Big Problem for Banks: Due Process
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Earlier this week, Bank of America, the nation’s largest consumer bank, reported its third-quarter earnings. It was a very good quarter; putting aside an accounting charge — a very large, $10.4 billion accounting charge, admittedly — the bank reported $3.1 billion in profits. It was the third consecutive quarter that Bank of America had earned more than $3 billion.

Plunging Mortgage Refinancing Rates Aid the Thrifty
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Now, at last, the frugal are celebrating. With a leg up on their less creditworthy neighbors, they are qualifying for refinanced home mortgages at interest rates that in any other recent era would have been considered stealing. And unlike in late 2008, when rates started their plunge to historic lows, many lenders say they are rushing to accommodate the influx in applications.

Mortgage fraud will go to court
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Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller and a team of his attorneys fanned across nine counties to sue 10 so-called foreclosure counselors Thursday.

Louisville-based Republic Bank earnings up 29 percent in third quarter
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Republic’s profit is up to $60 million this year, a 58 percent increase from a year earlier.

Stock Yards Bank profits up 45 percent in third quarter
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Profits at Louisville-based S.Y. Bancorp, parent company of Stock Yards Bank & Trust, rose 45 percent to $6.3 million in the July-September period compared to the same period a year earlier, the bank said Wednesday.

PNC Financial Services reports soaring profits in third quarter
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The Pittsburgh-based company, which is the largest bank in Kentucky in terms of deposits, has earned net income of $2.6 billion for the first nine months of this year, compared with $1.3 billion for the first nine months of 2009.

Fannie and Freddie May Need Infusion
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The troubled mortgage companies are likely to require about $19 billion in additional federal aid over the next three years, according to a projection by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Careful Approach Works for Wells Fargo, as Earnings Rise 7%
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Even though Wells Fargo is the nation’s biggest lender to consumers, its losses on bad loans have been lower than the rest of the industry. Wells Fargo officials attribute that divide to prudent lending standards — like requiring higher down payments — and being quicker to restructure problem loans from the start.

Foreclosures Profit Some Equity Firms
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With a surge in lawsuits against law firms specializing in foreclosures, a case in Mississippi is casting light on another aspect of the mortgage mess — the connection between Wall Street private equity firms and those law firms, often known as foreclosure mills.

Battle Lines Forming in Clash Over Foreclosures
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That clash — expected to be played out in courtrooms across the country and scrutinized by law enforcement officials investigating possible wrongdoing by big lenders — leaped to the forefront of the mortgage crisis this week as big lenders began lifting their freezes on foreclosures and insisted the worst was behind them.

AP Mobile: Wells Fargo profit rises 19 pct, tops forecasts
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The San Francisco bank says income after paying preferred dividends was $3.15 billion, or 60 cents per share, in the three months ending in September. It earned $2.64 billion, or 56 cents per share, during the same period a year earlier.

Questions Rising Over Fannie’s and Freddie’s Oversight of Foreclosures
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Employees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac descended on the law offices of David J. Stern seven or eight times during 2008 to scrutinize the Florida firm’s processing of foreclosures. They made one major demand, according to a former employee. “Pick up the speed.”

Fed Wants Banks to Buy Back Some Bad Mortgages
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To the long list of those picking fights with banks over bad mortgages, add the Federal Reserve. Two years after the Fed bought billions of dollars in mortgage securities as part of the financial bailout, its New York arm is questioning the paperwork — and pressing banks to buy some of the investments back.

Intermission, at Best, in Battle Over Foreclosures
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Bank of America may be trying to bring down the curtain on the foreclosure furor, but there were numerous indications Tuesday that the problems would not move off-stage so quickly.

Citi’s Good News Proves Reassuring
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Vikram Pandit, chief executive of Citigroup, has snatched some of Jamie Dimon’s market momentum. Mr. Dimon, who runs JPMorgan Chase, has lately been setting a comforting tone for the sector’s earnings. But growing foreclosure-related fears overshadowed his bank’s latest decent results. Now, his counterpart at Citigroup seems to be the one reassuring investors.

Largest Bank Will Resume Foreclosure Push in 23 States
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Bank of America, the nation’s largest bank and the servicer of roughly one in five American mortgages, insisted that it had not found a single example where a foreclosure proceeding was brought in error.

Foreclosure Moratorium – Does it Affect Me?
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When today’s mortgage servicing company believes it has cause to foreclose on a homeowner due to nonpayment, that servicing company may have a devil of a time proving it actually owns the mortgage instrument and has the legal standing to enforce it.

Former Washington Loan Officer Sentenced to Over 11 Years for Mortgage Fraud
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A former resident of Washington state who worked as a loan originator was sentenced to 11 years and three months in federal prison and more than $4 million in restitution for his role in mortgage fraud scheme uncovered by agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

White House Urges Calm on Foreclosures
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Amid a rising uproar over slipshod bank foreclosure practices, members of the Obama administration on Sunday expressed anger about the revelations, but urged caution as multiple investigations into the crisis unfold.

Title Insurance and Why It Is A Must
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The owner's policy assures a purchaser that the title to the property is vested in that purchaser and that it is free from all defects, liens and encumbrances except those which are listed as exceptions in the policy or are excluded from the scope of the policy's coverage.

How Countrywide Covered the Cracks
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ON June 27, 2006, Countrywide Financial, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, was about to close its books on a record-breaking six-month run. The housing market was on fire and Countrywide’s earnings were soaring. Despite all the euphoria inside the company, some executives noticed that Angelo R. Mozilo, the company’s brash and imperious chief executive, seemed subdued.