A year into the worst foreclosure crisis since the Depression, the House only now is getting serious about a foreclosure prevention bill. It is bad enough that it will be weeks or months or next year before Congress actually passes a final relief measure.

Tess Vigeland: Our economics editor Chris Farrell is here for the audio op-ed we call the Straight Story and Chris, home foreclosures, as we know, are at record levels these days and of course, the timing couldn't be worse because about three years ago,...

Despite a stinging defeat in the Senate, consumer and civil rights advocates are continuing the fight for legislation to let struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure in bankruptcy court. More than 30 national groups sent letters to House members Tuesday,...

Sherrie Floyd says she was able to handle the first reset on the $505,000 mortgage she had taken out to refinance her Vallejo, Calif., home. And the second. But this month, when the mortgage reset for the third time -- driving her monthly payment to more...

Democrats crafting a broad government housing rescue are under pressure from liberal groups to push more aggressive measures that would force lenders to let homeowners facing foreclosure restructure their mortgages. A growing chorus of labor, civil...

With foreclosures running at about 20,000 per week, at least 100,000 more families are likely to lose their homes before Congress passes a relief bill. And even then, the measure may fail to stanch the problem unless Congress comes up with something that...

The news about housing continues to get scarier. Foreclosures were up more than 50% in 2007 and are expected to rise again this year. Home prices have fallen about 12%, not out of the ordinary for any local market but huge nationally. The gloomiest...

Congress is on the hot seat to ease the home foreclosure crisis, but a bipartisan bill before the U.S. Senate this week doesn't come close to doing the job. The legislation provides little real help to the growing ranks of homeowners facing foreclosure....

In recent months, a lot of people have been handed financial get-out-of-jail-free cards. C.E.O.s who presided over billions in losses have walked away with tens of millions in compensation. The Federal Reserve has showered cheap money on banks and...

In response to bankruptcy measures that would help more than half a million families beingrndropped for the Senate housing package, the following 15 civil rights, consumer and housing groups - Center for Responsible Lending, Leadership Conference on...

Senate Democrats and Republicans on Wednesday, April 2, reached a tentative deal on legislation addressing the national housing crisis, but omitted a foreclosure provision U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said would keep thousands of families in their...

There is no shortage of proposals in Congress to address the housing crisis: the Depression-era Federal Housing Administration is up for a makeover, and there are other plans to ease the stress of pricey mortgages. Under veto threat is a proposal that...

Federal bankruptcy courts currently offer only scant relief to homeowners who can't afford to pay their mortgages. That could change, if supporters of legislation that would allow bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages can muster enough votes in Congress...

The Ohio Senate today offered unanimous support for legislation sponsored by State Senator Bill Seitz (R-Dist. 8), which would give Ohioans impacted by the nation's foreclosure crisis and other tough economic conditions in the state an opportunity to...

Each day that Congress dallies, more people face the prospect of losing their homes. Foreclosures hit 1.5 million last year and could climb to 2 million during 2008. The number of homes entering foreclosure hit a record in the fourth quarter, and...

Seattle was the site of bitter irony growing out of the nation's steadily worsening home mortgage foreclosure crisis. In January, the city's mayor announced a modest foreclosure-prevention pilot program. A total of $200,000 was set aside to provide...

U.S. economic trends are so bleak that central bankers are uttering phrases rarely used in their muted lexicons, including "fragile market conditions" and "substantial risks." They've got plenty of reasons to be glum. February and January registered the...

The foreclosure crisis has shaken the nation’s economy, and the Bush administration’s response hasn’t inspired confidence. The White House, for the most part, has been content to let the market work itself out — no matter that millions of people...

In a speech on Tuesday, the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, observed that the upsurge in mortgage delinquencies is closely linked to falling prices, which have left many borrowers owing more on their houses than they are worth. With little or no...

t's hard to believe, but the problems set off by the collapse of the housing bubble keep getting worse. Housing prices have dropped so far that one in 10 homeowners owe more than their house is worth. And as prices fall and more borrowers are jolted by...

Many Americans are having trouble paying their mortgages. Foreclosures rose 75 percent in 2007, and the rise is continuing. Some homeowners simply can't afford the homes they bought, regardless of the mortgage terms. Lenders should foreclose on those...

With the nation's housing crisis getting worse and some 2 million American homeowners facing the loss of their homes, Congress and the Bush administration are scrambling for ways to slow the tide of foreclosures. Some proposals involve spending billions...

Senate Republicans this week thwarted efforts by their Democratic counterparts to vote on a housing stimulus bill that President Bush said would "bail out lenders and speculators." But that doesn't mean Congress is done trying. Democrats are likely to...

Some big banks are supporting new proposals to rescue homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth, but let’s get one thing straight: the banks haven’t been struck by a sudden urge to help the needy. Rather, by advocating...

Congressional leaders yesterday gathered support for aggressive changes to bankruptcy laws that would help troubled homeowners, even as the Bush administration threatened to veto the plan and emphasized its opposition to any program that would risk tax...