"It is clear that a lot of banks are having issues relating to not only borrowers having difficulty paying, but vastly declining collateral values," said Ellen Seidman, director of the Financial Services and Education Project at the New America Foundation and a former director of the Office of Thrift Supervision. ...

Washington, D.C.—The U.S. Treasury Department is considering a policy to create an opt-out account, into which federal income tax refunds would be direct deposited.  In an interview for an article today in the Wall Street Journal, Michael Barr, Assistant Secretary for the Treasury Department described the proposal, which was developed by Melissa Koide at the New America Foundation to increase access to banking services and jumpstart savings by millions of lower income tax filers.  

Ellen Seidman, a fellow at the New America Foundation, says Congress is unlikely to force Treasury to adopt the FDIC proposal before President-elect Barack Obama takes office. But that doesn't mean the FDIC proposal is dead.

"This is also out here so that in a different Congress and a different administration, there's something ready to roll," Seidman says. LINK to audio