Lifestyle and Budget

New York's top financial regulator is investigating whether the nation's largest overseer of troubled mortgages, Ocwen Financial Corp., is overcharging struggling homeowners on insurance.

___ US airfares on the rise, outpacing inflation NEW YORK (AP) — The average roundtrip ticket within the U.S., including taxes, reached $509.15 in the first six months of this year, up nearly $14 from the same period last year.

One of the country's largest overseers of troubled home loans, Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc., is quietly trying to sell a $100 million insurance agency that doesn't appear to exist.

Oregon will see a much tighter range of premium prices in 2015 for individual and small employer health insurance plans, according to new rates announced Friday by state regulators.

Companies overseeing millions of mortgage loans appear to be skirting new federal regulations and legal settlements intended to stop them profiteering at the expense of troubled homeowners.

European Union ambassadors are meeting to discuss a dramatic toughening of the trade bloc's sanctions against Russia.

The government says Medicare's finances have improved.

It's a battle pitting the nation's airlines against their passengers, and the first round has gone to the industry.

Senate Democrats suffered what looked like a difficult setback on birth control Wednesday, but they hope it pays big political dividends in November.

The nation's largest health insurer expects to play a much bigger role in the health care overhaul next year, as the federal law shifts from raising giant questions for the sector to offering growth opportunities.

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Citigroup will pay $7 billion to settle an investigation into risky subprime mortgages, the type that helped fuel the financial crisis.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued a major debt collection law firm on Monday, alleging it is a "mill" that produces shoddy, mass-produced credit-card collection lawsuits.

Legislation re-writing Missouri's payday loan laws has been vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon because he says it falls short of "true reform." Borrowers in Missouri currently can renew a payday loan up to six times and can face interest rates as high as 75 percent of the loan's original amount.

In a country grappling with poverty, sluggish growth and a daunting deficit, India's new budget has set aside 2 billion rupees ($33 million) for a colossal iron-and-bronze statue almost twice the size of the Statue of Liberty.

The European Central Bank is expected to keep interest rates unchanged when it concludes its monthly policy meeting Thursday despite further signs that the 18-country eurozone economy is losing momentum.

Asian stock markets were lackluster Thursday as traders turned cautious ahead of a U.S. jobs report and the monthly policy meeting of the European Central Bank.

There’s a battle brewing in the teeth-whitening industry which could leave consumers with fewer product choices.   

There’s a battle brewing in the teeth-whitening industry which could leave consumers with fewer product choices.   

A bankruptcy judge ordered rapper 50 Cent to come to her courtroom and explain several pictures posted on social media websites that show him playing with stacks of cash.