Housing Market, Foreclosure | featured news

Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman called Monday for a major financial overhaul that would break up too-big-to-fail banks and deliver justice to homeowners and investors harmed by rogue foreclosures.

Banks earned $13 billion in secret cut-rate loans from the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis, Bloomberg reports... "Many Americans are struggling to understand why banks deserve such preferential treatment while millions of homeowners are being denied assistance and are at increasing risk of foreclosure," Cummings wrote in his letter.

Five major banks could be required to commit roughly $15 billion to reduce principal balances for struggling homeowners and modify loans in other ways under a proposed deal to settle allegations linked to the "robo-signing" scandal... Five major banks could be required to commit roughly $15 billion to reduce principal balances for struggling homeowners and modify loans in other ways under a proposed deal to settle allegations linked to the "robo-signing" scandal.

Talks between states and top banks over mortgage abuses are nearing agreement on a major sticking point that has bogged down settlement negotiations for more than a year.

The Obama administration is considering unveiling new plans next week to revive the ailing housing market and reduce foreclosures, including an effort to help troubled borrowers refinance their mortgages.

Bank of America is reportedly willing to pay its way out of future mortgage and foreclosure claims.

Foreclosures declined in more than 84% of U.S. metro areas during the first half of the year, according to the latest report from RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties.

Financial firms trying to negotiate a settlement with states and the U.S. over the foreclosure mess are squabbling over who is most accountable, threatening a further delay in talks that already have dragged on.

Mortgage industry employees are still signing documents they haven't read and using fake signatures more than eight months after big banks and mortgage companies promised to stop the illegal practices that led to a nationwide halt of home foreclosures.

Foreclosure marketplace Web site RealtyTrac estimates that 1.17 million homes received foreclosure notices in the first half of 2011. That’s down 25 percent from the previous six months, but the group said that no one should take this as a sign that foreclosures are on the decline. Instead, the report indicates that paperwork and other processing delays have simply delayed foreclosures that otherwise would have gone through.