Members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors have begun talking about the Fed’s plans to begin working with state agencies to ensure that new standards to prevent subprime lending abuses.  As we all know new subprime regulations are only as good as the enforcement that protects them.  We shall see.

241 major US lending firms have imploded
2,500,000 estimated number of homes lost to foreclosure in subprime meltdown
433 percent increase in subprime mortgages from 2000-2006
25 percent of all mortgages that subprime made-up in 2006 
52 percent of all mortgages made to African-Americans that were subprime in 2006 
80% drop in subprime mortgages in UK
66% drop in new housing [...]

H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) has finally offloaded its Option One subprime mortgage unit.  The daredevil acquirer? WL Ross  & Co, run by famed investor Wilbur Ross.  The deal went through at about $1.1 billion.  Cerberus, the last suitor to Option One, pulled out after it saw the subprime and housing crisis come tumbling down.  Ross [...]