Imagine an eBay auction for $20 billion. That's what the Federal Reserve conducted this week to pump cash into our struggling financial system. Banks gobbled the money up at a high penalty rate of 4.65%. Jill Barshay reports.
Five New England banks are pledging $100 million to help certain homeowners battling subprime. But Stacey Vanek-Smith reports the program does pose a risk to home equity, and some think it doesn't go far enough.
The Fed's Board of Governors has endorsed new rules to protect home buyers from shady lending practices. But critics are wondering where the Fed's been since August. Nancy Marshall Genzer reports.
Construction of new single-family homes hit a 16-year low last month, according to a Commerce Department report this morning. Amy Scott reports this could affect many other industries well into next year.
The Senate today passed a bill that would allow the federal government to back larger refinanced loans and help first-time borrowers. The bill's supporters are hoping it will jump-start the sagging housing market. Nancy Marshall Genzer reports.
The world's biggest bank has done something very unusual. It has voluntarily taken $49 billion in potential liabilities and put them on its balance sheet. Jill Barshay reports.
It's not just mortgage holders that suffer when they can't make their payments. Tess talks to Aleksandra Todorova about what happens when your landlord can't pay the bills.
The Fed, the White House and Congress have all put forward their plans to clean up the mortgage mess. Marketplace's Bob Moon asks if any of it will do the trick.
The city of New Orleans is planning to demolish four huge public housing developments to make way for new, more expensive buildings. Activists say the new New Orleans may not be making enough room for the poor. Jeff Tyler reports.
