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BBC | “The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission filed parallel suits in North Carolina. Attorney General Eric Holder said the government wanted “justice for those who have been victimized.” Bank of America denied the charges, arguing “these were prime mortgages sold to sophisticated investors.” The bank already hinted it expected the suitsRead more

Dennis Bovell | Broward Palm Beach Post | “Ted Koran and his wife, Karen, have been taking in unwanted or neglected animals for the past 25 years. The couple owns The Critter Place in Weeki Wachee,Florida, a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to saving animals. The two acre property, which also includes their mobile home, currently caresRead more

Kevin Bouffard | THE LEDGER | “Controversial Lakeland developer Jeff Holden may lose a significant chunk of his commercial real estate holdings to foreclosure unless he can come up with almost $18 million to pay off the mortgages. Two Holden properties have already been placed into receivership under foreclosure actions that began in February 2012 while aRead more

wftv.com | “Facing one of the largest backlogs of foreclosures in the state, central Florida’s Ninth Circuit Court has cleared 41 percent of its backlog since June 2012. However, new numbers obtained by Eyewitness News show the court entered May 2013 with 28,000 cases still pending and another 1,000 new cases filed every month. AddRead more

Robert Trigaux | Times Business Columnist | “Consumer ripoffs, scams and disputes are alive, well and changing as the nation emerges from recession, consumer protection experts said Tuesday. “There is a boundless creativity of scammers to find new ways to fleece consumers,” warns Susan Grant, the Consumer Federation of America’s director of consumer protection. Unlicensed contractingRead more

Lisa Mahapatra | International Business Times | “A total of 55,000 foreclosures were completed in June, a 20 percent decline from a year earlier, according to a just-released report from CoreLogic , a financial services and analytics firm. The number of distressed homes have fallen for 19 consecutive months, as have the number of homes that are seriouslyRead more

Francys Vallecillo | World Property Channel | “The number of completed foreclosures in the U.S. decreased 20 percent in June from the same time last year, according to the latest data from CoreLogic. The data also showed positive signs for the foreclosure inventory in the U.S. In June, there were about one million homes inRead more

MortgageOrb.com | “After five consecutive months of steady decline, the delinquency rate for U.S. home mortgages spiked nearly 10% in June, month over month, according to Lender Processing Services’ (LPS) “First Look” Mortgage Report. The total U.S. loan delinquency rate (loans 30 or more days past due but not in foreclosure) reached 6.68%, an increase ofRead more

Paul Brinkmann | South Florida Business Journal | “An apparent oversight by JPMorgan Chase Bank recently led to the dismissal of a foreclosure on Valerie Kaan’s $8 million waterfront home in Boca Raton. The bank requested dismissal of the 2008 case when Kaan’s attorney, Roy Oppenheim, objected to the sudden appearance of the original note on the loan. The bankRead more

JANN SWANSON | Mortgage News Daily | “The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has updated and released proceedings of a conference it held last October in conjunction with the Rockefeller Institute of New York. The conference, entitled Distressed Residential Real Estate: Dimensions, Impacts, and Remedies was devoted to three main topics: An assessment volumes of properties thatRead more