Ailing housing market hits former Treasury chief where he lives
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Few know better than former Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. how the struggling U.S. economy has battered home prices. As former President George W. Bush's top economic adviser, Paulson played a lead role battling the U.S. housing downturn and deep financial crisis it sparked. But last week it got personal.

States Try to Force Mortgage Workouts
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A few states are forcing banks to sit down with borrowers facing foreclosure and attempt to hammer out a settlement face to face rather than going to court.

Career Shift Often Means Drop in Living Standards
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Even the lucky ones are not so lucky, it seems. A new study of American workers displaced by the recession sheds light on the sacrifices a large number have made to find work. Many, it turns out, had to switch careers and significantly reduce their living standards.

America Is Waiting for the Economic Ripple Effect
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Fewer than 800,000 new housing units were built in 2009, and the number should be roughly the same this year. That’s the slowest pace by far in four decades. The glut should largely be history given such a glacial pace of construction. Yet rental and homeowner vacancies remain at elevated levels.

U.S. Unveils Plan to Sell Stake in Ally, Once GMAC
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The federal government said on Thursday that it was planning a complex transaction that would temporarily increase its ownership position in the former lending arm of General Motors to nearly three-fourths of the company while also paving the way to cash out its stake.

Major Banks Need Midsize Ones
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If big banks start failing again, what will replace them? In the United States and Europe, that is a question with unsatisfactory answers in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

Mortgage Assistance Tapers Off
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The number of troubled U.S. homeowners receiving assistance with their mortgages fell in the third quarter as the government's foreclosure-prevention effort tapered off.

House Appraisals Under Fire
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Some homeowners say the valuation method is too stingy, preventing them from refinancing or borrowing against their houses.

2010 worst year for bank failures since 1992
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Amid high unemployment, a struggling economy and a still-devastated real estate market, the nation is closing out the year with 157 bank failures, up from 140 in 2009. As recently as 2006, before the bubble burst, there were none.

Housing Recovery Stalls
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A new bout of declining home prices is threatening to hamper the U.S. recovery, just as consumers and the overall economy have been showing signs of healing.

GOP Shifts on Fannie, Freddie Overhaul
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As Republicans prepare to assume control of the House next week, they aren't in as big a rush to privatize mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, cautioning that withdrawing government support in the housing market should be gradual.

Hard Call for FDIC: When to Shut Bank
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More than 300 U.S. banks and savings institutions failed in the past four years. But there are huge differences in how sick they were when regulators seized them.

Consumer Confidence Slipped in December
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Consumer confidence in the United States unexpectedly deteriorated in December, while prices of single-family homes fell at almost double the expected pace in October, tempering growing optimism on the economy’s recovery.

‘Doubling Up’ in Recession-Strained Quarters
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For the three generations of the Maggi family crowded into a recession-beaten three-bedroom ranch house here, the tension from living on top of one another for the last 10 months sometimes erupts at unexpected moments.

Obama administration steps up monitoring of banks that miss TARP payments
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The moves come as the number of banks that failed to make at least one dividend payment to the government rose to 132 in the last quarter. These "deadbeats," as they are sometimes called, are virtually all community lenders and collectively received billions of dollars in taxpayer assistance.

U.S. Entices Big Banks in Canada
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Stephen Harper, the prime minister of Canada, is among the many Canadians who regularly remind the world that their country’s banking system was left largely unscathed by the global recession and credit market collapse because of its regulation and prudent management.

Ally to Pay Fannie Mae $462 Million
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Ally Financial said Monday that it would pay $462 million to settle buyback claims on $292 billion in home loans it sold to Fannie Mae before the industry tightened underwriting standards in the wake of the financial crisis.

Shoring Up Banks So None Fail
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Global regulators are expected to reach an agreement that would make a select group of megabanks hold higher levels of capital. That requirement will make them safer, while removing some of the benefit they get from being big. But eliminating the taxpayer guarantee enjoyed by large lenders will require more fundamental measures, which will take years to achieve.

Prepping foreclosed homes for resale can be hazardous
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Stolen appliances, oceans of junk and even the occasional abandoned cat – it's all part of the business of securing and fixing up foreclosed homes.

Getting Your House Sold in 2011
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If your New Year's resolution involves selling a home in 2011, you've got some work to do: There's lots of inventory out there. And in a buyer's market like this one, getting an offer on a home can be challenging.

New Rules of Finance: 'Thrift Is the New Black'
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After a few brutal years, promises of easy wealth ring hollow. That won't stop some people from trying to guarantee an easy path to riches, but I'll let you in on a secret: "Slow and steady wins the race" has never been truer than it is today.