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 → ]

A California woman deep in credit card debt turned to a debt-settlement company that immediately began deducting money from her bank account for its promised services. After three months, the woman started getting calls from her creditors and learned they had never heard from the company. She asked for her money [ Read More → ]

A state recovery fund designed to reimburse Floridians who were scammed by their contractors is bankrupt. Set up after Hurricane Andrew, the Florida Homeowners’ Construction Recovery Fund ran out of cash two years ago. The account is replenished with fees charged on building permit applications, but with construction statewide at a near [ Read More → ]

NEW YORK - Lots of homeowners are frustrated these days that they can’t seem to get a mortgage refinance even though interest rates are at historic lows. It turns out they’re not alone. Plenty of people on Wall Street would also love to see a boom in refinancing activity, saying it [ 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 → ]

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 → ]

WASHINGTON — Government watchdogs are telling a Senate panel that the Obama administration’s multibillion effort to help at-risk homeowners avoid foreclosure is not working and could put the economic recovery at risk. Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the financial bailouts, said that the program has not “put an appreciable dent [ Read More → ]

WASHINGTON - Government-sponsored mortgage purchaser Fannie Mae is trying to encourage distressed homeowners to find alternatives to foreclosure by banning those who walk away from getting new loans for seven years. Troubled borrowers who do not try in good faith to work out a deal, but have the capacity to pay, [ Read More → ]

It would be the height of foolishness to load up on debt now, right?Just look at the news these days. Homeowners are being foreclosed on at a record clip. Governments around the world are lurching toward insolvency. Job growth in the U.S. remains feeble at best. And at the center [ Read More → ]

Homeowners taking advantage of mortgage aid under a federal foreclosure-prevention plan are being dropped from the program at an increasing rate, potentially forcing more borrowers out of their homes as the program struggles to make an impact, according to Treasury data released Monday. The program, known as Making Home Affordable, pays [ Read More → ]