WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration plans to send $600 million to help unemployed homeowners avoid foreclosure in five states.
The Treasury Department said Wednesday that mortgage-assistance proposals submitted by North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island and South Carolina received approval. The states estimate their efforts could help up to 50,000 homeowners.
The administration is directing $2.1 billion from its existing $75 billion mortgage assistance program to a total of 10 states. Each state designed its own plan. Treasury approved money in June for Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada.
In the latest package of aid, Ohio will receive $172 million — the largest amount of money. That could aid around 15,000 homeowners by helping borrowers pay their mortgage for up to a year while they search for jobs. It could also provide incentives for mortgage companies to reduce borrowers’ mortgage balances.
North Carolina is receiving $159 million, and South Carolina is in line for $138 million. Oregon is receiving $88 million and Rhode Island is receiving $43 million.
“These states have designed targeted programs with the potential to make a real difference in the lives of homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments because of unemployment,” Herbert Allison, an assistant treasury secretary, said in a statement.
The Obama administration has rolled out numerous attempts to tackle the foreclosure crisis, but has made only a small dent in the problem. The administration’s main effort, which provides lenders with incentives to reduce mortgage payments, has enrolled about 390,000 homeowners. About 530,000 have fallen out of the program.
GS 7/20 BMO
AAPL 7/20 AMC $239.60 yesterdays low
KO 7/21 BMO
FCX 7/21
BA 7/28 BMO
Looking to see how market reacts AAPL & GS #’ and guidence
AMZN 7/22 AMC
AXP 7/22 AMC
CAT 7/22 BMO
DECK 7/22
Duct tape is renowned to be useful for a number of problems, and now Consumer Reports engineers suggest that users of the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 4 who experience lost connections when their hands or fingers touch the lower left side of the device use duct tape to cover the lower left hand side of the phone or use a more handsome looking iPhone 4 case. Because of this problem, Consumer Reports is not recommending the phone.
Engineers at Consumer Reports magazine have tested the iPhone 4 and indeed found problems with reception and attributed the problems to the iPhone 4′s hardware. The news comes days after Apple declared that the iPhone 4 problems weren’t caused by the antenna but because of faulty software that displays an incorrect value on the signal strength bars. Consumer Reports engineers, however, said their tests showed that other AT&T (NYSE: T) phones had the same signal-loss problem as the iPhone 4. Hence, AT&T’s network isn’t to blame.
For more:
SEC Approves Halts for S&P 500 Stocks That Move 10%
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aMinRE3ew4No&pos=3