Headline News Archive

2008

March

24

• Not to late to refinance home. Earlier this year, when mortgage rates dipped below 6% for the first time since 2005, homeowners rushed to refinance costlier loans. In fact, more than six out

• Foreclosure fairs offer support to homeowners. MERCED, Calif. — An overflow crowd piled into the Merced Civic Center, spilling out of the main auditorium, into the halls and down the stairs. Some

• Free ride for some pay-to-save energy users. Cheaters are pocketing millions of dollars a year from increasingly popular utility programs that pay consumers and businesses to conserve energy, industry officials say. Businesses

23

• Why we borrow till it hurts. If the subprime mortgage mess has taught us anything, it is that we are leverage addicts. Nearly all of us are - from Northern Virginia,

• Consider carefully selling downturned stocks. Are you an investor convinced that stock prices can go no place but down? And did you once believe housing prices could go no place

22

• Treasury: $100 minimum securities purchase. The Treasury Department deals in billions and even trillions of dollars, but it can think small, too. Officials announced Friday that starting next month, individuals

• Help from HUD to simplify statement. Almost anyone who has bought a house or taken out a mortgage in recent years knows the problems: Lenders' "good-faith estimates" of loan and settlement

20

• Democrats, Bush square off over housing relief. Now that the Federal Reserve has pledged billions of dollars to rescue Wall Street bankers from possible default, lawmakers and regulators are turning their attention

• Amplían rescate inmobiliario. El gobierno federal autorizó ayer a Freddie Mac y Fannie Mae, las más grandes operadoras hipotecarias del país, a reducir sus reservas estraté

• Temor a más fraudes hipotecarios. Expertos en el mercado de bienes raíces temen que la ayuda económica aprobada por el gobierno federal para aliviar el sector inmobiliario, aunado

19

• Democrats draft plans for distressed homeowners. After the collapse over the weekend of one of Wall Street's biggest investment banks, Democrats in Congress said they plan to move quickly on legislation

• Fannie, Freddie free to pump billions into mortgage market. The government has freed up billions of dollars at Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE), money that can be used to help homeowners refinance

• A good name dragged down. One man went into a Glen Burnie, Md., Toyota dealership to buy a car, only to be told that a name check revealed he was

• Behind cheaper credit, inflation fears loom. The Federal Reserve Board's rate cut yesterday increased the chances that months of Fed moves could start to trickle down to homeowners in time to

• Ordenan cierre de seis firmas hipotecarias. La Oficina del Procurador General del estado de California clausuró ayer seis oficinas hipotecarias de la zona metropolitana de Los Ángeles, alegando que los dueñ

18

• Why mortgage rates are still heading higher. The Federal Reserve is likely to cut interest rates again Tuesday, but don't expect mortgage rates to go down too. In fact, home loans could

• End of cheap credit hits homes, businesses. Mounting turmoil in credit markets could realign the finances of households and businesses, as banks scramble to bolster their balance sheets and jettison risky customers.

• Más acciones correctivas del Fed. El Banco de Reserva Federal (Fed), que volvió a intervenir enérgicamente para evitar el pánico en los mercados, aprobará hoy otra bajada de

• Acceso a la vivienda, problema mundial. La crisis de las hipotecas de alto riesgo (subprime) en Estados Unidos es apenas la punta del iceberg del problema de la vivienda en el

17

• Fed cuts key interest rate, extends new credit. The Federal Reserve took dramatic action on multiple fronts last night to avert a crisis of the global financial system, backing the acquisition of wounded

• Easy loans are tougher to find. From the vantage point of his small Mumbai jewelry and pawnbroking shop, Raju Soni has gained a special insight into the state of India's credit

• Sub-prime mortgage watchdogs kept on leash. They could see the meltdown coming. Freelance financial watchdogs who examined the paperwork on sub-prime home loans being sold to Wall Street had an inside

16

• How to avoid an audit—or prepare for one. As you file your tax return, do you wonder whether you're likely to get audited? You can take some comfort in the fact that audits

15

• Fighting back against corrupt appraisals. Property appraisers have been warning about it for a decade, and the real estate market is reaping the whirlwind: The home price declines around the

• HUD wants costs made clear to borrowers. Mortgage lenders would be required to give better estimates of closing costs and improve disclosure of payments to mortgage brokers under rules proposed Friday by