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NEW YORK – In an effort to end the foreclosure crisis, the Obama administration has been trying to keep defaulting owners in their homes. Now it will take a new approach: paying some of them to leave.

This latest program, which will allow owners to sell for less than they owe and will give them a little cash to speed them on their way, is one of the administration’s most aggressive attempts to grapple with a problem that has defied solutions.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Federal safety regulators said Wednesday they have received 10 complaints from drivers alleging sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles that have already been repaired under the automaker’s recent recall.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it has reached out to the consumers in question to gather more information about the complaints, which were not immediately verifiable.

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WASHINGTON – The post office is renewing its drive to drop Saturday delivery — and plans a rate increase — in an effort to fend off a projected $7 billion loss this year.

Without drastic action the agency could face a cumulative loss of $238 billion over 10 years, Postmaster General John Potter said in releasing a series of consultant reports on agency operations and its outlook.

“The projections going forward are not bright,” Potter told reporters in a briefing. But, he added, “all is not lost … we can right this ship.”

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WASHINGTON – Toyota is recalling about 8,000 Tacoma pickup trucks from the 2010 model year to fix a problem with the front drive shaft that could cause the vehicle to lose control.

The automaker told dealers Friday that a crack could develop that could lead to the front driveshaft separating and falling from the truck, causing the vehicle to lose control.

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TOKYO/DETROIT – Honda Motor Co said it would recall another 440,000 cars around the world for faulty airbags as rival Toyota Motor Corp faced further probes over its largest-ever safety crisis.

Honda, Japan’s No. 2 automaker, has now recalled close to 950,000 vehicles for airbag problems linked to one fatality and a total of 11 injuries in the United States.

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As the holiday shopping season kicks into high gear this week, it’s a good a time to ask: Are the toys we’re buying safer than the ones a couple years ago, when millions of playthings were recalled because of high lead levels and other hazards?

The world’s largest toy manufacturer, Mattel Inc., says yes, as do federal regulators.

But after spending a few hours roaming the Toy District in downtown Los Angeles, I’m not so sure.

In one shop, I found a package of brightly colored rattles and pacifiers manufactured in China. The package depicts babies in cribs playing with the contents, which include small pieces that could break or be bitten off.

It says in large print that the rattles and pacifiers are for ages 6 months and up.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Federal regulators announced Tuesday the recall of 110,000 Toyota pickup trucks in 20 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that road salts can cause “excessive corrosion” of the Toyota Tundra’s frame, which holds a spare tire mounted underneath the vehicle. NHTSA said dislodged spare tires can cause hazards for other vehicles on the road.

The corrosion can also damage the rear brake lines and lead to brake system failures, the NHTSA said.

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NEW YORK (Fortune) — CIT Group is the first big bailout loss for taxpayers, but it won’t be the last.

CIT (CIT, Fortune 500) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday. The New York-based small business lender said all its common and preferred shares will be canceled, which will wipe out the $2.3 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program investment the Treasury Department made last December.

Though the government is also highly unlikely to recoup all the money it plowed into AIG, Citigroup, Fannie Mae and General Motors, CIT is the first bailout to go to zero — in just 11 months, no less.

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WASHINGTON – The poverty rate among older Americans could be nearly twice as high as the traditional 10 percent level, according to a revision of a half-century-old formula for calculating medical costs and geographic variations in the cost of living.

The National Academy of Science’s formula, which is gaining credibility with public officials including some in the Obama administration, would put the poverty rate for Americans 65 and over at 18.6 percent, or 6.8 million people, compared with 9.7 percent, or 3.6 million people, under the existing measure. The original government formula, created in 1955, doesn’t take account of rising costs of medical care and other factors.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — As yet another bank faces collapse, consumers are worried about their cash.

So far this year, 72 banks have failed, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Struggling southern regional bank Colonial Bank could be the 73rd.

But individuals with deposits at Colonial, or any other troubled bank, are insured by the FDIC for up to $250,000. And in the FDIC’s 75-year history, no customer has ever lost an insured deposit.

“When your money is in a bank that is FDIC insured it is backed by the full force of the United States government, and it doesn’t get any better than that,” said Carol Kaplan, a spokeswoman with the American Bankers Association.

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Over the coming months, as many as 1.5 million jobless Americans will exhaust their unemployment insurance benefits, ending what for some has been a last bulwark against foreclosures and destitution.

Because of emergency extensions already enacted by Congress, laid-off workers in nearly half the states can collect benefits for up to 79 weeks, the longest period since the unemployment insurance program was created in the 1930s. But unemployment in this recession has proved to be especially tenacious, and a wave of job-seekers is using up even this prolonged aid.

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DETROIT (Reuters) — Auto seating supplier Lear Corp. said on Wednesday it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a reorganization supported by key secured lenders and bondholders and that it had obtained $500 million in bankruptcy financing.

Lear (LEA, Fortune 500), which had been in talks with its lenders since late June, said in a statement that its board of directors had approved a bankruptcy filing as the “fastest and most effective way” to reduce its debt in the face of slumping global auto demand.