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tampabay.com | Posted by toluolo:   A “faster foreclosures” proposal that faced sharp consumer outcry and protest last year has resurfaced in a more moderate form this year, with a new bill filed by Rep. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, Thursday. The bill, HB 87, offers a slew of changes to the civil procedures governing foreclosures in Florida—the state with theRead more

  By MICHAEL SASSO | The Tampa Tribune “As foreclosures hit unheard-of levels in recent years, a handful of Florida law firms that operated as foreclosure factories reaped millions in fees. One Tampa-based giant, Florida Default Law Group, had more than 1,000 lawyers, non-lawyer paralegals and support staff processing legal papers as cheaply and efficiently as possible. However, someRead more

  “Britain’s revenue and customs service is examining allegations that criminals may have used offshore accounts with HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, to launder money, it confirmed Friday. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs said in a statement that it had been contacted about a leaked list of the bank’s customers, and accusations in a British newspaperRead more

By Mark Gongloff | huffingtonpost.com “This may be the world’s largest wrist slap. British banking giant HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, is set to pay $1.9 billion to settle accusations that it didn’t do enough to stop money laundering in its branches, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. According to the WSJ, the U.S. government could announce theRead more

By TBO.com | “Floridians who lost their homes to foreclosure between January 2008 and December 2011 could recoup some of their money as part of the national foreclosure fraud settlement. About 167,000 Floridians got applications but they need to file them in about a month. “The deadline is Jan. 18th and we realize a lot ofRead more

By Drew Harwell, Times Staff Writer | “In a landmark robo-signing case, a former executive of a Jacksonville mortgage-processing giant faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to orchestrating years of fraudulent foreclosure documents, according to a plea deal filed Tuesday in Jacksonville federal court. Lorraine Brown, who headed a Georgia processing firm,Read more

By Toluse Olorunnipa, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau | “The forms used by property insurers across the state to calculate insurance discounts for homeowners are seriously flawed and must be completely thrown out, an administrative judge has found in a potentially groundbreaking ruling. The decision could have far-reaching implications for homeowners who receive wind-mitigation discounts for hurricane-resistant measuresRead more

By The Associated Press |   “Home prices stayed flat in Tampa but increased in most major U.S. cities in September, more evidence of a housing recovery that is providing a lift to the fragile economy. Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller reported Tuesday that its 20-city index of home prices rose 3 percent in September compared with theRead more

By Jeff Harrington, Times Staff Writer “Eli Munoz-Soto and Marcial Solorzano held ownership stakes in more than 40 homes that got tangled up in Florida’s epic housing meltdown. For nearly three years, their cases crawled through bankruptcy court, as they sought modified mortgages with lower payments to avoid foreclosure. Finally, in a hearing this month, theirRead more