Bloomberg, August 21, 2011, here:
Fed
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s unprecedented effort to keep the economy
from plunging into depression included lending banks and other companies
as much as $1.2 trillion of public money, about the same amount U.S.
homeowners currently owe on 6.5 million delinquent and foreclosed
mortgages. The largest borrower, Morgan Stanley, got as much as $107.3
billion, while Citigroup took $99.5 billion and Bank of America $91.4
billion, according to a Bloomberg News compilation of data obtained
through Freedom of Information Act requests, months of litigation and an
act of Congress. ...
Homeowners
are more than 30 days past due on their mortgage payments on 4.38
million properties in the U.S., and 2.16 million more properties are in
foreclosure, representing a combined $1.27 trillion of unpaid principal,
estimates Jacksonville, Florida-based Lender Processing Services Inc. ...
Congress required the disclosure after the Fed rejected requests in 2008
from the late Bloomberg News reporter Mark Pittman and other media
companies that sought details of its loans under the Freedom of
Information Act. After fighting to keep the data secret, the central
bank released unprecedented information about its discount window and
other programs under court order in March 2011.
