WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is calling for additional action to be taken to prevent more distressed homeowners from falling into foreclosure.
Bernanke says the "situation calls for a vigorous response."
In a speech Tuesday to a banking group in Florida, Bernanke warns that foreclosures and late payments on home mortgages are likely to rise "for a while longer," even with some relief efforts under way by industry and government.
Rising foreclosures threaten to worsen the problems in the housing market and for the national economy, which many fear is verging on recession or in one already.
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