Mortgage Seizures Create 'Very Serious Concerns,' Sifma Says Bloomberg Wall Street's largest lobbying group is objecting to the use of eminent domain by municipalities to seize mortgages packaged into bonds so the loans can be ...

Is Your Mortgage Payment Based on Lies? Read Here Bloomberg Anyone who thinks it's a good idea to trust a group of banks in London to set a benchmark borrowing rate that affects the value of some $360 trillion in mortgage ... and more »

BRUSSELS - Political posters in Rome are comparing her to Hitler. A popular British magazine dubbed her "Europe's most dangerous leader." But could German Chancellor Angela Merkel - the frugal physicist foisting tough austerity on the region's hard-hit economies - really be the most pro-European leader in Europe? Read full article >>

Reverse mortgages, traditionally seen as a lifeline for seniors struggling to pay bills by allowing them to turn home equity into cash, are entering i... Read more: Foreclosure , Reverse Mortgages , Senior Citizens , Consumer Financial Protection Bureau , Cfpb , Business News

Americans' trust in banks has fallen to a record low, with only 21 percent saying they have "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in them. That discontent could spur some to action. A new survey from Javelin Strategy and Research found that 11 percent of customers say they're likely or very likely to switch their primary bank over the next year. Read full article >>

More than 6,300 homeowners who owed millions of dollars in federal taxes received government-backed mortgages in violation of a federal policy, according to a report by a federal watchdog.

Legislation Will Level the Playing Field for All California Homeowners

Fed Audit Legislation Passed by House Oversight Committee Bloomberg A U.S. House committee passed legislation introduced by Representative Ron Paul that would subject the Federal Reserve to an audit of its activities, including ...

What GAO FoundThe Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured over $1.44 billion in mortgages for 6,327 borrowers with $77.6 million in federal tax debt who benefited from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Of these borrowers, 3,815 individuals claimed and received $27.4 million in Recovery Act First-Time Homebuyer Credits (FTHBC). This analysis includes tax debtors who (1) benefited from FHA’s increased loan limits, or (2) claimed the FTHBCs and received FHA mortgage insurance of any value. Federal policy makes delinquent tax debtors ineligible for FHA mortgage insurance unless they repay their debt or are in a valid repayment agreement with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), but the FTHBC, like all tax credits, was available to those who qualified, regardless of their tax debt. GAO could not determine the proportion of borrowers who were ineligible for FHA insurance because GAO could not systematically identify which of the 6,327 borrowers were in valid repayment agreements using the data GAO received from IRS. However, GAO did find that 5 of the 8 borrowers completely evaluated were ineligible because they were not in valid repayment agreements at the time they obtained FHA mortgage insurance. In addition, GAO found that Recovery Act borrowers with unpaid taxes had foreclosure rates two to three times greater than borrowers without unpaid taxes, which potentially represents an increased risk to FHA.Some ineligible tax debtors received FHA mortgage insurance, in part, due to shortcomings in the capacity of FHA-required documentation to identify tax debts, and shortcomings in other policies that lenders may misinterpret. Lenders must perform steps to identify an applicant’s federal debt status, but sources commonly used, such as the loan application and credit report, do not reliably indicate an applicant’s tax debt. Statutory restrictions generally prohibit the disclosure of taxpayer information, such as tax debt, without...

As usual, everyone has just one issue – what’s happening in the EZ. Well Mrs Merkel’s “not in my lifetime” speech rejecting Euro Bonds is the headline grabbing all the attention today. Personally, its a load of old nonsense.The EZ will have Euro Bonds in due course and, in my opinion, much sooner than people [...]

Treasury prices slip after a report shows U.S. orders for durable goods rose more than analysts expected in May.

Americans' confidence in U.S. banks is now at a record-low 21%, down slightly from 23% in the past two years. More Americans have little or no confidence in banks than have a great deal or quite a lot for the fourth year in a row.

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five of the biggest banks in the United States are putting finishing touches on plans for going out of business as part of government-mandated contingency planning that could push them to untangle their complex operations.

Lennar Earnings Surge After Jump in Home Sales, Tax Gain Bloomberg Lennar Corp., the third-largest U.S. homebuilder by revenue, reported a surge in fiscal second- quarter profit as it booked a tax benefit and sales climbed in an ...

Mortgage Applications Fall 7.1% as Refinancing Slows<br/>http://www.cnbc.com//id/47974657

  *HOENIG SAYS RISKIER ACTIVITIES SHOULD BE OUTSIDE `SAFETY NET’ *HOENIG: SPLITTING BANKS WILL ‘REINVIGORATE’ INVESTMENT FIRMS *FDIC’S HOENIG SAYS GLASS-STEAGALL II `IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY’     Federal Deposit Insurance Corp board member Thomas Hoenig said today in a Bloomberg Radio that a revival of the Glass-Steagall Act is "absolutely necessary" to protect the U.S. [...]

Glass-Steagall Revival Would Bolster Banks, FDIC's Hoenig Says Bloomberg A revival of the Glass-Steagall Act, the Depression-era law that separated commercial and investment banking, is "absolutely necessary" to protect the U.S. ...

Housing Exuberance Led by Shiller's U.S. Glamorous Cities Bloomberg Home prices are beginning to rise after a six-year slump in cities from San Francisco and Seattle to Miami with jobs and lifestyles that appeal to younger and ...

Government bailouts of big banks are here to stay and are bad for economies because they channel capital to uncompetitive industries and sustain high levels of debt, according to economist Garett Jones.