Loan

A South Philadelphia bookmaker who owed reputed mob leader Anthony Staino between $60,000 and $80,000 rarely made his loan payments on time, and usually paid less than was due. Yet, Henry Scipione testified Friday, Staino seldom threatened him or demanded more money. Scipione, the first witness the prosecution called in the racketeering trial of Staino, reputed mob boss Joseph Ligambi, and five others, spent nearly six hours on the witness stand Friday detailing his role as a reluctant FBI informant between 2003 and 2007.

Glennda Howe stood where her kitchen used to be. Everything was gone - the cabinets, appliances, table, chairs, antique hutch. This 11-by-14-foot room, which for 21 years had been the hub of Howe's life, was undergoing a metamorphosis. In a few weeks, this would become her dining room. Her new kitchen would be part of an 800-square-foot addition. "I still can't believe it," said Howe, 51, of the changes coming to her West Chester ranch. "I look at this, I still can't decide what I am more excited about - the kitchen, the dining room, the fireplace or the laundry room ... " But she and husband Don, 57, have other reasons to grin.

This story has been updated to reflect that Fazzini has pleaded guilty. Louis "Big Lou" Fazzini, a North Jersey mobster charged with racketeering, has decided to take his chances with the sentencing judge rather than put his fate in the hands of a federal jury. Fazzini, 45, pleaded guilty Friday morning before U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno in Philadelphia. Fazzini had pleaded not guilty this year to a racketeering conspiracy charge linked to a mob-controlled gambling and loan-sharking operation.

Robert Coyle Sr., a real estate investor described as a "millionaire slumlord" by Philadelphia tenants, pleaded guilty Monday to defrauding banks of $10 million in loans, prosecutors said. Coyle, 67, of Glassboro, N.J., pleaded guilty to two counts of loan fraud. He lied to banks about what properties he owned and how much rental income he expected to receive to repay loans. He needed the money to maintain control of hundreds of properties in the city's Kensington and Port Richmond sections.

A businessman who owned or rented more than 300 properties in Kensington and Port Richmond pleaded guilty today to two counts of loan fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Robert Coyle, Sr., 67, of Glassboro, faces a possible maximum sentence of 60 years in prison, $2 million in fines, and restitution to tune of $10 million to the defrauded banks. Prosecutors said Coyle has agreed to pay restitution to individuals who had entered into rent-to-own, house swap, or similar ownership agreements with the defendant or his companies for properties that were pledged as collateral in the loan scheme.

Good credit is important, especially when you're looking to buy a house. Mortgage lenders have to know whether you're able to repay the debt, and have to determine through your credit history whether you're willing to pay, as well. They use credit scores to determine, statistically, how much of a loan you can afford, whether to approve it, and the interest rate. The scores are obtained from the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. The most common credit score issued is the FICO, named for Fair Isaac Co., which developed the mathematical formula.

LOVE AND MONEY make people crazy. Love of money makes them even crazier, especially if they are lawmakers. That must be the explanation for why our own state lawmakers are back at the table talking about allowing payday lenders to practice their predatory loansharking in Pennsylvania. It's probably no coincidence that the payday industry as a whole has been on a spending spree of lobbying and campaign contributions, especially at the federal level. Payday loans are marketed as quick loans that allow someone with a paycheck but few other resources to get quick cash; the presumption is they pay the loan back with their next paycheck.

In the tight-money world of small business owners, the occasion seemed more worthy of a bottle of bubbly than a steaming cup of Honduran dark roast. But java is the specialty of Green Street Coffee Roasters, the 17-month-old South Philadelphia company owned by brothers Chris and Tom Molieri. Early last week, the Molieris were celebrating a $10,000 loan for equipment they had just secured. They were also raising a cup to the entity that made it happen – Entrepreneur Works. It is a community development financial institution, or CDFI, one of a network of nearly 1,000 mostly nonprofit entities nationwide devoted to helping entrepreneurs overcome what stymies so many of them: access to capital.

WASHINGTON - The average U.S. rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage touched its record low this week, and the rate on 15-year mortgage hit a new record. The declines followed the Fed's announcement last week that it would buy bonds to try to suppress mortgage rates and stimulate the housing market. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year loan dipped to 3.49 percent from 3.55 percent last week. That matched the lowest rate since long-term mortgages began in the 1950s.

DALLAS - Six years after entering the NFL as the third player taken in the draft, Vince Young finds himself without a team and with just a fraction of the money he received from a contract that guaranteed him $26 million. The question is, where did it all go? In an increasingly caustic war of words, attorneys have been arguing for months over whether Young is an out-of-control spender who put himself deeply in the hole or simply a victim of inexperienced advisers, one of whom was his own uncle.