News

2011

November

23

• Financial finger-pointing turns to regulators. In the whodunit of the financial crisis, Wall Street executives have pointed the blame at all kinds of parties — consumers who lied on their mortgage applications, investors who demanded access to risky mortgage bonds,…

22

• Whistleblowers say ignored, punished by lenders. Darcy Parmer ran into trouble soon after she started her job as a fraud analyst at Wells Fargo Bank. Her bosses, she later claimed, were upset that she was, well, finding fraud. Company officials, she…

• $1B homeowner loan program mainly benefited 3 states. A $1 billion federal program to help distressed homeowners in much of the country mainly helped people in just three states and very few in some others, government data show. Almost half the homeowners aided…

19

• Flawed real estate appraisals create problems for buyers, sellers, refinancers. How do you fight back when an appraiser — often from another city and working for a small fee on behalf of a big bank — wrecks your sale, purchase or refinancing with a low-ball…

18

• Two indicted in 'massive' Nevada robo-signing case. A Nevada grand jury has indicted two people allegedly involved in a "massive" robo-signing scheme, the state's attorney general said Thursday. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto said she believed the indictments represent…

• Congress votes to raise FHA mortgage limits to $729,750. The U.S. Congress approved higher limits for mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration, bypassing the objections of Republicans who said the increase could threaten the agency’s stability. Lawmakers voted today to increase the limit…

17

• As graduates return to nest, economy feels the pain. Like most of her friends, Hollis Romanelli graduated from college last May and promptly moved back in with her parents. Add to Portfolio As a result, she didn’t pay rent — or a broker’s fee…

• California attorney general subpoenas Fannie, Freddie. Investigators with the California attorney general's office have subpoenaed information from mortgage titans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as part of a wide-ranging inquiry into lending and foreclosure practices in the state. The subpoenas ask…

13

• Follow these five tips for selling your home in winter. Just your luck — you have to sell your home in winter, the slowest and dreariest sales season of all. But cheer up. You can use staging, the reduced competition and some seasonal opportunities to…

10

• Judge chafes over Citigroup fraud settlement. A federal judge Wednesday challenged the SEC’s plan to settle a fraud case against Citigroup for $285 million, saying that the deal would recoup only a fraction of investors’ losses and would leave the firm…

• Foreclosure backlogs could take decades to clear. Foreclosure sales are moving so slowly in half the states that at the current pace, it will take more than eight years on average to clear the 2.1 million homes in foreclosure or with seriously…

08

• Credit scores to add more consumer data. Many consumers applying for a mortgage are going to start sharing more personal information with lenders next year, like it or not. FICO scores, the industry standard for determining credit risk in mortgages backed by…

02

• Congress, consumer groups hail CFPB's first 100 days. Consumer Action joined Congress members Maloney and Frank, and other consumer and labor organizations for a press conference supporting the CFPB's initial efforts as the nation's only consumer financial regulator.

• 4 million borrowers eligible for foreclosure review. More than 4 million borrowers who have faced foreclosure since early 2009 will have the chance to have their cases reviewed for potential wrongdoing, federal regulators and some of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers announced…

01

• Nursing home shrinks until it feels like home. Toni Davis spent much of her childhood roaming the corridors of a nursing home in West Orange, N.J., where her mother was the director. Even now she recalls the pleas of the residents there: “…

October

31

• Underwater on your home? No problem. One upside to the current economic upheaval is that mortgage rates have fallen to their lowest levels in recorded history. Unfortunately, many homeowners who would love to take advantage of this situation by re-financing their…

27

• Ten things to know about buying or selling a home. After staying put during the economic recession, you might be tempted by stabilizing real estate prices and low mortgage interest rates to sell your house and buy your next place. What you may not realize…

25

• New rules would help underwater homeowners refinance. Almost 1 million more homeowners over the next two years might be able to refinance their mortgages and save hundreds of dollars a month under the Obama Administration's latest fix to one of its underused…

• A surge in poverty is reshaping suburbs. The poor population in America’s suburbs — long a symbol of a stable and prosperous American middle class — rose by more than half after 2000, forcing suburban communities across the country to re-evaluate their…

22

• Condo nation: Why so few Americans are buying homes. The housing market is rebounding — at least one piece of it. Construction of multifamily homes such as condominiums and apartment buildings surged a whopping 51 percent in September as demand for rentals continued to…