home loan modifications

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.

Many a homeowner has been "inspired" to do-it-yourself-dom by a traumatic encounter with a bad contractor (traumatic to the psyche -- or the pocketbook). In the same vein, the spate of loan modification scammers who have taken thousands from already struggling homeowners in return for false...

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.

Bank of America's persistent failure to modify home loans has resulted in the inevitable: a consumer class action lawsuit. Last week, Susan Fraser of Missouri filed suit on behalf of herself and other qualified homeowners whom the bank failed to give permanent loan modifications to.

New data from RealtyTrac shows that the real estate market is still on shaky ground. Banks repossessed 95,364 homes in August -- more than in any month since the beginning of the U.S. mortgage crisis.

Fewer Americans received home-loan modifications under the Obama administration's program to reduce foreclosures and delinquencies. More owners with modifications flunked out.

The New Jersey Attorney General's office announced a now-closed loan modification company that took homeowners' cash without providing services will pay a $11.45 million judgment to settle civil charges with the state. Using a website, New Hope Property LLC, of Bellmawr, N.J., promised consumers...

Loan modification scams just won't go away, with new reports daily. But now a coalition of nonprofits has come together to make it easier to report the scams to authorities via a new electronic form. The form adds to an already robust effort by one of the partners, NeighborWorks -- detailed...

They've been summoned. The big banks and mortgage lenders that hold the key to loan modifications have been summoned to Washington for what is supposed to be some heavy duty arm twisting to get them to put pedal to the metal and bring down mortgage payments at a much faster rate. Among the...