AP - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says a new plan could help 1.5 million American households avoid foreclosure.

AFP - Freddie Mac, one of the mortgage finance giants taken over by the government earlier this year, reported Friday a quarterly loss of 25.3 billion dollars as it asked for a fresh capital infusion.

BusinessWeek Online - It may seem like ancient history now, but not long ago the mortgage industry was turning ordinary people into millionaires. One of them was Sharmen Lane, a high school dropout who, like many other young women during the boom, found her way into an obscure banking job with the clunky title 'mortgage wholesaler.' Her experience -- and the experiences of other wholesalers like her -- offers a glimpse into the recklessness and indulgence that drove the industry to ruin.

BusinessWeek Online - Individual investors aren't the only ones scared to look at their portfolios. Insurance giants are also watching their holdings wither, a situation that could have serious implications for their customers and the markets. The biggest independent life insurer, MetLife, reported total paper losses of $12.2 billion on its $340 billion portfolio. 'You have to plan for things to be depressed for the next few quarters at a minimum,' says Steven A. Kandarian, chief investment officer at MetLife.

AP - The young prosecutor tapped to monitor the $700 billion financial rescue plan has brought down Colombian drug traffickers, gone after swindling corporate executives and now heads the mortgage fraud unit for the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan.