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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: subprime crisis

subprime crisis stories: 284 news summaries

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 Goldman Seizes Homes 
 as Securities Sour 




Just getting them to admit they hold your mortgage can be an ordeal

Nov 2, 09 8:21 AM CST
(Newser) - Imagine finding yourself in a foreclosure battle and discovering that your opponent isn't the obscure lender who wrote your insane mortgage, but the formidable Goldman Sachs. It seems that after years of buying subprime mortgages and packaging them into bonds, at a handsome profit, Goldman is now in the business... More »

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housing market • Goldman Sachs • subprime mortgages • Henry Paulson • foreclosure • subprime crisis • mortgage defaults

Watchdog: Feds Need to Expand Foreclosure Plan

$50B plan proving ineffective as more mortgage holders lose their jobs

Oct 10, 09 5:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Treasury's $50 billion loan-modification program is in danger of being swamped as the foreclosure crisis accelerates, the Congressional Oversight Panel said in a report yesterday. The Home Affordable Modification Program has met its target of 500,000 trial mortgage modifications started by November 1, but the watchdog warned that... More »

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housing market • subprime mortgages • foreclosure • mortgage • subprime crisis • negative equity • Obama administration • TARP • mortgage modification • underwater mortgage • Home Affordable Modification Program

(Newser) - The market for subprime mortgages may have dried up, but former salesmen have found a new calling: as loan modification advisers who help clients refinance the high-risk loans they used to sell, reports the New York Times. For a fee of around $3,500—the bulk paid upfront—former subprime... More »

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subprime mortgages • subprime crisis • subprime lender

Foreclosure Crisis Wallops Minority Neighborhoods

Lenders accused of 'redlining' black neighborhoods for subprime loans

May 16, 09 6:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - The national foreclosure crisis is battering minority neighborhoods with disproportionate force, the New York Times reports. Few areas in the New York region have been untouched by the crisis, but 85% of the worst-hit neighborhoods have a majority of black and Latino homeowners. Experts blame the trend on subprime lenders'... More »

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African Americans • housing market • subprime mortgages • foreclosure • mortgage • minorities • subprime crisis

US May Avoid More Bailouts by Trading Loans for Equity

Conversion could stretch bailout fund by $100 billion

Apr 20, 09 8:54 AM CDT
(Newser) - President Obama’s economic team has figured a way to keep the banks afloat without asking Congress for more money, by converting the government's existing bailout loans to common stock, the New York Times reports. The conversion plan could stretch Treasury’s fund by more than $100 billion, but it... More »

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Citigroup • nationalization • subprime crisis • bailout • commercial banks • financial crisis

Nukes? Climate Change? Love 'Em to Death

Newsweek scribe lists
a few issues pundits
may misunderstand

Apr 5, 09 6:15 PM CDT
(Newser) - Few so-called experts predicted the subprime meltdown or the September 11 attacks, Jacob Weisberg writes in Newsweek—so what else might the pundits be wrong about?
  • Nukes are bad: An influential political scientist “argues that possessing nukes induces restraint and caution, causing irresponsible regimes to behave more responsibly.
... More »

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China • climate change • nuclear proliferation • September 11 • homeownership • subprime crisis

AIG's Bailout Cash Flowing to Hedge Funds

$52B has paid off
those who bet against the housing market

Mar 18, 09 7:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - The government cash flowing steadily into AIG is going in no small part to pay off hedge funds that bet against the housing market, the Wall Street Journal reports. The hedge funds placed credit default swap bets with other banks—Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs are specifically named in documents... More »

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housing market • Goldman Sachs • Deutsche Bank • AIG • subprime crisis • credit default swap

OPINION

My 401(k) Proves I Could
Do Better Than CNBC


Mar 13, 09 1:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - He may have gotten only a B in economics, but James Rainey, in the Los Angeles Times, says he can be the next CNBC personality. “There’s got to be a spot for me on one of those chatter fests,” he says, because “I’ve out-performed the... More »

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Dow Jones • CNBC • markets • Jim Cramer • pundits • subprime crisis • 401(k) plans • Larry Kudlow

NAACP Accuses Banks
of Loan Discrimination

Blacks were forced into subprime mortgages, group says

Mar 13, 09 10:49 AM CDT
(AP) - The NAACP is accusing Wells Fargo and HSBC of forcing black people into subprime mortgages while whites with identical qualifications got lower rates. Class-action lawsuits were to be filed against the banks today in federal court in Los Angeles. Similar NAACP lawsuits are pending against a dozen other subprime lenders.... More »

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subprime mortgages • home loans • class action • NAACP • subprime crisis • subprime lender • financial crisis

OPINION

No Silver Bullet for Crises Like These: Pearlstein

Complex financial system requires complicated fixes ... and lots of patience

Jan 23, 09 11:22 AM CST
(Newser) - With various factions blaming a single factor—and pushing a single solution—for the financial crisis, Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post cautions that there won’t be a silver bullet. Reducing foreclosures, removing toxic assets, and nationalizing banks will all come into play; meantime, we must “resist the... More »

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foreclosure • mortgage backed securities • subprime crisis • financial crisis • recapitalization • Steven Pearlstein • toxic assets

ANALYSIS

Targeted in Bubble, Latinos Now Face Foreclosure Flood

Push to get subprime, other risky mortgages to Hispanic community backfires

Jan 5, 09 9:35 AM CST
(Newser) - The US housing crisis has hit particularly hard in the Latino community, the Wall Street Journal reports, which was targeted by both lawmakers and lenders—often with subprime and other risky mortgages—during the bubble. Hispanic homeownership swelled 47% between 2000-2007, and the foreclosure crisis has hit hard for many... More »

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housing market • subprime mortgages • foreclosure • subprime crisis • financial crisis • Hispanics • reverse red lining • Joe Baca

Glossies

 Don't Blame Fannie for Mess 



Wall Street, banks, and government also at fault

Jan 5, 09 9:11 AM CST
(Newser) - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the "toxic twin" housing financing behemoths blamed for setting the world on fire, were not operating any differently than the entire financial sector, Bethany McLean writes in Vanity Fair. McLean documents Fannie Mae's history starting from conception in FDR's New Deal, when it was... More »

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recession • takeover • Freddie Mac • Fannie Mae • housing crisis • subprime crisis • financial crisis • Federal Housing Finance Agency

Wreck of IndyMac Sold
for $13.9B

Soros, Dell among the players in FDIC's damaged-goods sale

Jan 3, 09 8:41 AM CST
(Newser) - A team of high-profile investors has bought the remains of failed bank IndyMac from the FDIC for $13.9 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports. The investors, including George Soros and computer tycoon Michael Dell, have agreed to share the losses from IndyMac's portfolio of troubled mortgages in a deal... More »

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private equity • J. C. Flowers • bank • Michael Dell • IndyMac • George Soros • FDIC • subprime crisis • bank failure • financial crisis

OPINION

No Hope for Detroit Until
We End Rip-Off Financing

The indebted consumer can't afford cars


Dec 24, 08 2:49 PM CST
(Newser) - Congress' plan to bail out Detroit ignores one fundamental problem: Americans owe so much on their current cars—often more than the vehicles are worth—that they can't buy new ones, writes Stephanie Mencimer in Mother Jones. Detroit—along with the "great scourge of the American consumer market: the... More »

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Congress • Detroit • car dealers • subprime crisis • auto bailout

 Feds Overhaul
 Credit Card Rules 

New rules will tighten interest rates, could cost issuers $10B in revenue

Dec 18, 08 11:53 AM CST
(Newser) - Credit card companies will be forbidden from raising interest rates on existing debt after major changes to federal regulations OK'd today go into effect, USA Today reports. Starting in July 2010, the new rules will also restrict issuers' ability to cherry-pick higher-interest parts of balances to pay down first, and... More »

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Federal Reserve • credit card • Treasury Department • credit card loans • subprime crisis

 AIG Looks for $10B 
 More to Pay Bad Bets 

Struggling insurer gambled billions of its own money on risky derivative trades

Dec 10, 08 7:53 AM CST
(Newser) - Insurance giant AIG, already the recipient of a $150 billion government bailout to cover soured credit-default swaps, now admits it owes some $10 billion more for speculative trades it made with its own money, reports the Wall Street Journal. Those deals aren’t covered by the bailout, leaving the struggling... More »

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AIG • subprime crisis • bailout • American International Group • financial crisis

Fannie, Freddie Brushed Off Subprime Warnings

Companies ignored risk experts for years

Dec 9, 08 8:36 AM CST
(Newser) - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can’t say they weren’t warned. Internal documents obtained by the Washington Post show that both companies had internal factions who stressed the dangers of subprime mortgages several years ago. At Freddie Mac, the former chief enterprise risk officer wrote that the loans could... More »

MORE ABOUT:
subprime mortgages • Freddie Mac • Fannie Mae • Richard Syron • subprime crisis • House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform • Daniel Mudd

Bird Shelters Overrun as Foreclosures Take Toll

Exotic animals not always welcome, and require special care

Dec 5, 08 2:52 PM CST
(Newser) - The US foreclosure epidemic, hard on all kinds of pets, appears particularly devastating for exotic birds, Reuters reports. People forced to vacate their homes are finding that cockatiels, macaws, and the like won’t fly at their new digs. Shelters for cats and dogs aren’t equipped to handle the... More »

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pets • foreclosure • subprime crisis • animal shelters • financial crisis • exotic birds • cockatiel • macaw • cockatoo • sanctuary • recession depression

Treasury May Lower
Mortgage Rates to 4.5%

Rates could go as low as 4.5% to curb falling home prices

Dec 3, 08 4:36 PM CST
(Newser) - The Treasury may try to bring new mortgage rates down to 4.5%—a full percentage point lower than current rates—to revitalize the housing market, the Wall Street Journal reports. Under the proposal, which is still in the early stages, the department would use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac... More »

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housing market • Freddie Mac • home loans • Fannie Mae • Treasury Department • subprime crisis

GLOSSIES

 Wall Street's Doom 
 Years in the Making 

Liar's Poker writer saw this coming long ago, and so did some contrarian money men

Nov 27, 08 4:00 PM CST
(Newser) - When he wrote Liar’s Poker in 1989, Michael Lewis figured the end of Wall Street was near. After all, it had hired him, a 24-year-old with neither experience nor interest in finance. “Sooner rather than later,” he writes in Portfolio, “someone was going to identify... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Wall Street • Michael Lewis • collateralized debt obligations • subprime crisis • financial crisis • credit default swap

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