Foreclosures

U.S. Bancorp agreed to pay $10 million while Banco Santander settled for $3.4 million following missteps in how they handled earlier orders from regulators to fix faulty foreclosure practices, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Foreclosures nationwide continued to decrease in December, according to CoreLogic.

HSBC North America Holdings has agreed to pay $470 million to settle allegations it engaged in abusive practices in its mortgage foreclosure, origination and servicing operations.

The rate of home price recovery during the seven years that a foreclosure remains on a consumer's credit report is one measure of whether borrowers who strategically defaulted made the right choice by walking away. But the results vary, depending on when, where and in what price tier that borrowers defaulted.

Borrowers who walked away from underwater mortgages are coming back to the market. Some lenders are ready to give them a second chance.

After years of refi-fueled origination volume, lenders have their hopes pegged to a resurgent purchase market in 2016 and beyond. But it raises an important question: will strategic default rear its head again in the next downturn?

The delinquency rate on commercial mortgage-backed securities dropped sharply in January, thanks to the resolution of New York's Stuyvesant Town loan, according to Trepp.

Key Democratic lawmakers are urging the Department of Housing and Urban Development to tighten its program for selling nonperforming guaranteed loans to ensure servicers have exhausted all loss mitigation options before the loans are sold to private investors.

The number of U.S. mortgages that were underwater continued to improve in the fourth quarter, although there are still millions of properties in the category, according to RealtyTrac.

A New Jersey man has been sentenced to six years in prison for running a scam that victimized distressed homeowners and private investors.