Business Digest: Foreclosure filings rose 21 percent in 2009

FORECLOSURES

2009 filings up 21 percent from 2008

The number of households that received a foreclosure filing -- from a delinquency notice to an auction date -- rose 21 percent last year compared with 2008, according to RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosure activity throughout the country.

The pace of foreclosure filings fell during the last months of the year, as lenders implemented a government foreclosure prevention program to modify the mortgages of delinquent borrowers. But as more borrowers become unemployed and fail to qualify for the federal program, foreclosures are expected to peak this year, economists said.

Foreclosures remain concentrated in a few states, including Nevada, Arizona and Florida, but also worsened in the Washington region last year. Bank repossessions of homes in the District were stable in 2008, but they increased in Maryland and Virginia.

-- Renae Merle

OVERSIGHT

Geithner to testify on AIG matters

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner will testify next week about his role in the 2008 bailout of insurance giant American International Group and about advice the company received from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which Geithner headed at the time.

House oversight committee Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) earlier this week issued a subpoena to compel the New York Fed to hand over all documents related to its decision to direct AIG to pay out billions of dollars to big banks during the financial crisis, as well as its input on how much to disclose about those payments. The subpoena covers e-mails, phone logs and meeting notes of Geithner and other top New York Fed officials.

Officials at Treasury and the New York Fed have said that Geithner played no role in the disclosure decisions because he was a candidate for the Treasury post at the time and had recused himself. The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.