Mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration can be a lifeline for low-income or high-risk borrowers. These loans have tiny down-payment requirements, competitive rates and easy credit-score hurdles.

In the wake of an Obama administration program to rescue troubled homeowners, several federal agencies are teaming up to fight mortgage and foreclosure scams, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Monday.

The problem of mortgage-rescue fraud has ballooned as scammers have reacted to the Obama administration's stepped-up efforts to help borrowers in need. From Web ads to late-night TV spots, companies are soliciting struggling homebuyers and fraudulently promising to help them avoid foreclosure.

WASHINGTON - As homeowners and communities throughout the country continue to face devastating consequences from the deep contraction in the economy and the housing market, the Obama Administration today announced a new coordinated effort across federal and state government and the private sector to target mortgage loan modification fraud and foreclosure rescue scams that threaten to hurt American homeowners and prevent them from getting the help they need during these challenging times. The new effort announced today aligns responses from federal law enforcement agencies, state investigators and prosecutors, civil enforcement authorities, and the private sector to protect homeowners seeking assistance under the Administration's Making Home Affordable program from criminal actors looking to perpetrate predatory schemes.

All too often, troubled homeowners struggle nearly as much to reach their loan servicers as they do to pay their mortgage.

Call it the Great Housing Paralysis of 2009. If you're hoping to buy your first home or invest in a second one, you're probably sidelined, unsure when to jump in. If you want to sell, you're thinking it may be better to wait. And even if you don't plan to either buy or sell anytime soon, watching one of your biggest assets tank is about as much fun as being chased by hornets. When will the pain stop?

WASHINGTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan told a Senate appropriations subcommittee today that the Federal Housing Administration needs additional resources to ensure FHA can continue to meet the needs of underserved borrowers during the current mortgage crisis. Donovan also testified that he recently reactivated a program to dispatch teams of investigators to conduct on-site reviews of lenders, especially those whose refinance portfolios are showing signs of distress and abnormally high default rates.

The national housing slump is finally crashing at the shores of Manhattan island, which had its worst quarter in years, according to several industry reports released on Thursday.

The number of existing homes put under contract ticked up in February after hitting historic lows the previous month.

Fox & Friends graphic falsely claims, "Bill lets government set ...
Media Matters for America, DC
No financial institution that has received or receives a direct capital investment under the Troubled Assets Relief Program under this title, or with respect to the Federal National Mortgage Association, the Federal Home Loan Montage Corporation, ...

Stance angers Kildee
The Saginaw News - MLive.com, MI
''They're worried about their mortgage payments. ''For something as major as this, to spread such fear in the city of Saginaw with so many unanswered questions, I don't know if he would have done that to the financial sector. ...

Professor David Miles advises on interest rates in economic crisis
Media Newswire (press release), NY
In March 2004 he published the Miles Review of the UK Mortgage Market, a report undertaken at the request of the then Chancellor, Gordon Brown. His recent work has involved analysing the impact of ageing and the implications of different types of ...

Senator Specter Introduces Flat Tax Act of 2009
WTAJ, PA
The 20% flat tax plan would eliminate taxes on estates, dividends and capital gains, but would maintain two important deductions: those on mortgage interest and charitable contributions. Tax returns would be filed on a 10-line postcard tax form that ...

Keeping people and animals together in times of financial crisis
Culpeper Star Exponent, VA
That seems more like a true emergency than a foreclosure. It is important to recognize that before this housing crisis came, we were already dealing with a huge pet overpopulation issue. This means that there were already hundreds of animals being ...

Recent Developments in the US Government's Response to the ...
Linex Legal, UK
The Home Affordable Refinance Program will, until June 2010, allow borrowers of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac owned or guaranteed loans with current loan-to-value ratios over 80% to refinance into lower interest rate loans. The Home Affordable Modification ...

Law Society conveyancing committee seeks meeting with Abbey over ...
The Firm, UK
"It’s also highly likely to impact on clients as the solicitor’s fee for putting the mortgage in place is normally included in the fee for the purchase. If additional solicitors have to be instructed, buyers will be charged another fee. ...

10-K: ML APM GLOBAL COMMODITY FUTURESACCESS LLC
MarketWatch (press release)
The beginning of the third quarter was challenging due to the subprime mortgage problems impacting global markets and US interest rates starting to reverse their trends of factoring a tightening of rates causing the losses to be posted to the Fund. ...

The gambling reins have been removed
MiamiHerald.com, FL
That might make it safer for Florida's economy, keeping our high-stakes gamblers away from mortgage contracts. Still, it sounds less like a coherent, well-thought-out gaming strategy than a great anarchic clamor. Like so much crazy talk. ...

Misconceptions Can Prevent Flood Insurance Purchase
Media Newswire (press release), NY
For property located in a Special Flood Hazard Area ( SFHA ) -- an area with a 1 percent chance of flooding in any year -- lenders must require borrowers to purchase flood insurance as a condition of receiving a federally-backed mortgage loan. ...