Mortgage plan shows increased gov't role (AP)

AP - If you're looking for a mortgage, Uncle Sam may be the only game in town.

Bernanke: more action needed to cut foreclosures (AP)

AP - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called on the government Thursday to ramp up efforts to stem soaring home foreclosures, which are feeding into the country's deep economic troubles.

Kashkari: Treasury considering mortgage rate plan (AP)

AP - The head of the government's financial system rescue effort said Thursday the Treasury Department is considering a program to encourage banks to make mortgage loans at low rates to help revive the battered housing market.

Bernanke wants more action to curb foreclosures (AP)

<p>AP - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pleaded Thursday for more government action to relieve the foreclosure crisis and break a vicious cycle in which the housing meltdown is plunging the country deeper into recession.

Falling mortgage rates can't thaw other credit (AP)

AP - Rates may be falling for residential mortgages and the securities backed by them, but there hasn't been a similar loosening in other strained areas of the credit markets.

Mortgage rates drop to lowest level since January (AP)

AP - Rates on 30-year mortgages plunged this week to the lowest level since January after the government launched a sweeping new effort to aid the U.S. housing market.</p>