The FBI on Tuesday said it is investigating 14 companies for possible accounting fraud, insider trading or other violations in connection with home loans made to risky borrowers. ...more

January 30, 2008

This week's surprise rate cut by the Federal Reserve not only held Wall Street and investors in thrall, it's also kicked into high gear a rush by homeowners across the country to refinance their mortgages at today's lower rates. ...more

January 25, 2008

Shares of Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage lender, sank to an all-time low Tuesday as a major home builder offered a grim outlook for the industry and amid signals that the Bush administration is growing more concerned about rising mortgage defaults. ...more

January 9, 2008

Most Americans feel compassionate about anyone facing foreclosure. Witnessing more than a million people staring down foreclosure due to home mortgages leaves all us wanting to save people from this sad situation. But before we spend billions in taxpayer dollars for a bailout, we need to consider how this happened in the first place. When we do that, we'll see that most of the people losing their houses never should have qualified for a home loan in the first place, and that predatory lenders are to blame for most of this mess. The Bush administration reached a deal with mortgage bankers to freeze interest rates on some sub-prime mortgages for five years. Other limitations apply, and only about 225,000 people will benefit from it. In fact, it's fair to say that if these homeowners are already in trouble, freezing interest rates won't help much – if at all. ...more

December 9, 2007

Sales of existing homes fell in 46 states during the July-September quarter as the housing market's slump worsened, a real estate trade group reported Wednesday. ...more

November 22, 2007

With home foreclosures skyrocketing, the House on Thursday voted to crack down on mortgage lenders by forcing them to get licenses, making them responsible for discovering whether borrowers can really repay and fining them for steering people toward risky subprime loans. ...more

November 16, 2007

Today, Jane and Enrico Parsons prepare to sit at a table in their attorney's office and sign a document that could keep their lives from crumbling. ...more

November 13, 2007

Members of Congress pushed the Bush administration Friday to accelerate efforts to stem a rising tide of home foreclosures. ...more

November 2, 2007

Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage lender, said Tuesday it will begin calling borrowers to offer refinancing or modifications on $16 billion in loans whose interest rate is set to adjust by the end of 2008. Its shares fell more than 4 percent. ...more

October 23, 2007

Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted the British economy remained strong Tuesday while worried depositors lined up for the third consecutive day to withdraw money from one of the nation's largest mortgage lenders. ...more

September 19, 2007