Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta Announces Second Quarter 2007 Operating Highlights and Third Quarter 2007 Dividend ... (PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance)
Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta today announced financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2007, as well as dividend guidance for the third quarter of 2007.

Cost of buying home going up (Louisville Courier-Journal)
Finding a mortgage in the Louisville area is getting tougher, and more expensive. In the past week or so, mortgage brokers and bankers say lending standards have tightened dramatically, making it more difficult for those with patchy credit to buy a new home or take out an equity loan on their current residence.

European Stocks Retreat; Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, BHP Fall (Bloomberg.com)
Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- European stocks sank as concern deepened that a global credit crunch will sap earnings and erode economic growth. Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's largest bank, and BNP Paribas SA of France paced declines.

Fitch to Review Mortgage Securities (AP via Yahoo! Finance)
Credit rating agency Fitch Ratings said Thursday it is placing all classes of 58 securities backed by pools of home equity loans on negative ratings watch, citing significant deterioration of the loans.

Countrywide's Fate, Cerberus's Hell, Iceland: Timshel (Update1) (Bloomberg.com)
Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The appearance of the word ``bankrupt'' in an analyst report on Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, suggests the fear surrounding the home-loan industry has become too extreme.

Beating the affordability blues (Ararat Advertiser)
It seems that barely a week goes by without another gloomy statistic confirming how hard it is to enter the property market. The latest analysis from the HIA and Commonwealth Bank shows that affordability for first-home buyers fell a dizzying 10.3 per cent in the 12 months to March this year.

Countrywide Taps Credit Line for Cash (The San Francisco Examiner)
(AP Photo/Nati Harnik) An unidentified person walks out the door of the Countrywide Home Loan offices, in Omaha, Neb., Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007. The nation's largest mortgage lender borrowed $11.5 billion from a group of 40 banks to fund loans, in a move that shows just how deep the lending crisis has become.

Countrywide gets loan of $11.5 billion (Winston-Salem Journal)
LOS ANGELES

Your Money Matters: Say 'I Do' to Home Buying (Benton Evening News)
(ARA) - Getting married marks a huge milestone for many people who have spent years dreaming about being a husband or wife. Another major milestone that often follows marriage is the first "big" purchase, which is typically buying a home.

Net Worth: Answers to common questions about the mortgage crisis (San Francisco Chronicle)
As the mortgage market worsens, I'm getting more questions from readers concerned about their home loans and bank accounts. I'll answer a few today. Q: Tim B. asks, "What happens if the holder of your mortgage is one of these cash-strapped companies or even...