From the desk of:
Rich Storey
Mortgage Advisor
615-260-8028
Credited to: www.Yahoo.com
10 Ways to Be Happier
How happy are you -- really? If there’s room for improvement, then Gretchen Rubin has some suggestions.
1. Don’t start with profundities.When I began my Happiness Project, I realized pretty quickly that, rather than jumping in with lengthy daily meditation or answering deep questions of self-identity, I should start with the basics, like going to sleep at a decent hour and not letting myself get too hungry. Science backs this up; these two factors have a big impact on happiness. Learn how to Get a Good Night's Sleep.
2. Do let the sun go down on anger.I had always scrupulously aired every irritation as soon as possible, to make sure I vented all bad feelings before bedtime. Studies show, however, that the notion of anger catharsis is poppycock. Expressing anger related to minor, fleeting annoyances just amplifies bad feelings, while not expressing anger often allows it to dissipate. (See 16 Ways to Manage Your Anger from Real Simple)
3. Fake it till you feel it.Feelings follow actions. If I’m feeling low, I deliberately act cheery, and I find myself actually feeling happier. If I’m feeling angry at someone, I do something thoughtful for her and my feelings toward her soften. This strategy is uncannily effective.
4. Realize that anything worth doing is worth doing badly.Challenge and novelty are key elements of happiness. The brain is stimulated by surprise, and successfully dealing with an unexpected situation gives a powerful sense of satisfaction. People who do new things — learn a game, travel to unfamiliar places — are happier than people who stick to familiar activities that they already do well. I often remind myself to “Enjoy the fun of failure” and tackle some daunting goal.
5. Don’t treat the blues with a “treat.”Often the things I choose as “treats” aren’t good for me. The pleasure lasts a minute, but then feelings of guilt and loss of control and other negative consequences deepen the lousiness of the day. While it’s easy to think, I’ll feel good after I have a few glasses of wine…a pint of ice cream…a cigarette…a new pair of jeans, it’s worth pausing to ask whether this will truly make things better.
6. Buy some happiness.Our basic psychological needs include feeling loved, secure, and good at what we do and having a sense of control. Money doesn’t automatically fill these requirements, but it sure can help. I’ve learned to look for ways to spend money to stay in closer contact with my family and friends; to promote my health; to work more efficiently; to eliminate sources of irritation and marital conflict; to support important causes; and to have enlarging experiences. For example, when my sister got married, I splurged on a better digital camera. It was expensive, but it gave me a lot of happiness bang for the buck.
7. Don’t insist on the best.There are two types of decision makers. Satisficers (yes, satisficers) make a decision once their criteria are met. When they find the hotel or the pasta sauce that has the qualities they want, they’re satisfied. Maximizers want to make the best possible decision. Even if they see a bicycle or a backpack that meets their requirements, they can’t make a decision until they’ve examined every option. Satisficers tend to be happier than maximizers. Maximizers expend more time and energy reaching decisions, and they’re often anxious about their choices. Sometimes good enough is good enough.
8. Exercise to boost energy.I knew, intellectually, that this worked, but how often have I told myself, “I’m just too tired to go to the gym”? Exercise is one of the most dependable mood-boosters. Even a 10-minute walk can brighten my outlook. Try one of these 15-Minute Workouts.
9. Stop nagging.I knew my nagging wasn’t working particularly well, but I figured that if I stopped, my husband would never do a thing around the house. Wrong. If anything, more work got done. Plus, I got a surprisingly big happiness boost from quitting nagging. I hadn’t realized how shrewish and angry I had felt as a result of speaking like that. I replaced nagging with the following persuasive tools: wordless hints (for example, leaving a new lightbulb on the counter); using just one word (saying “Milk!” instead of talking on and on); not insisting that something be done on my schedule; and, most effective of all, doing a task myself. Why did I get to set the assignments?
10. Take action.Some people assume happiness is mostly a matter of inborn temperament: You’re born an Eeyore or a Tigger, and that’s that. Although it’s true that genetics play a big role, about 40 percent of your happiness level is within your control. Taking time to reflect, and conscious steps to make your life happier, really does work. So use these tips to start your own Happiness Project. I promise it won’t take you a whole year.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Good News about lending....
Cost of borrowing falls further
Interbank lending rates fall overnight. Treasury prices mixed with the 30-year bond declining on renewed confidence about the future.
The 3-month Libor rate dropped to 2.39% from 2.51% on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg.com. Thursday's rate is the lowest since Nov. 25, 2004, when it was also 2.39%.
The overnight Libor rate rose slightly, bouncing off an all-time low, to 0.33% from 0.32%. The rate had been falling for 7 days in a row.
Libor, the London Interbank Offered Rate, is a daily average of what 16 different banks charge other banks to lend dollars in the U.K. and is a key barometer of liquidity in the credit market.
Libor rates have been retreating since mid-October, when the Federal Reserve flooded 13 central banks around the globe with unlimited amounts of dollars.
Less than a month ago, 3-month Libor was at 4.82%, and the overnight rate was at an all-time high of 6.88%. Lower rates are a major boon for the troubled credit markets because more than $350 trillion in assets are tied to Libor.
"Banks are beginning to come into line," said Bob Brusca, economist at Fact and Opinion Economics in New York. "But the real question is the economy."
While banks are becoming more willing to lend to each other, they remain reluctant to lend to customers, which hampers economic activity, Brusca said.
"When economic conditions get bad, banks pull back. That makes economic conditions even worse, and banks pull back more. It's a vicious circle," he said.
Central banks world wide have taken unprecedented steps to shore up the economy amid growing sings of a global recession.
Interbank lending rates fall overnight. Treasury prices mixed with the 30-year bond declining on renewed confidence about the future.
The 3-month Libor rate dropped to 2.39% from 2.51% on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg.com. Thursday's rate is the lowest since Nov. 25, 2004, when it was also 2.39%.
The overnight Libor rate rose slightly, bouncing off an all-time low, to 0.33% from 0.32%. The rate had been falling for 7 days in a row.
Libor, the London Interbank Offered Rate, is a daily average of what 16 different banks charge other banks to lend dollars in the U.K. and is a key barometer of liquidity in the credit market.
Libor rates have been retreating since mid-October, when the Federal Reserve flooded 13 central banks around the globe with unlimited amounts of dollars.
Less than a month ago, 3-month Libor was at 4.82%, and the overnight rate was at an all-time high of 6.88%. Lower rates are a major boon for the troubled credit markets because more than $350 trillion in assets are tied to Libor.
"Banks are beginning to come into line," said Bob Brusca, economist at Fact and Opinion Economics in New York. "But the real question is the economy."
While banks are becoming more willing to lend to each other, they remain reluctant to lend to customers, which hampers economic activity, Brusca said.
"When economic conditions get bad, banks pull back. That makes economic conditions even worse, and banks pull back more. It's a vicious circle," he said.
Central banks world wide have taken unprecedented steps to shore up the economy amid growing sings of a global recession.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
2009 = "Year of the THAW"
From the desk of:
Rich Storey
Mortgage Advisor
615.260.8028
Credited to: www.CNNMoney.com
2009: Year of the thaw
Why the great credit freeze of 2008 won't turn into the Great Depression of 2009.
(Money Magazine) -- Well, we were partly right. At this time last year, we said that the stock market would be increasingly volatile in 2008, that home prices would fall further and that a subprime blowup could propel the economy downward.
But not in our wildest dreams did we foresee anything like the kind of jaw-dropping, stomach-churning ride that lay ahead. The economy in recession (as most experts now believe)? The Dow off 40%? Credit markets frozen worse than Sarah Palin's hometown? Precious few saw all that coming.
Peering into the future is tricky in the best of times. But even though predictions always turn out to be flawed - it's impossible for even the smartest experts to nail this stuff perfectly - you cannot build a future without first guessing what challenges you'll face on the way there.
History is your best guide. It has taught us that recessions tend to push inflation lower; that stocks usually recover before the economy does; and that jobs recover later. Most of all, history shows us that downturns don't last forever - and that it's when people are most disheartened that rebounds begin.
The economy
The prediction: The recovery will begin in the second quarter of the year.
As 2008 draws to a close, fears of a recession seem almost quaint. For many people spooked by the vicious credit crisis and the 2008 stock market meltdown, the real fear now is the D-word. Six in 10 Americans believe a depression is somewhat or very likely, according to a recent poll by CNN/Opinion Research Corporation.
Take a deep breath, people. The catastrophic 10% annual decline in economic output that marks a depression is simply not going to happen, according to even the most pessimistic mainstream economic forecasters. The gloomiest of the bunch aren't calling for anything remotely close to the crushing 25% unemployment rate seen during the Great Depression that began in 1929.
That's partly because back in the days when people were cooking up bathtub gin, the unprecedented actions taken by the U.S. and European governments this past fall to help stabilize the global financial system weren't even imaginable.
Still, few of us will feel like popping champagne corks in 2009. The consensus among nearly 50 economists polled each month by Blue Chip Economic Indicators is that a recession (officially defined as two or more consecutive quarters of declining gross domestic product) started in July and will continue throughout the first three months of 2009 (see the chart to the right).
The economists estimate that the economy - staggering under the credit crunch and one of the worst housing busts this nation has ever seen - will continue to shrink by 0.1% in the first quarter. It will then start growing again, but sluggishly. GDP growth is forecast to hit about 2.5% by the end of 2009, below the U.S. economy's long-term annual growth rate of about 3%.
But this recession, even if it's relatively short and shallow, is likely to leave you feeling queasy for quite some time after it's officially over. One reason: The unemployment rate is expected to keep rising throughout 2009, to 7% by the end of the year (see the chart). Many other economists think it could top 8%.
Rich Storey
Mortgage Advisor
615.260.8028
Credited to: www.CNNMoney.com
2009: Year of the thaw
Why the great credit freeze of 2008 won't turn into the Great Depression of 2009.
(Money Magazine) -- Well, we were partly right. At this time last year, we said that the stock market would be increasingly volatile in 2008, that home prices would fall further and that a subprime blowup could propel the economy downward.
But not in our wildest dreams did we foresee anything like the kind of jaw-dropping, stomach-churning ride that lay ahead. The economy in recession (as most experts now believe)? The Dow off 40%? Credit markets frozen worse than Sarah Palin's hometown? Precious few saw all that coming.
Peering into the future is tricky in the best of times. But even though predictions always turn out to be flawed - it's impossible for even the smartest experts to nail this stuff perfectly - you cannot build a future without first guessing what challenges you'll face on the way there.
History is your best guide. It has taught us that recessions tend to push inflation lower; that stocks usually recover before the economy does; and that jobs recover later. Most of all, history shows us that downturns don't last forever - and that it's when people are most disheartened that rebounds begin.
The economy
The prediction: The recovery will begin in the second quarter of the year.
As 2008 draws to a close, fears of a recession seem almost quaint. For many people spooked by the vicious credit crisis and the 2008 stock market meltdown, the real fear now is the D-word. Six in 10 Americans believe a depression is somewhat or very likely, according to a recent poll by CNN/Opinion Research Corporation.
Take a deep breath, people. The catastrophic 10% annual decline in economic output that marks a depression is simply not going to happen, according to even the most pessimistic mainstream economic forecasters. The gloomiest of the bunch aren't calling for anything remotely close to the crushing 25% unemployment rate seen during the Great Depression that began in 1929.
That's partly because back in the days when people were cooking up bathtub gin, the unprecedented actions taken by the U.S. and European governments this past fall to help stabilize the global financial system weren't even imaginable.
Still, few of us will feel like popping champagne corks in 2009. The consensus among nearly 50 economists polled each month by Blue Chip Economic Indicators is that a recession (officially defined as two or more consecutive quarters of declining gross domestic product) started in July and will continue throughout the first three months of 2009 (see the chart to the right).
The economists estimate that the economy - staggering under the credit crunch and one of the worst housing busts this nation has ever seen - will continue to shrink by 0.1% in the first quarter. It will then start growing again, but sluggishly. GDP growth is forecast to hit about 2.5% by the end of 2009, below the U.S. economy's long-term annual growth rate of about 3%.
But this recession, even if it's relatively short and shallow, is likely to leave you feeling queasy for quite some time after it's officially over. One reason: The unemployment rate is expected to keep rising throughout 2009, to 7% by the end of the year (see the chart). Many other economists think it could top 8%.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Credit Markets Continue to Loosen
F.rom the desk of:
Rich Storey
Mortgage Advisor
615.260.8028
Credited to: www.USAToday.com
Easing credit lifts U.S. stock futures
By Ellis Mnyandu, Reuters
NEW YORK — U.S. stock index futures rose Monday as a further drop in interbank lending rates suggested that credit continues to loosen up.
The costs for banks to borrow dollars from each other fell again, sending three-month rates down for a 17th day and boosting hopes that steps to restore confidence in credit markets are paying off.
Free-flowing credit is seen as crucial in helping avert an acute economic downturn as investors fret about a global recession.
Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 stock index rose 0.73%, Germany's DAX index was up 0.96%, and France's CAC-40 advanced 0.35%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 2.7%. Japan's stock market was closed for a holiday.
SHOCK-TOBER ENDS: Can stocks keep rising?
Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners in New York says the market has probably discounted an election victory by Democrat Barack Obama, heading into Tuesday's U.S. presidential election.
"It looks like we will have a Democratic president, so the election and the anticipation of the economic data is probably going to keep the market in a very tight range for most of the session today and tomorrow as we go to the polls."
Dow Jones industrial average futures were up 54 points early Monday, Nasdaq 100 futures gained 2.00 points.
Democrat Barack Obama heads into Tuesday's voting in a comfortable position, with Republican Sen. John McCain struggling to overtake his lead in every national opinion poll and to hold off his challenge in about a dozen states won by President Bush in 2004.
Obama leads McCain in six of eight key battleground states, including the big prizes of Florida and Ohio, according to a series of Reuters/Zogby polls released Monday.
U.S. stocks ended one of their worst months on record on Friday but signs of further thawing in credit markets boosted battered shares.
Rich Storey
Mortgage Advisor
615.260.8028
Credited to: www.USAToday.com
Easing credit lifts U.S. stock futures
By Ellis Mnyandu, Reuters
NEW YORK — U.S. stock index futures rose Monday as a further drop in interbank lending rates suggested that credit continues to loosen up.
The costs for banks to borrow dollars from each other fell again, sending three-month rates down for a 17th day and boosting hopes that steps to restore confidence in credit markets are paying off.
Free-flowing credit is seen as crucial in helping avert an acute economic downturn as investors fret about a global recession.
Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 stock index rose 0.73%, Germany's DAX index was up 0.96%, and France's CAC-40 advanced 0.35%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 2.7%. Japan's stock market was closed for a holiday.
SHOCK-TOBER ENDS: Can stocks keep rising?
Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners in New York says the market has probably discounted an election victory by Democrat Barack Obama, heading into Tuesday's U.S. presidential election.
"It looks like we will have a Democratic president, so the election and the anticipation of the economic data is probably going to keep the market in a very tight range for most of the session today and tomorrow as we go to the polls."
Dow Jones industrial average futures were up 54 points early Monday, Nasdaq 100 futures gained 2.00 points.
Democrat Barack Obama heads into Tuesday's voting in a comfortable position, with Republican Sen. John McCain struggling to overtake his lead in every national opinion poll and to hold off his challenge in about a dozen states won by President Bush in 2004.
Obama leads McCain in six of eight key battleground states, including the big prizes of Florida and Ohio, according to a series of Reuters/Zogby polls released Monday.
U.S. stocks ended one of their worst months on record on Friday but signs of further thawing in credit markets boosted battered shares.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Nashville's Economy called "Goldilocks"....not too hot, not too cold
From the desk of:
Rich Storey
Mortgage Advisor
615.260.8028
Optimism reigns that Nashville will weather recession
Diverse economy, educated work force make region resilient
In past economic slumps, the Nashville area's Goldilocks economy — never overheated, but not too cold either — has usually experienced shorter dives and quicker recoveries than the nation as a whole because of the region's diverse economy and well-educated work force.
That history has left many forecasters and business leaders here optimistic that a national recession triggered by a widespread housing meltdown will deal a much softer — and shorter-lived — blow to Music City business owners and job hunters than to the country as a whole.
A recent report by Garrett Harper, the chamber's research director, shows that Nashville's economy may stumble when the nation's does, but it generally rebounds faster coming out of an economic slump, with stronger job growth about a year after a U.S. recession ends.
"Nashville may enter recessions a bit earlier, but (it) also recovers quickly and much more robustly than the nation in many instances," said Harper, who studied economic data from the early 1970s until the present day to reach his conclusions.
SPECIFIC REASONS TO BE HOPEFUL:
• While home sales are down in the Nashville area, as in the rest of the nation, local prices have remained relatively stable. The median price of a single-family home was just under $170,000 here in September, down 7 percent from a year earlier but far from the double-digit declines seen in many harder-hit cities.
• A shift away from overdependence on manufacturing jobs in the past 30 years makes the eight-county Middle Tennessee region less prone to economic downturns. Diversity of jobs is key to the area's resilience. Manufacturing employs about 10 percent of the area's work force, down from 14.1 percent in 2000.
• The presence of numerous universities in and around Nashville gives the area another source of highly skilled workers, even if it doesn't always lead directly to local job growth.
• One in five Nashville-area workers are self-employed, and that generally helps speed economic recoveries. Others who lose corporate jobs start their own businesses, and that helps as well, said Jeff Cornwall, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University.
As the economic climate of our nation has settled on dark times......it looks like middle Tennessee may offer a ray of hope for it's community.
Rich Storey
Mortgage Advisor
615.260.8028
Optimism reigns that Nashville will weather recession
Diverse economy, educated work force make region resilient
In past economic slumps, the Nashville area's Goldilocks economy — never overheated, but not too cold either — has usually experienced shorter dives and quicker recoveries than the nation as a whole because of the region's diverse economy and well-educated work force.
That history has left many forecasters and business leaders here optimistic that a national recession triggered by a widespread housing meltdown will deal a much softer — and shorter-lived — blow to Music City business owners and job hunters than to the country as a whole.
A recent report by Garrett Harper, the chamber's research director, shows that Nashville's economy may stumble when the nation's does, but it generally rebounds faster coming out of an economic slump, with stronger job growth about a year after a U.S. recession ends.
"Nashville may enter recessions a bit earlier, but (it) also recovers quickly and much more robustly than the nation in many instances," said Harper, who studied economic data from the early 1970s until the present day to reach his conclusions.
SPECIFIC REASONS TO BE HOPEFUL:
• While home sales are down in the Nashville area, as in the rest of the nation, local prices have remained relatively stable. The median price of a single-family home was just under $170,000 here in September, down 7 percent from a year earlier but far from the double-digit declines seen in many harder-hit cities.
• A shift away from overdependence on manufacturing jobs in the past 30 years makes the eight-county Middle Tennessee region less prone to economic downturns. Diversity of jobs is key to the area's resilience. Manufacturing employs about 10 percent of the area's work force, down from 14.1 percent in 2000.
• The presence of numerous universities in and around Nashville gives the area another source of highly skilled workers, even if it doesn't always lead directly to local job growth.
• One in five Nashville-area workers are self-employed, and that generally helps speed economic recoveries. Others who lose corporate jobs start their own businesses, and that helps as well, said Jeff Cornwall, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University.
As the economic climate of our nation has settled on dark times......it looks like middle Tennessee may offer a ray of hope for it's community.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Memphis Ranks Nationally for Real Estate Investing
From the desk of:
Rich Storey
Mortgage Advisor
615.260.8028
Memphis Tennessee has landed in the Top 15 cities that will make investors money within 2 years. The Uptown Group is a full service Real Estate Investing Firm located in Memphis, TN.
See below.
Top 15 Cities Where You Will Make Money In Real Estate In 2 Years
St. Louis, MO-IL
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis; WI
Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord; NC-SC
Cincinnati-Middletown; OH-KY-IN
Denver-Aurora; CO
Columbus; OH
Austin-Round Rock; TX
Kansas City; MO-KS
Indianapolis-Carmel; IN
Memphis, TN-MS-AR
San Antonio; TX
Pittsburgh; PA
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown; TX
Dallas-Plano-Irving; TX
Fort Worth-Arlington; TX
Rich Storey
Mortgage Advisor
615.260.8028
Memphis Tennessee has landed in the Top 15 cities that will make investors money within 2 years. The Uptown Group is a full service Real Estate Investing Firm located in Memphis, TN.
See below.
Top 15 Cities Where You Will Make Money In Real Estate In 2 Years
St. Louis, MO-IL
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis; WI
Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord; NC-SC
Cincinnati-Middletown; OH-KY-IN
Denver-Aurora; CO
Columbus; OH
Austin-Round Rock; TX
Kansas City; MO-KS
Indianapolis-Carmel; IN
Memphis, TN-MS-AR
San Antonio; TX
Pittsburgh; PA
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown; TX
Dallas-Plano-Irving; TX
Fort Worth-Arlington; TX
Gov't Plans to help with Refi's
From the desk of:
Rich Storey
Mortgage Advisor
615.260.8028
Credited to: www.USAToday.com
Plan to refinance mortgages may save millions of homes
By Anna Bahney and Kathy Chu, USA TODAY
The government is weighing a plan to restructure hundreds of billions of dollars in home mortgages, its most ambitious effort yet to curb high foreclosures.
The plan is expected to help 2 million to 3 million homeowners at risk of losing their homes and cost the Treasury Department $40 billion to $50 billion, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The plan is still being finalized, and the details could change, the sources said. They declined to speak on the record because they were not authorized to discuss the proposal.
Under the proposal discussed, banks, thrifts and other mortgage servicers would stave off foreclosures by restructuring loans based on a homeowner's ability to pay. They could do so by lowering homeowners' principal balance, reducing interest rates or changing the loan terms.
Foreclosures in the past year have dragged down the economy. In September, foreclosure filings hit 265,968, a 12% decrease from the previous month but up 21% from September 2007, according to RealtyTrac. While the pace of foreclosures has slowed because of recent prevention efforts, mortgage delinquencies continue to grow.
In September, homeowners were at least 90 days late on 4.6% of outstanding mortgages, up from 2.9% in September 2007, according to First American CoreLogic.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: United States Treasury Department Federal Deposit Insurance Corp RealtyTrac CoreLogic
The government's latest plan to help struggling homeowners goes well beyond previous private and government efforts. It addresses the largest number of homeowners yet in a standardized way, instead of encouraging lenders to deal with borrowers on a case-by-case basis. Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said last week that the government is working to craft a plan that would help beleaguered homeowners.
"Specifically, the government could establish standards for loan modifications and provide guarantees for loans meeting those standards," Bair said. "By doing so, unaffordable loans could be converted into loans that are sustainable over the long term."
Andrew Gray, a spokesman for the FDIC, said the agency has had "productive conversations with Treasury and the (Bush) administration about options for the use of credit enhancements and loan guarantees." Still, he said, "it would be premature to speculate about any final framework or parameters of a potential program."
Treasury, in a statement, said that details of the plan widely reported in the media Wednesday were "simply inaccurate." It said department officials "have not decided on a particular approach."
Rich Storey
Mortgage Advisor
615.260.8028
Credited to: www.USAToday.com
Plan to refinance mortgages may save millions of homes
By Anna Bahney and Kathy Chu, USA TODAY
The government is weighing a plan to restructure hundreds of billions of dollars in home mortgages, its most ambitious effort yet to curb high foreclosures.
The plan is expected to help 2 million to 3 million homeowners at risk of losing their homes and cost the Treasury Department $40 billion to $50 billion, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The plan is still being finalized, and the details could change, the sources said. They declined to speak on the record because they were not authorized to discuss the proposal.
Under the proposal discussed, banks, thrifts and other mortgage servicers would stave off foreclosures by restructuring loans based on a homeowner's ability to pay. They could do so by lowering homeowners' principal balance, reducing interest rates or changing the loan terms.
Foreclosures in the past year have dragged down the economy. In September, foreclosure filings hit 265,968, a 12% decrease from the previous month but up 21% from September 2007, according to RealtyTrac. While the pace of foreclosures has slowed because of recent prevention efforts, mortgage delinquencies continue to grow.
In September, homeowners were at least 90 days late on 4.6% of outstanding mortgages, up from 2.9% in September 2007, according to First American CoreLogic.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: United States Treasury Department Federal Deposit Insurance Corp RealtyTrac CoreLogic
The government's latest plan to help struggling homeowners goes well beyond previous private and government efforts. It addresses the largest number of homeowners yet in a standardized way, instead of encouraging lenders to deal with borrowers on a case-by-case basis. Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said last week that the government is working to craft a plan that would help beleaguered homeowners.
"Specifically, the government could establish standards for loan modifications and provide guarantees for loans meeting those standards," Bair said. "By doing so, unaffordable loans could be converted into loans that are sustainable over the long term."
Andrew Gray, a spokesman for the FDIC, said the agency has had "productive conversations with Treasury and the (Bush) administration about options for the use of credit enhancements and loan guarantees." Still, he said, "it would be premature to speculate about any final framework or parameters of a potential program."
Treasury, in a statement, said that details of the plan widely reported in the media Wednesday were "simply inaccurate." It said department officials "have not decided on a particular approach."
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