BUSINESS BRIEFS
Countrywide programs aim to help borrowers
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Countrywide Financial Corp., under pressure to help stem growing home loan defaults, says it will expand programs to help borrowers manage their mortgage payments regardless of the type of subprime loan they have or whether they have already fallen behind on payments.
Countrywide, the nation's largest mortgage lender and home loan servicer, has sought to address the growing number of defaults on its books by modifying loan terms, working out long-term repayment plans and other actions. The company said last month it helped more than 81,000 borrowers keep their mortgage payments manageable in 2007.
The latest initiative, brokered with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, calls for Countrywide to try to manage payment plans for borrowers that are already behind in payments, regardless of which type of subprime loan they have.
HOMEOWNERS PUT OFF RENOVATIONS
As more people struggle to pay their mortgage and fewer take out home-equity loans, many homeowners have cut back their spending on remodeling kitchens, replacing windows and other improvement projects.
Two out of three homeowners who had planned an improvement project this year said they would wait until the market stabilizes, and about 10 percent said they were abandoning the idea of a project this year, according to an e-mail survey with 2,100 responses from homeowners in 11 metro areas.
The survey by the Zoomerang research firm, while not a random sample of homeowners, offers anecdotal evidence of the jitters about the housing recession. And it matches industry figures. The remodeling industry, with annual sales of about $280 billion, is expected to see a 2.6 percent annual rate of decline through autumn, the Joint Center for Housing Studies says.
TRADER JOE'S CUTS SOME CHINA FOODS
Trader Joe's is phasing out fresh foods imported from China by the end of March, bowing to what it says are customer concerns about safety.
Among the items it will no longer get from Chinese suppliers: garlic, frozen organic spinach and edamame (green soy beans). The California-based grocer, which has 263 stores in 23 states, says the Chinese imports were safe, but it chose to respond to consumer concerns anyway.
The TJ's ban isn't likely to spark a national movement, other retailers and analysts say. They say Chinese producers can be as good or bad as producers in other developing countries, or even the U.S. TJ's ban also doesn't include products with ingredients from China, which can be numerous.
SOCIAL-NETWORKING SITES GO GLOBAL
SAN FRANCISCO — MySpace, Facebook and other social-networking sites aren't just slugging it out for customers in the United States.
They're expanding aggressively overseas, where a vast majority of Internet users live.
Most are targeting Asia and Europe, both of which have more users of social networks than the United States, and are growing at faster rates, according to data from market researcher ComScore Media Metrix. Some are launching new sites, others are offering translation applications, and some are acquiring sites that are popular in specific countries, such as Russia.
About 80 percent of the world's estimated 1.2 billion Internet users are outside the United States, according to Computer Industry Almanac. Half the $40 billion online advertising market is non-U.S., says eMarketer.
