Father, son charged with fraud in South Bend
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Federal prosecutors have charged a father and son with running a mortgage fraud scheme that preyed upon the naiveté of immigrants who were looking to become real estate investors in South Bend.

Connecticut Man Sentenced for Role in Mortgage Fraud Scheme
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John Jackson, 42, of Hamden, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Christopher F Droney in Hartford to six months of home confinement and two years of probation for participating in a mortgage fraud scheme. Judge Droney also ordered Jackson to pay restitution in the amount of $100,000.

Avoid Foreclosure Market Until the Dust Settles
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For years, Todd Phelps and Paul Whitehead had been living in a rent-controlled apartment in Santa Monica and waiting out the housing bubble in hopes of buying a weekend getaway in the Palm Springs area. And on Sept. 10, they thought they had finally done it, getting a house for $137,000.

Foreclosure Mess Draws in the Lawyers Who Handled Them
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With the rash of foreclosures across the country in recent years, many lawyers have specialized in the lucrative business of handling cases for banks and loan servicers. And now that flaws are being acknowledged by big lenders in the processing of foreclosures, some of these lawyers are finding themselves in the cross hairs of investigators — and scorned by their former clients.

NYT Opinion: Giving Foreclosures Closer Scrutiny
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It isn’t surprising that in GMAC Mortgage’s rush to foreclose, it failed to do its due diligence. If the scrutiny of the banking industry after the start of the current financial crisis told us anything, it is that any trust we may have in the responsible behavior of the banking industry is folly.

Lending Magnate Settles Fraud Case
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Angelo R. Mozilo, the former chief executive of Countrywide Financial, once the nation’s largest mortgage lender, agreed to pay $67.5 million on Friday to settle a civil fraud case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission last year.

Mortgage Mess May Cost Big Banks Billions
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“I don’t see how it can be cleared up in a short period of time,” said Richard X. Bove, an analyst with Rochdale Securities. “The moratorium won’t last that long but the problem will last at least four or five years, maybe a decade.” In the short term, he said, “it could easily cost $1.5 billion per quarter.”

Settlement May Be Near in Countrywide Case
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Countrywide’s fall was as spectacular as its rise. After nearly collapsing into bankruptcy as its financing dried up, the company was acquired by Bank of America in 2008. It later agreed to pay $108 million to settle federal civil charges that it overcharged customers. And in August, the company agreed to pay $600 million to settle shareholder lawsuits over its mortgage losses.

NYT Editorial: The Foreclosure Crises
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There is plenty to worry about. But amid all this roiling, neither Congress nor the administration has found a way to address an even more fundamental problem: What government and banks need to do to finally stanch the flood of foreclosures wreaking havoc on the lives of millions of Americans and threatening the recovery.

Maine House set off National Foreclosure Freeze
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The house that set off the national furor over faulty foreclosures is blue-gray and weathered. The porch is piled with furniture and knickknacks awaiting the next yard sale. In the driveway is a busted pickup truck. No one who lives there is going anywhere anytime soon.

FBI Reports a Nationwide Increase in Mortgage Fraud Investigations
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The FBI report draws attention to one type of fraud that has grown considerably since the bubble burst: borrowers on the brink of foreclosure who hope to avail themselves of financial assistance related to federal stimulus legislation.

Foreclosure Process : What Happens after Foreclosure
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A lot of people are wondering what happens after foreclosure. Although you may be inclined to think of anything negative, such as having to leave your home or your property for good, this is not always the scenario. It is very much possible for you to redeem your home, especially if you currently reside in specific states.

Mortgage broker fined, sentenced
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The 188-month sentence is a clear sign that those responsible for mortgage fraud are being held accountable, Robert O’Neill, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, said in a press statement.

Kentucky, Indiana join foreclosure fraud investigation
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Kentucky and Indiana have joined the other 48 states in a coordinated investigation of foreclosure fraud, attorneys general for the two states announced Wednesday.

Chase Acts to Broaden Foreclosure Reviews
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On the same day that all 50 state attorneys general announced that they would investigate foreclosure practices, JPMorgan Chase & Company became the first big lender to acknowledge that it had stopped using Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, or MERS, for foreclosures. This bank-owned registry, which eliminates the need to record changes in property ownership in local land records, has been criticized for sloppy practices.

Bankers Ignored Signs of Trouble on Foreclosures
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At Citigroup and GMAC, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on home foreclosures was outsourced to frazzled workers who sometimes tossed the paperwork into the garbage.

GMAC Mortgage Expands Review of Its Foreclosures
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Amid growing inquiries by law enforcement into dubious paperwork by home lenders, one of the nation’s largest, GMAC Mortgage, said Tuesday that it was expanding its review of foreclosures to all 50 states. The company said it was hiring legal and accounting firms to conduct “independent reviews of the foreclosure process."

Across the U.S., Long Recovery Looks Like Recession
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Less than a month before November elections, the United States is mired in a grim New Normal that could last for years.

Title Insurers in Talks With Lenders on Foreclosure Warranties
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“Everyone sort of sees the same risks, and that’s the good part,” Pfotenhauer, chief executive officer of the American Land Title Association, said today in a telephone interview. “You just have to craft a solution that’s acceptable to all the parties, and we’re making progress.”

FBI Reported that 80% of Mortgage Fraud is committed by Lenders
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When most people think of mortgage fraud, they think of a clever borrower conning an unwitting banker into extending him a loan he cannot afford. But this isn't really how fraud usually works in the mortgage business. According to the FBI, 80% of mortgage fraud is committed by the lender.

NYT: A Foreclosure Tightrope for Democrats
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While senior Congressional Democrats join the calls for a national moratorium on foreclosures, the White House once again is arguing against punishing the industry, just as it did in 2009 amid the outcry over the unbreakable habit of paying large bonuses.

Wells Fargo will not join BofA in foreclosure suspension
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Wells Fargo will not suspend foreclosures and stands by the accuracy of its affidavits, Jason Menke, a spokesman for the San Francisco-based bank, told HousingWire.

White House doubts need to halt foreclosures
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A top White House adviser questioned the need on Sunday for a blanket halt to home foreclosures, even as pressure grows on the Obama administration to do something about growing evidence that banks have used inaccurate documents to evict homeowners.

Helping homeowners to refinance
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Here is the catch: Millions of people who are current in their payments cannot qualify for low-rate refinancing because their home values or credit scores have declined during the recession. That is bad news for everyone. But there is a way out.