Foreclosure News

A new report says homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure must wait too long for their loan modification applications to be reviewed by some of the nation's top mortgage servicers.

In this Oct. 26, 2010 photo, families and members of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment ACCE, march downtown Los Angeles financial district, to demand banks' accountability, foreclosure moratorium and loan modifications.

In efforts to help families and individuals with housing needs and foreclosure prevention, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials are awarding more than $40 million in housing counseling grants to 334 national, regional and local organizations.

When Kelly Mears graduates from Union College in the summer of 2015, she will have $100,000 in student loans.

A California real estate investor has agreed to plead guilty for his role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in Northern California, the Department of Justice announced.

The home sits on a quiet stretch of Traylor Drive, with weeds growing on the roof, and a gash on its side.

Six former employees and one contractor say Bank of America 's mortgage servicing unit consistently lied to homeowners, fraudulently denied loan modifications and offered bonuses to staff for intentionally pushing people into foreclosure, according to a Salon.com report .

After all, Florida's Tampa Bay reported the nation's third highest rate of foreclosures as recently as May. But those seeking in-person help from the government will be out of luck.

The number housing starts rose 7 percent to an annual pace of 914,000 homes, according to a government report out Tuesday.

Architects of the foreclosure changes dropped an initial controversial plan to shorten the redemption period to 60 days during which Michiganians with troubled loans could make 11th-hour efforts to save their homes.

Wall Street is ramping up financing to private-equity firms buying homes to rent, helping them accelerate purchases as competition increases and prices jump .

In recent months, the Inland Empire real estate market has been steadily improving.

Oroville city firefighters protest proposed layoffs along Oro Dam Boulevard on Friday in Oroville.

Bank of America routinely denied qualified borrowers a chance to modify their loans to more affordable terms and paid cash bonuses to bank staffers for pushing homeowners into foreclosure, according to affidavits filed last week in a Massachusetts lawsuit.

Is the housing recovery for real? It looks that way, as a key measure of home builder confidence crossed a major threshold Monday.

Former employees say in a lawsuit that Bank of America rewarded staff with cash bonuses and gift cards for meeting quotas connected to sending homeowners into foreclosure, Bloomberg reported.

Editor's note: This article originally ran at ncpolicywatch.com and is reprinted with permission of the author.

On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee passed a package of foreclosure bills that will set Michigan back decades in its efforts to prevent foreclosures and the damage they cause to families, neighborhoods, communities and our still fragile economy.

According to a lawsuit in Massachusetts federal court filed by six former Bank of America employees, service representatives were told to lie to homeowners, telling them their paperwork and payments had not been received, when in reality they had.

" Real Housewives of New Jersey " star Jacqueline Laurita will NOT have to live in a cardboard box ... TMZ has learned she struck a deal with her bank and SAVED her mansion from foreclosure! TMZ broke the story ... the reality TV star was sued by Hudson City Savings earlier this year.