Housing Market, Mortgage | featured news

Bank of America said Friday it would reduce by about $100,000 the amount owed by as many as 200,000 underwater homeowners as part of the recently announced government foreclosure settlement with top mortgage servicers.

The federal regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said it would eliminate performance-based bonuses for senior executives at the two mortgage-finance firms.

Banks are foreclosing on America's churches in record numbers as lenders increasingly lose patience with religious facilities that have defaulted on their mortgages, according to new data.

Mortgage rates remained unchanged for the second consecutive week, holding steady this week at an all-time low of 3.87 percent for the average 30-year fixed rate, according to the latest Freddie Mac Mortgage Market survey released Thursday.

The 30-year-fixed mortgage rate held the record low of 3.87% it hit a week ago, while average interest rates on the 15-year-fixed mortgage and other loan products inched higher.

The U.S. government said on Thursday that the biggest U.S. banks will provide $25 billion in relief to distressed homeowners and states, as officials hold lenders responsible for taking illegal shortcuts during foreclosures and other mortgage paperwork.

As the nation's five largest mortgage lenders edge close to a $25 billion settlement over foreclosure abuses, it's becoming clear that the deal will have little or no impact on their future bottom lines.

California has until Monday to share in a multi-state deal with banks to obtain mortgage relief and reforms. Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, who walked away from talks last year, says the door remains open.

Obama is expected to announce a fresh bid to revive the housing market—despite likely congressional opposition—by letting millions of homeowners refinance their mortgages.

More and more, homeowners say that mortgages they thought were dead and buried are springing back to life, sometimes haunting them all the way into foreclosure.