The number of foreclosures rose during the first three months of the year in more than half of the nation’s metropolitan areas, even as such activity dipped from the previous year in many of those cities, according to a report released Thursday by the research firm RealtyTrac.
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A federal judge has approved a $25 billion settlement between government officials and some of the nation’s largest banks over shoddy foreclosure practices.
U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer signed off on the landmark deal on Wednesday, according to court documents, nearly two months after it was announced with great fanfare at the Jutice Department. Her approval became public Thursday afternoon.
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Lawmakers in Florida are considering measures this week to accelerate foreclosures in the state, one of the hardest hit by the mortgage crisis, underscoring the tug of war over how to spur a housing recovery while protecting the rights of struggling homeowners.
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Lawmakers in Florida are considering measures this week to accelerate foreclosures in the state, one of the hardest hit by the mortgage crisis, underscoring the tug of war over how to spur a housing recovery while protecting the rights of struggling homeowners.
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Federal regulators have announced that they would give borrowers who have faced foreclosure since early 2009 an additional three months to have their cases reviewed for potential wrongdoing.
Borrowers will now have until July 31 to apply for the free review, which stems from a deal last year in which 14 servicers agreed to hire independent consultants to evaluate whether homeowners suffered financial injury during the foreclosure process. If a review finds errors or abuses by the financial firms, the consultants will determine what recompense wronged homeowners deserve.
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The landmark $25 billion settlement with banks last week over fraudulent foreclosure practices might aid more than struggling homeowners. Part of the proceeds also will help plug a projected shortfall in the reserves of the Federal Housing Administration.
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New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman abruptly called off a news conference at which he could have provided a crucial endorsement of a proposed settlement with some of the nation’s biggest banks over shoddy foreclosure practices.
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As state and federal officials near completion of a settlement with banks over shoddy foreclosure practices, a question that has loomed over the talks for months remains: Is it a good enough deal?
After nearly 500 days of drawn-out negotiations, public infighting and private cajoling, the emerging settlement would force banks to overhaul their mortgage-servicing practices. It could also require the banks to pay as much as $25 billion in penalties that would be put toward helping struggling homeowners and borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure in recent years.
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New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued a handful of the nation’s largest banks Friday, claiming they deceived homeowners and court officials by filing flawed and fraudulent foreclosure documents through a popular electronic mortgage registry.
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The Obama administration plans to push forward this spring with efforts to wind down government-backed housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and attract more private funding to mortgage markets, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Thursday.
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The Obama administration plans to push forward this spring with efforts to wind down government-backed housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and attract more private funding to mortgage markets, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Thursday.
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North Carolina Bank Commissioner Joseph Smith will serve as a monitor to make sure the nation’s largest banks abide by the terms of a multibillion-dollar settlement over widespread foreclosure abuses, people familiar with the negotiations said.
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In a handful of countries applying to join the European Union, the European debt crisis has raised an urgent question: Why would we want to be part of that mess?
The answer offered in places such as Iceland could have profound effects on the health and shape of the E.U.
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With the economy at the core of the presidential campaign, Newt Gingrich has received help from a group of relatively unknown economic thinkers — including two former advisers to Herman Cain — who share an unwavering faith in the school of thought known as “supply-side economics” that rose to prominence more than three decades ago.
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REYKJAVIK, Iceland — In a small, borrowed office a block from where he once led Iceland, Geir Haarde skips the small talk and gets right to the point.
“This is not the kind of situation I want to be in,” says the 60-year-old former prime minister, dressed in a tidy gray suit and blue tie. “I am getting famous for all the wrong reasons.”
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REYKJAVIK, Iceland — On the snowy streets of this capital city, the economic panic of 2008 has mostly faded. The trendy cafes along Laugavegur brim with customers. Restaurant menus feature $40 grilled minke whale and $60 racks of lamb, and hardly a table goes empty. Boozy youths line up to pack nightclubs that thump all night. It’s even okay now to joke about the crash, or kreppa, as it’s known: “We may not have cash, but we have ash!” reads one T-shirt with a picture of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano that erupted in 2010.
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