GOP Set to Begin Chipping Away at Mortgage Giants
GOP Set to Begin Chipping Away at Mortgage Giants
March 14, 2011, Wall Street Journal
Republican lawmakers are preparing this week to introduce a series of legislative proposals to gradually reduce the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The effort represents a tactical shift from the comprehensive approach for a speedier wind-down of the mortgage-finance giants that Republicans backed during last year's negotiations on the Dodd-Frank Act. Some of these ideas were embraced by the White House in its "white paper" released last month on the future of housing finance.
Bank of America Unit Tried to Hide Foreclosure Information, Hackers Say
March 14, 2011, New York Times
A hacker organization known as Anonymous released a series of e-mails on Monday provided by a former Bank of America employee who claims they show how a division of the bank sought to hide information on foreclosures. The bank unit, Balboa Insurance, was acquired by Bank of America when it bought the mortgage lender Countrywide Financial in 2008.
California Assoc. of Realtors Push for Easier Short Sales
March 10, 2011, Los Angeles Times
Even as home seizures stall nationally with big banks facing a potential overhaul of the foreclosure system, California’s real estate agents want to see an alternative to foreclosure made simpler. The short sale, in which a lender allows a borrower to sell their property for less than what is owed, remains doggedly difficult to do, the California Assn. of Realtors contends in an open letter published Thursday in seven major California newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times.
`Dozen' States Don't Back Foreclosure Plan
March 11, 2011, Bloomberg
Virginia is among “at least a dozen” U.S. states that don’t back a proposal submitted last week to resolve a nationwide probe of foreclosure and mortgage- servicing practices, Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli said. There isn’t consensus among all 50 state attorneys general about the terms of the settlement proposed to U.S. banks, Cuccinelli, a Republican, said today in a telephone interview.