Headline News Archive

2019

October

18

• Zombie debts are hounding struggling Americans. Tens of thousands of people have received demands to repay alleged overpayments of government benefits – often decades old – plunging them into a Kafkaesque

15

• Reconsidering advice in 3 popular personal finance books. In times of economic stress, it is good to know the basics of personal finance. Many people turn to books for help, so we decided

14

• Why are people sleeping in stacked pods?. Space-maximizing pod housing makes up a tiny part of the city’s overall housing mix, but it quietly is popping up in neighborhoods all

11

• Common retiree scams. As baby boomers prepare for the biggest wealth transfer in history, the vultures are circling. This is no surprise, given that nearly half of Americans

10

• California law blocks debt collectors from emptying your bank account. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that will prevent debt collectors from emptying Californians’ bank accounts. The bill — SB 616 — doesn

08

• Renters only: These new homes aren't for sale. A different sort of American dream is under construction outside Denver. More than 130 homes are being framed and nail-gunned together. But there won't be

05

• Public banks can now be formed in California. California cities and counties will be allowed to establish public banks under a controversial bill signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, making California only

03

• Debunking a credit score myth: Use less than 30% of your credit limit. The top two factors that determine your credit score are your payment history and the amount you owe.  If your credit card limit was $1,000,

• Federal government dramatically expanded exposure to risky mortgages. The federal government has dramatically expanded its exposure to risky mortgages, as federal officials over the past four years took steps that cleared the way

01

• You can’t escape taxes by using 401(k) funds to pay off mortgage. No, there isn't a tax loophole for paying off your house with tax-deferred retirement money.

September

30

• For millennials, reality shows like House Hunters are fantasy. Combined, millennial and Gen Z viewers make up a significant portion of the audience for HGTV's popular "House Hunters"

26

• In older houses, a trove of lead risks. Ingested or breathed in, lead — a toxic metal once widely used in paint, pipes and finishes — accumulates in bones and harms the brain

23

• Zillow partners with homebuilders to marry home buying and building. Homeowners who want to sell their existing home and buy a newly built home can now do so all in one transaction and wait as

21

• Keeping consumer complaint database public is big win for consumers. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has decided it won’t remove from public view a complaint database that consumers use to ask for help

20

• Effort to make LA more eco-friendly means foreclosure. Lang was foreclosed on earlier this year because of her participation in a program called Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, which provides LA County

19

• 3 things NOT to do with your savings after Fed interest rate cut. The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that its Open Market Committee had voted to cut the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 1.75%

• Consumer Bureau's complaint database is here to stay, says director. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will continue to publish its database of consumer complaints about financial companies, ending — for now — a battle over

18

• Trump admin asks Supreme Court to take up challenge to CFPB. The Trump administration and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to take up a lawsuit challenging the agency’s

16

• Trump's Wall Street rule rollback raises 'too big to fail' alarms. Eleven years after the Lehman Brothers collapse precipitated the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, “too big to fail” financial institutions are

15

• How to avoid financial deadlock —or worse—after one spouse dies. Financial advisors say there should be a comprehensive list of all financial contacts, advisors, attorneys, accountants, insurance professionals, and copies of beneficiary designations. The financially

12

• Trump’s housing finance plan will make mortgages more expensive, groups say. The Trump administration’s plan to overhaul the country’s housing finance system would make mortgages more expensive for minority borrowers and aspiring

• Lawmakers want to give us back the right to sue companies. The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee passed a bipartisan bill, the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act, that would end forced arbitration. A recent academic

• California approves statewide rent control to ease housing crisis. California lawmakers approved a statewide rent cap that limits annual rent increases to 5 percent after inflation and offers new barriers to eviction, providing a bit

09

• Mortgage rates sink to 3-year lows on weak manufacturing data. After holding steady for a month, mortgage rates plunged to their lowest levels in nearly three years this week. According to the latest data

07

• U.S. Treasury unveils plan to privatize Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. The Trump administration has unveiled its plan for ending government control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two giant mortgage finance companies that nearly