Posts Tagged ‘subprime lending’

Bankrate.com highlights the major-party presidential candidates’ stances on the subprime meltdown. Romney, Huckabee, and McCain favor a light touch, perhaps freezing interest rates or offering some aid to borrowers. But they are vague as to what, if anything, they would do. Paul favors a return the gold standard and the abolition of the Federal Reserve.
Democrats [...]

I guess better late than never. The NYTimes is reporting that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened criminal inquiries into 14 companies as part of a wide-ranging investigation of the troubled mortgage industry. The F.B.I. is supposedly looking into possible accounting fraud, insider trading or other violations in connection with loans made to borrowers [...]

In today’s StarTribune there is an opinion piece by Steve Chapman in which he complains that many of the solutions coming out for the subprime mess are misguided because “they punish lenders for the failings of borrowers. Why should someone who has kept the terms of a contract be penalized for the benefit of [...]

While it is good news that the government will not bail out lenders, President Bush’s announcement today of his plan to deal with subprime loans. As it turns out, the plan is pretty limited. The only borrowers who will be able to take advantage are those whose adjustable-rate mortgage has not yet adjusted. The plan [...]

With the Bush Administration working on a plan to assist subprime borrowers who are facing trouble, there has been a lot of discussion about the merits of the idea. Certainly one thing that we need to watch is who gets rescued. The details leaked so far indicate that the relief will only go to homeowners [...]

It is no news flash that subprime borrowers are having trouble paying back their loans, but this graph showing the number of delinquent subprime loans (60 days or more overdue, in this case) is a bit shocking. The curve has gone vertical! Whoops.
In stark contract are the number of delinquent prime loans, which have remained [...]

Speaking of bankruptcy, the five (at least) subprime lenders now in bankruptcy should perhaps observe their own obligations more closely. These lenders are pretty much in the same position as the freewheeling, irresponsible borrowers who file bankruptcy as often as possible that the credit industry likes to complain about. These lenders made tens, hundreds, or [...]