► 2007 : Feb – Mar : Sub prime industry collapses; more than 25 sub prime lenders in the
US declaring bankruptcy, announcing significant losses, or putting themselves
up for sale.

● Aug 6 : American Home Mortgage files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

● Aug 16 : Countrywide Financial Corporation, the biggest US mortgage lender,
narrowly avoids bankruptcy by taking out an emergency loan of US$11bil from
a group of banks.

● Aug 31 : Ameriquest, once the largest sub prime lender in the US, goes out of
business.

● Dec 6 : President George W Bush announced a plan to voluntarily and
temporarily freeze the mortgages of a limited number of mortgage debtors
holding adjustable rate mortgages (ARM). He also asked Members of Congress
to:

- Pass legislation to modernize the Federal Housing Administration.

- Temporarily reform the tax code to help homeowners refinance during this
time of housing market stress.

- Pass funding to support mortgage counseling.

- Pass legislation to reform Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) like
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.


► 2008 :

● Mar 14 : Bear Stearns gets Fed funding as shares plummet.

● Mar 16 : Bear Stearns gets acquired by JPMorgan Chase in a fire sale avoiding
bankruptcy initially at US$2 a share but later revised to a higher price. The
deal is backed by Federal Reserve providing up to US$30bil to cover possible
Bear Stearn losses.

● Sept 7 : Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.


● Sept 14 : Merrill Lynch sold to Bank of America amidst fears of a liquidity
crisis and Lehman Brothers collapse.

● Sept 15 : Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy protection.

● Sept 16 : Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s downgrade ratings on AIG’s credit
over continuing losses to mortgage-backed securities, raising fears of
insolvency.

● Sept 17 : The US Federal Reserve loans US$85bil to American International
Group (AIG) to avoid bankruptcy.

● Sept 25 : Washington Mutual was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp,
and its banking assets were sold to JP MorganChase for US$1.9bil.

● Sept 29 : Federal Deposit Insurance Corp announces that Citigroup Inc. would
acquire banking operations of Wachvia.