loan modifications

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's proposed rules will give homeowners more ways to avoid foreclosures, and would require mortgage servicers to warn borrowers about interest rate or insurance changes.

The Obama administration is revamping a program that's designed to let more homeowners refinance their mortgages even if they don't have any equity. This isn't a new program, but instead attempts to turbo-charge an existing federal initiative called the Home Affordable Refinance Program. Here's a look at some frequently asked questions.

Economists say the recession ended in mid-2009. Yeah, I know. But the American public has never really bought that line, especially when it comes to the real estate market. In fact, a December study showed that 58% of American adults actually think it will be 2012 or later before the housing sector...

An affidavit in a court case needs to include the documents that support its claims. Except for banks in Florida foreclosure cases. Despite the massive robo-signing scandal and evidence of errors in mortgage files, judges there still merely take the bank's word about what you owe.

Wells Fargo still won't admit it, but its employees' testimony makes it clear that, like GMAC, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and OneWest Bank, they have a problem with their foreclosure documents. But the solution isn't just a better documentation process: It's time to bring back cram downs.

NeighborWorks, a national nonprofit created by Congress in 1974, has launched a campaign that is loan modification scam central: tips on how to spot scams, numbers to call if you suspect you are being scammed and poignant vignettes of people who have been scammed. The timing for a national...

An investigation by the nonprofit journalism operation, ProPublica, raises intriguing questions about reasons desperate homeowners are being turned away for the very government program aimed at helping them. Some of the problems ProPublica uncovered echo complaints WalletPop heard when we wrote...

As the numbers of foreclosures continue to mount, the Obama administration called loan servicers to a meeting today in Washington to figure out what can be done to save the mortgage-rescue plan. Only 200,000 people have been helped since the plan -- which was supposed to help 4 to 5 million -- was...

Writing on DealBook, Paolo Pellegrini has an idea for dealing with the more than 20 percent of homeowners who are upside down on their mortgages. It works like this: Homeowner Smith has a $350,000 mortgage on a house worth perhaps $250,000. Mr. Smith petitions the bankruptcy court for a mortgage...

Every once in awhile -- and by every once in awhile I mean daily -- you come across a study that is so obvious in its conclusions that it's actually appalling that it made headlines.Friday's Wall Street Journal headlines says it all (subscription required): "Cutting financially troubled borrowers'...