Rhode Island bank agrees to pay $9m over discriminatory lending allegations
DoJ says Washington Trust engaged in redlining, the racist policy of banks blocking people of color from getting mortgages
June 2023
Millions are facing soaring mortgage rates. How did we leave them so vulnerable?
Will Hutton
Homeowners in Britain are especially at risk because of a shortage of long-term loans. The sooner the Bank of England acts to fix this the better
March 2023
A Black couple’s home was undervalued by $300,000. Now the US is investigating
Two Johns Hopkins professors say loanDepot lowballed them on their Baltimore home due to their race
June 2022
Long-term US mortgage rates see biggest one-week jump in 35 years
Rate for 30-year mortgage climbed from 5.23% to 5.78% this week, the highest since November of 2008 during the housing crisis
March 2021
How much is the perfect wedding? I’m spending $60 – including a dog tuxedo
Arwa Mahdawi
The average cost of a wedding is so high that many couples can’t afford it, but go ahead anyway and get into debt. But there is another way, says Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi
February 2018
Self-employed?
Here’s how to
get a mortgage
A third of people think lenders are biased against them, but there are ways to win them over
May 2017
Project Syndicate economists
Why help to buy your home is no help at all to the economy
Jeffrey Frankel
State subsidies to promote home ownership is not always a good thing – it hikes public debt, cuts labour mobility and often boosts prices not ownership levels
November 2016
The Big Short: is the next financial crisis on its way?
Steve Eisman saw the last crash coming and was portrayed in an Oscar-winning film. Now he believes Europe’s banks, especially Italy’s, are at risk
February 2016
US money blog
Big Short's version of housing bubble entertains but reality disappoints
Morgan Stanley to pay $3.2bn over mortgage-backed securities
January 2016
Goldman Sachs reaches $5bn settlement over mortgage-backed securities
The agreement will resolve civil claims related to the Wall Street firm’s securitization, underwriting and sale of the mortgages from 2005 to 2007
November 2015
Baltimore's black residents have a harder time getting a mortgage – report
Northern Rock mortgages are latest gamble for US private equity firm Cerberus
David Hellier
September 2015
Peter Bradshaw's film of the week
99 Homes review – chillingly topical eviction drama
Michael Shannon is lip-smackingly good as a reptilian real-estate broker forcing hard-up homeowners on to the street
July 2015
Notebook
Death of the maiden name
Emma Brockes
In amid the skull-crushing tedium of a mortgage application, it occurred to me that there was something I hadn’t once been asked
Goldman Sachs income halved as cash set aside for potential mis-selling costs
Without the $1.45bn designated for the mortgage problem, firm would have easily beaten expectations with second quarter earnings per share of $4.75
US money blog
Why Americans' waning love affair with homeownership could spell trouble
Data suggests homeownership dropped to a 20-year low last year in a system that’s built on buying, not renting. It may be up to millennials to change things
June 2015
Black Americans unfairly targeted by banks before housing crisis, says ACLU
Epicentre of the Great Recession: what happened to Cleveland's Slavic Village?
January 2015
Standard & Poor's fined and banned from rating certain securities for a year
The ratings firm agrees to pay more than $77m to settle charges tied to its role in the financial crisis and will also take a ‘timeout’ from rating some mortgage securities in an unprecedented move by regulators
