Headline News Archive

2008

October

07

• AmEx rates credit risk by where you live, shop. As the global credit crunch reaches from Wall Street to Main Street, guilt by association has become a tool for evaluating the creditworthiness of American…

• Ford will let parents set speed limits for teens. Starting next year, Ford Motor will roll out a feature on many 2010 models that can limit teen drivers to 80 mph, using a computer…

• Fears of recession deepen as markets plunge. The collapse of stock markets worldwide Monday reflects deepening concerns that government intervention won't be enough to stave off a potentially severe global recession. "Recession…

06

• Dollar stores feel the pinch. A buck will still buy you a bottle of shampoo, two rolls of paper towels or four containers of generic breath mints at some dollar…

• Dollar has surprising strength in weak economy. Stock markets are swooning, credit markets remain frozen, and some foreign officials are predicting that the United States will lose its status as a financial…

• Countrywide borrowers to get mortgage aid. An estimated 125,000 Californians who are struggling with risky mortgages from Countrywide Financial Corp. may get their loans modified and payments reduced under a program…

• Wells Fargo, Citigroup in tug of war over Wachovia. Wachovia and Citigroup lawyers spent the weekend in state and federal courts, sparring about Wachovia's decision Friday to break off its engagement with Citigroup after…

• Economy: One hurdle down, many more to go. The extraordinary $700 billion financial rescue plan that President Bush signed into law Friday will begin the process of healing a battered financial system. But…

• Soluciones para una economía en crisis. En lugar de enfrentar tus finanzas con pesimismo ante la situación actual en la economía, busca estrategias prácticas para ahorrar un poco por todos lados…

• ¿Cuán seguro está tu dinero?. Sin duda, atravesamos la mayor crisis financiera en este país en muchas generaciones. Hemos visto desplomarse el mercado bursátil y tambalearse y caer gigantes como…

05

• A fiscal lesson for the ages. On a recent evening, about a dozen elegantly dressed ladies filed to the front of the auditorium at Bethany Presbyterian Church in Gaithersburg to sing…

• Current crunch puts squeeze on credit. Consumers are not just having a tougher time getting auto loans and mortgages. The credit crunch and weak economy also are taking a toll on…

• The shrinking nest egg. Stash your 401(k) statements in the drawer. The third quarter was one of bailouts, near-collapses and takeovers on Wall Street that left many mutual funds…

• $10.1-trillion national debt? Let's cut taxes!. Even before the current financial crisis, a federal budget deficit of nearly $500 billion was projected for next year. Now an additional $700 billion has…

04

• Rescue sweetened with tax incentives. The House of Representatives yesterday approved $107 billion in tax breaks for businesses and consumers as part of a sweeping financial rescue package designed to…

• New law seeks to limit executive compensation. In the first significant attempt by Congress to legislate executive pay, the $700 billion financial rescue plan signed into law yesterday includes efforts to rein…

• What the FHA needs to get the job done. In the current credit squeeze, if you have less than a 20 percent down payment, there's pretty much only one major source of mortgage financing…

• Capital One must repay $340,000 to bankrupt debtors. An auditor will review 650,000 Capital One credit card accounts to ensure that money improperly collected from people whose debts were already discharged in bankruptcy…

03

• California may need emergency $7 billion loan. California may need an emergency loan of up to $7 billion from the federal government within weeks, the Los Angeles Times on Friday quoted Gov.…

• Rescue package may not thaw credit markets. As hopes rise for congressional passage today of a massive rescue plan for the U.S. financial system, many financial experts are already wondering: What is…

• Wells Fargo to acquire Wachovia. In an abrupt change of course, Wachovia Corp. said today it agreed to be acquired by Wells Fargo & Co. in a $15.1 billion all-stock…

• Jobs report underlines economic decline. The government is out with more bad economic news this morning: The job market began to deteriorate even before the financial crisis reached a more…

02

• The credit crunch spreads. The credit crunch hit 2640 Merchant Drive in Baltimore in September when Drew Greenblatt asked his bank for a $175,000 increase in the line of…

• FHA program for struggling homeowners. The Bush administration rolled out a program yesterday that aims to help thousands of struggling borrowers refinance into more affordable, government-backed mortgages and thus provide…

• Road map to weather rocky times. In the 1950 movie "All About Eve," actress Bette Davis slyly uttered a memorable line: "Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy…