mortgage

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) filed a court petition seeking approval of an $8.5 billion settlement with Bank of America Corp. (BAC) over residential mortgage- securitization trusts.

U.S. authorities have charged 1,215 people in hundreds of mortgage fraud cases that resulted in estimated losses of $2.3 billion, top Obama administration officials said on Thursday, unveiling a crackdown after the housing market collapse.

Late payments on mortgage loans declined slightly during the fourth quarter of 2009 — compared to the previous quarter — representing the first quarter over quarter decrease since mid-2006. Some analysts believe that the drop in 30-day delinquencies may be a positive indicator that the mortgage market is starting to stabilize, and that the number of foreclosure actions may start to decline.

After the U.S. government launched the Home Affordability Modification Program (HAMP) last year, numerous other agencies and professionals launched their own loan modification programs, but many of them are scams. Unlicensed people are promising ailing homeowners impossible changes to their unaffordable mortgages, an oversight that is happening to the already damaged housing market.

Mortgage lending in the UK hit an eight year low in January amid signs that the recovery in the UK property market may well be veering off course. This comes at a time when hopes have been high that the corner had been turned and the property market was set for a return to growth in 2010. So what is happening?