Microsoft Thursday filed plans with securities regulators to tap the debt markets, raising money to pay for working capital, share buybacks, or other types of general corporate expenses.

By choice or by force, more U.S. consumers are putting away their credit cards as the financial crisis reshapes attitudes toward spending and debt.

Motorists’ gas bills are down but instead of spending the money, they are putting it in the bank and paying debt.

GE Capital said it received approval for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's temporary liquidity guarantee program under which the government guarantees certain banking debt.

Shares of General Growth Properties fell 73 percent on Tuesday after the second-largest U.S. mall owner expressed doubts that it could continue operating due to its looming near-term debt.

Some $2.1 trillion of European company and bank debt matures in the next three years, raising "substantial refinancing

The United States may be on course to lose its 'AAA' rating due to the large amount of debt it has accumulated, according to Martin Hennecke, senior manager of private clients at Tyche.

U.S. mortgage application demand skidded last week to an eight-year low, driven by a nearly 30 percent slump in demand to refinance home loans as borrowing costs rose, a trade group said on Wednesday.

An auction to determine the value of Washington Mutual's credit default swaps priced them at $0.57—below the initial price of $0.63625 set in the auction.

In recent years, many retirement experts have been giving the same unwelcome advice: American workers who are not as rich as Warren E. Buffett should retire three or so years later than they had planned — to ensure that they have a large enough nest egg, said the New York Times.

What will the next stage of the downturn be about? It is likely to revolve around the worst slump in worker pay since the Great Depression, says the New York Times.

Regulators have stepped up calls since the collapse of Lehman Brothers last month for more supervision of the $55 trillion credit derivatives market to improve its safety and transparency.

Is this a good time to put all your investments in cash, just for a little while, until things calm down? Almost certainly not.

What is a regular investor to make of it all? What about people who have money in bank accounts? The New York Times provides some answers to questions that are probably on your mind.

Do you know where your federal income-tax dollars go? The National Priorities Project, a non-profit organization, used data from the Office of Management and Budget to explain how each dollar is spent when it gets into Uncle Sam's hands. (Source: National Priorities Project: Where Do Your Tax Dollars Go 2008 Report.