During these difficult financial times, title agents have created schemes that attempt to steal money from borrowers and financial institutions for their own benefit.

Phil Sotelo, the owner of Realty Executives Sotelo & Associates was arrested for mortgage fraud for recording phony documents at a county office and refused to leave his north Modesto home after it was sold at public auction, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

MDR Mortgage and its founder and president Robert Luce are facing a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice for the alleged misrepresentation of Department of Housing and Urban Development-insured loans.

A new report by Amherst Securities Group examines how the recent Bank of America settlement has the potential to significantly impact Countrywide securities that comprise the Covered Trusts. Although the market seems to treat these securities in the same way, Amherst said that the impact will vary from security to security.

U.S. senior fixed-income investors are taking a more conservative view of cross asset credit conditions on the back of recent macroeconomic concerns, according to a Fitch Ratings fixed-income forum survey of fixed income professionals, conducted in June.

In a major defeat for the National Credit Union Administration, a federal judge Friday agreed to dismiss negligence charges brought by the federal regulator in a civil suit against 11 directors of the one-time $34 billion corporate credit union, all of them prominent figures in the credit union movement.

Texas Tech Federal Credit Union in Lubbock has chosen MRG's Miracle Online platform for its mortgage document preparation needs.

State regulators fined Mortgage Access Corp., an affiliate of realty giant Weichert, $3 million for using unlicensed mortgage originators. The settlement covers 10 states.

The heads of CMBS trading at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs departed from their respective firms late last week.

The policy that prevents mortgage servicers from initiating foreclosures in the name of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. became permanent this week after parent company Merscorp Inc. finalized changes to its procedures and quality assurance manuals.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency on Wednesday filed suit against UBS Americas for misrepresenting the quality of private label, non prime MBS it sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the housing and mortgage boom.

Aklero Risk Analytics will offer discounted pricing, as well as enhanced delivery options, technology and support, to the member banks of the American Bankers Association’s Business Solutions subsidiary, under a preferred vendor agreement between Fort Washington, Pa.-based Aklero and the Washington-based ABA.

Ohio attorney general Mike DeWine has filed a lawsuit against a foreclosure rescue company, its affiliates and owner for violating multiple state consumer laws.

The Pennsylvania Department of Banking’s Bureau of Compliance, Investigation and Licensing has cracked down on illegal activity within the state in 2Q 2011 compared to the previous quarter.

On June 4, a San Francisco judge (U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup) told Securities and Exchange Commission attorneys that the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will not be applied retroactively and thereupon dismissed a couple of Securities and Exchange Commission claims against former financial executives.

Short sale timelines and completions are improving, but servicing executives also know their industry can have better results in the government-backed Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program, according to panelists at this week’s Best Practices in Loss Mitigation Conference in Dallas, sponsored by National Mortgage News.

Six Federal Home Loan banks have launched a salvo against Bank of America Corp.'s proposed $8.5 billion mortgage bondholder settlement, suggesting the payout may need to be triple that amount.

The Federal Trade Commission is mailing over 450,000 checks to former customers of Countrywide Home Loans as part of a $108 million settlement involving allegations that CHL took advantage of delinquent borrowers and charged excessive servicing fees.

The loan modification process needs a reboot that uses technology to help borrowers understand the process and provide faster resolution to loan files, according to panelists speaking at the Best Practices in Loss Mitigation Conference that National Mortgage News' parent company SourceMedia sponsored this week in Dallas.

After targeting two branch offices of Prospect Mortgage for an audit, the HUD Office of Inspector General is urging the Federal Housing Administration to conduct full underwriting reviews to protect the agency from paying potential claims on 166 delinquent FHA-insured loans.