Consumer advocates for years have warned that the payday loan industry preys on low-income borrowers who become reliant on one loan to pay off another — with enormous interest rates applied all the while. But a report released yesterday offers what is perhaps the most clear evidence to date More…
Are we really going to go through this again? Immediately after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development finished putting the final touches on a controversial plan to allow first-time homebuyers to use an $8,000 tax credit as a downpayment on a new home, some in the Senate More…
If you ever got picked on as a kid, and handled it by clinging to the belief that life was fair and your nemesis would get a comeuppance, then this is for you:
Fremont General Corp. once one of the nation’s top 10 subprime lenders, has agreed to pay $10 More…
Not long after foreclosures started to take off in 2007 and the mortgage market’s collapse began to cripple the economy, one lesson seemed obvious: The predatory lending practices that led to the crisis had to be reined in.
But despite massive government bailouts of banks and lenders due to losses More…
When U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced last week that first-time homebuyers soon will be permitted to turn their $8,000 tax credit for purchasing a property into downpayment money, he called the development “exciting” and “a real win for everyone.”
But his enthusiasm isn’t More…
As congressional Democrats work to solidify finance industry reforms, a growing push to rein in payday lenders is running smack into a formidable barrier: the rising influence of the lenders themselves.
Not only has the industry stepped up its lobbying and political contributions in recent years, More…
I know, I know; everyone’s talking about the Jon Stewart-Jim Cramer confrontation Thursday night. Yes, it was entertaining, and yes, Stewart made some great points about financial journalism’s failures. But I’d like to move on now. There’s so much more to be angry about over this crisis than just More…
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke drew some headlines Tuesday when he said in a speech that it’s time to overhaul the nation’s financial regulatory system, and to appoint a powerful new regulator to oversee powerful financial institutions.
It’s something housing and community advocates also have been pushing — especially More…
Remember when the subprime crisis first broke out last fall, and the Bush administration’s first response was to suggest that people read the fine print on their mortgages and take financial literacy courses?
It would not be such a bad idea for Wall Street to do the same now.
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