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Student Loan Overhaul Advances
By Amit R. Paley. Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Democrats in Congress are pushing to overhaul the
nation's student loan system with legislation that would cut federal
subsidies to lending companies by as much as $19 billion, channel
most of those savings to student aid and ease repayment rules for
borrowers.
full story...
An ATM That's Out of Money
As Housing Market Slips, Tide of Spending and Refinancing Retreats
"For a long time, Paul and Amy Woodhull's house on
Capitol Hill was a honey pot. Through multiple refinancings over
nearly a decade, they pulled out money to fix it up, buy a car, pay
down credit cards, buy three other properties and improve them, too.
Now the pot is dry. The Woodhulls are feeling squeezed by bills, but
with interest rates up and home prices down, they're reluctant to
touch their home equity again. They called their six children into a
family meeting recently, and Amy laid down new rules: No more
impulse purchases or frivolous shopping trips. "We're going to have
to save our pennies," she declared.
That seems to be the new motto in many an American household."
full story...
Appraisers urged to set ethics aside
As the housing industry slumps, these supposedly
impartial judges of property values complain they're being pressured
by brokers and agents to manipulate their findings to ensure loans
go through.
full story...
When Will We Hear the Truth About Housing?
May 30, 2007
"Everyone from the Fed Chairman to the Federal
Reserve has taken time to reassure the nation that housing is on the
comeback trail and that the subprime spillover won't be enough to
drown the economy. While it is nice to think the future will bring
nothing but sunshine and roses, the reality is much darker. Will we
ever hear the truth from agencies like the NAR and the Fed?"
full story...
The Poverty Business
21 May, 2007
"Federal Reserve data show that in relative terms, that debt is
getting more expensive. In 1989 households earning $30,000 or less a
year paid an average annual interest rate on auto loans that was
16.8% higher than what households earning more than $90,000 a year
paid. By 2004 the discrepancy had soared to 56.1%. Roughly the same
thing happened with mortgage loans: a leap from a 6.4% gap to one of
25.5%. "It's not only that the poor are paying more; the poor are
paying a lot more," says Sheila C. Bair, chairman of the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corp."
full story...
Minorities hit hard by rising costs of subprime loans
25 April, 2007
"...Davis went to his bankers to refinance. They said no. Over the
past year or so, he talked to four or five companies and was turned
away. His bank has him on a "forbearance" plan, which lowers his
payments, but has also started foreclosure proceedings. If he misses
a payment, he fears, he could lose his house."
full story...
Foreclosures, default notices hit 10-year high
Sluggish sales, rising adjustable mortgages blamed for 802%
increase from previous year in homes lost
17 April, 2007
The number of California homeowners who defaulted on their mortgage
payments jumped to its highest level in almost 10 years, exacerbated
by slowing home sales and adjustable-mortgage resets.
full story...
Smoke and Mirrors of the Middle Class: Credit is Slavery
26 March, 2007
... I felt a lot of shame and guilt for signing my name to credit
lines when I suppose I didn’t have to. In my defense, it’s hard to
say “no” to spouses who beat you and then demand another credit line
to support their profligate spending habits, and when they abandon
you and you’re trying to pick up the pieces of your life with only a
part time income, things like food seem important.
full story...
US mortgage crisis forces homeowners to take refuge in their cars
By Sue Zeidler, The Scotsman.com
24 March, 2007
THEY are victims of the United States' growing mortgage crisis -
low-paid workers whose homes have been repossessed amid rising
interest rates, a stagnant property market and a lax lending regime.
full story...
IN Debt We Trust as the Economy Goes Bust
By: Carolyn Baker of Speaking Truth to Power
March 9, 2007 This week the
Senate Banking Committee has begun an investigation of credit card
companies and that industry's lending practices of which Chairman,
Carl Levin of Michigan said, "Millions of families...are kept in
debt and are in over their heads not just because of their own
purchases...but because of the abusive practices and excesses of the
credit card companies."
full story...
Congress Takes Up Complaints on Credit Cards
by Jack Speer, All Things Considered, NPR
March 7, 2007
Executives from major U.S. banks were on the hot
seat in Congress Wednesday over credit-card fees and penalties. One
bank executive apologized to an aggrieved customer at the hearing.
He said that in his case, the bank had simply blown it...
full story
Young
Borrowers Face A Life of Debt
By G. Pascal Zachary, AlterNet.
November 18, 2006 Financial
insecurity is one of the staples of American life, and fuel for our
nation's politics as well as cable TV shows. Once the elderly
worried endlessly about money matters, athough now people over 65
count as the wealthiest group of Americans. Rather, today the
biggest worriers about what's euphemistically called our "financial
future" are the young, and especially people under 25 years old.
full
story...
Use Dr. Robert D. Manning's free & simple online calculator
to see how much you are really paying and long it will take you to
pay your entire debt.
Visit the 'In
Debt We Trust' blog regularly for current information and
reviews of current relevant affairs..
The Mortgage Lender
Implode-O-Meter - tracking the housing finance breakdown.
DOWNLOAD AND FOLLOW THESE TOP TEN TIPS (PDF) for
surviving in Credit Card Nation, from Dr. Robert D. Manning, the
nation's leading expert on this topic. You can begin to make the
small changes in the use of consumer credit that can have a
long-term, beneficial impact on your life.
Stay informed and up-to-date with Dr. Robert D. Manning's
research projects and up-to-date information on the changing
practices of the credit card industry.
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is concerned with the political, cultural and social impacts of the
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and diverse perspectives and inspire debate, collaboration, action
and citizen engagement.
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