Biggest Fish Face Little Risk of Being Caught
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Two and a half years after the world’s financial system nearly collapsed, you’re entitled to wonder whether any of the highly paid executives who helped kindle the disaster will ever see jail time — like Michael Milken in the 1980s, or Jeffrey Skilling after the Enron disaster. Increasingly, the answer appears to be no. The harder question, though, is whether anybody should.

3 Banks Warn of Big Penalties in Mortgage Inquiries
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Several big banks warned investors on Friday that they could face sizable financial penalties as a result of state and federal investigations into abusive mortgage practices.

Sluggish new-home sales drag on economy's growth
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Nationwide sales of new homes plummeted in January, and businesses ordered fewer long-lasting goods. But the number of people applying for unemployment benefits has fallen over the past four weeks to the lowest level in 2 1/2 years.

Freddie Mac Executive Receives Wells Notice
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Securities regulators may soon file civil charges against a top executive at the mortgage finance company Freddie Mac, according to a public filing released on Thursday.

Former Mortgage Officer Admits to Fraud
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The former treasurer, Desiree Brown, 45, pleaded guilty on Thursday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., to wire fraud, securities fraud,

U.S. Pushes Mortgage Deal
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The Obama administration is trying to push through a settlement over mortgage-servicing breakdowns that could force America's largest banks to pay for reductions in loan principal worth billions of dollars.

Foreclosures and Cash Deals Bolster U.S. Home Resales
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More people bought previously occupied homes in January, but sales increased on a rising number of foreclosures and all-cash deals.

Home prices plummet in most big US cities
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Home prices are hitting new depths in most major U.S. cities and are expected to fall further over the next six months. In a majority of metro areas tracked by Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller, prices have fallen to their lowest points since the housing bubble burst.

The New Costs of Renting
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Freaked by the housing market , more would-be home buyers are opting for rentals – driving rents up along the way. But it's not just rising rents that new renters have to worry about. A handful of new costs could make renting less than the bargain it appears.

Home Prices Slid in December in Most U.S. Cities, Index Shows
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Real estate prices slid in just about every part of the country in December, pushing a housing market that once seemed to be rebounding nearly back to its lowest level since the crash began.

Bank Closings Tilt Toward Poor Areas
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In 2010, for the first time in 15 years, more bank branches closed than opened across the United States. An analysis of government data shows, however, that even as banks shut branches in poorer areas, they continued to expand in wealthier ones, despite decades of government regulations requiring financial institutions to meet the credit needs of poor and middle-class neighborhoods.

New Albany apartment complex sold following foreclosure
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Knobs Point, a 384-unit apartment complex in New Albany, has been sold to Bluestone Property Management, an Ohio-based owner/manager of more than 4,000 apartments in the Midwest and Southwest.

Problem: Paying off mortgage results in default
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The Des Plaines resident pays for her cars in cash, has never been late on a payment, and waited until she was 55 to buy her first house. By then, she had saved enough to pay off half the mortgage. "My credit should be pristine," Schweitzer said. "I did everything right."

Retiring Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Fall Short
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The median household headed by a person aged 60 to 62 with a 401(k) account has far less than what it needs to maintain its standard of living in retirement. Facing shortfalls, many people are postponing retirement and cutting expenses.

Great News for Buyers on a Budget: More Foreclosures on the Way!
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Paperwork scandal? You know what the scandal is? The banks have all those borrowers by their liens, and won’t just get on with it. Seize the property, auction it, and get the prices down to where they need to be, so the overbidding can start again. Nobody is going to overbid if they’re just sitting around waiting for the banks to dispose of their ginormous shadow inventory.

6 tax deductions many people overlook
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Jennifer Palmer and her partner run a small business called Classroom Corner. She helps customers find treasures for children in her shop, but relies on her Certified Public Accountant to help find the treasure of every tax break she's due.

Longer foreclosure process takes an average 17 months
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Banks and mortgage servicers, who collect payments for lenders, are taking more time to complete foreclosures because of huge volumes of defaulted mortgages. Other factors include time-consuming reviews for loan modifications and additional delays that followed revelations late last year about improperly filed foreclosure documents in tens of thousands of cases.

Foreclosure mediators: Banks pushed us to fail
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In some cases, mediators report that deals were struck for trial payment plans or to seek a loan modification, but that banks or their attorneys asked for the meeting to be recorded as an impasse.

New Fed Rule for Mortgage Brokers
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STARTING April 1, under a new compensation rule from the Federal Reserve, borrowers who get their mortgages through brokers will most likely pay less for their services and must be offered the lowest possible interest rate and fees for which they qualify.

E-Mail May Be Binding, State Court Rules
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BE careful when clicking “send.” That is essentially the message to brokers and their clients from a state court, which ruled recently in a real estate dispute that e-mails can carry the same weight as traditional ink-on-paper contracts.

How a Whistle-Blower Conquered Countrywide
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WHAT does it take to hold your powerful bosses accountable if they try to bully you out the door? Documents, e-mails, a former deputy district attorney as your lawyer — and a never-say-die approach. Such was the lesson learned by Michael G. Winston, a former executive at the Countrywide Financial Corporation.

Case on Mortgage Official Is Said to Be Dropped
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Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles have dropped their criminal investigation into Angelo R. Mozilo, the former chief executive of Countrywide Financial, once the nation’s largest mortgage lender, according to a person with direct knowledge of the investigation.