Headline News Archive

2008

July

20

• Honor your word, or this banker will call mom. Just a few years ago, it was easy to write off the local community bank as a relic, a quaint reminder of an age when…

19

• Congress' long delayed mortgage legislation. After six months of haggling and political gamesmanship, a massive housing relief bill is heading for final approval. Although it has hundreds of pages and…

18

• Si reaparece una deuda prescrita. Como si fuera un pecado de juventud que habíamos querido olvidar, puede que después de muchos años aparezca en nuestra vida una deuda muy vieja,…

15

• Cash-back cards look more compelling. With new frequent-flyer fees, cash-back cards make more sense than ever for most consumers. Remember S&H Green Stamps? I sure do. When I was a…

14

• Stock manipulation by rumor probed. Wall Street regulators are examining whether securities firms adequately police rumor-mongering used to manipulate stocks after shares of Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc., Fannie Mae and…

• Home equity lines frozen at IndyMac. The federal regulators who seized IndyMac Bank late last week reiterated Sunday that its branches would be open as usual this morning but said home…

• Demand for compacts stresses rental car companies. David Sikorski went to a Hertz in Austin, Texas, last month to rent a car for a business trip to Dallas. He'd booked a fuel-efficient…

• Estimate your carbon footprint. The Baltimore Sun offers a quick quiz to find out your current fuel emissions. The calculator was created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

• Cutting down recyclables theft. SAN FRANCISCO - Every Wednesday night, Bruce Johnson dutifully puts his garbage and recycling on the curb for pickup, and every week he fumes as…

• Gas prices drive shift in work week. Beth Vessey lives 36 miles from her Howard County (MD) government job in Ellicott City, MD. And although her Toyota Camry gets a healthy 29…

• No más abusos al ofrecer hipotecas. La Reserva Federal aprobó nuevas normas para proteger a los compradores de viviendas de las prácticas "abusivas" por parte de los bancos que inflaron la…

13

• Silence of the lenders: Anyone listening?. Dan Bailey Jr. was desperate when he sat down on May 19 to send an e-mail message to his mortgage lender, the Countrywide Financial Corporation,…

• Watching that balance grow, and grow. It’s a tried-and-true piece of financial advice: try not to make too many purchases on credit. If you heedlessly let your balance build, you give…

• Creditors garnishing protected funds. The reports just keep coming that consumers are still having difficulty paying their debts. One of the latest is the Consumer Credit Delinquency Bulletin from…

• Dial back sneaky cell phone charges. f all the fees that cellphone companies can sting you with, high "overage" charges often smart the most. The hefty penalty for using more minutes…

• Keep energy dollars from going up in smoke. You know it's coming. This winter's heating bills are going to be stupendous, whether you burn oil, natural gas or kilowatts. If you're going to…

12

• Keeping closer tabs on mortgage brokers. Should your mortgage loan officer's fingerprints be on file in a national electronic database, even if he or she has never been convicted of a…

• Housing bill passes Senate. The Senate yesterday approved a huge package of legislation aimed at stabilizing the nation's faltering housing market, including an ambitious plan to extend a financial…

08

• Credit card fees eat up gas station profits. Rising gas prices have not only punished consumers. Increasingly, they're also squeezing many gas-station owners. As gas prices have jumped, station owners' profit margins have…

07

• Groups press Congress for more DTV notice. Consumer advocates will gather on Capitol Hill this week to lobby for more money to publicize the big change in television next February, when people…

• Doctors press Senate to undo Medicare cuts. Congress returns to work this week with Medicare high on the agenda and Senate Republicans under pressure after a barrage of radio and television advertisements…

• Coupon interest rises in tight economy. With her household budget tightening, Michelle Fox treats couponing like getting a part-time job to help make ends meet. In her case, it's a job…

• A way to save on flights. You've shopped around and bought your flight at the lowest fare you could find. But would waiting have yielded a better deal? If this worries…

06

• Mortgage brokers as naysayers in NY. New York's borrowers could notice a different tone in their discussions with mortgage brokers in coming months, as brokers adjust to a new state law…

• You can raise credit scores. If you can improve your credit scores, you will probably spend less money, perhaps hundreds or thousands of dollars less each year. Here is how…