According to the CoreLogic study, 65% of short sales that are resold within six months for profits of 40% or higher are “suspicious” — with a significant possibility the lender accepted a low payoff. Most of these transactions go undetected by the banks being defrauded, but some lead to prosecutions and convictions.
via latimes.com.
California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, saying that years of unscrupulous lending still haunts the state, is creating a 25-person task force to target mortgage fraud of any size — from small operations that preyed on troubled borrowers to corporations that sold risky loans as safe investments.
via latimes.com.
WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today announced formal enforcement actions against eight national bank mortgage servicers and two third-party servicer providers for unsafe and unsound practices related to residential mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing.
The eight servicers are Bank of America, Citibank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, MetLife Bank, PNC, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. The two service providers are Lender Processing Services (LPS) and its subsidiaries DocX, LLC, and LPD Default Solutions, Inc.; and MERSCORP and its wholly owned subsidiary, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS).
via OCC
WASHINGTON — A set of confidential federal audits accuse the nation’s five largest mortgage companies of defrauding taxpayers in their handling of foreclosures on homes purchased with government-backed loans, four officials briefed on the findings told The Huffington Post.
via huffingtonpost.
As the Rajaratnam verdict captivated many on Wall Street last week, the institutions that service about two-thirds of the mortgages in this country offered to pay $5 billion to settle allegations about robo-signing and other shady practices that quick-step troubled borrowers out of their homes.
via NYTimes.com.
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a civil mortgage fraud lawsuit against Deutsche Bank AG and its subsidiary, MortgageIT Inc., for allegedly making “false certifications” to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) related to mortgage origination and certain practices by the subsidiary.
via nreionline
Reports of mortgage fraud, which have been increasing since the housing boom, rose to their highest level on record in 2010, Treasury Department figures showed.
via WSJ.com.
