Housing

Taxpayers may have been shortchanged after a deal between failed mortgagegiants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae settled loan disputes with Bank of America Corp. for $2.8 billion rather than demanding more funds, Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) said.

Waters, a senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said the settlement "may amount to a backdoor bailout that props up the bank at the expense of taxpayers".

The lawmaker representing the cities of Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood and Lawndale suggested the move may have been "both premature and a giveaway".

By Hugh Son

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae may have shortchanged taxpayers when the U.S.-owned firms settled loan disputes with Bank of America Corp. for $2.8 billion rather than demanding more funds, Representative Maxine Waters said.

"This settlement may have been both premature and a giveaway," the California Democrat said today in an e-mailed statement. The deal, announced yesterday by the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender, may "amount to a backdoor bailout that props up the bank at the expense of taxpayers."

by Zach Carter and Ryan Grim

Despite mounting evidence of big banks committing serious fraud in the foreclosure process, the U.S. Senate eliminated $35 million in legal aid to homeowners trying to keep their homes.

by Steven Gillan

The week of Nov. 15-19 was a big week in Washington D.C. for troubled homeowners, housing counselors and anyone in the mortgage industry who cares about what is happening to real estate in this country — or it should have been.

The Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Service's Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity held hearings that week to get a handle on foreclosure issues.