not taxable, and they are not reported on 2008 tax returns. However, the stimulus payment does affect whether a taxpayer can claim the Recovery Rebate Credit and how much credit he or

• Who is getting the low mortgage rates?. So who's actually getting some? I mean those beautiful fixed-rate mortgages advertised at 5.5 percent or less. Maybe, in a virtual world, an avatar can drop into a virtual bank and close a loan at that

• Roommates can mean paying the mortgage. Faced with the risk of losing her home and car, Laura Rogers reluctantly chose to give up something else: her privacy. In mid-December she began sharing her Southwest Baltimore rowhouse with a tenant for $400 a

• Moneybloggers share the wealth. It's often said that talking about money is the last taboo. But our cash coyness appears to be disappearing along with the growth of personal finance Web logs, where writers share their money mistakes and

• Thoughts on walking away from your home loan. If you’re among the millions of people who will not qualify for the Obama administration’s program to help troubled homeowners, you’re probably wondering what you’re supposed to do now. Perhaps you

14

• More mortgages eligible for financing. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have published the rules governing their upcoming mass refinancing campaigns, and they're more favorable for borrowers than indicated at first by the White House and Treasury, especially for owners of

12

• Investors profiting from - and fixing - mortgages. The latest development in the mortgage market fomenting outrage in the streets and condemnation across the media spectrum is the spectacle of rich investors -- Wall Street traders, hedge fund operators, even former executives of

• Despite housing help, foreclosures rose. Foreclosure filings in February jumped nearly 6% from January, despite foreclosure moratoriums and prevention programs around the country, according to a report out Thursday. Foreclosure filings were reported on 290,631 properties in February, up almost 30% from February 2008,

10

• Sin techo un niño en cada cincuenta. Uno de cada 50 niños estadounidenses sufre la falta de vivienda, según un nuevo informe que asegura que la mayoría de los estados no tiene planes adecuados para manejar este problema, que es

09

• Oversight of bank bailouts criticized. Congressional investigators are criticizing the Obama administration for failing to police deals in which banks participating in the $700 billion federal bailout lent billions of dollars overseas, highlighting the growing political tension over the extent of

• Money stimulates discussion of program's goals. As tens of billions of dollars in stimulus funds begin to flow across the country, states and federal agencies are gripped by disputes over whether the money is being used in ways that violate the