The Energy Department said Tuesday it would lend $5.9 billion to Ford Motor Co. and provide about $2.1 billion in loans to Nissan Motor Co. and Tesla Motors Inc., making the three automakers the first beneficiaries of a $25 billion fund to develop fuel-efficient vehicles.

Dozens of auto companies, suppliers and battery makers have sought a total of $38 billion from the loan program, which was created last year to provide low-interest loans to car companies and suppliers retool their facilities to develop green vehicles and components such as advanced batteries.

NEW YORK, June 18 (Reuters) – U.S. mortgage rates dropped in the latest week, retreating sharply from a seven-month high as fears over inflation abated and Treasury yields dropped.

Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages plunged to 5.38 percent for the week ending June 18, according to a survey released on Thursday by home funding company Freddie Mac.

A year ago, 30-year mortgage rates averaged 6.42 percent, 15-year mortgages were at 6.02 percent and the one-year ARM was at 5.19 percent. A year ago, the 5/1 ARM averaged 5.89 percent.

Credit card holders who in ordinary years might have used their tax refunds to pay down their balances apparently spent the money elsewhere as the recession deepened in the first quarter.

The delinquency rate jumped to 1.32 percent this year, from 1.19 percent in the first three months of 2008, TransUnion said. The statistic measures the percentage of card holders who are three months or more past due on their payments for cards bearing MasterCard and Visa logos, along with American Express and Discover cards.