FDIC urges lenders to give mortgage help to unemployed

WASHINGTON - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is encouraging companies that buy failed banks with troubled home loans to extend temporary help to people who have lost their jobs and can't pay their mortgage bills. Under the FDIC's recommendations, borrowers' monthly payments would be reduced for at least six months. The aid would apply to borrowers who have lost their jobs or those who have faced a drop in salary. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said in a statement Friday that the aid was necessary to avoid foreclosures. The plan would apply to buyers of deposits and assets of failed institutions that sign loss-sharing agreements with the FDIC. The agency in recent months has signed about 50 such agreements with those banks.

- Associated Press