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Plan to Freeze Subprime Loans
Plan to Freeze Subprime Loans

Plan to Freeze Subprime Loans

Treasury and lenders close to deal

(Newser) - The Treasury Department and a coalition of lenders are close to a deal to freeze interest rates on some subprime loans in a bid to bring the mushrooming mortgage crisis under control, reports the Wall Street Journal. A freeze would ease the burden on beleaguered borrowers and banks. Rates on...

Citigroup Faces Pressure to Help Troubled Borrowers

Fallout mounts from $45B mortgage portfolio

(Newser) - The subprime collapse has Citigroup beset on two sides: Besides dealing with a $45 billion portfolio of 280,000 subprime mortgages it acquired in September, Citi is facing pressure from influential consumer advocacy groups to provide relief to troubled borrowers, the Journal reports. Activists are calling for the lender to...

Countrywide to Refinance Risky Home Loans

About 80,000 subprime borrowers will get lower rates from the $16B plan

(Newser) - Countrywide, the nation's largest mortgage lender, will refinance $16 billion worth of subprime home loans. The move will allow 80,000 customers with adjustable-rate mortgages to get lower rates, making it more likely that they'll keep their homes. Countrywide will make less money from the new arrangement, but fewer mortgages...

Subprime Loans Went to Rich as Well as Poor

High-rate mortgages accounted for 29% of all home loans last year

(Newser) - Crunching the numbers on 130 million home loans over the past decade, the Wall Street Journal finds that risky, high-interest loans were extended far beyond the low-income urban borrowers they are usually associated with. Last year, they accounted for 29% of all home loans, up from 16% in 2004. As...

August Home Price Plunge Is Biggest Since 1970

New-home sales also off more than forecast

(Newser) - New-home sales fell 8.3% in August, Bloomberg reports, a greater decline than predicted. Housing prices fell over last year, with the 7.5% decrease the biggest drop since 1970. Sales fell to an annual pace of 795,000, lowest in seven years. And that may not signal the housing...

Home Foreclosures Hit Record
Home Foreclosures Hit Record

Home Foreclosures Hit Record

August numbers double, with no end in sight

(Newser) - Another 108,716 American homeowners received foreclosure notices in August, a record total more than double last year’s figure. And this is only the beginning, say analysts, who expect even more subprime borrowers to default over the next 2 years. That will further depress housing prices, which are expected...

Bush Promises Mortgage Relief
Bush Promises Mortgage Relief

Bush Promises Mortgage Relief

Fed agencies to offer aid to help Americans during credit squeeze

(Newser) - The government will roll up its sleeves and aid homeowners battered by the subprime mortgage crunch, but it will forsake “speculators” trying to exploit the crisis, President Bush said today. The FHA will step in and help delinquent borrowers avoid foreclosure by refinancing at lower rates, but experts predict...

Bush to Unveil Bailout Plan in Mortgage Crisis

Reforms will help families keep their homes

(Newser) - President Bush will announce a rescue package for homeowners with subprime mortgages faced with foreclosure. The package will include a call for Congress to give the Federal Housing Administration more power to help borrowers keep their homes—and stricter enforcement of laws against predatory lending, Reuters reports.

Monthly Foreclosures Climb Again
Monthly Foreclosures Climb Again

Monthly Foreclosures Climb Again

Figures jump 93% over 2006; 1 in every 693 households in default

(Newser) - Foreclosure numbers were up big again in July, rising 9% from June’s figures and a whopping 93% from a year ago, an unwelcome sign for already reeling credit markets. Foreclosures rose in 43 states, but California, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Georgia accounted for over half of the the activity,...

Mortgage Crisis Hits Affluent Buyers, Too

Even borrowers with excellent credit are now facing higher rates

(Newser) - Mortgage tremors have rippled so far across the home loan market that even buyers of high-priced homes with good credit records are now being squeezed, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rates have surged on loans above $417,000 for prime borrowers—to 7.34% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, up...

American Home Mortgage Closes Its Doors

ARM specialist's efforts can't hold off fallout from worsening crisis

(Newser) - The battered mortgage-lending industry will suffer another blow today as American Home Mortgage shuts down, making it the latest company to go under as home loans go bad across the country. AHM's troubles were common knowledge, the Times reports, but the speed of its downfall was unexpected. “We have...

New Flood of Foreclosures Looms
New Flood of Foreclosures Looms

New Flood of Foreclosures Looms

Adjustable borrowers face up to 35% spikes in mortgage payments

(Newser) - When adjustable-rate mortgages are increased this year, hundreds of thousands of subprime borrowers  could lose their homes, triggering a precipitous drop in the housing market, CNNMoney reports. The threat is the latest in the emerging subprime loan crisis. Heartland industrial areas, as well as once-hot markets in California, Nevada and...

Brokers Faulted in Subprime Mortgage Mess

Key sellers are poorly supervised, often unethical

(Newser) - With the mortgage industry in full scandal mode, the Wall Street Journal takes a look at the role of brokers. Contractors for the large lenders, brokers stand accused of issuing loans that borrowers “didn’t understand, couldn’t afford or were otherwise ill-suited for.” They issue about three-quarters...

Scams Target Delinquent Homeowners
Scams Target Delinquent Homeowners

Scams Target Delinquent Homeowners

'Equity strippers' deceive borrowers behind on their mortgage payments

(Newser) - A new form of fraud is thriving in the declining housing market, targeting desperate homeowners who are late on their mortgage payments. Known as equity strippers, companies cold-call burdened borrowers, promising a reprieve from their financial woes. In the end, they profit, and the owners end up losing their  home...

Home Foreclosures Hit Record
Home Foreclosures Hit Record

Home Foreclosures Hit Record

A dreary real estate market is fueling an all-time high rate of foreclosures

(Newser) - Home foreclosures hit a record high in first-quarter 2007 as more subprime borrowers failed to make their mortgage payments. The number of mortgages entering foreclosure spiked four basis points to 0.58% and over 2.4% of subprime mortgage holders defaulted, up from 2% last quarter, according to a report...

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