ProPublica and NPR’s Planet Money are up with a great investigation into how banks sustained demand for risky mortgage-backed securities, even as the housing market started to falter and the number of companies available to take the long side of the trades started to dwindle. They, in essence, made More…
Next week, the Treasury Department is holding a conference on the future of housing finance as Washington gears up to reform the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — which stabilize the housing market and whose bailout has cost $150 billion thus far — this fall. Yesterday, Treasury More…
Black homeowners are roughly 50 percent less likely than whites to receive help under the largest of the administration’s anti-foreclosure programs, according to a new survey of qualified families.
The findings have raised questions on Capitol Hill about the fairness of the program, led housing advocates to reiterate calls More…
An ambitious plan to update the Carter-era Community Reinvestment Act that supporters hope to see signed into law in 2010 comes amid charges that this legislation was responsible for nothing less than the subprime crisis and the resulting collapse of the residential real estate market.
The plan, sponsored by More…
It was last December when Julio Angulo ignored the bitter cold and sat on a rusted patio chair in the front yard of his foreclosed home in suburban Manassas, Va. He sighed, resting his hand on his knee. He stared despondently at the sky. His lender had foreclosed on his More…
The JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, a national nonprofit advocacy group that aims to improve the financial management skills of America’s youth, draws lots of attention for its surveys measuring how much kids really understand money. Last spring, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke More…
Per my earlier post explaining the growing crisis of vacant homes piling up around the country, here’s one of the best explanations for why we should be alarmed by this problem, courtesy of The Chicago Tribune:
“It’s a concern for the same reason the subprime
Housing advocates have been pushing for years, without success, for changes in federal law to allow bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages. The idea was a non-starter during the Bush Administration, since lenders strongly opposed it. But American Banker (subscription required) reports today that lawmakers may have reached a comprise More…
Financial bloggers are in mourning today for Tanta, at Calculated Risk, who died on Sunday in Columbus, Ohio. As the tributes to her throughout the blogosphere make clear, her analysis of the mortgage crisis was closely followed and influential. She had spent 20 years in mortgage banking — she More…
Given the reality of a credit crunch that shows few signs of easing despite the billions of dollars of government money thrown its way, an alternative to offering the new president-elect congratulations might be: “Welcome to hard times.”
The honeymoon period that most new presidents enjoy has probably More…
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