U.S. puts heat on lenders to freeze rates

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration raced against time Monday to wrap up an agreement designed to prevent a surge of mortgage foreclosures that many analysts fear could send the economy into recession.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told a housing conference here he is working "aggressively and quickly" to persuade financial institutions to freeze interest rates on hundreds of thousands of "subprime" adjustable-rate mortgages held by marginally qualified buyers. Read on ->