Dispatches From the Displaced on Huffington Post

Neeta Pal: Foreclosure Dispatches: Views From Around the Country

2012-02-22T16:31:19Z

"Saving the housing market by keeping families in their homes on the southwest side of Chicago is critical for the long-term prosperity of the city, the region and ultimately, the country."

Read more: Mortgage Crisis, Foreclosure Crisis, Foreclosure, Foreclosure Legal Assistance, Housing Crisis, Foreclosure Settlement, Housing Bubble, Chicago News

Jose Suarez: Banks Take It Easy, While Miami Struggles Against Foreclosures

2012-02-21T18:22:41Z

The big banks recently agreed to pay $25 billion to the victims of foreclosure abuse. Yes, $25 billion might sound quite impressive. But here in Miami, the virtual "ground zero" of the foreclosure crisis, we're wary.

Read more: Foreclosure Crisis, Robo-Signing, Florida Foreclosures, Mortgage Crisis, Mortgage Fraud, Foreclosure, Foreclosure Settlement, Underwater Mortgages, Miami News

Homeownership: Huge, Expensive Habit No One Can Break

2012-02-21T14:20:26Z

Like many dangerous addictions, the government's reliance on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make real the American dream of homeownership has turned in...

Read more: Mortgages, Freddie Mac, Edward Demarco, Fannie Mae, Federal Housing Finance Agency, Financial Crisis, Homeowners, Foreclosure, Fhfa, Home Loans, Underwater Mortgages, Business News

Family Who Re-Occupied Foreclosed Home Resists Eviction

2012-02-21T08:00:10Z

LOS ANGELES -- Arturo De Los Santos and his wife Magdalena have been fighting to keep the home in Riverside, California, where they raised their four ...

Read more: Occupy Foreclosure, Riverside, Video, Foreclosure Crisis, Freddie Mac, Occupyla, Arturo De Los Santos, Foreclosure Evictions, Occupy Our Homes, Foreclosure, Latino Voices News

Knock-Down Fight: City Takes On Banks Over Vacant Homes

2012-02-19T12:05:25Z

Funds meant to help struggling families in Cleveland are instead being used to knock down vacant and dilapidated homes left in the wake of the foreclo...

Read more: Vacancy, Mortgage Settlement, Baltimore, Cleveland, Memphis, Fannie Mae, Banks, Foreclosure, National Mortgage Settlement, Lawsuit, Business News

Mortgage Fraud: Local Officials Step Up To Uncover Document Fraud

2012-02-17T19:12:47Z

In the absence of state and federal research about how the nation's largest mortgage companies are forging mortgage documents and wrongfully foreclosi...

Read more: Fraud, Phil Ting, Massachusetts' Southern Essex District, Robosigning, Mortgage Fraud, Mortgage Crisis, Foreclosure-Document-Fraud, San Francsico, Foreclosure, North Carolina's Guilford County, u.s. Attorney General Eric Holder, Business News

Who's Really Paying The Tab For The Mortgage Settlement?

2012-02-17T18:03:14Z

Just who is paying for the big mortgage settlement, anyway?

The Obama administration says it's the banks. Mortgage investors worry it will be them....

Read more: Mortgage Settlement, Mortgage, Mortgage Servicers, Mortgage Foreclosure, Hud, Banks, Foreclosure, Foreclosure Fraud, Big Banks, Foreclosure Settlement, Business News

George Goehl: Things Should Never Have Reached This Point

2012-02-15T17:15:43Z

Every day, the American Dream seems a little farther away.

More of our grandparents are being thrown from their homes. Our mothers and fathers can't...

Read more: Leadership Training Programs, Change, Social Change, Budget Cuts, Training, 99spring, 99%, Jobs, Foreclosure, American Dream, Non-Violent Resistance, 1%, Impact News

Nicholas Carroll: The Bright Side of Home Foreclosure for Single Dads

2012-02-16T15:09:53Z

My sense, from many conversations, is that single dads pick up a lot more free time by moving to a rental than single moms.

Read more: Foreclosure, Raising Kids, Kids, Single Dads, Family, Single Parent, Divorce, Home Foreclosures, Single Dad Raising Kids, Raising Kids as a Single Dad, Parents News

Dan Kildee: Big Bank Settlement Offers Cities Opportunity to Address Foreclosure Devastation - If They Take It

2012-02-16T12:32:24Z

The $26 billion settlement between state attorneys general, the federal government and five of the nation's largest banks offers a cautionary tale and some real opportunities for communities grappling with the foreclosure crisis.

Read more: Foreclosure Crisis, Subprime Mortgages, Foreclosure Settlement, Mortgage Crisis, Banks, Banking Crisis, Foreclosure, Mortgage Settlement, Wall Street, Land Banks, Business News

A Tale Of Dual Tracking: Trying To Modify A Loan As Bank Forecloses

2012-02-16T08:30:20Z

The good news was waiting for Carrie Haskamp on her answering machine one September afternoon. Her bank had agreed to change the terms of her mortgage...

Read more: Carrie Haskamp, Foreclosure Crisis, Loan Modifications, Mortgage Settlement, President Obama, Mortgage Crisis, Foreclosure, Homeowners, National Mortgage Settlement, National Foreclosure, PHH Mortgage, Foreclosure Settlement, Business News

Unclogging The Foreclosure Pipeline

2012-02-16T08:15:00Z

LOS ANGELES -- Banks took back more U.S. homes in January than in the previous month, the latest sign that foreclosures are accelerating after slowing...

Read more: Foreclosures, Business News, Video, Foreclosure Crisis, Foreclosure Activity January 2012, Foreclosure Activity, Housing Crisis, Home Foreclosures, Business News

Menachem Rosensaft: Spare Us From Petty Political Hacks: A South Florida Holocaust Center Under Siege

2012-02-16T08:21:03Z

Ordinarily, the peremptory proclivities of this municipal politician would not be of academic or esoteric interest to anyone fortunate enough to live outside Hollywood, except that he seems intent on harming if not destroying the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center.

Read more: Mayor Peter Bober, Holocaust Documentation and Education Center, Rositta Kenigsberg, Florida, Holocaust, Hollywood Florida, City of Hollywood, Foreclosure, Hollywood, Miami News

SAVIOR SETTLEMENT: Mortgage Deal Could Bring Struggling Agency Back From Brink

2012-02-13T18:14:00Z

(Adds comment from White House budget office, details throughout) WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The Federal Housing Administration w...

Read more: Foreclosure, Mortgage Settlement, Fha Mortgage Settlement, Fha Settlement, Reuters, Treasury Fha, Foreclosure Settlement, Business News

Bruce Judson: The Mortgage Settlement's Huge Missing Piece: Do Detailed Enforcement Provisions Exist?

2012-02-13T13:28:21Z

Banks agreed to change their behavior as part of the robo-mortgage settlement announced last week. The announcement, however, left open critical quest...

Read more: Banks, Banking Crisis, Financial Crisis, Housing Market, Robo-Signing, Housing Crisis, Foreclosure Crisis, Mortgage Settlement, Subprime Mortgages, Mortgage Crisis, Foreclosure, Foreclosure Settlement, Business News

Some States Using Funds From Foreclosure Deal To Close Budget Gaps

2012-02-10T17:39:34Z

Well, that was fast.

Two states have already announced that they won't be using all of their share of the $25 billion allocated in Thursday's hist...

Read more: Mortgages, Video, Wisconsin, Foreclosure Crisis, Jay Nixon, Freddie Mac, Mortgage Settlement, Scott Walker, Borrowers, Missouri, Mortgage Crisis, Fannie Mae, Foreclosure, Homeowners, Tobacco Settlement, Tobacco, Business News

David Woolner: FDR Alleviated Americans' Anger and Suffering Through Action

2012-02-10T13:47:22Z

Indeed, by the time Franklin Roosevelt took office in March of 1933, it is estimated that approximately 50 percent of all urban mortgages in the United States were delinquent or in foreclosure and that an average of 1,000 homes per day were being lost.

Read more: Mortgage Crisis, Foreclosure, Housing Crisis, Barack Obama FDR, Fdr, Mortgage Settlement, Great Depression, Politics News

Dennis M. Kelleher: First Bank Fraud, Now Political Fraud

2012-02-10T13:38:22Z

It's like saying rather than drowning in a lake 50 feet deep, you get to drown in a lake that is only 30 feet deep. And, people are taking victory laps? You don't believe any of that and still think what the politicians said about punishing the banks was true?

Read more: Foreclosure Crisis, Crime, Financial Reform, Lawsuits, Foreclosure Fraud, Fraud, Bailout, Eric Schneiderman, Attorney General, Financial Crisis, Foreclosure Lawsuits, Foreclosure, Bank Bailout, Financial Regulation, Business News

Van Jones: Bank Settlement: $25 Billion Down, $675 Billion to Go

2012-02-10T12:02:11Z

We need a solution at the scale of the problem, so that families can get back on their feet, the economy can get working, and people can reach for their American dreams again instead of watching them drown.

Read more: Foreclosures, Foreclosure Crisis, Mortgage Settlement, Robo-Signing, Mortgage Crisis, Foreclosure, Subprime Mortage Crisis, National Mortgage Settlement, Foreclosure Settlement, Politics News

Tulsi Gabbard: Banks Sink to New Low by Foreclosing on Deployed Troops

2012-02-10T11:21:56Z

We can and must do more to protect military families like the Rowles'. Just as we provide our troops with the best possible protection on the battlefield, we have a commitment to look out for them and their families while they're away.

Read more: Middle East, Foreclosure, Hawaii Army National Guard, Armed Forces, JP Morgan Chase, Politics News

Janet Murguía: Why The AG Settlement Is Good For Communities Of Color

2012-02-09T16:43:18Z

State Attorneys General (AG) arrived at a $25 billion agreement with mortgage servicers in response to the "robosigning" scandal that broke 18 months ago.

Read more: Latinos, Kamala Harris, Attorneys General, Blacks, Nclr, National Council of La Raza, Foreclosure, Bank of America Foreclosures, National Urban League, Latino Prosperity, Latino Voices News

The Woman Some Are Dubbing 'The Female Barack Obama'

2012-02-10T08:55:00Z

By Tim Reid and Aruna Viswanatha Feb 9 (Reuters) - California Attorney General Kamala Harris, a veteran prosecutor with acute politica...

Read more: Foreclosure Crisis, Civil Rights Movement, Video, Robo-Signing, Reuters, California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Foreclosure, Stanford, Foreclosure Settlement, Business News

Heather McGhee: Settlement Is First Step Towards Foreclosure Relief

2012-02-09T16:00:36Z

It is important to bear in mind why exactly today's settlement must be viewed as a first step rather than a resolution of the struggle for accountability in the foreclosure crisis.

Read more: Mortgage Crisis, Foreclosure, Wall Street, Robo-Signing, Foreclosure Settlement, President Obama, Occupy Wall Street, Politics News

Anna Cuevas: Landmark Settlement in Foreclosure Abuses

2012-02-09T14:51:58Z

While the settlement is unprecedented, it's not enough to help those who have already lost their homes, but it's a step in the right direction for homeowners who have become a victim of the housing crisis and the wrongdoings of these lenders that contributed to it.

Read more: Foreclosure Crisis, Loan Modifications, The Loan Mod Guru, Foreclosure, Home Foreclosures, Business News