In the wake of the Great Recession, more Americans are turning their focus to personal financial recovery. Whether they are recovering from a setback such as unemployment or reduced income, increasing their rainy-day funds, shoring up retirement savings, reducing high-cost debt balances, or all...

Government actions, combined with oversight and standardization from industry organizations, benefit consumers by enabling them to more easily identify agencies that work in their best interest and are certified to provide them with quality financial education.

Consumers can go online to get advice about choosing the right agency.

Although the level of seriously delinquent mortgages in Texas is slightly improved from one year ago (see the accompanying article), such mortgages are still at very high levels in the metro areas. For example, over 30,000 households are at least 90 days delinquent on their mortgage in the...

Many regulatory changes go into effect in 2009 and 2010 as the government works to increase the knowledge of consumers who are shopping for credit.

We asked Diane van Gelder, director of examinations in the Dallas Fed's Consumer Affairs Division, for advice on the steps bank compliance officers should take to prepare for these regulatory changes.

Anecdotal evidence of abusive practices in the home equity lending market led to the enactment of the Home Ownership Equity Protection Act (HOEPA). The act was amended in late 2001, and compliance under the new rules becomes mandatory on Oct. 1, 2002. The rate-based trigger was lowered by 2...

To understand how these amendments affect a typical home equity loan, a loan example has been developed that incorporates the changes in the regulation. The annual percentage rate test and the points and fees test are applied to a loan example.