Headline News Archive

2007

September

06

• Home-equity loans dry up. When James Chou's credit card debt began to spin out of control a few years ago, he turned to a home-equity loan to pay it

• Se dispara el número de bancarrotas personales de consumidores. El total de bancarrotas llevadas a cabo en Estados Unidos durante el primer semestre de este año creció en el 48.23% respecto a igual perí

05

• No more credit line sharing. A sea change in credit scoring could deflate your magic number: Fair Isaac, which calculates the widely used FICO score, recently announced that it would

• Piden flexibilidad a prestamistas. La Reserva Federal y otras agencias reguladoras pidieron ayer a las empresas prestamistas que sean flexibles con sus acreedores, para evitar que éstos se declaren

02

• Lock out 'mortgage protection' pitches. The meltdown among sub-prime mortgage lenders shows a particularly ugly side of the housing market - the business of selling high-risk financial products to people

• Tax hit could follow home loss. In a package of proposals aimed at easing foreclosure worries for homeowners having trouble making their mortgage payments, President Bush called last week on Congress

• Not your parents' mortgage market. A generation ago, banks took on deposits and lent that money to homebuyers who took out 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages. That changed when Wall Street got

• Even low-risk borrower suffering. Now that homeowners can no longer easily use their homes as ATM machines, they are turning back to credit cards. The latest figures from the

01

• Fed finds no bias in credit scores. In a report to Congress that is certain to generate controversy, the Federal Reserve Board says that credit scores vary "substantially" among racial and ethnic

August

31

• Mortgage brokers fall on tough times. Mortgage brokers are leaving the business in droves as the crisis in subprime mortgages leads to fewer products to sell, tighter lending standards and a

• FHA to help refi at-risk mortgages. Some homeowners with risky "subprime" adjustable-rate mortgages will be able to refinance before they lose their home to foreclosure, with the help of steps President

30

• Mortgages are for paying off. African Americans are often the target of financial pitchmen trying to convince them they should never pay off their mortgages. Instead, the line goes, people

• Bernanke: Need new mortgage options. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested that policymakers look for ways to encourage a wider range of mortgages geared for borrowers who have been hard

• Plight for renters gets tougher. As the credit crunch shakes up the mortgage market, one group that's suffering some severe collateral damage doesn't own a home at all: renters. Already,

29

• Consumidores en apuros. La confianza de los consumidores se redujo en agosto debido a la turbulencia en los mercados financieros y a los requisitos más estrictos para

28

• Blight moves in after foreclosures. Houses abandoned to foreclosure are beginning to breed trouble, adding neighbors to the growing ranks of victims. Stagnant swimming pools spawn mosquitoes, which can carry

• California anti-class-action initiative withdrawn. A ballot initiative to limit class-action lawsuits was abruptly withdrawn from the state Attorney General's office today after the backers, a coalition of businesses and

• Home sales go from bad to worse. The news Monday from the National Association of Realtors was bad enough: Sales of existing homes fell in July to their slowest pace in five

27

• Mortgages remain for some homebuyers. What credit crunch? Home buyers with solid credit and money for a down payment are now better positioned than they were a few weeks ago.

• Cómo reducir los costos de cierre. Las transacciones de cierre incluyen los gastos de obtención del préstamo, honorarios por la transferencia del título de la propiedad e impuestos

24

• States move to limit subprime lending damage. Gov. Michael F. Easley of North Carolina signed legislation last week that would limit the ability of mortgage brokers to charge customers above-market rates and

23

• Inmigrantes ayudan mercado inmobiliario. Patricia Ortiz y su esposo Sebastián redujeron sus salidas a cenar, sus visitas al cine e incluso optaron por un matrimonio civil y no

22

• Tenant screening could cost you rental. The process of finding the perfect rental house or apartment can range from hectic to nearly impossible. But it could be worse: Picture yourself locating

• California urged to help homeowners in foreclosure. Lawmakers and lenders called on the state's troubled home mortgage industry Tuesday to step up efforts to help financially strapped Californians avoid losing their homes