WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called Tuesday for additional action to prevent more distressed homeowners from falling into foreclosure.

In the mortgage industry, they are called “liar loans” — mortgages approved without requiring proof of the borrower’s income or assets. The worst of them earn the nickname “ninja loans,” short for “no income, no job and (no) assets.”

WASHINGTON - After a slow and stumbling start, official Washington is scrambling to try to prevent the unfolding mortgage crisis from pushing the country into recession during an election year.

TUCSON - A 44-month low in the median price of a house in Pima County means many homeowners owe more than their house is worth, according to data from the Tucson Association of Realtors.

Reports of Arizona mortgage fraud spiked last year — mirroring a nationwide trend, as lenders scrutinized deals more closely and falling home prices unmasked shams.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is working to combat the country's severe housing crisis but there is no simple solution, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Monday, adding that a correction in the housing market is "inevitable and necessary."

WASHINGTON - The heads of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said Tuesday the mortgage finance giants are developing new types of loans to help distressed borrowers with high-risk mortgages keep their homes at a time of rising foreclosures.

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Attorney General's Office has sued two companies prosecutors say targeted Spanish-speaking homeowners who were trying to save their homes from foreclosure.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bank of America says it will spend more than $10 billion to settle mortgage claims resulting from the housing meltdown.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has hammered out an agreement to freeze interest rates for certain subprime mortgages for five years to combat a soaring tide of foreclosures, congressional aides said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - Charges of blame were flying Thursday for the meltdown of the high-risk mortgage market as pressure mounted for Congress to do something about rising foreclosures among homeowners unable to meet high payments.

Pay homeowners to prevent them from walking away from underwater homes?

Federal authorities on Thursday said Arizona's housing boom had created "a perfect storm" for real estate fraud as they announced felony charges against 36 people suspected in get-rich-quick mortgage schemes throughout the state.

WASHINGTON - A rising tide of late mortgage payments and home foreclosures poses considerable dangers to the national economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned anew Monday as he urged Congress to take additional steps to alleviate the problems.

SAN FRANCISCO - When Linda Martin refinanced the mortgages on three different houses nearly three years ago, she thought the lower monthly payments would help her save more money for retirement.

The lawyer for Attorney General Tom Horne said Monday his client was legally entitled to surrender $50 million of the money the state got from a nationwide mortgage settlement.

An attorney for two East Valley homeowners at risk of losing their homes asked a judge Thursday to block lawmakers from raiding a special fund designed to help prevent foreclosures.

WASHINGTON — The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell again, this time dropping below 3.50 percent for the first time on records dating back 60 years.

Mark L. Schofield’s commentary (“Averting economic disaster,” Perspective, April 13), should be commended on some levels, and condemned on others.

WASHINGTON - Just under half of all Arizona mortgages were "under water" in spring of this year, the second-highest percentage in the nation, according to a report from a private research firm.

WASHINGTON - Many college students across the nation will begin to see higher costs for loans this spring, while others will be turned away by banks altogether as the credit crisis roiling the U.S. economy spreads into yet another sector, student lenders and Wall Street firms say.

In critical economic times such as these, progressive thinking and drastic measures are needed in order to avert an economic disaster of historic proportions. The current mortgage mess and credit crunch have the potential of decimating the entire economy.

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve reported Monday that more banks are tightening lending standards on home mortgages, other types of consumer loans and business loans in response to a spreading credit crisis.

PHOENIX - Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano on Monday signed into law a bill requiring the state licensing of mortgage loan workers.