MORTGAGE

A Pennsylvania-based law firm has been sued for using non-lawyers to review, sign and file foreclosures that caused people to lose their homes.

The incoming head of a House of Representatives panel overseeing the Obama White House on Thursday called for pulling the plug on a widely criticized program to help struggling borrowers stay in their homes.

Pending home sales in the U.S. rose in October, contrary to expectations of a drop, according to a report by the National Association of Realtors.

Pending sales of existing U.S. homes unexpectedly surged in October, data from a real estate trade group showed on Thursday, despite concerns that problems in the foreclosure process might curtail activity.

U.S. securities regulators are in preliminary talks with several banks to resolve probes involving sales of complex mortgage bond deals that led to the financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-KY expressed anger Wednesday that the potential for another mortgage crisis remains, despite efforts to deal with the mortgage crisis over the past decade.

The U.S. home loan demand fell sharply in the week ended Nov. 26, as the mortgage rates continue to rise from their lowest levels, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said on Wednesday.

U.S. home loan demand rose sharply in the week ended Nov. 19, reaching a two-year high, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said on Wednesday.

U.S. home loan demand fell sharply in the last week, as fixed mortgage rates rose from near all-time lows.

Home foreclosures in the U.S. in October fell by 9 percent primarily because some major banks temporarily froze foreclosure proceedings and delayed sales of foreclosed properties nationwide after being criticized for shoddy paperwork, according to real estate data company RealtyTrac.

The White House said on Thursday the administration is reviewing legislation that could make it more difficult for homeowners to challenge unjustified foreclosure actions.

California Democrats in the House of Representatives are calling for federal investigations into whether financial institutions broke any laws in their handling of foreclosures in the midst of the housing crisis.

An influential U.S. senator on Tuesday raised the prospect of an industry-wide moratorium on foreclosures as he pressed three banks accused of fraudulent practices to outline steps they are taking to fix their procedures.

Predatory lending aimed at racially segregated minority neighborhoods led to mass foreclosures that fueled the U.S. housing crisis, according to a new study published in the American Sociological Review.

Connecticut's attorney general on Friday called on state courts to freeze home foreclosures for 60 days after borrowers claimed that major lenders may be making misstatements in the foreclosure process.

A Maine state court judge reprimanded GMAC mortgage over its foreclosure practices and concluded that it submitted a company official's affidavit to support a foreclosure in bad faith.

Fallout over GMAC Mortgage's foreclosure practices deepened on Tuesday as Ohio's top law enforcement official asked courts in that state to review all foreclosure cases involving the Ally Financial Inc unit.

U.S. mortgage-backed securities issuance jumped in the first nine months of 2010 from the same period a year earlier as credit markets loosened up and investors' risk appetite improved

An outcry over questionable foreclosures by GMAC Mortgage and other lenders is likely to hit some states more than others because of major differences in real estate law across the nation.

U.S. 30-year and 15-year mortgage rates either tied or reached record lows in the latest week, according to a survey released on Thursday by Freddie Mac, the second-largest U.S. mortgage finance company.

Nearly one in every four U.S. homes sold in the second quarter was a deeply discounted foreclosed house, putting the market on pace to work through distressed properties in about three years.