Aug
07
HUD Settlement | Bank of America Fined $175 for Failure to Offer Alternatives to Foreclosure
B of A Signs HUD Pact Over Mortgage Abuse The Department of Housing and Urban Development has reached a settlement with Bank of America that releases the company from liability for failing to adequately provide alternatives to foreclosure on 57,000 delinquent government-insured mortgages. The agreement, a draft of which was obtained by American Banker, was … Read more
Mar
20
BOA Suits Claims Credit Reports Used Instead of Title Searches
BofA Title claims
BofA Wants $535M From Title Insurers
By DAN MCCUE
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CN) – Bank of America claims mortgage insurers owe it more than $535 million for losses it suffered when the housing bubble burst. BofA, which bought the poster boy of the subprime lending fiasco, Countrywide Financial, 2 years ago, says title insurers unfairly refuse to cover busted mortgage loans that originated before the financial meltdown.
Bank of America, one of America’s largest mortgage lenders and the recipient of more than $45 billion in TARP funds from the federal government, claims that United General Title Insurance and First American Title Insurance, now corporate affiliates, insured mortgages for title defects, undisclosed intervening liens and other problems, and to cover equity loans and lines of credit up to $500,000.
Now the insurers are balking at paying the claims, blaming Bank of America and the firms it acquired prior to the global economic crisis for creating their own problems, BofA says in Mecklenburg County Court.
As of February the two insurers have denied at least 2,200 of Bank of America’s claims, representing more than $235 million in losses, and failed to respond to another 2,300 claims, representing more than $300 million in losses, BofA says.
All of the claims arise from a home equity loan or line of credit that is in default, the bank says.
BofA demands coverage of its losses, plus compensatory and punitive damages for breach of contract and bad faith.
BofA is also a plaintiff in a suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by Countrywide Home Loans, demanding $111 million from Triad Guaranty Insurance.
In that complaint, Countrywide and BofA claim Triad is wrongly trying to rescind coverage for high-risk practices that it encouraged.
BofA is represented by Davis Halvreich with Reed Smith in the North Carolina case.
Filed under: bubble, CDO, CORRUPTION, currency, Eviction, foreclosure, GTC | Honor, Investor, Mortgage, securities fraud Tagged: actual monetary loss or damage, Bank of America, Countrywide financial, Dan McCue, Davis Halvreich, FACT Master Loan Policy, First American Title Insurance, FiServ Solutions, Fleet, home value, ILS Quick Close Lien Protection Insurance program, Integrated Loan Services, legal description claims, Lien Position claims, principal, Public records, recording, Reed Smith, TARP, title defects, Triad Guaranty Insurance, United General Title Insurance, vesting claims
Aug
20
Mortgage Delinquencies Still Rising says MBA – More Americans Underwater
I have a lot of conversations with people about our economy, foreclosures and such… from clients to friends in business to attorneys. Everyone who’s asked me what I foresee coming I’ve told them that 2010 will be a very tough year and they better prepare now. We aren’t done yet folks… and the policies of the Obama Administration and our collective disaster we call Congress, are going to make things even worse – and very well will extend the recession quite painfully. I have told people to expect another wave of foreclosures. As long as you have no job creation and more job loss happening every day, this cycle won’t stop. It’s as simple as that.
And with that, I bring you fresh news…
Delinquencies Are Still Climbing and Threatening More Foreclosures on the Horizon, MBA Says
08/20/2009 By: Carrie Bay
More than nine percent of all mortgages in the United States are now delinquent, according to figures released Thursday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).
The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties rose to 9.24 percent of all loans outstanding at the end of the second quarter, MBA reported. The new number breaks the record set in the first quarter of this year, when 9.12 percent of the nation’s homeowners were behind on their mortgage payments.
Important to note is that the biggest jump in delinquencies last quarter came from prime fixed-rate mortgages. These seemingly low-risk loans also accounted for one in three of the nation’s foreclosure starts in Q2. A year ago they were only one in five.
Like prime, Federal Housing Administration loans are generally thought to be “safe,” but foreclosure starts among government-insured mortgages jumped to 9.1 percent last quarter – a record-high for the agency.
The states of California, Florida, Arizona, and Nevada continue to drag down the national numbers. These four had 44 percent of all the nation’s new foreclosures in Q2. Rhode Island, Georgia, and Michigan also posted foreclosure start rates above the national average. All
other states in the country fell below the national benchmark, and roughly half even saw their new foreclosure numbers decline.
But then, there’s the not-so-sunny Sunshine State. Florida has cemented itself as the worst state in the union for mortgage performance. Twelve percent of all mortgages there were somewhere in the process of foreclosure at the end of June, and another 5 percent were more than 90 days past due and about to cross that threshold. Based on MBA’s numbers, Florida has the highest foreclosure and delinquency rates in the country, and MBA’s chief economist, Jay Brinkmann, says he doesn’t expect to see a turnaround in Florida’s housing market for a long, long time.
Some fortunate regional markets are faring better and offsetting Florida’s bad numbers because the nation’s total foreclosure starts during the second quarter actually dropped slightly. Foreclosure actions were initiated on 1.36 percent of the nation’s outstanding mortgages, compared to 1.35 percent during the first three months of the year, MBA reported.
Despite the leveling off of foreclosure starts, the fact that loans 90 or more days past due continues to climb in all categories suggests an overhang of foreclosure activity and engorged inventories of repossessed homes may be looming in the coming months.
So, when is the foreclosure problem going to crest? Brinkmann, points out that unemployment is currently the primary driver behind missed mortgage payments.
The number of jobless Americans is forecast to peak in mid-2010, and Brinkmann says he expects delinquencies to top out at about the same time. But because of the lag time associated with foreclosure proceedings, he doesn’t see a break in the upward trend of foreclosures until six months later, at the close of next year.
