06/30/2009 - Five Reasons Housing Market Still Hasn't Recovered Yet - Despite hopes that the market would begin showing signs of life this spring, the latest housing data suggests otherwise.
www.cnbc.com - VIDEO -

06/30/2009 - Democratic, GOP Leaders Have Yet To Nominate A Single Person To Financial Crisis Commission - Democratic and Republican leaders have yet to nominate a single person to the high-profile commission aimed at investigating the financial crisis, even though it was signed into law by President Obama more than a month ago. - www.thehill.com

06/29/2009 - Housing in Peril as Obama Fails to Get Breakthrough (Update2) - Four months after President Barack Obama pledged $275 billion to shore up home sales, the engine that powered every U.S. recovery since 1960 is stalled. - www.bloomberg.com

06/29/2009 - Paper Avalanche Buries Plan to Stem Foreclosures - Somewhere on earth, there must be a more difficult task than this: persuading American mortgage companies to lower payments for homeowners who can no longer afford their loans. - www.nytimes.com

06/29/2009 - Obama's Housing Plan Struggling In First Few Months - President Obama's "Making Home Affordable" program, a government subsidized mortgage modification plan, was mired in red tape, delays and questionable benefits for homeowners. - www.huffingtonpost.com

06/29/2009 - Regulators shut five banks; 45 failures this year - More are expected to succumb in the prolonged recession. - www.wral.com

06/27/2009 - Burned U.S. banks may stay shy on real estate - The end of the decline in real estate is nowhere near, and yet U.S. banks may feel it shrewd to hold onto troubled loans in the sector rather than sell them or take losses. - www.reuters.com

06/27/2009 - The Cost of Free Trade: Toxic Chinese Drywall - FORECLOSURES HITTING THE MORE CREDIT-WORTHY Authorities are aware of the hurdles housing poses to economic recovery. The U.S. government is trying to stabilize housing by offering incentives for lenders to favorably modify the terms of delinquent mortgages. - www.reuters.com

06/27/2009 - Creditworthy Foreclosures Next? U.S. housing misery poised to enter new phase - FORECLOSURES HITTING THE MORE CREDIT-WORTHY Authorities are aware of the hurdles housing poses to economic recovery. The U.S. government is trying to stabilize housing by offering incentives for lenders to favorably modify the terms of delinquent mortgages. - www.reuters.com

06/26/2009 - 5 new tools for homebuyers - Real estate Web sites are constantly coming up with new ways for homebuyers to get information about the market. Here are 5 new sites that can make house hunting easier. - money.cnn.com

06/26/2009 - NSP $6 billion available to buy foreclosed homes - Neighborhood Stabilization Program - The government wants lenders to sell off repossessed homes quickly and it's lowering buying costs to get the deals done. - money.cnn.com

06/26/2009 - Bank failure list tops 45 - The FDIC says banks in Georgia, Minnesota and California were shuttered by state regulators.
money.cnn.com - INTERACTIVE MAP -

06/25/2009 - Madigan's Illinois office filed a lawsuit against Countrywide claiming that the lender sold loan products to borrowers who couldn't afford them. - complaint alleges that Countrywide, in a single-minded quest to dominate the nation's mortgage market, sold risky and costly loan products to borrowers who could not afford them. - www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov

06/25/2009 - Wells Fargo Gave Subprime Loans To Wealthy Blacks More Often Than To Poorer Whites: Chicago Reporter - Wells Fargo gave high-cost, subprime loans more often to its highest-earning African-American borrowers in Baltimore and Chicago than to its lowest-earning white borrowers in 2007. - chicagoreporter.typepad.com

06/24/2009 - Citigroup Error Stops Some Mortgage Applications (Update1) - Citi Unit Halts Mortgage Applications on Missing Data. The new procedures in the correspondent unit follow a series of steps Citigroup's mortgage business took over the past two years to address lapses in documentation or underwriting standards. - www.bloomberg.com

06/24/2009 - Delinquent Borrowers Left In Limbo As Banks Delay Foreclosure - Not Paying the Mortgage, Yet Stuck With the Keys. A growing number of American homeowners are falling into financial limbo: They're badly behind on payments, but their banks have not yet foreclosed. - www.washingtonpost.com

06/24/2009 - Real Estate Associations Want Appraisers To Inflate Home Prices - Appraisal fraud was an enormous contributor to the unsustainable run up in prices during the boom period. - www.huffingtonpost.com

06/23/2009 - Homeowners Seeking "Making Home Affordable" Loan Modifications Frustrated By Inefficiency - Our respondents cited lost paperwork, miscommunications and delays as some of the difficulties they faced in the loan modification process. - www.huffingtonpost.com

06/23/2009 - Home sales rise - while prices fall 17% - Existing home sales rose in May, as increasingly affordable home prices and a first-time tax credit attracted hesitant buyers. - money.cnn.com

06/23/2009 - The Fraud Squad: How Miami Police Led The Fight Against Mortgage Crooks - This part of Florida has seen more than its share of real-estate bubbles over the years and been home to countless schemes, scams, and cons. There's a reason some call it "Fort Frauderdale." - www.huffingtonpost.com

06/23/2009 - Why Home Prices Are Less Important Than You Think - Many economists have stated that consumer spending can't rebound until house prices stop falling. - blogs.wsj.com

06/23/2009 - Debt Collectors: HuffPost Readers' Weirdest Harassment Stories (AUDIO) - Last week the Huffington Post asked readers for their weirdest debt collector stories. We received many tales of harassment, but none of flowers and thank yous.
www.huffingtonpost.com - AUDIO -

06/19/2009 - Is the Credit Card Squeeze a Blessing in Disguise? - business credit cards do not go on your personal credit file. That is very significant. If your business is carrying balances on a personal card, it can wreak havoc on your FICO score. - www.nytimes.com

06/19/2009 - Small Businesses Squeezed By Steep Credit Card Cutbacks, Fees - banks and credit card companies, which opened their coffers when the economy was flourishing, are now pulling back from nearly everything that hints of risk. - www.nytimes.com

06/19/2009 - Congress Considering Banning TARP Execs From Public Companies - "The main thing is that not a single person has been held accountable for the destruction of multibillion-dollar businesses, and that's disturbing. We have to learn from our mistakes". - www.huffingtonpost.com

06/19/2009 - Jobless rate rises in nearly all states - Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia post unemployment rates rise in May, while only one state - Nebraska - registers a decrease. - money.cnn.com

06/18/2009 - Foreclosures Pass The Million Mark: See The Interactive Map - So far in 2009 alone there have been over one million foreclosures and counting. - www.huffingtonpost.com

06/17/2009 - Will Housing Prices Ever Recover? The New Boom-Bust Cycle - The housing and finance sectors caused the economic mess. Here's why they can't fix it.
www.newsweek.com - GALLERY -

06/17/2009 - Obama's Homeowners' Bailout: Is It Really Making Home Affordable? - Homeowners testify that just getting the attention of loan servicers involves jumping through hoops and waiting for months on end.. - www.huffingtonpost.com

06/19/2009 - Goldman Regrets 'Market Euphoria' That Led to Crisis - acknowledged in letters obtained by DealBook that "certain practices were unhealthy" for the banking system. - www.nytimes.com

06/16/2009 - Credit card defaults keep climbing - Default rates in May continue to rise as borrowers struggle with the weak job market. - money.cnn.com

06/16/2009 - Is Obama's foreclosure rescue plan working? - Homeowners in trouble are having mixed results applying for President Obama's foreclosure prevention plan.
money.cnn.com - GALLERY -

06/16/2009 - Housing starts jump 17.2 percent ratchet up in May - Builders take out more permits to build than expected; still trail prior years badly. - money.cnn.com

06/15/2009 - Obama's Homeowners' Bailout: Is It Really Making Home Affordable? - Homeowners testify that just getting the attention of loan servicers involves jumping through hoops and waiting for months on end. - www.huffingtonpost.com

06/15/2009 - During Downturn, Credit Card Companies Settle Bad Accounts For Less - In recent months, with unemployment topping 9 percent and more people having trouble paying their bills, this approach has risen drastically. - www.nytimes.com

06/15/2009 - Hamptons Fire Sale Could Be Another Sign Of The Recession - Delinquency rates - an indicator of future credit losses - fell across the industry, another sign that consumers remain under severe stress.
www.huffingtonpost.com - SLIDE SHOW -

06/15/2009 - U.S. credit card defaults rise to record in May - Delinquency rates -- an indicator of future credit losses -- fell across the industry, another sign that consumers remain under severe stress. - www.reuters.com

06/15/2009 - Lending by bailout banks fell in April - The value of loans held by the 21 largest institutions getting support from the government's $700 billion bailout fund fell in April, the fifth decline in six months. - www.getweb.info

06/12/2009 - Obama's Homeowners' Bailout: Is It Working? - Since the program was unveiled in early March, mortgage services have offered to modify some 100,000 loans, although the Treasury Department was unable to say how many loans have actually been modified. - www.huffingtonpost.com

06/12/2009 - Recession seen pinching Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn - The outer boroughs saw mortgage delinquency rates much higher than the national average in the first three months of this year. - crainsnewyork.com

06/12/2009 - Avoiding Firms That Prey On Troubled Homeowners - The economic crisis has spawned several unscrupulous companies that prey on homeowners who are having trouble paying their mortgages. - www.nytimes.com

06/12/2009 - US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive - Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic "shrink to survive" proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline. - www.telegraph.co.uk

06/12/2009 - Investors snap up Detroit houses - Investors bet on Detroit housing market. Real estate investors are flocking to Motor City for bargain housing prices.. - cnn.com

06/11/2009 - Mortgage And Credit Card Delinquencies May Have Peaked: Equifax - Meanwhile, May 2009 consumer bankruptcy filings were 34 percent higher than the same month a year ago, and are the highest since 2005. - reuters.com

06/11/2009 - Illinois Home Foreclosures Down In May - The Illinois filings dropped 20 percent from April's level, but were almost 10 percent higher than May of last year. - huffingtonpost.com

06/11/2009 - The FDIC To Start Dumping Toxic Assets, Banks Could Feel The Pain - Contrary to popular belief, the Public-Private Investment Program, (PPIP) a centerpiece of the government's strategy to rescue the nation's banks, is not dead. - huffingtonpost.com

06/10/2009 - Your Dream House May Be A Nightmare - Wall Street, long known as the street of hype, is once again hyping housing. Not only is it pushing the shares of termite-infested, housing-related companies, but some financial pros have gone one step further. - huffingtonpost.com

06/10/2009 - Family pushed to brink by 'perfect storm,' avoids foreclosure - In a south Atlanta neighborhood lined with palatial homes and manicured lots, the Hicks family was living out its American dream. - cnn.com

06/09/2009 - Minneapolis man accidentally boarded in his house - In many ways, Ted Poetsch's experience is emblematic of the forces that have fastened plywood over so much of the North Side and urban neighborhoods across America.
- startribune.com - VIDEO -

06/07/2009 - This Home Could be Yours for $50 - A frustrated homeowner has opted to raffle off his house and donate the proceeds to charity. - nytimes.com

06/07/2009 - Lawsuit Accuses Wells Fargo Of Steering Blacks To Subprime Mortgages - Wells Fargo saw the black community as fertile ground for subprime mortgages, as working-class blacks were hungry to be a part of the nation's home-owning mania. - nytimes.com

06/06/2009 - Feds Hunting Fugitive Broker Linked To Subprime Mortgage Meltdown - Julian Tzolov, Ex-Credit Suisse Broker, Target Of International Manhunt - huffingtonpost.com

06/05/2009 - How The Banking Lobby Is Pushing Lawmakers Around - the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, is missing its centerpiece: a change in the bankruptcy law - nytimes.com

06/05/2009 - Mortgage crisis robbing seniors of golden years -It's taking an especially harsh toll on an often overlooked demographic: seniors who are retired or nearly so. - usatoday.com

06/05/2009 - Sense of community lost in nation's housing crisis -There are many vacant homes in his neighborhood because of foreclosures, and others have been rented out by banks that can't sell them. - cnn.com

06/04/2009 - Dispatches from the Displaced: Los Angeles Couple Blogs Their Foreclosure -Stephanie and Bob Walker have chronicled their experience with mortgage default and pending foreclosure on their blog.
- Love in the Time of Foreclosure.com - BLOG -

06/03/2009 - Foreclosed Homes May Become Hurricane Shelters -The evacuees would then be assigned homes close to their own and FEMA would use a contractor, acting as its agent, to pay rent directly to whoever owns the home. Neighbors might not want strange families moving in. But a displaced family would be better than squatters, and he thinks banks would look favorably on the idea. - huffingtonpost.com

06/03/2009 - Another Midnight Run: Foreclosure Crisis Hits Close to (my) Home -The reason why the lawn of the family who lives across the street from me looks like such crap these days is because they're gone. - huffingtonpost.com

06/03/2009 - The Bank Rescue Plan Is in Limbo. Is This Good News? -Banks balk as bailout: private players lining up to tap government lending facilities to buy so-called toxic assets from banks - money.cnn.com

06/03/2009 - Geithner struggling to sell home - Treasury Secretary is renting out his home in a tony New York suburb after the property went unsold for months. - money.cnn.com

06/03/2009 - I Pine, You Pine, We All Pine for Subprime - But my question is this: why must I suffer for the sins of the fathers? - huffingtonpost.com

06/03/2009 - Homes Still Cost Too Much - "Contrary to popular belief," says Jeffrey Lubell, executive director of the Center for Housing Policy, "the recent decline in home prices has not resolved the nation's housing affordability problem." - money.cnn.com

06/03/2009 - FDIC shelves toxic loan plan - The agency delays the launch of a program to get bad loans off banks' books, citing their capital-raising success. - money.cnn.com

06/03/2009 - FLORIDA - This hurricane season, who will secure all of the foreclosed homes if a storm blows ashore? - What will happen if a hurricane slams into Florida this year? - newser.com

06/03/2009 - Mortgage crisis renewed - the Center for Responsible Lending is still waging a fight against foreclosures. - politico.com

06/02/2009 - Geithner Can't Sell His Own Home In NYC Suburb - Treasury secretary grapples with sluggish market -- for his own suburban NY home - finance.yahoo.com

06/02/2009 - Promised Help Is Elusive for Some Homeowners - Millions Of Homeowners Find They Don't Qualify For Obama's Mortgage Assistance Program - nytimes.com

06/01/2009 - Banks Preparing 'Renewed Push' Against Derivatives Regulation This Week - nation's largest banks "plan to make a renewed push on Capitol Hill this week" - wonkroom.thinkprogress.org

06/01/2009 - Closing the Benefits Loophole - enabled some banks to seize from customers their recent $250 Economic Recovery Payments, payments to disabled veterans, and supplemental benefits to impoverished individuals from the Social Security Administration. - wsj.com