It's about time! Finally Big Brother feels they should oversee mortgage banks that they had previously freely given money to. This month, Bank of America voluntarily halted foreclosure processing, as it had "magically" discovered that they were not reading the hardship packages that had been submitted by homeowners. Within the next few weeks, their internal audit discovered that nothing was amiss in their practices.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday that the Fed is concerned about reported irregularities in foreclosure practices at a number of financial institutions and banking agencies are working together to complete an in depth review of these practices.
He told attendees at the Symposium for Mortgages and the Future of Housing Finance, "We are looking intensively at the firms' policies, procedures, and internal controls related to foreclosures and seeking to determine whether systematic weaknesses are leading to improper foreclosures. We take violations of proper procedures seriously. We anticipate preliminary results of the review next month. In addition, Federal Reserve staff members and their counterparts at other federal agencies are evaluating the potential effects of these problems on the real estate market and financial institutions."
Where does this leave us? It seems the banks will continue to make up the rules as they go along, with some input from the government.
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