MORTGAGE

Washington Mutual Inc., the biggest bank to fail in U.S. history, said it reached a settlement in a dispute between shareholders and certain creditors that had prevented the bank from emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

A new attack ad on Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren mistakenly frames the well-known liberal as a friend to Wall Street bankers.

OECD countries face a growing risk of a refinancing pinch next year as they battle to secure investor confidence while rolling over trillions of dollars in debt, the Paris-based organisation warned on Monday.

About 7 million Americans get jobless benefits under seven different state and federal programs. Around one-quarter of them will fall off the rolls in January unless the U.S. Congress renews an extended-benefits program that expires at the end of the year.

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., introduced on Thursday a bill to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and create a transitional mortgage program to be sold to the private sector after 10 years.

Analysts are hoping for a better fourth quarter for the household net worth as the U.S. stocks have performed well at the end of the third quarter.

The top aftermarket NYSE losers on Thursday were: Invesco Mortgage Capital, Texas Instruments, Stone Energy, Dynegy, Cincinnati Bell, Getty Realty, GenOn Energy, First Republic Bank, Esterline Technologies and MEMC Electronic Materials.

Canadian housing starts slumped last month, hurt by weakness in the condominium sector, in the latest sign that a property boom fueled by low interest rates is under pressure from global economic uncertainty.

Risks to Canada's financial stability rose sharply in the second half of the year largely because of the European sovereign debt crisis, even though domestic banks remain stronger than in most other countries, the Bank of Canada said on Thursday.

U.S. companies sat on their largest pile of cash on record during the third quarter, providing a substantial buffer against any blow that might come from Europe's debt crisis, data from the Federal Reserve showed on Thursday.

U.S. companies sat on their largest pile of cash on record during the third quarter, providing a substantial buffer against any blow that might come from Europe's debt crisis, data from the Federal Reserve showed on Thursday.

As the country continues to grapple with the devastating aftermath of the housing market's collapse, acts of civil disobedience centering on foreclosures and evictions represent a powerful tactic for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

As expected, Senate Republicans on Thursday held up the confirmation of the nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because of concerns about the agency's structure.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate dropped to 3.99 percent in the week ending Dec. 8 from four percent in the previous week, according to Freddie Mac.

Susquehanna Financial cut its profit estimates of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) after the company guided weak results for its investment bank unit.

The Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) is a program specially developed for home owners whose houses have lost value in the last few years and have not managed to get a refinance mortgage.

The Obama administration said on Wednesday it will keep the pressure on two big U.S. banks to help more troubled borrowers from losing their homes by withholding payments to the banks under a foreclosure-prevention program for the third straight quarter.

U.S. mortgage loan delinquencies are projected to decline to five percent by the end of 2012 from around six percent at the end of 2011, according to TransUnion.

The Obama administration said on Wednesday it will keep the pressure on two big banks to help ease the foreclosure crisis, withholding payments to them under a foreclosure relief program.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have prevented almost 2 million foreclosures since the enterprises were taken under federal conservatorship in 2008, according to a report by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

Congressman Barney Frank on Wednesday asked his colleagues to hold a hearing on alleged mortgage abuses at Ally Financial, a day after the attorney general from his home state of Massachusetts requested that lawmakers investigate.