CNNMoney - Special Report Mortgage Meltdown, Last Updated: November 20, 2008: 6:01 PM ET

By halting evictions, the mortgage giants get time to implement a recent rescue plan.

foreclosures rescue plan. courtesy of foreclosure-support.com

By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have directed their network of servicers to halt all foreclosure and eviction proceedings between Nov. 26 2008 and Jan. 9, 2009, meant to give a recently announced rescue plan time to work.

The Streamlined Modification Program, set to launch Dec. 15, enables delinquent borrowers to get a modified mortgage that lowers payments to no more than 38% of their gross incomes.

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Special Report Mortgage Meltdown, November 14, 2008: 3:44 AM ET

A new housing rescue plan from the administration targets some of the most troubled homeowners.

A new housing rescue plan courtesy of raceins.com

By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Mortgage giants Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac may back 30 million mortgages. But that doesn’t mean that the new foreclosure prevention program announced this week by the Bush administration will rescue every troubled borrower on their books.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which took control of Fannie (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie (FRE, Fortune 500) in September, together with Hope Now, the coalition of lenders, servicers, investors and community groups, designed the plan to help some of the most at-risk homeowners.

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IHT - Published: October 29, 2008

The Federal Reserve building in Washington. courtesy of Larry Downing/Reuters

By Edmund L. Andrews

WASHINGTON: The Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point on Wednesday, its second big rate cut this month, as policy makers tried to fend off what could be the worst economic downturn in decades.

The move brought the target rate for federal funds — the interest rate at which banks lend to each other overnight — to 1 percent, down to the near-record lows reached in 2003 and 2004, when the Fed was trying to encourage an economic recovery after the bursting of the Internet bubble. The central bank left open the possibility of going still lower, warning “downside risks to growth remain.”

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CNNMoney - Special Report Issue #1: America’s Money - Every day on CNN, Last Updated: October 27, 2008: 11:17 AM ET

Three years after the passing of new legislation aimed at reducing personal bankruptcies, 2008 filings approach the one-million mark.

courtesy of safety4all.ca

By Jessica Dickler, CNNMoney.com staff writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — In 2005, Congress passed a bill aimed at reducing the number of personal bankruptcy filings. But that was before a housing meltdown, a credit crunch and a global economic downturn.

In the midst of the financial crisis, more and more Americans are filing for bankruptcy. And experts say the numbers are likely to get worse.

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Businessweek - Investing October 26, 2008, 8:40PM EST

A bounce off recent lows? Another plunge through key support levels? A long slog near current prices? Experts tell BW strategies for each

courtesy of videogame2play.com

By David Bogoslaw

For most people, this feels like a very uncertain and dangerous time to be invested in the stock market. Even as the U.S. government becomes more clear about the capital infusions earmarked for a growing number of banks, and credit spreads show encouraging signs of narrowing, equity market volatility continues to head skyward. There appears to be little buying to counter overwhelming selling pressure by hedge and other funds desperate for cash to cover impending redemptions.

Making things even more treacherous for stock investors are a heap of unknowns—from how effective the worldwide financial rescue efforts will prove to be, to the duration and depth of the recession that is taking hold of the global economy.

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Businessweek - News October 15, 2008, 9:39PM EST

Many argue that after the $250 billion bank capital injection the government must then stem the surge in foreclosures

courtesy of modelboats.me.uk

By Jane Sasseen

The financial system, perhaps, has been saved. Now, what about homeowners?

So far, attempts to slow the foreclosure epidemic at the center of the crisis have had little impact. Despite “voluntary” industrywide efforts to rework troubled mortgages—efforts that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson jawboned banks and mortgage servicers into undertaking last fall—the numbers continue to soar. In 2008 some 1.69 million homeowners will lose their houses—double the rate of two years ago, says Rod Dubitsky, managing director for asset-backed securities at Credit Suisse (CS). He thinks 3.6 million more foreclosures could pile up through 2012.

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CNNMoney - SPECIAL REPORT AMERICA’S MONEY CRISIS, Last Updated: October 8, 2008: 4:10 PM ET

As the most serious credit crisis in decades rocks your finances, you’ve got to have questions. Here are the answers.

courtesy of theage.com.au Illustration: John Spooner

By Stephen Gandel and Paul J. Lim

Back in January, when it first became clear the economy and the markets were in for a rough patch, the consensus forecast was that we’d have seen the worst of it by now.

Perhaps you put a bit more cash in the bank, trimmed the fat from your budget and tweaked your 401(k) allocations, but otherwise you were confident you could stay the course.

Then came the extraordinary events of September: the government’s seizure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and rescue of American International Group; the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and pending sale of Merrill Lynch; the first money market fund loss in more than a decade; a series of bank fire sales; and a politically charged federal bailout plan that could carry a $700 billion price tag. You can’t help but wonder what all this means to you.

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