Loans

The Mortgage Bankers Association will release some new data today on how many folks are applying for mortgages in the United States. Numbers have been down consistently for the past couple of months. Click the audio player above to hear the full story.   

Fair housing advocates are concerned about a pending vote in the Senate that would relax banking rules on reporting loan data. Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

Last year, the Obama administration enacted new rules regarding payday lending. They haven’t yet come into effect. Now, the Consumer Financial Protection Board says it will reconsider the tighter regulation that would have required payday lenders to make sure the people they lend to can actually repay their loans. The rule was bitterly opposed by […]

When you buy 10-year Treasury bonds, you are essentially making a 10-year loan to the government. The returns on those loans are rising every day. There are a couple of reasons for that — and there are a couple of economic messages there as well.  Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

The amount companies borrow from banks can be an important economic indicator. That’s money those companies might use to buy new equipment or purchase more stuff to sell, or to expand their business or be more productive. And yet, despite a strong economy, last year the rate of business-loan growth slowed. To be clear, it’s […]

Subprime loans give money to borrowers with less-than-stellar credit ratings. In return, lenders collect higher interest. But the shine is off lending to riskier borrowers these days. There’s word this week that Uber is selling off its subprime car-leasing division. That’s according to the Wall Street Journal, although Uber would not comment. The company originally […]

There’s been a big increase in the number of long-term car loans purchased by U.S. drivers in recent years, according to a recent report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Longer-term loans mean smaller monthly payments for borrowers, but they also mean more risk.  Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

Starting today , it’s going to be harder for seniors to take out loans against the equity of their homes — what are known as reverse mortgages. New rules are taking effect that limit the size of the loans — loans that many rely on as an additional source of income. Instead of 64 percent […]