A New Jersey woman has filed a lawsuit against Bank of America, alleging that the bank wrongfully locked her out of her home for three days, during which the house was robbed.  Nina Morra of Trenton had entered into a payment plan and was no longer at risk of losing her home when a bank sub-contractor mistakenly changed the locks on her house while she was out of town for Thanksgiving.  Her lawsuit claims that when she was finally able to re-enter the home, $150,000 in money, …

A group of investors, including the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is pressing Bank of America to buy back a portion of some $47 billion worth of mortgages because of flaws in the servicing process.  Bank of America claims any problems stemmed from the economic downturn rather than any underlying problem with how the mortgages were sold to investors.

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All fifty Attorneys General have agreed to work together to investigate foreclosure fraud, but half of the 12-member executive committee was voted out of office in Tuesday's election.  Advocates are concerned that changes in personnel at the top, particularly in Ohio, will weaken the investigation.
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Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart lashed out at three of the nation's leading lenders, saying he halted evictions after they acknowledged some employees signed off on foreclosure documents without even reading them.

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The foreclosure problems that have unfolded in recent weeks present a test of whether financial regulators can respond more cohesively and aggressively to an emerging problem than they did to the subprime crisis three years ago.

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Shoddy mortgage lending has led bankers into a two-front war, pitting them against U.S. homeowners challenging the right to foreclose and mortgage-bond investors demanding refunds that could approach $200 billion.

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The Governor of California has signed a bill that requires post-foreclosure owners to provide tenants with a document that notifies them of their rights and encourages them to seek legal advice.  In addition, the law will block new owners from reporting evictions to credit reporting companies, unless a court judgment is obtained within 60 days.  (via Tenants Together, October 2, 2010)

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The nation's largest bank is placing a moratorium on all foreclosure sales in order to review problems in its foreclosure documentation.  (Wall Street Journal, October 8, 2010)

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Residents in the states "hardest hit" by the national foreclosure crisis are benefitting from targeted federal dollars.  News outlets in Ohio, Illinois, and Oregon this week reported that the U.S. Treasury is releasing the latest cash infusion from the Hardest Hit Program, designed to prevent foreclosure in the states most affected by the housing crisis. 

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Ally Financial and JP Morgan Chase have halted evictions in 23 states in response to revelations about questionable foreclosure methods.  Employees from both firms have admitted under oath that they did not verify or notarize the contents of tens of thousands of crucial legal documents.  Experts predict that this will have a palpable slowing effect on the national housing market, and therefore the economic recovery.  “We’re seeing a fundamental breakdown in the system, …

Despite significant NIMBY resistance, the New Orleans City Council last week voted in favor of a plan to convert an abandoned nursing home into 40 units of affordable housing for homeless and low-income residents.

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One of the largest real estate companies in St. Louis -mainly known for lease-to-own deals targeting low-income buyers-is facing lawsuits from at least five banks.  With claims topping $7.5 million, tenants are beginning to receive foreclosure notices and are facing the possibility of losing not only their homes, but months or years of payments they made toward the dream of homeownership.

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Ally Financial, the country's fourth-biggest mortgage lender, halted home evictions in 23 states this week after revelations about forgeries and "robo-signers" call the legality of tens of thousands of foreclosures into question.

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On August 25, 2010 the Law Center joined the National Housing Law Project (NHLP) and a number of other partners in submitting an amicus brief to the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, supporting a tenant who sued her landlord under the Protecting Tenants in Foreclosure Act (PTFA), wanting to stay in her unit as allowed under the law. …

Millions of Americans have lost their jobs or suffered a sharp decline in earnings. Families are forced to make tough financial decisions such as cutting back on spending purchases, downsizing to a different homes, or being at risk of slipping permanently into poverty. “Nationally, homelessness has now reached crisis proportions not seen since the Great Depression,” says Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. …