Our FAQ on the Foreclosure Reviews

by Paul Kiel ProPublica, Nov. 4, 2011, 10:37 a.m.

As we reported today [1], federal banking regulators have launched a foreclosure review process. Certain current or former homeowners who were the victims of abuses or errors by mortgage servicers will be eligible for compensation.

Regulators have provided a bare-bones website [2] and frequently asked questions, which you can see here [3].

But we thought things could be even clearer, so we’ve pro...

Bank of America agreed to pay $335 million to resolve allegations that its Countrywide unit engaged in a widespread pattern of discrimination against qualified African-American and Hispanic borrowers on home loans.

The settlement with the U.S. Justice Department was filed Wednesday with the Central District court of California and is subject to court approval. The DOJ says it’s the largest settlement in history over residential fair lending practices.

According to the DOJ’s complain...

Rev. Carroll Baltimore, middle, president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, recites a closing prayer. (Hamil R. Harris - The Washington Post) A prominent coalition of African American pastors have teamed up with leaders of the Occupy Wall Street movement to launch a new series of actions that they consider part of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s unfinished legacy.

Banks Press CFPB in Talks

Banks are demanding that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau relinquish the right to sue over certain flawed mortgage originations, in exchange for their participation in a proposed multibillion-dollar settlement of alleged foreclosure abuses.

The banks say their inability to secure a sufficiently broad release from the new bureau, which was sidelined in earlier discussions as it launched, would be a deal breaker. The five biggest U.S. mortgage bank...