Reuters - The Obama administration on Wednesday expanded its foreclosure prevention efforts to help a greater number of underwater homeowners refinance their mortgages.

Reuters - U.S. mortgage applications plunged to a seven-month low last week as demand for home refinancing loans tumbled 30 percent, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

AP - President Barack Obama asked Congress on Tuesday to create a new agency to police the fine print on credit card bills and mortgage documents and determine what fees, penalties and interest rates are fair.

Reuters - The Obama administration sent Congress a draft bill on Tuesday to create a new agency with sweeping powers to impose tough consumer protection rules for banks, mortgage lenders and other financial firms, setting up a summer-long political brawl over the plan.

Reuters - U.S. consumer spending rose last month for the first time since February as government stimulus pushed incomes sharply higher, the Commerce Department said on Friday, supporting the view the economy was close to pulling out of recession.

Reuters - Freddie Mac , the second-largest U.S. home funding company, on Friday said its mortgage investment portfolio shrank by an annualized 9.9 percent rate in May, while delinquencies on loans it guarantees accelerated.