Consumerist
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promises
Countrywide Says It's So, Like, Totally Not Going To Go Bankrupt, OK?
Diabolical mustache-twirling, evidence-forging, subprime mortgage lender Countrywide reassured investors that it had no plans to go bankrupt, despite the fact that loan fundings dropped 45% from last December, says Marketwatch. There is a bright side, of course, for those of you who haven't yet given your money to Countrywide:Financial institutions that have run into difficulties and need consumer deposits to fund loans and build up their capital levels. Countrywide and E*Trade Financial Corp. (ETFC), both of which have been hit hard by the credit crunch are offering some of the industry's highest rates on products like certificates of deposit.
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subprime meltdown
86,000 Mortgage Related Jobs Cut In 2007
A new study says that 86,000 mortgage related jobs were cut due to the weakening housing market, says CNNMoney. Diabolical mustache-twirling evidence-forging lender Countrywide unburdened itself of the most workers, cutting 11,665. More » -
financial aid
Sallie Mae Will Make Fewer Student Loans In 2008
Student loan lender Sallie Mae said today it plans on making fewer loans in the future "in the wake of federal legislation last year to reduce subsidies for student lenders," reports Reuters. More » -
credit crunch
Stockton, California Shows Us How Bad The Mortgage Meltdown Can Get
An article from the BBC profiling Stockton, California does an excellent job of showing just how crazy the mortgage market got: More » -
nostalgia
Looking Back: The Subprime Meltdown Explained By The NYT... In 2002
The end of the year is a time for looking back and reflecting on the past. Perhaps learning from it. With that in mind we poked around the NYT archive and found a great article on the subprime mortgage market and predatory lending from 2002. More » -
ominous
Will Car Loans Be The Next Credit Meltdown?
The LA Times has an article about car loans that caused our jaw to drop. As someone who bought both the cars she has owned with cash, (from friendly human beings who had cars but didn't want them anymore), the staggering amount of debt that people are willing to sign up for just to drive a slightly newer car made us feel sort of ill. More » -
subprime meltdown
Foreclosures Up 68% From Last Year
Foreclosure tracking firm RealtyTrac has announced November's foreclosure numbers and, while foreclosure activity is down 10% from last month's number, the news isn't happy. Foreclosures are up 68% from November 2006, with 201,950 foreclosure filings—up from 120,334 this time last year. Also worth mentioning, last year's numbers weren't exactly low—they were up 68% from 2005. More » -
lending
Fed Approves Plan To Curb Irresponsible Lending
The Fed has unanimously approved a new plan to tighten provisions designed to prevent predatory mortgage lending, as well as help to decrease the number of consumers who irresponsibly take on debt that they cannot afford to repay. More » -
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subprime meltdown
Senate OKs FHA Mortgage Bill
On Friday the Senate passed new legislation that would make more Federal Housing Administration Loans available to troubled borrowers facing foreclosure, lowering the down payment required and allowing larger loans. The House passed similar legislation in September, and now House and Senate members will have to "resolve a number of differences between the two pieces of legislation," says the Wall Street Journal. More » -
debt
Paying Off Consumer Debt: Home Equity Or No Home Equity?
If you have consumer debt, you're probably looking for a strategy to pay it off. Some people use a home equity loan as a way to get a lower rate, others use 0% balance transfers, still others just call their credit card company and ask them to lower their rates. More » -
subprime meltdown
Freddie Mac Will Be Losing A Few Billion More, Decides To Stop Buying So Many Bad Loans
Reuters is reporting that government-backed mortgage lender Freddie Mac expects to lose $10-12 billion before the subprime meltdown is over. Previously, everyone was freaking out about their $2 billion loss. More » -
subprime meltdown
The Subprime Meltdown From The Perspective Of A Housing Counselor
The Washington Post has a really interesting article about a housing counselor in the D.C. area who saw the subprime meltdown first hand. More » -
sad
From $2 Million To Foreclosure On An Ameriquest Subprime Mortgage
Frances Joy Taylor had had about $2 million in assets, which she intended to leave to her church, before she met a businessman named Tyrone Dash. Dash took over her affairs and "methodically liquidated or leveraged almost everything she owned: her bank accounts and securities, her insurance policies, her credit cards, her two apartment buildings and, ultimately, her home," says the Seattle Times. Frances suffers from Alzheimer's. More » -
subprime meltdown
Failure: H&R Block Shuts Down Subprime Lending Operation
H&R Block has decided to admit defeat after a plan to sell its troubled subprime lending operation to Cerberus Capital Management LP finally unraveled. More » -
subprime meltdown
Who Has A Subprime Mortgage? People With Good Credit
The Wall Street Journal analyzed more than $2.5 trillion in subprime loans made since 2000 and found that as the number of subprime loans grew, the loans were being issued to borrowers with better and better credit scores—borrowers who could have qualified for traditional loans with more reasonable terms. More » -
subprime meltdown
Bush Subprime Mortgage Plan Will Be Finalized Soon
ABC News has an interview with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in which he says that the administration's plan to help subprime borrowers is nearing completion. More » -
interest
Mortgage Rates Are At 2 Year Lows
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the national average interest rate on the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate loan averaged 6.1% last week, the lowest rate since Oct 13, 2005. More »
lending
Fewer borrowers will qualify for mortgage insurance, due to tightened restrictions following the subprime meltdown.[
New York, 8:30 AM
Mon Nov 23
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