OPINION: The Forgotten Millions
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More than three years after we entered the worst economic slump since the 1930s, a strange and disturbing thing has happened to our political discourse: Washington has lost interest in the unemployed.

As Remodeling Rebounds, Caveats for the Homeowner
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One part of the housing market is experiencing a rebound that will probably continue even if the rest of the market remains sluggish: remodeling.

Why to Know What a Home Seller Paid
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It’s often recommended that anyone considering bidding on a house research what the seller previously paid for that house. An academic paper on the subject of negotiation helps explain why this is a good practice for home buyers and also why potential home buyers may want to seek out homes where sellers paid below market prices.

Many Banks Are Clinging to Billions in Bailout Money
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Even as the nation’s biggest banks stepped further out of the government’s shadow on Friday, hundreds of financial institutions were still clutching to billions of taxpayers’ dollars.

U.S. mortgage rates fall
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Long-term mortgage rates fell significantly this week as investors turned to safe-haven investments such as U.S. Treasuries.

Why inflation hurts more than it did in the 80s
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Inflation spooked the nation in the early 1980s. It surged and kept rising until it topped 13 percent. These days, inflation is much lower. Yet to many Americans, it feels worse now. And for a good reason: Their income has been even flatter than inflation.

Attorneys general target mortgage servicers
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State attorneys general, who soon will enter settlement talks with the nation’s largest mortgage servicers after revelations of flawed foreclosure paperwork and other shoddy practices, will accept nothing less than wholesale changes to the way those companies treat troubled homeowners, the group’s leader said Wednesday.

Welcome to Debtors' Prison, 2011 Edition
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Some lawmakers, judges and regulators are trying to rein in the U.S. debt-collection industry's use of arrest warrants to recoup money owed by borrowers.

FDIC's Tab For Failed U.S. Banks Nears $9 Billion
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U.S. banking regulators have paid out nearly $9 billion to cover losses on loans and other assets at 165 failed institutions that were sold to stronger companies during the financial crisis. Payments so far have been smaller than FDIC officials anticipated.

U.S. Libor Probe Includes BofA, Citi, UBS
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A U.S. investigation of banks' possible manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, is focused in part on three institutions: Bank of America, Citigroup, and UBS.

Courier-Journal: Jefferson unemployment rate up in January
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Jefferson County’s unemployment rate rose to 11.2 percent in January from 10 percent in December, the state reported Thursday.

F.D.I.C. Sues Ex-Chief of Big Bank That Failed
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The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sued the former chief executive of Washington Mutual and two of his top lieutenants, accusing them of reckless lending before the 2008 collapse of what was the nation’s largest savings bank.

6 Banks Repay Bailouts; Program Nears Break-Even
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Six more banks repaid their government bailouts, bringing the bank capital program close to 99 percent recovery, the Treasury Department said Wednesday.

In Proposed Mortgage Fraud Settlement, a Gift to Big Banks
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Lurking in a proposed mortgage fraud settlement with the state attorneys general is a clause that could be worth billions for the big banks.

Gloomy homebuilder outlook improves slightly in March
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Homebuilders’ pessimistic outlook improved slightly this month, but it remains dim amid falling home prices and a weak pace of construction.

Quick fix? Geithner seeks speedy foreclosure pact with banks
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A comprehensive settlement between U.S. authorities and banks over alleged abuses of mortgage servicing needs to be reached quickly to help the housing market heal, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday.

Tax Tip: 6 facts about choosing the standard or itemized deductions
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A tax tip from IRS.gov: When filing your federal income tax return, taxpayers can choose to either take the standard deduction or to itemize their deductions. The IRS has put together the following six facts to help you choose the method that gives you the lowest tax.

9 Senators Seek to Delay Debit Card Fee Changes
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A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill on Tuesday that would delay a new federal regulation to lower the swipe fees that banks could charge merchants for processing debit card transactions.

Geithner Backs New Financing Approach for Mortgages
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Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner on Tuesday backed legislative efforts to create a new market for financing mortgages that would help wean the $10.6 trillion United States mortgage market from government support.

Freddie Mac’s Former Chief May Face S.E.C. Action
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The former chief executive of Freddie Mac may face a civil action as the government ramps up an investigation of disclosure practices at the mortgage finance giant and its sister company, Fannie Mae, people briefed on the investigation said.

How to prioritize which bills to pay
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If you're like most Americans, you pay plenty of bills every month. In addition to food, clothing and utilities, most people carry revolving (such as credit card) and non-revolving (such as mortgage) debt. The biggest debt homeowners carry usually is their mortgage. Many homeowners and renters alike carry both credit card and auto debts.

OPINION: Another Inside Job
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Count me among those who were glad to see the documentary “Inside Job” win an Oscar. The film reminded us that the financial crisis of 2008, whose aftereffects are still blighting the lives of millions of Americans, didn’t just happen — it was made possible by bad behavior on the part of bankers, regulators and, yes, economists.

First-time home buyers set aside fears
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Everybody knows that the one-two punch of the recession and falling home values has convinced potential homeowners to keep renting instead of buying their first houses. Well, Brittany McLamb says "everybody" has it wrong.

Metro economies grow but job growth slow
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The economies of the biggest U.S. metropolitan areas began to grow again by the end of last year, but the recovery was "slow, uneven and inconsistent" and failed to spur much jobs growth, according to a study by the Brookings Institute released on Monday.

Self-employed people finding it harder to get home mortgages
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While the housing market is past the housing bust which had struck the U.S. economy after recession in 2008, it is still not easy to get a home loan. As compared to the period before recession, when getting a loan was not too difficult once you just filled the applications, people now have to file a lot of paperwork for getting one.

More Loan-Modification Options for the ‘Underwater’
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The F.H.A. program — called Short Refi — requires major concessions from lenders, which must agree to write off at least 10 percent of the principal balance, and from investors, who, if they own the mortgage, must also agree to the deal.

New Worries for Buyers Seeking Mortgages
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The dread of not finding a lender after the market collapsed in 2009 has been replaced by uncertainty, confusion and frustration. According to brokers and lenders, the list of demands that stand between finding a place to buy and signing on the dotted line simply never stops morphing.

LETTERS: Of MERS and Mortgages
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When the MERS name appears on the mortgage instrument and borrowers sign their mortgage documents at the closing, the borrowers have contractually agreed to have MERS as the mortgagee.

A Swift Deal May Not Be a Sound One
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ONE crucial reason the nation’s mortgage industry ran itself — and the entire nation — off the rails was its obsession with speed. Mortgages had to be approved chop-chop, loans pooled instantly. When it came to foreclosure, well, the quicker the better.