Truth in advertising?

The dancing folks who once graced every online ad from mortgage lead generator LowerMyBills.com seem to have faded. The latest ads from this company instead sport the headline: "House Payments Fall Again!"

That may be true for some borrowers who've been able to refinance into better loan terms once the rates on their adjustables started resetting, but probably not for those who are impacted by the subject matter of The New York Times article in which this particular ad appears this morning.

The article, "Reports Suggest Broader Losses From Mortgages," like many in business sections lately stems from the fallout in the subprime mortgage market, a situation that's been exacerbated by rising house payments that have caused more and more borrowers to default on their loans.

While people are losing their homes, economists are trying to gauge the hit that financial firms and investors will take from troubles in the mortgage market. Their current guess? Up to $400 billion, according the Times article, which adds:

"That is far more than the roughly $240 billion cost, adjusted for inflation, of the savings and loan crisis of the early 1990s, according to estimates of the combined financial toll of that crisis on both the federal government and private sector. The loss in total real estate wealth is expected to range from $2 trillion to $4 trillion, depending on how far home prices fall, according to several economists."

LowerMyBills itself has taken a hit from the mortgage turmoil. The company, which generates borrower leads for subprime lenders, reported a 20 percent drop in sales in the first quarter and an additional 20 percent drop in the second quarter after banks scaled back on subprime lending. (See "Subprime turmoil hurts Experian in US.")

Dancing people probably seem less appropriate alongside today's news.

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