News

2011

May

06

• Foes revise plan to curb new consumer agency. After losing a contentious battle last year over creating an agency to protect consumers against deceptive financial products, Republicans are fighting the battle again, determined to rein in the independence and financing of the agency.

05

• Five biggest auto insurance myths. No one likes to buy auto insurance. It’s complicated. It’s expensive. And who understands how the premiums are determined? Maybe that’s why there is so much misinformation about insurance coverage and pricing.

04

• U.S. sues Deutsche Bank, alleging mortgage fraud. U.S. prosecutors filed a civil suit Tuesday against Deutsche Bank, saying it repeatedly lied to the government and used shoddy lending standards that cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. The government’s fraud

April

14

• Regulators, mortgage servicers agree on reforms. Three federal agencies announced agreements with the nation’s largest mortgage servicers Wednesday that aim to stem shoddy foreclosure practices. But the plans do not immediately impose financial penalties on the companies or force them

13

• Data thieves target e-mail addresses. In the past four months, caches of customer e-mail addresses, not banking and credit card information, have become the key target of data thieves. The goal: Use the legitimate e-mail addresses and the specific companies

06

• Leading medical providers begin patient-data sharing. The ideal of computerizing patient records is captured in the words behind the government’s aspirational acronym, N.H.I.N., for Nationwide Health Information Network. The vision includes not only the efficient collection and

• Big changes proposed for Medicare. When House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan announced his plan to redefine Medicare, as part of a broader Republican budget proposal, he did not sketch in all the details. But the outlines make clear that his

05

• Wells Fargo, NAACP open financial literacy center. The NAACP and Wells Fargo opened a financial literacy center in the District on Monday, a project that stemmed from the settlement of a lawsuit that accused the lending giant of steering black borrowers into

01

• Rules proposed for health care delivery to older Americans. The Obama administration proposed rules Thursday for using the influential Medicare program to spur a controversial form of managed care emerging around the country that nudges doctors and hospitals to save money by coordinating treatment

• Los préstamos FHA siguen siendo la primera fuente de financiamiento para compradores de casa. Gracias a ser uno de los pocos patrocinadores de las hipotecas que requieren un pago inicial bajo en una época de estrictas garantías de préstamos, la Administración Federal de Vivienda (FHA, por

March

29

• You insured for the 'big one'?. The massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan will cost insurance companies billions of dollars. In seismically active California, though, just 12% of homes with fire insurance also have earthquake coverage, according to the California Earthquake

• GOP's plan to wind down Fannie, Freddie. A month-and-a-half after the White House announced its plan to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, House Republicans on Tuesday plan to introduce their own. According to congressional sources familiar with the matter, a

27

• Builders, banks offer free job-loss insurance to home buyers. Insurance programs that make borrowers' mortgage payments for up to six months if they lose their jobs during an initial one- to two-year coverage period are gaining popularity. Home builders are offering it to new

26

• Lenders' force-placed insurance increasingly common. Back in November, my bank sent my wife and me a letter asking that we provide proof of flood insurance for the condominium we own in Florida. We did. But three months later, we found

• Free job-loss insurance, anyone?. Homebuilders are offering it to new buyers, and some of the country’s largest banks and mortgage lenders think it’s a win-win idea for shaky economic times: insurance programs that make borrowers’ mortgage payments

25

• Balancing act for best insurance rates. When money is tight, it’s tempting to skimp on insurance coverage and hope that nobody sideswipes your car or breaks into your home. If disaster strikes, though, going without insurance could make it even

• Consumer bureau foes should look at banks. Elizabeth Warren, the Obama administration adviser assigned to set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said lawmakers looking to limit the agency’s authority should focus instead on the Wall Street “behemoths” aiming to undermine

24

• Appealing solution to health-care denials. Say what you want about health-care reform, but as with many other pieces of legislation that have been passed during the country’s recent economic hard times, we are getting some much-needed transparency on a

22

• Health-care reform law turns 1, what it does. Wednesday is the first birthday of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the law better known as health-care reform. Cake, I imagine, will not be served. As much as Democrats are trying to leverage

20

• Health insurers’ new prescription for profit. Here’s one change few were talking about when the health overhaul law passed: It’s sent insurers — worried the law could stunt profits and growth — looking for new types of business. Where are they