News

2011

March

19
  • Health plans for people with pre-existing conditions. Six years ago, Jerry Garner, 45, a real estate agent in Gowen, Mich., underwent a kidney transplant. He recovered nicely, and thanks to diligent adherence to his drug regimen and frequent checkups, he has been healthy
17
  • Elizabeth Warren defends consumer agency in mortgage talks. Federal consumer bureau head Elizabeth Warren made no apologies Wednesday for the new agency’s involvement in ongoing settlement negotiations with some of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers, whose widespread flawed foreclosure practices drew
16
  • Health Net faces second probe over lost personal data. A second California insurance regulator has announced plans to investigate insurer Health Net for losing computer records that contain Social Security numbers and other personal information of nearly 2 million current and former policyholders.
15
  • Not all rental cars are safe. Frequent business traveler Barry Maher avoids Chrysler PT Cruisers because "they seem so flimsy," but he otherwise doesn't consider safety ratings before choosing a rental car. Though Maher's intuition may be sound — the Insurance Institute
11
  • Major changes ahead for U.S. mortgage system. Fundamental changes are probably ahead for the American mortgage system as the federal government pushes to unwind its unprecedented involvement in the housing market. These changes could significantly raise the down payments demanded by lenders,
10
  • Health care coverage: Big changes in 2012. Come 2012, millions of Americans who get health care coverage through their employer should brace for some big changes. Charging higher contributions for dependent coverage and dropping retiree accounts, are among the steps companies are considering
08
06
03
  • Officials disagree on penalties for mortgage mess. Even as state attorneys general and regulators in Washington approach the end of their investigation into abuses by the nation’s biggest mortgage companies, deep disputes are emerging over how much to punish the banks
01
  • Obama offers more flexibility in health-care law. President Obama sought to defuse criticism of the new health-care overhaul Monday by saying he is willing to give states an earlier opportunity to opt out of certain key requirements - but only if they
  • Geithner wants housing finance overhaul bill. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is telling Congress that the Obama administration wants Congress to approve legislation overhauling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the nation's troubled housing finance giants, within two years. In remarks he planned

February

25
  • BofA's woes from Countrywide worsen. More than three years after Bank of America Corp. agreed to acquire Countrywide Financial Corp., the legal mess the bank inherited from the mortgage giant seems only to grow. It was no secret that the
24
  • Experian adds rental histories to credit reports. Renters who need to build their credit histories are getting a leg up from a major consumer credit-reporting firm. Experian is incorporating rental payment data from its recently acquired RentBureau unit into its traditional credit
17
  • States develop online shopping systems for health insurance. The Obama administration awarded $241 million in grants to seven states to develop new Internet-based systems that would let many Americans shop for health insurance online. These so-called exchanges, a key foundation of the health overhaul
15
  • Beyond Fannie and Freddie. The report on Friday on “Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market” left me feeling downright giddy. While the report is hardly a finished plan for Freddie Mac (the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) and Fannie
  • Most uninsured Californians could gain health coverage. Nearly 5 million uninsured Californians could gain access to health coverage in 2014 when the nation's healthcare law expands eligibility for subsidized insurance programs for the poor, according to a new report. At that time, more than
10
  • Fighting for Fannie, Freddie. To many Republicans and the Obama administration, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government's mortgage giants, are ill. But rather than healing them, both sides agree that the companies should be left to die and
08
  • Marry again: Financial planning a must. Life used to be so simple a generation or two ago. A mother, father and their kids, all living together under one roof. But now, the makeup of the American household has supernovaed into a
  • U.S. should step back from mortgage business. A group of Wall Street professionals meeting here Monday posed a central question facing the Obama administration: How do taxpayers get off the hook for supporting new home loans without doing damage to the struggling
 

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