Helping Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure
More on Helping Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure
By William Alden
A top Treasury department official said Thursday that the government has still not imposed any fines on banks that do not comply with the Obama administration's mortgage modification program.
In testimony before a House Financial Services subcommittee, Phyllis Caldwell, chief of Treasury's Homeownership Preservation Office, said her department has pursued "non-monetary remedies" but has not actually imposed any fines on banks for not complying with the administration's flagship $50 billion foreclosure prevention program.
By ALAN ZIBEL
House lawmakers scolded federal regulators Thursday, expressing frustration that they failed to investigate problems with foreclosure documents until the issue attracted widespread attention this fall.
Both Democrats and Republicans criticized a panel of regulators at a House subcommittee hearing, especially after officials said their agencies hadn't been paying attention to flaws in foreclosure paperwork until recently.
By Peter Schroeder
Both Republicans and Democrats pressed housing regulators on their inability to combat or prevent the mishandling of mortgage documentation amid foreclosure proceedings during a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing on Thursday.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) pressed housing regulators on the lack of monetary penalties assessed against mortgage servicers that did not meet documentation standards. Waters chairs the subcommittee on housing and community affairs, which held the hearing.
By Ronald D. Orol
By DAVID STREITFELD and NELSON D. SCHWARTZ
Changing the face of foreclosure in America will take some time, several state attorneys general said Wednesday, cautioning that an agreement with major lenders over revamped foreclosure practices was not imminent.
Obama Administration Investigation Finds Considerable Variation Among Operations of Five of the Largest Loan Handlers
By DAMIAN PALETTA And DAVID WESSEL
A four-month-long Obama administration probe into five of the country's largest mortgage servicers has discovered "a significant variation" among their operations, with some servicers "significantly worse than others" in how they handle home loans, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan said in an interview.
Mr. Donovan wouldn't identify which companies were laggards in the HUD review, but he said the administration plans to make the results of its investigation public in the next few weeks.
BOA, GMAC Mortgage Resume Foreclosures In 23 States
By ALAN ZIBEL, AP Real Estate Writer
Big lenders are trying to move past the foreclosure-document mess, saying they're now confident their paperwork is accurate.
Yet they face so much organized resistance that they can't just snap up their briefcases, declare the crisis over and move on.
by Joanne Allen
A House of Representatives subcommittee on housing issues will hold a hearing on home foreclosures when lawmakers return from recess after the November elections, the panel announced on Monday.
The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, November 18 at 10:00 a.m. with testimony from industry representatives, government regulators and watchdog groups, the House Subcommittee on Housing and Communality Opportunity said in a statement.