2010, while sales of existing homes are up over 35% from their lowest point. >> susie: meanwhile, bank of america announced today a plan to help struggling homeowners. it's offering bank customers with underwater mortgages a way to avoid foreclosure by becoming renters. bank of america calls it mortgage to lease. >> reporter: it's an invitation only opportunity for people facing foreclosu and the only way to participate is by getting a letter from bank of america. fewer than 1,000 borrowers in only three states-- arizona, nevada and new york will be asked to join the pilot program. and those homeowners need to qualify before they can participate: they have to be 60 days behind on their mortgage, they must have exhausted other options like a home loan modification or a short-sale and they are really underwater on their homes. then the homeowner can hand over the title of his or her house to bank of america, thereby eliminating their mortgage debt. in exchange, the now former- owner can rent back the same house at or below market rates. >> this new bank of america program is definitely a step in th

meanwhile, bank of america is looking to recoup some of that cash from customers by dusting out new feesn basic checking users unless they agree to bank online or agree to maintain certain balances. james murdoch has resigned as executive chairman at "london news international." finally if you really want to be like mike, here is your chance. michael jordan sprawling suburban chicago estate is up for sale for a mere $29 million. >>> jeremy lin is bloodied, but not beaten. kobe bryant plays a mass adventure and mavericks, big man goes down and out. some calling it america's greatest ever soccer victory. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >>> in weather, all eyes are on the next severe weather outbreak coming on friday. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." owe we e >>> good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." >>> in sports, two of the hottest teams in the nba met last night in san antonio and unlike at the rodeo, the bulls won out over the spurs. here is fred roggin with an early look at all of your sports headlines. >>> good

meanwhile, bank of america is looking to recoup some of that cash from customers by dusting out new feesn basic checking users unless they agree to bank online or maintain certain balances. >>> rupert murdoch's son, james murdoch has resigned as executive chairman at "london news international" amid an online bribing and hacking scandal. finally if you really want to be like mike, here is your chance. michael jordan's sprawling suburban chicago estate is up for sale for a mere $29 million. >>> jeremy lin is bloodied, but not beaten. kobe bryant plays the masked avenger, and mavericks big man goes down and out. some calling it america's greatest ever soccer victory. f , plus a powerful decongestant. i can breathe freer with zyrtec-d®. so i'll race you to our favorite chair. i might even let you win. zyrtec-d® lets me breathe easier. so i can love the air. [ male announcer ] zyrtec-d®, behind the pharmacy counter. this week only, save $10 on zyrtec® 70 count. see sunday's newspaper. our machines help identify early stages of cancer and it's something that we're extremely proud of. you see

meanwhile, bank of america announced a pilot program to keep about one thousand foreclosure victims in their homes. monday, we'll be at the u.s. supreme court where justices begin an historic debate over the president's health care reform act. for more financial news, tune in to "nightly business report" weeknights on this public television station.

banks hit the e.c.v. for liquidity the longer term refinancing operation for five hundred thirty billion euro will fill you in on the easy money makers of the central banking gene meanwhile bank of america find yet another way to cash in on taxpayers and j.p. morgan c.e.o. jamie diamond find yet another way to cash in on attention as a drama queen or king i guess soundings gets a friend on regulation wall lashing out at us the us media will tell you what we think let's get to the day's capital. the u.s. commodity futures trading commission is having roundtable talks they wanted today gone tomorrow to talk about how to protect customer money in the aftermath of the n.f.l. o'boyle collapse you know remember the eighth largest bankruptcy in the u.s. where they are still looking for a reported one point six billion dollars in missing customer money the firm run by former goldman sachs c.e.o. senator also new jersey governor john corazon well james good to less is our guest he's a lawyer representing eight thousand and that's global customers in the bankruptcy proceedings pro bono mind you so he tells me and he has told me that any new u.s. regulations won't be very effective as long as firm

. >> meanwhile, bank of america at it again reportedly planning to hit its customers with new monthlys on checking accounts. uh-oh. "wall street journal" reporting today unless bva customers agree to bank on line, buy more products or maintain certain balances, they'll have to pay monthly charges ranging between $9 and $25. bank of america faced a major backlash last year and was forced to drop its plans for a $5 per month debit/credit card fee. that didn't work out. >> update now on the $750,000 soccer field being built for terror suspects -- all right, we still have to say suspects at gitmo? >> terrorists. >> because it's being paid for with your tax dollars. fox news confirming at least two congressional offices and committees are investigating the controversial project. sources tell us anything over $749,000 needs congressional approval. really? that's the threshold? and the new field for gitmo inmates costs $744,000, we're told by the army's department of operation, i guess we're going to have to make their own goals. the maintenance signed off on it. who would allow them to play

bank of america does it, admit it, pay a fine and they're free to go. they do it all the time. so, now, meanwhilethe republicans think? they think of course we were supposed to bail out the banks. look at mitt romney on the campaign trail. >> there was a fear that the whole economic system of america would collapse that all of our banks would virtually go out of business. in that circumstance, president bush said they had to do something to make sure they didn't go out of business. i agree. >> matt taibbi from rolling stone is going to tell us whether mitt romney was right or not. i see you shaking your head already. go for it. is mitt romney right or wrong? >> i can see the argument in 2008 when the government was blind-sided by all the problems that happen and all these companies were in trouble, lehman brothers and citigroup and goldman sachs and bear stearns, i can almost see the rationale of saving these companies temporarily. not only did they not go in and fire all the people responsible for this fraud, they continued to support the company for years after it was back on their feet. that's

we think it's positive. >> michael, thanks for your time. >> thank you. >> meanwhile, crude oil is trading higher. bank of america talk about america's vulnerability with b of a's head of global commodity research, francisco blanch when squawk on the street returns. let's -- let's start over from the beginning. we were just driving along, comin' back from the lake, and all of a sudden, ka-plam. it blindsided us. what is it? our college savings account. how do you think it happened? not sure. i think something we bought a while ago turned out to be something else, annnnnd, i remember a lot of other stuff in there had the word "aggressive" in it. is everyone okay? well, now, yeah. who knows later. ♪ >>> >>> brent crude is at $114 a barrel and the price gains will prove unsustainable and could create risks in the economy. francisco blanche made the call. he's head of bank of america, merrill link. he joins us now. good morning. >> good morning. thank you for having me. >> this is a good move for you. you were at a projection of $80 a barrel and now you've increased, what, 20%? >> we had a projection of $110 a barrel

bank of america this past week, announcing it's considering requiring many of its basic checking account users to pay a monthly fee unless they agree to sign up for other services. meanwhile, more than a million americans shifted their funds to credit unions last year. joining us now senior correspondent business correspondent, brenda butner. our bank tried to throw in this new fee. we have a saving account. my wife went down to both banks. you do not want to trifle with them. and they backed off. but it's symptomatic everywhere in america? >> banks, their revenue has been cut in large part because of regulations, they are going to try to find revenue from other places. revenue comes from customers and that is you. >> gregg: let's talk about credit unions. there was a seminal moment bank of america, five dollar debit fee and then all of a sudden who kind of hated the big banks, got together and on bank transfer day. >> a was a p.r. nightmaring. >> they took their funds and went to credit unions? >> credit unions are nonprofits. they are owned by their members. so it's in their best interests to give their members who own the credit unions the best deal they can. you can g