Chapter 11, Closing Costs: Hot Trends

(New information on reports that Blockbuster could file for Chapter 11 and increasing mortgage closing costs updated in today's Hot Trends article.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- "Chapter 11" is a hot search topic on Yahoo!(YHOO) today following reports that Blockbuster(BLOKA.PK) may file for bankruptcy by the end of this week.

The video rental company is in its final stages of preparing the filing, the The Wall Street Journal reported, and while it plans to try to continue operations it will shutter 500 to 800 more stores on top of the 1,000 it was already planning to close.

Blockbuster has nearly $1 billion in debt and is scheduled to repay $42 million to creditors on Sept. 30, a deadline that the company has already extended twice.

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"Closing costs" is a hot search phrase today after the annual mortgage fee survey from Bankrate.com reported that New York State has the highest mortgage closing costs, followed by Texas. Utah, California and Alaska are the third, fourth and fifth most expensive states.

The average origination and third-party fees rose 36.6% to $3,741 from last year's average of $2,739. Fees charged directly by lenders rose 22.8% and third party fees increased 47.2%.

Arkansas came in last with the least expensive average closing cost.

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"American Idol judges" is a trending topic today following news that Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez have officially been named season 10 judges.