Finance Globe

President Obama held a town meeting on Thursday in Rio Rancho, New Mexico to discuss his plans for immediate reform of the credit card industry."It’s time for strong and reliable protections for our consumers. It’s time for reform that is built on transparency, accountability, and mutual responsibility – values fundamental to the new foundation we seek to build for our economy," President Obama said.The White House said in a statement, "Americans need a durable and successful...

Home sales in the first quarter of 2009 reflect that home buyers have been bargain hunting, according to a report released on Tuesday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).First-time home buyers accounted for half of all home purchases, and distress sales - foreclosures and short sales - also accounted for nearly half of all homes sales during this period, pushing down the median sales price.Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said some areas showed dramatic drops...

The Federal Trade Commission reported on Monday that it is investigating a California-based mortgage lender for violating the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) by pricing loans according to the applicant's race or nationality. According to the FTC’s complaint, Golden Empire Mortgage charged Hispanic home buyers higher prices for mortgage loans than non-Hispanic white home buyers - prices which could not be explained by the applicant's credit characteristics or underwriting risk. The FTC seeks to bar future...

There are so many ways to tell Mom this Sunday how much you love and appreciate her, but this year many of us are more budget-conscious than we have been in the past. Here are a few ideas on how to show her that you care without going into debt to do it:Give her a spa day.Every one deserves a little pampering now and then, and every mom would appreciate a massage, a pedicure/manicure or a...

American families continue to deal with the stress and pressures of job loss - and a total of 13.7 million unemployed workers.The Department of Labor report today that non-farm payroll employment continued to decline for April by 539,000 - bringing the unemployment rate up to 8.9%. 5.7 million jobs have been lost since the start of the recession in December 2007.Somehow, it was still considered good news since analysts had been predicting a loss of 630,000...

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday in prepared testimony that the economy is showing some signs of stabilizing and is likely to rebound later this year, and that the rate of inflation should stay low. But he also said that the road to recovery remains scattered with obstacles.Bernanke said that current labor market data suggests that we will continue to see "further sizable job losses and increased unemployment in the coming months."Consumer spending grew in...

President Obama outlined his $3.6 trillion budget for 2010 today and addressed that his administration has found 121 programs that can be reduced or eliminated to save American taxpayers nearly $17 billion next year alone."All across this country, Americans are responding to difficult economic times by tightening their belts and making tough decisions about where they need to spend and where they need to save," the president said. "The question the American people are asking is...

Today President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled a plan to curb tax havens, and replace the tax advantages that encourage businesses to shift jobs overseas with incentives for creating those jobs here at home.The Treasury said that in 2004 - the most recent year for which data is available - U.S. multinational corporations paid about $16 billion of U.S. tax on approximately $700 billion of foreign active earnings – an effective U.S. tax rate...

The number of people who filed for unemployment insurance benefits for the first time dropped for the week ending April 25, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.Last week in the U.S., 631,000 initial jobless claims were filed, down 14,000 from a revised-up 645,000 from the week before. The four-week moving average of initial claims, down 10,750 from the previous week, was 637,250.The advance number for seasonally-adjusted insured unemployment during the week...

Getting behind on your house payments is a tough situation. It's best to tackle the problem before it get too far out of hand and your lender forecloses on your home. Take steps to try to save your home: Contact your lender ASAP. Prepare to contact your mortgage company as soon as you know there is a problem in making your payments on time. Lenders want to work with their borrowers to resolve problems with temporary...