Mortgage

If a mortgage lender gives you an answer to this without asking you any questions, say thank you, hang up and call someone else.

Why? Because in today’s world there is no such thing as “today’s interest rate”.

NPR reports on the largely unused Hope for Homeowners program, part of last summer’s housing bill that was meant to address the crisis in mortgage foreclosures.

High loan and interest fees, tough restrictions for consumers and costs to lenders are some of the reasons why the program has not caught on.

CBS News reporter Scott Pelley’s report focuses on a second wave of of defaults in the coming months spurred on by investments with such exotic names as “Alt-A” and “option ARM.”
The first wave of bad news came from sub-prime lending which went to the least credit worthy borrowers and then those mortgages were bundled and [...]