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New credit check requirements cause of concern for mortgage lenders.
Fannie Mae recently introduced a new rule that would require lenders to run an extra credit check on potential borrowers before they closed on their mortgages. That requirement caused some consternation from consumers, and now lenders are also expressing their concern.

According to a report in the Washington Post, because Fannie Mae has been requiring a second check right before closing, many banks have suffered through logistical nightmares. Some consumers may have been unaware of the new requirement and gone out and gotten new loans. Full Article…

As we continue to walk our economic tightrope between recession and recovery, in many people’s eyes one of the biggest factors keeping us upright continues to be China. As the bond buyer of first resort — for now — in our everything-must-go debt bonanza, as well as supplier of cheap labor and consumer goods, China has wedded its fate to our own. Its economic future and, perhaps more importantly, its policies are inextricably linked to ours.

Over the past few weeks, there have been a few developments in China that I’d like to comment on here.

Floating Chinese currency passes the swim test

First off was the market-moving news about three weeks ago that the Chinese had decided to abandon the currency peg that sets the exchange rate between the yuan and the dollar.

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() - The cost of fixing Ireland’s banks would come to nearly EUR 25 billion, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said on Friday.

“This is the amount that will be added to our national debt to prevent a collapse of the banking system,” Lenihan said at the launch of the Annual Reports of the National Treasury Management Agency, the National Pensions Reserve Fund, the National Development Finance Agency and the Carbon Fund. “The cost, albeit unacceptable, is manageable,” he said, echoing the view of the country’s central bank chief Patrick Honohan.

“It is of no comfort that at 16 per cent of GDP, the cost to the taxpayer is no larger than the average cost of banking crises around the world over the past few decades,” the minister said.

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Are you paying too much for health insurance? Much of our time is spent speaking with customers about cheaper options for their health insurance. The major features of recent health care reform will not go into effect until 2014, so if you’re waiting for these changes, it will be awhile.

I’m sorry to read in the paper how many government employees are losing their jobs. It seems like every day more police and fire employees are being terminated. COBRA can be a very expensive option.

If you haven’t shopped for health insurance in California it’s easier than you think. You can go to our site, .and get free instant health insurance quotes.

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() - Turkey’s unadjusted jobless rate eased to 12% in April from 13.7% in March, Turkish Statistical Office said Thursday. That was better than the expected rate of 12.8%. A year ago, the unemployment rate was 14.9%.

Jobless rate for Turkey’s urban area dropped to 14.2% from 17.5% recorded last year and that to the rural area slowed to 7.6% from 9.5%. In April, the country’s employment rate increased to 43% from 40.2% last year, with the urban rate at 40.1% and rural rate at 49.7%.

There were 22.50 million employed in April, up from 20.69 million last year. In the urban Turkey, the number of employed was 14.63 million and 7.86 million in the rural area.

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