Finance Globe

The U.S. Treasury Department today unveiled the details of the "Making Home Affordable" loan modification program."Only two weeks after the President unveiled his plan to help promote homeowner affordability, we are moving forward today with these guidelines to implement that plan," HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said. "This step forward represents a tremendous coordinated effort between major government and regulatory agencies to help bring relief to America's housing market and homeowners. This plan will help make home...

The first month of the year saw a decline in pending home sales, according to a report released today by the National Association of Realtors.The pending home sales index for January at 80.4 fell 7.7% from a downwardly revised reading of 87.1 in December. The index is also 6.4% below January 2008 when it was 85.9. The index is at the lowest level since the NAR began tracking pending home sales in 2001 when the index...

Citigroup announced on Tuesday that the company has introduced the Citi Homeowner Unemployment Assist program. This is the latest program offered under Citi Homeowner Assistance, a multi-faceted program to help people avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes."Citi understands that unemployment is a major concern facing the American economy right now, and it especially worries mortgage holders," the company said in a statement. The program is designed to help recently unemployed homeowners who are currently delinquent...

The Federal Trade Commission - the nation's consumer protection agency against fraud - reported on Thursday that identity theft was the number one consumer complaint for the ninth year in a row.Of the 1,223,370 complaints in 2008 to the FTC, the Better Business Bureau, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other agencies, 313,982 - or 26% - were related to identity theft.The next most frequent complaints were debt collection practices at 9%, fraud relating to shop...

It's apparent that many factors contributed to the economic crisis, but one of the biggest problems "was that our economy was left exposed regulations that were out of date and regulators who weren't minding the store."On Wednesday, President Obama laid out seven key principles for transforming the nation's regulatory system:Enforce strict oversight of financial institutions that pose systemic risksStrengthen markets so they can withstand both system-wide stress and the failure of one or more large institutionsEncourage...

The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009, signed into law last week by President Obama, provided $13.61 billion for projects and programs administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD announced on Wednesday that nearly 75% of those funds - $10.1 billion - has already been allocated to create green jobs, to revive housing markets with a high rate of foreclosure, and curb homelessness. "I am pleased to announce that we...

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009 - A breakdown of the stimulus package spendingThe $787 billion stimulus package signed into law by President Obama last week:Tax relief: $288 billion total, including $15 billion for infrastructure and science, $61 billion for protecting the vulnerable, $25 billion for education and training, and $22 billion for energy. State and local fiscal relief: $144 billion to prevent state and local cuts to health and education programs and state and local...

In his weekly address this morning, President Obama said that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will start to impact families "as soon as a few weeks from now" through the quickest and broadest tax cut in history. He said that 95% of working families will receive a tax cut that amounts to about $65 or more each month. The Treasury Department has been instructing employers to reduce the amount of tax withholding from paychecks, and...

The continuing slide on Wall Street reflects growing concerns that Obama's $787 billion stimulus package, a $75 billion foreclosure prevention plan, and up to $2 trillion to stabilizing banks and to support lending just won't be enough to stop the downward economic spiral.The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped on Friday, closing at a six-year low as investors weighed rumors that Bank of America and Citibank could end up becoming nationalized. The Dow has been beaten down...

As students and their families search for ways to pay for the ever-increasing cost of college, they'll find that there are plenty of legitimate sources of funding to help them pay for education costs. And there are legitimate companies that can help with some of the legwork in finding those funding sources. Unfortunately, the Federal Trade Commission reports that many of these families are falling prey to unscrupulous companies that guarantee or promise scholarships, grants, or...