Main Street Bank in Northville, Michigan and Meridian Bank in Eldred, Illinois are the two latest casualties of the country’s financial crisis. Both banks were closed last week and sold off by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Philadelphia-based Radian Guaranty, the mortgage insurance subsidiary of Radian Group Inc., announced this week that it has established the Servicer Advocacy Group, a new program aimed at reducing foreclosures, mitigating losses, and keeping more homeowners in their homes.

Florida-based Ocwen Financial Corporation, a subprime mortgage servicer, has received a technology patent for an e-commerce invoicing system that it developed in-house and uses to streamline the complex task of managing REO properties.

Earlier this morning, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced that his office would use the initial $250 billion – and possibly the next $100 billion – of the government’s $700 billion bailout fund to purchase ownership stakes in the country’s ailing banks and thrifts and infuse the financial market with capital, in hopes of thawing the credit freeze.

Field Asset Services (FAS), a national property preservation, REO maintenance, and repair services company, is expanding again this year to meet continued demand for its services. Since the company’s inception 12 years ago, FAS has doubled in sales every year and is on pace to exceed $200 million in revenue in 2008.

In a joint statement made this morning by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chairman Sheila C. Bair, the federal government announced three principal steps to shore up the country’s ailing financial system.

As in most states across the nation, foreclosed homes and REO inventories are on the rise in Minnesota. A local company serving the Twin Cities and Minneapolis and St. Paul suburb areas, REOSphere, offers a free foreclosure listings portal to connect potential buyers with REO properties.

Wells Fargo announced last night that the Federal Reserve has approved its application to merge with Wachovia Corporation, including all its subsidiaries. The share exchange agreement previously entered into between Wachovia and Wells Fargo still stands, with Wells trading its common stock for Wachovia’s at a rate of 0.

Neel Kashkari spoke before the Institute of International Bankers today, giving an update on the Treasury Department’s progress in implementing the Administration’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC has announced a bold sales initiative to help reduce home inventories and jump start local real estate markets – a first-ever national 10-day sales event in which participating home sellers will reduce the listing prices of their homes by up to 10 percent.