News

2007

November

15

• Coalition opposes predatory mortgage bill (Consumer and anti-poverty groups seek stronger redress rights and consumer protections). WASHINGTON, D.C. – A bill designed to address abuses in the lending market would leave consumers worse off than if Congress did nothing at all, a group of national and local consumer and poverty law

• Congress and the mortgage mess. The House will vote today on much needed legislation to curtail abusive mortgage lending. Last minute lobbying to weaken the bill is coming from all corners: from brokers who hawked the junk loans, lenders who

• Foreclosures hit a snag for lenders. A federal judge in Ohio has ruled against a longstanding foreclosure practice, potentially creating an obstacle for lenders trying to reclaim properties from troubled borrowers and raising questions about the legal standing of investors in

14

• California, Florida lead metros in home foreclosures. More homeowners across the USA are having trouble making mortgage payments on time, but borrowers in metro areas of California, Florida and other once-booming housing markets are accounting for the biggest spikes in foreclosure filings,

• Valor de las propiedades cae. A lo largo y ancho de Estados Unidos, pero sobre todo en los vecindarios de mayor concentración de minorías, el valor de las propiedades caerá en un total de 223,000 millones de dólares

13

• Peligros ocultos en el hogar. Como muchas amas de casa, usted probablemente aspira o barre a diario todos los rincones de la casa; limpia el polvo de muebles y cortinas; desinfecta baños, cocina, vajilla y juguetes y lava la

12

• Prisoners of debt. In a financial version of Night of the Living Dead, debts forgiven by bankruptcy courts are springing back to life to haunt consumers. Fueling these miniature horror stories is an unlikely market in which seemingly

• Reclame su seguro de incendio. Si tu hogar fue dañado por los recientes incendios en California, exígele a tu compañía de seguros que cumpla. Tú pagaste puntualmente tus cuotas mensuales; ahora le toca a ella responderte. Los ú

11

• Collecting insurance after a disaster. In the aftermath of Southern California's devastating wildfires, you might be thinking more about your insurance. If your house is damaged or destroyed, what can you expect from your insurance company? How quickly will you

• Lawsuit aims to deflate appraisal puffery. When an appraiser hired by your mortgage company confirms that the house you are buying is worth what you're paying, that's reassuring. But what if the appraiser was pressured to fudge the number? What if

10

• F.C.C. planning rules to open cable market. The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to impose significant new regulations to open the cable television market to independent programmers and rival video services after determining that cable companies have become too dominant in the

• Ojo con los ‘salvadores’ del embargo. Los propietarios que afrontan la posible pérdida de su vivienda por impago de la hipoteca pueden convertirse en víctimas de quienes prometen rescatar la propiedad frente a un proceso de ejecución hipotecaria.

09

• Con artists circle over homeowners on the edge. At the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, the phone calls come nearly every day from yet another financially desperate homeowner who's become the victim of a "foreclosure rescue" scam. "This has become the No. 1

08

• Debt management plans can help consumers. Consumers struggling to keep up with higher gas prices and other rising household expenses have been pulling out their credit cards more often — sometimes too often. Credit counselors report a sharp rise in the number

• Homeowners feel pinch of lost equity. As his wedding day approached last spring, Marshall Whittey [of Reno, NV] found that his money could not keep pace with the grandiosity of his plans. But rather than scale back, he chose instead, like

06

• Watered-down mortgage reform. What a difference a day makes. Just yesterday, this page praised the House Financial Services Committee for producing an exemplary bill, the Mortgage Reform and Antipredatory Lending Act of 2007, and urged its members to make

• Borrowers face dubious charges in foreclosures. As record numbers of homeowners default on their mortgages, questionable practices among lenders are coming to light in bankruptcy courts, leading some legal specialists to contend that companies instigating foreclosures may be taking advantage of

05

• Subprime bailouts: Chump check. Not everyone is happy about mortgage lenders' latest efforts to help troubled borrowers. Take Teresa Nelson. Instead of going for an adjustable rate mortgage with its lure of low initial rates, she opted for the

• Rising heating bills spur oil-to-gas switch. NEW YORK - With his furnace sputtering its final gasps, Charles Comito decided it was time to trade in his heating oil system for natural gas this year. The switch cost $4,400, a price he says

04

• Long-term insurance: Worth its weight?. Tom Binder wanted to prepare for the future - including the possibility that he or his wife could be stricken by a long, debilitating illness in their sunset years. "I don't think it's a good