Press Room

Homeowners’ rallying cry: Produce the note

By MITCH STACY – 4 days ago ZEPHYRHILLS, Fla. (AP) — Kathy Lovelace lost her job and was about to lose her house, too. But then she made a seemingly simple request of the bank: Show me the original mortgage paperwork. And just like that, the foreclosure proceedings came to a standstill. Lovelace and other...

Fortunoff Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

NEW YORK, Feb 5 (Reuters) – U.S. regional retailer Fortunoff filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday and said it will try to sell the business, but if it cannot it will close its doors. The company, which sells jewelry, dinnerware and furniture in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, began suffering a...

Feds Taking Control of Mortgage Companies

President Bush said Sunday that the historic federal government takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is needed to keep them from failing, a risk he called "unacceptable" for an economy battered by housing and credit crises. "Allowing the companies to fail or further deteriorate would damage our home mortgage market, and could...

Merrill Lynch to Cut Jobs

Merrill Lynch & Co (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday posted a quarterly loss of $2 billion and said it planned to cut 2,900 jobs after recording more than $9.5 billion in write-downs and losses on subprime mortgages and other risky assets. The results were worse than analysts’ gloomy expectations, and shares of the world’s...

WaMu Cuts Jobs

Washington Mutual Inc, the largest U.S. savings and loan, said on Tuesday it obtained a $7 billion capital injection from private equity firm TPG Inc and other investors, but that mortgage problems will lead to a $1.1 billion quarterly loss and the elimination of 3,000 jobs. The thrift also plans to close its 186 stand-alone...