Costa Rican President Oscar Arias and the executive president of the National Insurance Institute (INS), Guillermo Constenla, signed last July 22 the Insurance Market Regulatory Law, which effectively ends 84 years of state monopoly in the insurance market. It is estimated that the guidelines complementing this law will ready next September.

But even before regulations are in place, private insurers - such as U.S.-based Pan American Life - are already announcing their interest in participating in the new Costa Rican insurance market. The INS itself has been modifying its service strategy for the past few months in anticipation of the market opening, offering new types of insurance policies for vehicles and announcing its interest to do business in other Central American countries.

The new insurance legislation allows for regulation of insurance industry, creating an insurance superintendent’s office, strengthening INS, and decentralizing operations of the Firefighters Corps - which has been a unit of INS in the past.

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Some people call mortgage foreclosure a silent crisis.

One that starts with unpaid bills and escalates to a sale on the courthouse steps.

One that leaves behind an empty house, and a family without a home.

One that, to look around, you might not even know is happening.

But it is, to 20 more families every day all over metropolitan St. Louis.

And it is expected to get worse.

St. Louis hasn’t seen the scale of foreclosures that have stricken Nevada or Florida. Nor quite the despair of Detroit and parts of Ohio. Yet foreclosures are here, and they’re happening all over the region, decimating working-class neighborhoods in north St. Louis County, stalling redevelopment in south St. Louis and spreading fast in the manicured cul-de-sacs of St. Peters.

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A large number of drivers on Texas highways and roads do not have auto insurance, according to a Texas insurance organization.

A 60-day pilot project testing the new TexasSure program, which allows law enforcement personnel via computer to verify coverage status when they stop a motorist, focused on Travis County. During the test which is expected to end soon, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers stopped and ticketed uninsured drivers.

So far, 25.5 percent of 5,012 drivers stopped in Travis County and small portions of nearby Williamson and Hays counties since June 2, did not have auto insurance.

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Bank failures are absolutely more emotional for seniors, especially when mortgage products were built, aimed and sold with them in mind. Ask any mortgage specialist in the reverse mortgage business: Reverse mortgages cannot be explained or promoted like any other forward instrument. They are more about hand-holding and assuring older citizens that no matter what happens, their future has a monetary cushion for as long as they live in their home.

IndyMac Bank, the parent company of jumbo reverse mortgage specialist Financial Freedom, recently failed. IndyMac was the second-largest mortgage lender in the United States and the seventh-largest savings and loan. The bank reopened as a new entity, IndyMac Federal Bank, operated by the FDIC as conservator.

For older folks with reverse mortgages, the bank’s reopening was clouded by some of the negative perceptions that originally hounded the industry — that something might happen that could keep seniors from receiving their hard-earned, and now dearly needed, equity in their homes. Fears extended not only to Financial Freedom customers, but to the broader reverse mortgage world as well.

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Swanson, FBI are right to urge caution. 

For a cash-starved senior citizen, the opportunity to tap into hundreds of thousands of dollars in home equity can be irresistible. That’s why reverse mortgages are becoming more popular, and also why consumer groups and law enforcement officials are warning about a new frontier for scams and fraud.

Today 81 percent of seniors own their own homes and account for a total of more than $4 trillion in home equity, according to the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae). By 2030, that figure could grow to $37 trillion. Reverse mortgages are a way for homeowners 62 or older to get at all or most of that equity tax-free without selling their homes. Even better, there are no monthly interest or principal payments during the life of the loan, making it seem like free money. It isn’t.

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Relief is closer for Mich. homeowners facing foreclosure in slumping economy

Far-reaching housing assistance that could provide a boost to metro Detroit’s struggling home market — with tax credits for first-time buyers and an expansion of federal programs to protect owners from losing their homes — cleared the House on Wednesday and appeared on a on a fast track toward approval.

With the White House’s desire to prop up mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac serving as leverage, majority Democrats in Congress saw President George W. Bush withdraw his opposition despite his and many other Republicans’ distaste for some parts of the legislation.

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KIDS ROMPING on lawns and workers trimming hedges belie the gloom that hovers over the sprawling Parkhaven complex bordering Miwok Park in northwestern Novato.

“For sale” signs are plastered in some windows as 10 residences in the 104-unit development are on the market as foreclosures or “short sales” in which property is offered for less than its mortgage. Five of eight Parkhaven sales this year were distressed properties at a median sales price of $332,000.

The complex, where median sales prices have dropped more than $125,000 in two years, is part of Marin’s foreclosure ground zero. On the other side of town at the Crossroads 2 townhome complex, also plagued by foreclosure trouble, median prices have plummeted more than $200,000 in two years.

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Despite the tarnished reputation of the reverse mortgage, a mortgage referral service says that it can help independent insurance agents act as a conduit for the loans, collect a plum commission - and do so legitimately.

The concept, however, is being looked at suspiciously by financial advisers and attorneys.

“I don’t think it’s great for a fiduciary to get involved in getting a piece of a mortgage origination fee - that’s a conflict,” said Ian Weinberg, chief executive of Family Wealth & Pension Management LLC. The Woodbury, N.Y., firm manages $150 million.

“Insurance agents know insurance,” Mr. Weinberg said. “What makes an agent an expert on mortgage financing?”

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House committee looks at practice of revoking policies retroactively

A horrific mountain biking accident left Logan resident Heidi Bleazard hospitalized with a broken back, fractured ribs and a severe head injury that robbed her of some memories.

And then it got even worse.

Her health insurance company, Regence BlueCross BlueShield, sent her a letter five months later saying the company was retroactively canceling her family’s policy because her husband, Keith, didn’t properly disclose a back injury. Not only would Regence not pay her current bills, but the company would seek a refund for the bills it already paid, saddling the Bleazards with more than $100,000 in debt.

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Find Out How You Should Handle Your Money During This Difficult Economic Time

The nation’s economic turbulence has many consumers fretting about their personal finances. With tightening budgets across the country, most people are interested in how to get the most for their money, and want to know what they actually should be doing with their dollars.

Fox Business Network host Dave Ramsey explains the money dos and don’ts. He says, “Winning at money is 80 percent behavior and 20 percent head knowledge.”

Here is some advice on how to make your money work for you and what pitfalls to avoid.

Three Money Dos

• Focus on necessities and pay essential bills first.

If things are tight, pay your essential bills first before you pay your credit card or student loan debt. Necessities are things like shelter, which include rent or mortgage, food, clothing and transportation to and from work. No matter what happens to the economy, these are the things you need to keep yourself going to live another day.

Then use whatever is leftover to pay your debts. Pay your smallest debts first. The reason for that is as much psychological as financial. If you focus on the big debts first, it’s just going to demoralize you. When you pay off the small store credit card, it motivates you. Take small doable steps to get yourself out of debt.

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