AP - Home foreclosures and late payments set records over the first three months of the year and are expected to keep rising, stark signs of the housing crisis' mounting damage to homeowners and the economy.

AFP - The big three credit rating agencies have agreed to reform their practices relating to complex mortgage-backed securities, New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday.

Reuters - U.S. mortgage applications fell for a third consecutive week, reaching its lowest level in over six years as demand for home refinancing loans plunged, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Reuters - A "credit recession" sparked by the U.S. housing market downturn and excesses in structured finance may last more than two years, and the financial sector will undergo "massive consolidation," leading Wall Street strategists said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Massachusetts authorities sued H&R Block Inc on Tuesday, charging that its mortgage unit discriminated against black and Latino borrowers and escalated a crisis over property foreclosures in the state.

Reuters - Massachusetts authorities sued H&R Block Inc on Tuesday, charging that its mortgage unit discriminated against black and Latino borrowers and escalated a crisis over property foreclosures in the state.

Reuters - Wachovia Corp ousted its chief executive, sending the bank's shares lower on speculation that loan losses tied to the purchase of a big mortgage lender could widen.

Reuters - Downgrades of three U.S. investment banks, an ouster of Wachovia's chief executive, and a bleak U.K. housing market outlook from a British mortgage lender shook markets on Monday, reigniting fears that the global credit crunch will continue to hurt the world economy.

Reuters - U.S. stocks slid on Monday on renewed fears the credit crunch has yet to run its course after Standard & Poor's downgraded debt ratings of three big securities companies and Wachovia , the fourth-largest U.S. bank, ousted its chief executive.

AFP - Wachovia, one of America's biggest banks, said Monday that its chief executive Ken Thompson is leaving the bank as its board of directors seeks to stem hefty losses tied to troubled mortgage loans.

AP - Less than a month after losing his chairman post, and more than two years after an ill-timed acquisition of California mortgage lender Golden West Financial Corp., Wachovia Corp. said Monday that board members have forced CEO Ken Thompson to retire from the nation's fourth-largest bank.