Word: default
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Early on, the majority of people seemed to heap the most blame on barely regulated financial products, like credit-default swaps, which brought down AIG; mortgage brokers and their lax lending standards; and Wall Street bonus checks that rewarded short-term profits over prudent business decisions. Goldman Sachs, too, has come under intense scrutiny since the financial crisis, in part because of its ability to quickly turn around and seemingly profit from the mess...
...academics have pretty much refuted nearly every one of those early explanations as being too specific. Some economists have even questioned whether there was a credit crunch. Economic professor René Stulz of Ohio State University, for one, has written papers trying to clear Wall Street pay and credit-default swaps of any blame. Despite recent apologies, Goldman Sachs executives, too, say that they are no more to blame than anyone else in the financial markets. (See high-end homes that won't sell...
...same time, the government's loan-modification program has been disappointing: the default rate on loans modified after the third quarter of 2008 was 61%, according to a report issued in December by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision. All of this is expected to trigger another wave of potential home foreclosures in 2010 and could cause home prices to fall another 5% to 10% before the market stabilizes, according to analysts and economists...
John Burns, president of John Burns Real Estate Consulting, is a bit more bearish, predicting foreclosure notices will rise to 3.1 million this year. Foreclosure notices include default notices, auction-sale letters and bank-repossession notices. But those notices may produce a far more damaging result than last year's. "I think 50% more people will lose their homes to a bank this year than they did last year," predicts Burns. (See questions and answers about retirement...
...rating is the highest given by external credit rating agencies. It denotes a very low risk of credit default and means selling debt is cheaper for institutions considered financially sound...