The Federal Housing Finance Agency has made a key change for new loans that the entities it oversees, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will purchase or guarantee. Under the new plan, FHFA will identify and reject faulty loans earlier in the process, rather than after the fact, once the loans sour. By “faulty loans,” they [...]

The President spoke about the sobering new report on initial jobless claims, and pivoted right to an attack on Senate Republicans for blocking a new small business lending bill. This is the second time in three days that President Obama has mentioned the bill, which would create a $30 billion dollar small business lending fund [...]

The Wall Street Journal reports that big banks have eased their lending standards for small businesses in recent months, even in advance of a bill designed to free up small business lending, which could pass the Senate when they return from recess in September. These changes are considered modest, and the article claims that competition [...]