foreclosure crisis

With college costs high and rising, more students are putting themselves deeper into debt than ever. But those huge debt loads don't just pressure graduates to find high-paying jobs: They're also making it nearly impossible for many of them to get mortgages.

The nation's five largest mortgage lenders have agreed to overhaul their industry after deceptive foreclosure practices drove homeowners out of their homes, government officials said Monday. A draft settlement between the banks and U.S. states has been sent to state officials for review.

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.

In the last few years, outreach events by banks and nonprofits have been held all over the country, offering help to distressed homeowners. But even when they get personal invitations to these events, the vast majority of people who need mortgage modifications or short sales aren't showing up.

Regulators want the nation's big banks to reduce what borrowers owe on underwater mortgages, but they're still focused on solutions that rely on banks to voluntarily do the right thing. But we've already seen that won't work, and history shows what will -- giving bankruptcy judges back the right to cram down mortgages.

A recent ruling by an Alabama judge, in the case of a beleaguered family facing foreclosure, is a test case for the banks: Now that judges are paying attention, will they be able to foreclose on many securitized mortgages?

The Federal Reserve is finally admitting that not all the big banks are healthy: Bank of America won't get to pay increased dividends. But none of those financial giants should be allowed to, and a logical look at the reasons they say they want to dole out the cash makes it totally clear why.

State attorneys general and federal regulators are rushing to settle the robo-signing foreclosure mess created by the banks and get the real estate market back on its feet. But their proposals don't fully address the one of the fundamental problems of the crisis: Who really owns all those homes?

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.

The number of default notices, scheduled home auctions and repossessions declined significantly in February as banks begin to take a more measured approach to foreclosures amid government probes. But the lower numbers are likely only temporary.