June 2010

CORYDON, Ind. — In the past three months, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller has filed lawsuits with 15 foreclosure consultants from around the nation. He said they’re using deceptive practices to target desperate homeowners, and the latest company he’s after [...]

Fannie Mae’s announcement last week that it would seek tougher penalties against borrowers who walk away from homes when they have the capacity to pay has sparked all types of outrage.

Almost one out every every four Orange County homes sold in May went for less than was owed on the mortgage, new figures from the Southern California Multiple Listing Service show.

Standing in line a while back as I waited my turn to buy lottery tickets, I heard a news report that mortgage interest rates were continuing to fall.

On June 5, the Housing Partnership, a non-profit organization in Dover, conducted a Loan Scam Alert event, providing information on loan scams against those going into foreclosure. This event was one of more than 150 loan modification scam awareness events [...]

Potentially “thousands” of troubled homeowners were denied opportunities to lower their monthly mortgage payments under the Obama administration’s signature foreclosure-prevention plan due to servicer errors and inadequate oversight by the Treasury Department, a government audit has found.

Americans that are brave enough to buy a home despite persistent predictions of a double dip in housing may want to contact the Federal government, as the recession and financial crisis has turned Uncle Sam into one of the largest [...]

Housing advocates were thrilled last fall when the Cook County Board of Commissioners, at the behest of Action Now and other community groups, approved a $3.5 million budget amendment to fund foreclosure mediation services in Illinois’ largest county. The money [...]

At what point do borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth decide to stop paying the mortgage? A new study from economists at the Federal Reserve Board aims to answer that question. The research found that the median [...]

The increasing inventory could be a signal that homeowners who have been waiting patiently for a rebound may be starting to put their homes back on the market, said Jack McCabe, CEO of McCabe Research & Consulting. The glut will [...]

If you are having a difficult time paying your mortgage and fear foreclosure, ICBA and Meredith Village Savings Bank offers the following suggestions*: 1. Contact your lender immediately. Remember that your lender doesn’t want your house, and they may have [...]

The Secretary of Economic Development in Louisiana recently wrote a letter to the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Karen G. Mills, asking her to change the way SBA loans are repaid.

Some new rules on mortgage foreclosure are set to go into effect this week in Pinellas and Pasco County. On Thursday, July 1, a foreclosure mediation program will be implemented to help the parties involved reach settlements more easily, a [...]

The Look Before You Leap campaign warns of illegitimate loan modification companies. There will be an event at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday on the East Side of St. Paul, one of the areas hardest hit by foreclosure, featuring homeowners who have [...]

As if homeowners don’t have enough to worry about, now we must heed a serious warning that could cost us thousands of dollars and even our homes. Be careful about to whom you turn for mortgage assistance. The foreclosure crisis [...]

In 2007, BCC studied the steep increase in Boston foreclosures and found huge disparities between income and mortgage-related debt. So it set up a mortgage brokerage to try to provide refinancing at terms appropriate to borrowers’ incomes. “And what we [...]

Trang Pham was walking away from his home, but he wasn’t going far. To save at least $700 a month, he rented the home across the street.

Drawn by the promise of affordable housing, thousands put down roots in arid Hesperia. But long-term security proved an illusion. Construction stopped when a builder filed for bankruptcy in April 2008, leaving nearly 100 graded lots bare and six Craftsman-style [...]

Mortgage servicers, including credit unions, have a new stick to wield with loan borrowers who might contemplate walking away from a mortgage commitment, according to new policy from Fannie Mae. Borrowers who walk away from their mortgage commitments in so-called [...]

The manager of a Los Angeles-based foreclosure consultation business which had a Santa Maria office, entered a no-contest plea this week to eight counts of committing prohibited foreclosure practices. Irma Diaz, 41, of Hacienda Heights, entered the plea Thursday in [...]

Sadly, hope is still out of reach for most distressed homeowners. So far 1.2 million calls have been logged by people dialing the federal government’s Homeowner’s Hope Hotline — 1-888-995-4673 — with hope of getting mortgage relief.

A new report estimates that nearly one in five mortgage defaults through the first half of 2009 were “strategic,” where borrowers who appeared to have the capacity to pay their mortgages stopped doing so. The research follows on an earlier [...]

A soldier serving in Iraq lost his Frisco home to foreclosure over late homeowners association dues, renewing a debate over the power of HOAs in Texas. The case, which has boiled over to involve federal judge, a publicist and death [...]

If you follow the struggles of the government’s “HAMP” foreclosure prevention effort, then you might think modifying mortgages is a lost cause. Last month, five times as many homeowners dropped out of HAMP than obtained permanent modifications. Its numbers of [...]

At a packed San Jose hearing last week, a group of tearful, angry Bay Area residents described their struggles against foreclosure. Several of them ultimately got their payments lowered through the federal Home Affordable Modification Program. Too many others, though, [...]

Coachella Valley homes vacated due to foreclosures are being stripped of more than just their occupants and decor. Authorities say thieves are stealing large household appliances, such as refrigerators, stoves and air conditioners.