Financial and Investment News

The President has unveiled a package which represents an early Christmas gift to homeowners caught up in the nation’s foreclosure crisis.

The proposal is an outgrowth of something called the Hope Now Alliance, which represents officials in both the public and private sectors. Under the deal, interest rates will be frozen for 5 years for people who would be risking foreclosure if their adjustable rates grew at the end of their lock-in period.

“Hope Now is an example of government bringing together members of the private sector to voluntarily address a national challenge without government subsidies and without government mandates,” said President George W. Bush.

According to the President, 1.2 million homeowners may ultimately benefit from the program, which is coordinated in part by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Housing Secretary Alfonso Jackson.

The program is voluntary, meaning that only those homeowners who ask for help will receive it. By calling a toll-free hotline number, homeowners can be put in touch with those who can assist them avoid foreclosure.

Meanwhile, the Federal Housing Administration is starting a new program called FHA-Secure which assists in the refinancing of adjustable-rate home loans.

Bush noted that the feds are taking action “to make the mortgage industry more transparent, reliable and fair. Later this month, the Federal Reserve intends to announce stronger lending standards that will help protect borrowers.”

Bush added, “Congress needs to temporarily reform the tax code to help homeowners refinance during this time of housing market stress. Under current law, if the value of your house declines and your bank forgives a portion of your mortgage, the tax code treats the amount forgiven as taxable income. When you’re worried about making your payments, higher taxes are the last thing you need.”

The housing industry is experiencing its worst slump in decades and may not recover until the middle of 2008

The U.S. Senate has voted unanimously to make the college financial aid process easier for students. The first step—crafting a slick new application form. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), says the current form has acted as a barrier for low- and middle-income students applying for aid.

The legislation is also an effort to end conflicts of interest involving loans from student firms. Under the bill, banks cannot offer gifts to college financial aid officers or wow them with luxurious trips. It appears that lenders have used such gimmicks in the past to attain a much-coveted spot on college preferred lender lists.

Kennedy said the bill makes such procedures illegal and guarantees that lenders will be recommended to students based on what is in the student’s best financial interest. Critics, however, say the legislation really won’t simplify the complex college aid process. An all-out overhaul is needed to do that, some experts say.

The bill follows legislation that reduces subsidies to banks making federal student personal loans. The amount of money saved will fund aid to low-income students.

Meanwhile, the U.S. House has already O.K.’d legislation to cut subsidies to banks, increase student aid, and reduce conflicts of interest involving student loans. Legislators in the House and Senate must now work out their differences and hammer out compromise legislation.

Individual college students and their families may not be satisfied, however. The cost of a college education continues to soar, forcing students to assume a greater and greater debt load. A number of college graduates are finding that they have to postpone marriage or home ownership because of the amount of money they have to pay back on their student loans. Some college graduates may spend as long as 30 years making student loan payments. Student loan debt can even cause graduates to switch their career plans in an effort to earn a higher income so they can consolidate debts and pay off their student loan more easily.

Here is some more weird and wacky real eastate and monetary news for your consumption…According to articles in the Los Angeles Times and other news publications,
the estate of Boxer Evander Holyfield is up for foreclosure. This comes on the heels of a report that former ‘Tonight Show’
sidekick Ed McMahon was facing similiar foreclosure problems. Is this a sign of worsening economic times in general or just
a case of bad financial management in particular? Incidentially if you need a great Seattle Criminal Defense Lawyer then by all means take a look at the
law offices of Aaron Pelley. Also if you need a top Los Angeles criminal defense attorney then look at the offcies of Jonathin Kelman. They are among the best in their field. 
In the rather sordid and sad case of Evander, the Former heavyweight champion was able to defeat the likes of the ex criminal Mike Tyson (in all fairness to iron Mike, he has already paid his debt to society and deserves another chance, editor) but has not been up to the challenge thus far when it comes to his accounting and monetary issues…
One Associated Press writer stated that “his Georgia estate is under foreclosure. The house is worth an estimated ten million dollars is set to be auctioned by a bank on July 1.”
The article goes on to quots the mother of one of the boxers 9 kids as stating that he has also missed a pair of child-support installment payments.
Besides the 2 aforementioned celebrity foreclosures, former Oakland Athletics baseball player and admitted steroid user Jose Conseco faced foreclosure in the Los Angeles area on May 1 (perhaps this is just his Karma for incriminating all of his ex-teammates in his tell-all book but I do not know for sure), Marion Jones last summer (in North Carolina of all places) and Michael Jackson barely averted the same fate
recently as well, also in the greater Los Angeles area. Then again,  these guys were never known for their brains, that is for sure.
Canseco was so discreet about his steroid use back in his playing days the other players used to refer to it as drinking a “Jose Canseco milkshake”. And Holyfield used to make tens of millions of dollars per fight when he boxed.
Why didn’t he just pay cash for a place instead of taking out a loan. He could have bought a mansion with a fraction of his winnings. He of all people should have known that you only have a few good years in that sport.
His case sort of reminds me of bankrupt rapper MC Hammer, thinking that one hit album equaled his average yearly salary when in fact he captures lightning in a bottle once. I hope that they all have a good attorney or better yet, a team of attorneys.