US President George W Bush has signed into law a bill to extend unemployment benefits over the Christmas holidays, and major federal lenders will freeze home foreclosures until the New Year in the US.
In a bid to ease the sting of rising job losses in the worsening economy, the White House said President Bush signed the bill to provide an extra seven weeks of unemployment insurance to workers whose benefits have expired, for a total of 46 weeks.
The bill also offers 13 more weeks of benefits for unemployed workers in states where there is high unemployment, for a total of up to 59 weeks.
In addition, mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced they had notified loan servicing organisations to freeze foreclosures from the Thanksgiving holiday next Thursday until January 9, 2009.
An estimated 6,000 borrowers with foreclosure sales scheduled between November 26 and January 9 are being notified. If the property is occupied, the sale will be halted.
Fannie Mae said its measure could help at least 10,000 borrowers to stay in their homes while lenders try to work out new terms for people unable to pay their mortgages.
Other banking giants have previously announced similar measures. Citigroup said earlier this month it was placing a moratorium on foreclosures for most home loan borrowers and 'preemptively reach out' to 500,000 of its mortgage customers who require help to keep their payments up-to-date.
JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have also modified the mortgages they hold.
