BUSINESS BRIEFS

By Staff Reports

Published: January 13, 2009

VIRGINIA

Countrywide settlement could help homeowners

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Bob McDonnell says a nationwide settlement with Countrywide Financial that Virginia joined could provide some mortgage relief for some of the lender's Virginia customers.

McDonnell says the settlement will provide nearly $213 million in projected relief for more than 8,900 homeowners in Virginia. McDonnell also is proposing legislation to provide further assistance to homeowners.

Under the settlement terms, Countrywide has agreed to modify certain subprime and pay-option adjustable-rate loans received before Dec. 31, 2007.

Countrywide also is paying additional funds for foreclosure relief, relocation assistance and a waiver of prepayment penalties and other fees from eligible borrowers.

Countrywide was acquired by Bank of America Corp. in July.

Asian chamber to host meeting on joblessness

The Virginia Asian Chamber of Commerce will host a town-hall meeting tomorrow to help Asian-Pacific Islanders and other linguistic minority groups deal with unemployment issues.

The meeting will be at noon at O'Charley's restaurant, at 6291 W. Broad St. in Henrico County. It is designed to assist immigrants who speak the hundreds of dialects spoken in the Pacific islands and elsewhere find public and private services available for the unemployed.

The Asian chamber is working with a dozen work-force development service providers to host the meeting. For information, call the chamber at (804) 798-3975.

Natural disaster areas designated in Virginia

The U.S. agriculture secretary is designating some Virginia areas as natural disaster areas because of drought and excessive heat last year that reduced farm production.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine says the designation makes farmers eligible for low-interest loans.

Those receiving the designation include Brunswick, Charlotte, Gloucester, Mecklenburg, Patrick, Prince George, Scott and Surry counties. Nearby counties and cities also may be eligible for federal assistance.

Disaster declarations make farm operators in primary and contiguous areas eligible to be considered for low-interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency of the Department of Agriculture.

THE NATION

FDIC directs banks to track 'prudent lending'

Federal regulators are asking financial institutions to monitor their use of government money received under the $700 billion rescue plan and other support.

Banks and other financial institutions should track how the money or guarantees they received helped them boost "prudent lending" and efforts to help at-risk borrowers avoid foreclosures, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said yesterday in a directive issued to the 5,100 state-chartered banks and savings and loans for which it is the primary regulator.

Record surge of people need help staying warm

WASHINGTON -- About 7.3 million households are expected to get fuel aid this winter, according to a survey released yesterday by the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association. The group represents state-run low-income energy-assistance programs.

That's nearly 1.5 million more households than last winter, a 25 percent increase. It's also about 800,000 more households than the previous high in 1985, the group said.

The government last fall nearly doubled fuel assistance, releasing $5.1 billion to states.

'Tackle the hard issues,' Wal-Mart's Scott says

NEW YORK -- Retailers need to offer customers more services to make themselves indispensable and work with the government to help solve economic and social woes even as they deal with seismic changes in consumer behavior, industry leaders said yesterday.

Departing Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott told retailers they need to get involved in broader issues such as health care, immigration, energy independence and environmental sustainability. Doing so, he said, would resonate with shoppers and improve the bottom line.

"We need to tackle the hard issues," Scott said at the annual National Retail Federation convention, noting that retailers in particular are close to what consumers are thinking.

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