Interest Rates

The Obama administration's new plan to stimulate refinancings of FHA mortgages is likely to help large numbers of homeowners — even those who are deeply underwater — cut their monthly costs by switching to a loan with a rate below 4%. Here's a quick overview of the "streamline refi" program and what it will take for you to qualify. First, the baseline criteria: Your current home loan must be FHA-insured and must have been put on the Federal Housing Administration's books no later than May 31, 2009.

WASHINGTON - The battle over President Obama's plan to keep interest rates low on federal student loans escalated Tuesday as Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic proposal to tax higher-income individuals to pay for it. Republicans also want to avoid raising the rate on college loans, but would pay for it by eliminating a public health fund in Obama's new healthcare law. The stalemate comes as both parties turn routine legislative votes...

The alarm over potential bank runs in Greece and Spain this week has highlighted an often-overlooked fact: Europe's debt crisis is also, in many ways, a major banking crisis. In capitals such as Athens, Madrid and Rome, large portions of the sovereign debt racked up by spendthrift governments are owed to the countries' own banks, locking governments and the banks in an embrace so tight that disaster for one would almost certainly spell doom for the other. International bailouts for Greece, Ireland and Portugal have helped to keep not just their governments but also their banks afloat, as well as financial institutions in other parts of Europe with large exposure to those nations' debts.

This is a story of persistence. In the case of Miriam Ramirez, it's the story of trying to obtain a much-needed loan modification from Bank of America. In BofA's case, it's the story of giving a mortgage customer the runaround for two years . Loan modifications have been an increasingly nettlesome issue as millions of homeowners struggle to make mortgage payments during the economic slump. The Obama administration has called upon banks to be more diligent in assisting customers prior to foreclosing on properties.

The most ambitious federal mortgage program to date aimed at millions of underwater homeowners is poised to take off in the coming two weeks, yet some key issues could hinder borrower participation. One of them involves something most owners know nothing about: Who was your mortgage insurer on your underwater loan? Though it was announced by the Obama administration late last year, "HARP 2.0" — the second version of the Home Affordable Refinance Program — will finally hit full stride around the middle of this month, when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac finish tweaking their automated underwriting systems to accept applications, and lenders and mortgage insurance companies start handling large volumes of requests.

First of three parts Tiffany Lee wanted a car. She was weary of the two-hour bus ride to her job at a UCLA Health System clinic. She hated having to ask friends to drive her 7-year-old son to his asthma treatments. But as a single mother with three children, bad credit and a $27,000-a-year salary, she couldn't find a bank or dealership willing to give her a loan. Then a friend steered her to Repossess Auto Sales in Hawthorne. Another buyer might have balked at the deal she was offered.

Refinancing today is not the same game it was a few years ago, when homeowners with even a modest amount of equity and just so-so credit could score a great loan. You now need good credit, lots of equity and very little outside debt. "These are very traditional lending standards, but they're going to come as a shock to anybody who has only been in the market for the past 10 years," said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH Associates, a Pompton Plains, N.J., publisher of loan information.

Mexico's central bank surprised analysts and slashed interest rates by three-quarters of a point. The Bank of Mexico defended its decision, arguing in a statement that the worsening global economic crisis, especially in the industrialized world, "is significantly affecting financial markets, capital flows and the development of emerging economies." Friday's action brought interest rates to 6.75%.

Dear Liz: I graduated from college last summer and was lucky enough to get full-time employment. However, I have a great deal of college debt, including private and federal loans. Are there government programs that help pay back college loan debt? Do you have any suggestions? I cringe at the thought of paying double what I owe over the life of the loan because of interest and want to get this debt under control in the next few years instead of 15. Answer: Your eagerness to pay off your student loan debt is admirable and is particularly appropriate when it comes to your private student loans.

Taiwan's commercial banks recently engaged in a game of chicken with the Central Bank of China and lost. Now they are paying the consequences in the form of higher interest rates and tightened loan practices. But the transition to doing business under a central bank determined to rein in credit and ease inflationary pressure will not be easy for either Taiwan's banks or the customers they serve. The three provincial government-run banks, which claim a 30% market share among commercial banks, finally buckled under central bank pressure in late April and raised interest rates on deposits and loans for the first time since the central bank raised reserve requirements April 1 as part of its anti-inflation campaign.

WASHINGTON - As lawmakers return to the Capitol this week, Congress will launch into a summer of political gamesmanship that will turn floor fights into proxy battles for the presidential campaign. The votes will do little to resolve crucial issues facing the country. But they will establish themes that help define President Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, in the minds of voters. Democrats will seek to portray Republicans as protecting the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

WASHINGTON — Without the unprecedented stimulus actions by the federal government triggered by the 2008 financial crisis, the Great Recession might still be going on, according to a study by Fitch Ratings. Those incentives, however, came with a price: accelerated budget deficits and rock-bottom interest rates that hurt savers, according to the credit rating company. Still, the $700-billion bailout fund, the $831-billion stimulus package and the Federal Reserve's near-zero interest rates, among other federal efforts, continue to spur the nation's economy, the study released Wednesday concludes.

WASHINGTON - Setting the stage for another showdown with the Obama administration, Republicans in the House on Friday narrowly passed legislation to prevent a rate hike on student loans - to be paid for with funds from the nation's new healthcare law. Democrats objected to raiding a public health and disease prevention fund to pay for keeping loan interest rates low, calling it an attack on women and children who benefit from the health programs....

WASHINGTON -- As the battle intensifies over keeping student loan interest rates low, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the Republican plan to gut a public health fund to pay for it “another assault on women's health.” Republicans want to eliminate what they call a “slush fund” established under the nation's new healthcare law to pay for keeping student loan rates low, and House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) has proposed taking $6 billion from the fund to pay for the costs of avoiding a loan rate hike this summer.

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John A. Boehner has vividly stepped up his attacks on President Obama, calling the president's visits to college campuses a blatant campaign pitch for reelection -- and "pathetic. " "This is beneath the dignity of the White House," Boehner said Thursday, calling on the administration to reimburse the president for taxpayer-funded travel this week. "It doesn't even pass the straight test, are you kidding me?" Congress is preparing for a new fight against Obama over keeping student loan interest rates low. Rates are set to double to 6.8% on July 1 unless Congress acts.

President Obama and congressional Democrats have leaped on the student loan issue as a partisan talking point, yet it's looking like the GOP has outflanked them. At issue is whether new recipients of a particular kind of financial aid for college, called subsidized Stafford loans, will pay twice the rate of interest on loans issued after July 1 as the ones issued now. Congress had passed a law in 2007 gradually reducing the rate from 6.8% to 3.4%, but the law expires in a little more than two months.

John Robert Aguirre stood forlornly at RPM Lenders on the edge of South-Central Los Angeles, slapping twenties onto the yellow countertop. He was a week late with his monthly payment, and the anxiety showed on his face. His loan has an annual interest rate of more than 100%. He'd put up his truck as collateral. A missed payment could result in the loss of his vehicle. "I'm a self-employed electrician," Aguirre, 41, told me as he finished counting out the bills. "If I don't have my truck, I can't work.

David Joyce marched his way to the front of the U.S. immigration line using his pocketbook, sinking half a million dollars into a Vermont ski resort. The British citizen had spent years in a futile effort to secure green cards for himself, his wife and their 9-year-old son so they could relocate to sunny Florida. Then, a fellow emigre tipped him off to a little-known federal program that helps foreigners gain permanent U.S. residency by investing in American businesses. Graphic: Number of investors' visas to U.S. "In six months, we had our green cards," said Joyce, 51. "Considering everything we've been through, this was easy.

The Federal Reserve, in a new economic projection, sees the unemployment rate easing to as low as 7.8% in the last three months this year from the current 8.2%, but economic growth this year may rise only to a middling pace of 2.4 to 2.9%. The central bank also said Wednesday that inflation was likely to be slightly higher than previously forecast, reflecting higher oil prices. But most Fed policymakers still expect to hit their inflation target of 2% this year and in the next two years.

WASHINGTON -- Top Federal Reserve officials, saying the economy is expanding moderately, reaffirmed their pledge to keep short-term interest rates at record lows through 2014. The Fed's statement Wednesday, after a two-day meeting in Washington, gave no indication that additional efforts to boost the economy were coming. The Fed's assessment of the economy overall was little changed from its statement issued after its last meeting, in mid-March. Officials reiterated Wednesday that the job market has improved in recent months but that unemployment remains high.   The latest statement, however, said for the first time that there are “some signs of improvement” in the housing sector, although it remains depressed.