News

2007

September

03

• Savers may feel fallout from a Fed rate cut. People with money in the bank may soon help foot the bill to stabilize Wall Street. Many investment pros are betting that the Federal Reserve will cut its benchmark short-term interest rate this month to…

• Companies try to retain older workers. Every time John Remore steps up to his workstation to form a piece of sheet metal, he brings an intangible asset to the job: 42 years of experience, dating to lessons from his father. Remore,…

02

• Lock out 'mortgage protection' pitches. The meltdown among sub-prime mortgage lenders shows a particularly ugly side of the housing market - the business of selling high-risk financial products to people who may not be that financially savvy. Here's another: the…

• Tax hit could follow home loss. In a package of proposals aimed at easing foreclosure worries for homeowners having trouble making their mortgage payments, President Bush called last week on Congress to temporarily make some borrowers exempt from a little-known tax…

• Don't rush to sell mutual funds that fell. Sometimes you just can't win. Lately, that's been the case for people who own mutual funds that invest in stocks. If you have the average fund that invests in large U.S. company stocks, you probably…

• Food prices are soaring. If you haven't noticed rising prices at the supermarket lately, you haven't been paying close attention to your spending. Food prices are soaring. Over the past year, prices for some basic grocery staples are rising…

• Not your parents' mortgage market. A generation ago, banks took on deposits and lent that money to homebuyers who took out 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages. That changed when Wall Street got involved in recent decades. Investment banks provided capital to mortgage…

• $5 overdraft ends up costing $350. Joseph Rizk, 20, figures it was one trip to Taco Bell that sent his checking account over the edge. When he was a senior at Wayne State University, Rizk pulled out his Chase debit card…

• Even low-risk borrower suffering. Now that homeowners can no longer easily use their homes as ATM machines, they are turning back to credit cards. The latest figures from the Federal Reserve show that consumers increased their amount of outstanding…

01

• Fed finds no bias in credit scores. In a report to Congress that is certain to generate controversy, the Federal Reserve Board says that credit scores vary "substantially" among racial and ethnic groups but that their use has made credit more available…

August

31

• Mortgage brokers fall on tough times. Mortgage brokers are leaving the business in droves as the crisis in subprime mortgages leads to fewer products to sell, tighter lending standards and a backlash from lenders who blame them for the meltdown. Brokers…

• FHA to help refi at-risk mortgages. Some homeowners with risky "subprime" adjustable-rate mortgages will be able to refinance before they lose their home to foreclosure, with the help of steps President Bush will announce Friday, senior administration officials said Thursday night.…

30

• Mortgages are for paying off. African Americans are often the target of financial pitchmen trying to convince them they should never pay off their mortgages. Instead, the line goes, people should dig deeper into mortgage debt to purchase cars, fund…

• Bernanke: Need new mortgage options. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested that policymakers look for ways to encourage a wider range of mortgages geared for borrowers who have been hard hit by the housing slump and credit crunch. Bernanke, in…

• Info hacked on millions of Monster users. The theft of contact information for job seekers in the database of Monster Worldwide (MNST) may have been much greater than the 1.3 million individuals reported earlier this month, Chief Executive Sal Iannuzzi said Wednesday.…

• Plight for renters gets tougher. As the credit crunch shakes up the mortgage market, one group that's suffering some severe collateral damage doesn't own a home at all: renters. Already, one in four renters are paying more than half their…

29

• Financial advice: Get it in writing. If you're an investment news junkie, you may remember hearing about the SEC and NASD stepping up fines in recent years on financial firms that give false or misleading statements to customers. The fines worked,…

• Census: Health benefits scarcer. New numbers from the Census Bureau will likely fuel political debate in Congress and statehouses about the growing problem of the uninsured: Their ranks rose by 2.2 million in 2006. Overall, 47 million people lacked…

• Consumidores en apuros. La confianza de los consumidores se redujo en agosto debido a la turbulencia en los mercados financieros y a los requisitos más estrictos para obtener créditos, pero también a la dificultad que estos están enfrentando…

28

• Pressure mounts on student loans. The multibillion-dollar market for securitized student loan debt faces new stresses as Congress moves to reshape the troubled student loan industry. With concern over the subprime crisis shaking up the credit markets, financial industry groups…