Finance Globe

The Treasury Department announced on Wednesday that Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, and Nevada - the five states hurt most by the housing downturn - can begin to use the $1.5 billion in the Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets ("The Hardest Hit Fund")."These states have identified a number of innovative programs that will make a real difference in the lives of many homeowners facing foreclosure," said Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial...

Unemployment rates were slightly lower in May across most of the nation, according to a report released today by the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).While 7 states reported no change in the unemployment rate, 37 states and the District of Columbia had a decrease and 6 states had an increase. The nationwide jobless rate in May decreased from the prior month by .2 percentage point to 9.7%, but was still above the 9.4%...

The Department of Labor announced on Tuesday awards of more than $9 million in nationwide grants for 'green" jobs training for veterans.Raymond Jefferson, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service, said that the 22 grants will provide training for thousands of veterans in 19 states and the District of Columbia.Jefferson said that the grants, provided under the department's Veterans' Workforce Investment Program, will "give an estimated 4,000 veterans who have...

Homebuyers are choosing smaller homes than they had been in the previous year, according to a report released on Monday by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).The NAHB analyzed data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau to find that the nationwide average for new single-family homes dropped to 2,438 square feet in 2009.This comes after a long pattern of homes getting bigger and bigger - the size of homes increased has increased continually since...

The amount of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds paid back to taxpayers has exceeded the amount of TARP funds outstanding, the U.S. Treasury Department reported on Friday.The Treasury reports that through the end of May, TARP repayments have reached a total of $194 billion (there's $190 billion outstanding). TARP repayment officially surpassed the amount owed when the Treasury completed the sale of 1.5 billion shares of Citigroup, which provided $6.18 billion to taxpayers."TARP repayments have...

A so-called extended auto warranty company has been ordered to stop pitching their services upon allegations by the Federal Trade Commission that their product is misleading and deceptive to consumers.A temporary restraining order has been issued against Fereidoun "Fred" Khalilian and his company, The Dolce Group Worldwide, LLC, d/b/a My Car Solutions. The FTC filed a complaint on June 2, 2010 against Khalilian and his Florida-based telemarketing operation promoting the extended warranty program, alleging that since...

Two mortgage firms, Countrywide and Bank of America, have agreed to pay $108 million to settle charges that they misled and overcharged troubled homeowners who were falling behind on their mortgage payments, according to a report released by the Federal Trade Commission on Monday.The dollar amount represents one of the largest judgements imposed in an FTC case, and the largest case involving mortgage servicing. The $108 million settlement will go directly back to reimburse the consumers...

Residential mortgage delinquencies homes rose for the first quarter 2010 to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 10.06% of all loans outstanding, according to the National Delinquency Survey released last week by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Unadjusted, the rate of delinquencies fell from 10.44% in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 9.38% in the first quarter of 2010.The survey includes loans for residences of one-to-four unit homes, and considers loans to be delinquent when there is at...

The Federal Trade Commission announced today that approximately 3,500 consumers who paid for phony work-at-home scams will be sent checks worth a total of $95,000 in redress. The victims of the scam were misled by mass-mailings sent out by a company called EDI Healthclaims, the FTC said. Representatives of the "home-based business opportunity" tricked consumers into believing that they could work at home for healthcare providers by electronically processing medical billing for insurance reimbursement, according to...

As the deep recession brought about severe job losses among workers, families have been struggling to manage on less income and cut costs in every way possible. And many Americans have dealt with a tough situation by reducing the biggest expense for any family - maintaining a separate household.According to a study released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), 1.2 million households were lost during the period from 2005 to 2008 even though the population increased...