The New Zealand economy feels a lot like a ‘Zombie Nation’ that wants to keep extending the loans and pretending that eventually everything will eventually go back to normal. Parts of our financial system and many property owners have been in a zombie-like state for much of the last two years, [ Read More → ]

Anna and Charlie Reynolds of St. George, Utah, were worried about losing their home to foreclosure last year. Then they got a lucky break—from an unlikely savior. Some investment funds are emerging as the best hope for millions of U.S. households, like the Reynolds, above, who were behind on [ Read More → ]

There are a lot of bank fees that deserve the “Slater Slide.’’ Steven Slater is the JetBlue flight attendant who allegedly cursed a rude passenger and then opened an emergency exit and jumped down the aircraft’s slide. He slid into infamy or history — depending on your take on [ Read More → ]

Whomever President Barack Obama taps to head the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection could find it difficult to keep ahead of the credit-card industry. The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, known as the Card Act, was intended to reshape the contours of consumer finance. Among other [ Read More → ]

KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The latest form of identity theft doesn’t depend on stealing your Social Security number. Now thieves are targeting your kid’s number long before the little one even has a bank account. Hundreds of online businesses are using computers to find dormant Social Security numbers — usually those assigned to [ Read More → ]

WASHINGTON — A bill to increase small business lending is in jeopardy in the Senate as lawmakers struggle to reach agreement on a series of Republican amendments. Democratic leaders have scheduled a key test vote Thursday on the legislation. But the bill won’t advance unless Democrats can attract Republican votes. The bill [ Read More → ]

WASHINGTON — Senators struggled to reach agreement Wednesday on a bill that would create a $30 billion government fund to help community banks increase lending to small businesses. Democrats say banks should be able to use the lending fund to leverage up to $300 billion in loans to small businesses, helping [ Read More → ]

The housing crash has left at least 11 million people in the unenviable position of owing more on their homes than they are worth—and many more millions with properties worth far less than they paid for them. But some might not be as trapped as they think. Record-low mortgage rates and a [ Read More → ]

NEW YORK—The battle over financial regulation is finally over. Now comes the harder part: kicking Americans’ love of credit. The financial crisis didn’t happen just because banks, credit-card companies and mortgage lenders forced consumers to take on massive debt. We willingly gobbled up the easy credit they offered and used it [ Read More → ]

The number of Massachusetts residents filing for bankruptcy soared in the first half of 2010, as the continued weak economy left thousands of homeowners unable to pay their mortgages or sell their properties. Nearly 12,000 people filed for bankruptcy in the first six months of this year, 25 percent more than [ Read More → ]