Bank of America says its fourth-quarter earnings shrank as it cleaned up old problems from its mortgage unit, settling one case with Fannie Mae and another with the government. But the modestly positive results still beat the expectations of analysts.
The U.S. government filed a civil mortgage fraud lawsuit on Tuesday against Wells Fargo & Co, the latest legal volley against big banks for their lending during the housing boom.
Robo-signing isn't just for mortgages anymore. Credit card banks suing their customers for what they're allegedly owed are showing up to most court hearings with flawed and improper documents, incomplete records, and cookie-cutter testimony.
Why did banks give this little girl credit cards, home mortgages, and car and boat loans? And how did she keep getting them after defaulting time and time again? The answers should be a warning for every parent in America.
A man who dressed up as his mother in a bizarre real estate fraud that involved doctoring her death certificate and cashing her Social Security checks for six years after she died was sentenced Monday to more than 13 years behind bars.
A spin-off group from Occupy Wall Street, called Occupy Our Homes, has formed to reverse and stop foreclosures. Lately, the group has been using creative tactics to raise awareness about the banking practices that led to the housing bubble.
Taking a cue from more high-end swindlers, a slew of violent gangs, including the Bloods, the Crips and the Latin Kings are branching out into mortgage fraud, identity theft, check counterfeiting and bank fraud, among other crimes.
This week brought a bit of good news for some troubled homeowners in the form of two separate settlement activities. The FTC has begun mailing refund checks to 450,000 Countrywide customers, and Wells Fargo reached an $85 million settlement with the Fed that will provide relief to up to 10,000 customers.
Attention homeowners! Whether you're current or in default make sure to scrutinize your mortgage bank's math. As recent court testimony explains, there's a chance that the bank is wrong about how much you owe -- particularly if you're behind on payments.
The Fed's decision to allow big banks to pay sharply higher dividends makes no sense, and not just because the results of the so-called "stress tests" are secret. Based on facts that are public knowledge, the banks are actually insolvent, and in danger of sinking much further.
Almost as soon as regulators proposed a settlement for the mortgage mess that would require banks to obey the law, the banks' Republican allies began trying to weaken it through obfuscation and confusion. Read on for some plain English translations of their arguments against the settlement.
As if we needed more proof of the outlaw actions of banks and their agents, The Baltimore Sun reports that 1,000 or more Maryland deeds are likely forgeries created by a foreclosure mill. If the accusation is true, the false deeds will create a nightmare for the innocent people who bought the homes.
A partial settlement plan has been constructed by a group of state attorneys general and federal regulators. In theory, it addresses banks' flawed mortgage servicing, modification and foreclosure practices. In reality, it just lets the banks off the hook.
HSBC announced late last month that it had put all of its U.S. foreclosures on hold to review their documents -- back in December. So why are its lawyers still pushing cases ahead? HSBC also says it doesn't robo-sign. So why does its annual report mention foreclosure document problems that sound so much like those caused by robo-signing?
HSBC got plenty of attention when it disclosed that it had suspended foreclosures in its annual report Monday. But its not the only bank whose annual report made for interesting reading. The risk disclosures in banks' annual reports shed some light on their attitudes toward the mortgage mess.