Free Home? Iowa Couple Investigated

Authorities are investigating an Ankeny, Iowa, couple who--after only making one mortgage payment--were able to save their home from foreclosure and have their mortgage voided by using a loophole in a 100-year-old state law.

The couple was able to get their mortgage voided by using a law requiring both spouses’ signature on the mortgage documents. During court foreclosure proceedings on their home, Matt and Jamie Danielson blamed a hasty home loan approval by their lender and the fact that Jamie Danielson never signed the mortgage in 2007 as reasons to keep their house and void the mortgage. They won in court. 

Click Here to Read:   Free Home? Iowa Couple Investigated...

Banks Push to Weaken Dodd-Frank Risk Rules

Bank regulators are set to hold an open meeting on Tuesday to discuss a controversial risk-retention rule for mortgages—and its even more controversial carve-out.

Under the Dodd-Frank financial reforms, banks are required to retain at least five percent of the risk on mortgages they securitize. 

The idea was that banks would be more careful about making loans and structuring mortgage-backed securities if they were required to keep a part of the credit risk. From the start, that has had banks griping that this will choke off the mortgage market and raise borrowing costs of home-buyers. 

Click Here to Read:  Banks Push to Weaken Dodd-Frank Risk Rules...

Unlicensed Mortgage Brokers Get The Boot

With interest rates and house prices at historic lows, it is the perfect time to buy a home.

But before a purchase is made, a bank loan officer or a mortgage broker has to approve a home loan for the buyer.

Bank of Utah Chief Financial Officer Branden Hansen cautions prospective buyers to make sure the person they are dealing with is reputable.

"As a bank and being involved with the mortgage industry," Hansen said, "we had to compete with a lot of people we feel are less than scrupulous."

Click Here to Read:  Unlicensed Mortgage Brokers Get The Boot...

Fed Wants To Strip A Key Protection For Homeowners

As Americans continue to lose their homes in record numbers, the Federal Reserve is considering making it much harder for homeowners to stop foreclosures and escape predatory home loans with onerous terms.

The Fed's proposal to amend a 42-year-old provision of the federal Truth in Lending Act has angered labor, civil rights and consumer advocacy groups along with a slew of foreclosure defense attorneys.

They're not only asking the Fed to withdraw the proposal, they also want any future changes to the law to be handled by the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which begins its work next year.


Read more: Fed Wants To Strip A Key Protection For Homeowners...

Bankers Brace for a Tongue-Lashing

Bank executives are expecting to get an earful from lawmakers Tuesday when they defend themselves in front of the Senate Banking Committee against allegations they mishandled thousands of home foreclosures.

The banks’ likely defense – that the volume of foreclosures was so great that they were simply overwhelmed – isn’t likely to placate politicians looking to score points with struggling homeowners.

While the sputtering economic recovery has left far more people out of work than was expected, greatly hampering any recovery in the real estate market, bankers are nonetheless expected to concede that the foreclosure system is broken, and that they are working on ways to repair it. Part of the problem, the bankers will say, stems from the demands of investors – including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Click Here to Read:   Bankers Brace for a Tongue-Lashing...

Request For Foreclosure Probe 3 Years Ago Thwarted

As foreclosures began to mount across the country three years ago, a group of state bank regulators suspected that some borrowers might be losing their homes unnecessarily. So the state officials asked the biggest national banks for details about their foreclosure operations.
When two banks -- J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo -- declined to cooperate, the state officials asked the banks' federal regulator for help, according to a letter they sent. But the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which oversees national banks, denied the states' request, saying the firms should answer only to inquiries from federal officials.

Click Here to Read: Request For Foreclosure Probe 3 Years Ago Thwarted...

FHA Commissioner: Mortgage Industry Must Regain the Public’s Trust

During the Mortgage Bankers Association conference in Atlanta, GA, Federal Housing Administration Commissioner said the mortgage business should shine a light on bad participants in the industry and regain the public’s trust.

“There’s a reflection in the media that we aren’t holding ourselves accountable enough,” said David H. Stevens, commissioner of the FHA, noting that the recent news of flaws in some banks’ foreclosure processing methods is adding to the problem.

Click Here to Read:   FHA Commissioner: Mortgage Industry Must Regain the Public’s Trust...

Watchdog Panel to Grill Treasury on Foreclosure Robo-Signings

A Treasury official will be on the hot seat tomorrow as a Congressional watchdog group, known largely for its scathing assessments of the federal bank bailout, will hold the first public hearing to tackle the foreclosure robo-signings scandal.
Tomorrow's hearing, by the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, was originally to focus on the government's foreclosure mitigation programs, including the Home Affordable Modification Program. 

Click Here to Read:  Watchdog Panel to Grill Treasury on Foreclosure Robo-Signings...

Home Foreclosures Still Hit Utah Metro Areas

More than 75 percent of major metropolitan areas in the U.S. are posting high foreclosure rates, according to a midyear report from foreclosure listing service RealtyTrac.

The Provo-Orem area was Utah's hardest-hit metro in the first half of 2010, with about 3,000 foreclosure-related filings by the end of June, the RealtyTrac report said. That number is an 8.37 percent improvement from the last half of 2009.

Salt Lake City was 36th on the list, with more than 8,000 properties undergoing foreclosure. That amounts to about two homes for every 48.

Click Here To Read: Home Foreclosures Still Hit Utah Metro Areas...

As FHA Mortgage Volume Increases From 2009, Serious Delinquencies Spike

The rate of seriously delinquent mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) declined slightly from May to June, but the gross number of mortgages that are either 90 or more days past due or in foreclosure increased 35% year-over-year.

According to the FHA June single-family operations report, the total volume of mortgage in-force increased more than 24% to 6.4m in June compared to the same month one year ago. The total value of unpaid FHA mortgages was $865.5bn in June, up 30.3% from $663.8bn one year ago and up 3.3% from $837.8bn in May.

Click To Read Here: As FHA Mortgage Volume Increases From 2009, Serious Delinquencies Spike...

Mortgages After Financial Reform: 5 Ways They’ll Change

The financial reform law includes tough new mortgage regulations, to stop the deceptions (and self-deceptions) that have driven millions of homeowners into foreclosure. Here’s how the market will change in 12 to 18 months, when the new rules start to take effect:

Click Here To Read: Mortgages After Financial Reform: 5 Ways They’ll Change...

5 Real Estate Scams You Need to Know About

Don't be duped by mortgage fraud. Here are a few common scams and the red flags you should look for in a transaction.

Mortgage fraud is pervasive: An estimated $4 billion to $6 billion in annual losses result from mortgage fraud, according to FBI reports. “An entire community can be damaged by mortgage fraud,” says Rachel Dollar, a lawyer from Santa Rosa, Calif., and editor of the Mortgage Fraud Blog. Mortgage fraud can lead to a spike in foreclosures, home values plummeting, and lenders raising their rates and fees to recover losses.



The crimes are often complex, involving several parties and occurring over multiple transactions. To protect you and your clients, educate yourself about mortgage fraud and be on guard for any warning signs in a transaction.

Click Here To Read: 5 Real Estate Scams You Need to Know About...

St. George Judge Halts BofA Foreclosures In Utah

A court order issued by 5th District Court Judge James L. Shumate May 22, 2010 in St. George has stopped all foreclosure proceedings in the state by Bank of America Corporation; ReconTrust Company, N.A; Home Loans Serving, LP; Bank of America, FSB.

The court order, if allowed to become permanent, will force Bank of America and other mortgage companies with home loans in Utah to adhere to the Utah laws requiring lenders to register in the state and have offices where home owners can negotiate face-to-face with their lenders as the state lawmakers intended in Utah Code 57-1-21(1)(a)(i).).

Click Here to Read: St. George Judge Halts BofA Foreclosures In Utah...

Mortgage Fraud: Understanding And Avoiding It

Ethical violations and criminal activities in various industries have affected our economy over the past few decades, particularly in the banking, financial and housing sectors. In this article we examine the complex ethical and criminal issues surrounding mortgage fraud. Fraud in its simplest form is deliberate misrepresentation and deception. Fraud in action means that one deceives another by misrepresenting information, facts and figures.

Read more: Mortgage Fraud: Understanding And Avoiding It...