Archive for 'Finance'

Credit card debt drops 11%

Credit card debt drops 11%

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Consumers whacked down credit card debt by 11% last year, and average debt loads dropped in every state. The average credit card balance for 2011 was $6,576, down from $7,404 the previous [...]

Turning foreclosures into rentals

Turning foreclosures into rentals

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Federal officials hope to launch a pilot program in early 2012 to convert government-owned foreclosures into rental properties. The program, which was cited by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke last week as [...]

FHA Loans: What 3.5% Down Can Buy in This Housing Market

FHA Loans: What 3.5% Down Can Buy in This Housing Market

In today’s Scrooge-like lending market, many borrowers are under the impression that they simply don’t have the balance sheets or resumes necessary to buy a home. But while it’s true that banks now hold borrowers to [...]

When Renters Get Snared in Foreclosure’s Web

When Renters Get Snared in Foreclosure’s Web

When homeowners fall into foreclosure, the consequences are dire. But when landlords run afoul of their lenders, it can be the tenants who suffer most. For New Yorker Ingrid Soto, her apartment building in the Bronx [...]

How to Get a Home Loan With Bad Credit

How to Get a Home Loan With Bad Credit

To easily snag a home loan, an applicant needs to be a “triple threat” — have an excellent credit rating, a large down payment, and low debt-to-income ratio with steady significant income. But even if you [...]

Wall Street Transaction Tax Would Raise $350 Billion

Wall Street Transaction Tax Would Raise $350 Billion

WASHINGTON — A minuscule tax on financial transactions proposed by congressional Democrats would raise more than $350 billion over the next nine years, according to an analysis by the Joint Tax Committee, a nonpartisan congressional scorekeeping [...]

Occupy Wall Street Brings New Hopes To Reformers in D.C.

Occupy Wall Street Brings New Hopes To Reformers in D.C.

WASHINGTON — Progressive and public interest groups that have been advocating for years, if not decades, on behalf of the issues now animating the Occupy Wall Street protests are suddenly brimming with optimism. “It’s pretty amazing [...]

Houston Family Foreclosed On Through No Fault of Their Own

Houston Family Foreclosed On Through No Fault of Their Own

In the ever-widening foreclosure crisis, stories of families losing their homes from predatory lending practices, free-falling property values and modification scams are legion. But for one Houston couple, the reason for their foreclosure was entirely out [...]