Daily News related to the Foreclosure Crisis

The biggest unpunished heist in human history - Max Keiser

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03/18/26

Executive Order Seeks to Expand Mortgage Credit for Customers of Community and Smaller Banks
On March 13, 2026, the White House issued an executive order that directs the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and federal housing and banking agencies to consider a series of mortgage-related regulatory and supervisory changes, with a particular focus on community banks (generally under $30 billion in assets) and “smaller banks” (under $100 billion in assets). The order aims to “improve the availability and affordability of mortgage credit, tailor rules for community banks and “smaller banks” [and] reduce the regulatory burden on community banks.”

03/18/26

Federal suit accuses Citibank, Shellpoint of loan mod deception, discrimination
Citibank and Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing face a federal lawsuit alleging loan modification deception, false foreclosure filings, and national origin discrimination. The case was filed on March 16, 2026, in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey by David and Anahit Ambartsumyan, residents of Creskill, New Jersey. At the heart of the matter is what the plaintiffs describe as a loan modification that was offered and accepted — only for the written documents to arrive with materially different terms.

03/18/26

Hit with a ‘zombie mortgage’? Here’s how to fight back
Homeowners aren’t the only ones enjoying property prices hitting near historic highs. Debt collectors are, too, by enforcing collection on “zombie mortgages.” The loans earned the “zombie” moniker from mortgages that homeowners believed were settled or paid off years before. When debt collectors call and demand payment, it's as if the loan has come back from the dead, noted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. More than 600,000 “zombie mortgages” are alive and well, according to a 2025 Bloomberg News investigation.

03/18/26

Couple sues Carrington Mortgage alleging ignored requests and foreclosure push
Carrington Mortgage Services is facing a federal lawsuit over allegations it ignored repeated borrower requests and moved toward foreclosure while a dispute remained unresolved. Barry Schneider and Allison M. Schneider filed the case on March 15, 2026, in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. The couple holds an FHA-insured mortgage on their home in East Windsor, serviced by Carrington, with JP Morgan as the investor. The trouble, according to the court filing, started in January 2026 when the Schneiders noticed a string of irregularities on Carrington's servicing portal.

03/13/26

U.S. Foreclosure Rates by State – February 2026
In February 2026, U.S. foreclosure activity declined slightly from the prior month but remained higher than levels reported one year earlier, continuing a gradual normalization trend in the housing market. Total filings: 38,840 properties with default notices, scheduled auctions, or bank repossessions Monthly change: Down 4 percent from January 2026 Year-over-year change: Up 20 percent from February 2025 National rate: One in every 3,701 housing units had a foreclosure filing States with the worst foreclosure rates: Indiana, South Carolina, Florida, Delaware, and Illinois

03/12/26

Gradual Annual Rise in Foreclosure Activity Continues in February 2026
IRVINE, Calif. — March 12, 2026 —ATTOM, the leading provider of property data, AI-powered analytics, and real estate intelligence solutions, today released its February 2026 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 38,840 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings— default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — down 4 percent from a month ago and up 20 percent from a year ago. “Foreclosure activity in February marked the twelfth consecutive month of annual increases, extending a gradual upward trend that began early last year,” said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM. “While filings dipped slightly from January, both foreclosure starts and completed foreclosures remain higher than a year ago. Even with the continued rise, overall foreclosure levels remain well below historic norms.”

03/12/26

Homeowners sue Shellpoint in seven-count suit over loss mitigation failures
The dual-tracking claim at the heart of this case should put every servicer on alert. Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing faces a seven-count federal lawsuit alleging it repeatedly mishandled a couple's loss mitigation applications for more than eighteen months. Thomas Maletick Jr. and Cynthia M. Maletick, homeowners in Pittsburgh, filed the suit on March 10, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The case, Maletick et al v. Newrez LLC d/b/a Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing (Case No. 2:26-cv-00389-NR), accuses the servicer of fumbling their efforts to avoid foreclosure — and, at one point, advancing the foreclosure while their application was still pending.

03/05/26

PHH Mortgage $1.5M Debt Collection Class Action Settlement
Individuals who received a notice from PHH Mortgage Corp. regarding delinquent monthly mortgage payments on or after Jan. 14, 2021, may be qualify to receive a cash payment from a class action settlement. The settlement class includes nearly 96,000 current and former homeowners.

03/05/26

Fed’s proposed new rules likely won’t see mortgage borrowers flock away from nonbanks: executive
The Federal Reserve may be about to shake up the mortgage market by making it easier for banks to lend in that space – but borrowers’ choice of lender will still ultimately come down to whoever can offer the best rate, according to a veteran executive.

03/02/26

Homeowner sues Rocket Mortgage over shredded money orders, wrongful foreclosure
Rocket's own loan specialist allegedly said the account shouldn't be in default — days before foreclosure A Columbus, Ohio, homeowner is suing Rocket Mortgage over allegations that the servicer shredded her money orders and pursued foreclosure despite receiving sufficient payments. The federal lawsuit, filed on February 26, 2026, in the Southern District of Ohio, paints a troubling picture of what can go wrong when mortgage servicing transfers don't go smoothly — and what happens when a borrower's repeated attempts to fix the problem are allegedly met with more problems.

02/26/26

Shellpoint hit with RESPA suit after servicing transfer sparks foreclosure
NewRez/Shellpoint allegedly erased a borrower's successor status during a servicing transfer — then foreclosed on the very default its own error created. A lawsuit filed February 23, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida lays out a sequence of events that mortgage servicers would do well to study closely. The case, Murray v. NewRez LLC d/b/a Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing (Case No. 5:26-cv-00142), centers on what happens when critical borrower information falls through the cracks during a loan handoff. Denise Murray was confirmed as a successor in interest by Wells Fargo in February 2022, after her mother, Ann Murray, passed away. Wells Fargo updated the account, and Murray began receiving billing statements, escrow notices, and other loan communications. The system worked as it should — until it didn't.

02/26/26

Court voids Texas lien after servicer's nine-year foreclosure delay
A Texas lien sat untouched for nine years. On February 24, 2026, a federal appeals court said that was nine years too many. Here is what happened. Back in 2004, Houston Prime Investments took out a $500,000 loan secured by a home equity lien on real property. The deal was straightforward – monthly payments starting March 2004, with a final balloon payment due February 1, 2014. When that balloon came due, Houston Prime stopped making payments in 2014, admitting to being in default. What followed was years of inaction.

02/25/26

Big banks retreated from mortgages after the 2008 housing crash—now this Fed governor wants them back
Since the 2008 housing bust and subsequent Great Financial Crisis (GFC), mortgage lending has steadily shifted away from big banks. In the years that followed—amid tighter regulations, higher capital requirements, and elevated litigation risk—many large banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, reduced their mortgage footprint. In that void, nonbank lenders, also known as independent mortgage banks (IMBs), such as Rocket Mortgage, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), and loanDepot, gained market share. Now, a top Federal Reserve official is openly questioning whether policy and regulation went too far—and is signaling that a policy shift may be coming.

02/20/26

House Financial Services subcommittee holds hearing on secondary mortgage market
On February 11, the House Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance convened a hearing to examine homeownership and the role of the secondary mortgage market, with a focus on the ongoing conservatorship of government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) (i.e., Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and related policy implications. The committee memorandum described the secondary mortgage market as being comprised of lenders who sell completed mortgages to third parties, which then pool them into mortgage-backed securities to be purchased by investors, thereby dispersing risk and replenishing capital for the lenders to make new loans.

02/16/26

Bowman: Fed to propose capital changes aimed at reviving banks’ mortgage role
The Federal Reserve will soon issue proposals to change the regulatory capital framework in ways that incentivize banks to originate and service mortgages, Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said at ABA’s Conference for Community Bankers in Orlando today. Specifically, the proposals would “remove the requirement to deduct mortgage servicing assets from regulatory capital while maintaining the 250% risk weight assigned to these assets,” Bowman said. They would also consider increasing the risk sensitivity of mortgage loans held by banks — that is, creating a broader range of risk weights that would reflect the relative characteristics of different loans, “rather than applying a uniform risk weight regardless of [loan-to-value ratio],” she explained.

02/12/26

U.S. Foreclosure Rates by State – January 2026
What Is the Current Foreclosure Rate in the U.S.? In January, 2026, U.S. foreclosure activity decreased from the prior month but remained above levels reported one year earlier. Total filings: 40,534 properties with default notices, scheduled auctions, or bank repossessions Monthly change: Down 10 percent from December 2025 Year-over-year change: Up 32 percent from January 2025 National rate: One in every 3,547 housing units had a foreclosure filing States with the worst foreclosure rates: Delaware, Nevada, Florida South Carolina, and Maryland

02/09/26

Eighth Circuit affirms summary judgment in favor of mortgage servicer
On February 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit affirmed a district court’s summary judgment order in favor of a mortgage servicer in a dispute under the FCRA. The plaintiffs sued their servicer, alleging it furnished inaccurate information to credit reporting agencies and failed to conduct a reasonable investigation after the plaintiffs disputed a late payment. After the plaintiffs filed for bankruptcy in March 2020 and reaffirmed their loan, the servicer required the plaintiffs to pay by mail. The servicer instructed the plaintiffs in a welcome letter to “make checks payable to [the servicer]” and to “include your mortgage loan number . . . on the check.”

02/07/26

CFPB v. Sutherland
A lawsuit was brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) against the companies, NOVAD Management Consulting, LLC, Sutherland Global Services, Inc., Sutherland Mortgage Services, Inc., and Sutherland Government Solutions, Inc. The CFPB alleged the companies failed to effectively service home equity conversion mortgages, also called reverse mortgages. The CFPB also alleged that the companies sent incorrect letters about repayments and ignored customer requests and questions, which may have resulted in borrowers fearing foreclosure, paying unnecessary costs, and losing out on home sales. Affected consumers are receiving a refund because of a settlement in this lawsuit.

02/06/26

Daily Decision Recap: Fraud-Induced Debt, Foreclosure Challenges, and More
Each week, ACA International’s compliance team covers relevant case summaries for ACA members. Here’s a rundown of recent top FCRA, TCPA, and FDCPA cases we’ve covered.

02/03/26

Servicer accused of ignoring five Notices of Error before foreclosing
A federal lawsuit filed last week alleges Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing ignored a borrower's requests for five years while pushing ahead with foreclosure. The case, filed January 30 in the Northern District of Ohio, paints a troubling picture of what one homeowner describes as a years-long struggle to get the servicer to honor a loan modification agreement. The allegations, which have not yet been tested in court, touch on compliance issues that should give pause to any mortgage professional following Regulation X developments. The borrower claims he was approved for a permanent loan modification in November 2019. He signed the paperwork, returned it on time, and made every payment as agreed. But according to the lawsuit, Shellpoint never actually implemented the modification and refused to update his account balance.

01/30/26

Mr. Cooper faces lawsuit over alleged loan modification billing error
Borrower claims servicer kept billing old rate—and never responded to inquiries Mr. Cooper is facing a federal lawsuit alleging it billed a borrower at the wrong interest rate after failing to update a loan modification. The case, filed January 28 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, puts a spotlight on something every mortgage servicer knows matters but sometimes gets lost in the shuffle: making sure successive loan modifications actually show up correctly on billing statements.

01/28/26

Court of Appeal Upholds Retroactive Application of FAPA
Major legal and legislative victory following a landmark decision issued on November 25, 2025, by the New York Court of Appeals November 26, 2025 Senator James Sanders Jr. Applauds Major Court Victory as New York Court of Appeals Upholds Retroactive Application of the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act

01/26/26

ICE First Look at Mortgage Performance: Increased Refinance Activity Drives Mortgage Prepayments Back Toward 3.5-Year High
ATLANTA & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ICE Mortgage Technology, neutral provider of a robust end-to-end mortgage platform and part of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), today released the December 2025 ICE First Look at mortgage delinquency, foreclosure and prepayment trends. “December’s numbers show that lower interest rates drove refinance activity and prepayments to near multi-year highs,” said Andy Walden, Head of Mortgage and Housing Market Research at ICE. “At the same time, there was a divergence in delinquency trends, with early-stage delinquencies improving and late-stage delinquencies continuing to rise. Foreclosure activity also increased, driven mainly by FHA and VA loans.” Key takeaways from this month’s findings include:

01/23/26

Responsible Use of AI in Mortgage Servicing, Part 3
Strategic Recommendations for Leaders To successfully implement AI across the mortgage servicing lifecycle in a responsible and compliant manner, it is recommended that servicing executives focus on a core set of strategic actions and governance practices. These key recommendations will help ensure that AI innovation is responsible, transparent, and aligned with regulatory expectations:

01/17/26

The Securitized Land Theft Machine - Mortgage Foreclosure Fraud and Financial Gain
This book exposes widespread mortgage foreclosure fraud orchestrated by banks, courts, and title companies, detailing various fraudulent practices and providing strategies for individuals to reclaim their property. It emphasizes the importance of understanding legal frameworks and offers tactical approaches for challenging unlawful debt enforcement. The author encourages sharing this knowledge freely to empower others and advocates for public exposure of systemic misconduct alongside individual legal action. Original Description The Securitized Land Theft Machine exposes how foreclosures and everyday mortgages are driven by hidden securitization, defective title chains, and court-enabled enforcement that benefits banks over homeowners. It explains how notes are converted into financial instruments, how standing is manufactured, and how borrowers can lawfully challenge false claims, correct status, and interrupt wrongful property seizures.

01/15/26

Will Fannie and Freddie’s bond-buying spree derail IPO plans?
Last week, during an appearance on CNBC, Bill Pulte said a decision on whether to sell shares in government-sponsored mortgage investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac through an initial public offering would likely be made “in the next month or two.” Pulte, who serves as both board chairman at Fannie and Freddie and director of their regulating body, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), added that the final determination regarding an IPO lies “entirely” with President Donald Trump. Later that day, Trump made a major announcement on social media: He had instructed his “representatives” to buy $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS), a move designed to lower mortgage rates and improve housing affordability. A few hours later, Pulte confirmed in an X post that Fannie and Freddie would be making the purchases.

01/13/26

The Federal Reserve’s $420 Billion Wall Street Bailout
Massive, unprecedented payouts from the New York Federal Reserve could signal that big banks are seriously short on cash.

01/07/26

Report Identifies Top 10 Riskiest U.S. Housing Markets
A recent analysis by ATTOM of housing risk shows that 16 of the 50 highest-risk markets are in California, followed by nine in New Jersey, four in Florida, and three each in Arizona and Texas. The report, Q3 2025 U.S. Housing Risk Report, highlights county-level housing markets that were more or less vulnerable to declines in Q3 2025, based on home affordability, equity levels, and other key indicators, including the share of seriously underwater mortgages, foreclosure activity, and county unemployment rates. According to the report, California leads the list of highest-risk counties. Butte County, California; Humboldt County, California; Charlotte County, Florida; Shasta County, California; and El Dorado County, California were identified as having the highest housing market risk, ATTOM said. Each of those counties posted unemployment rates of 5.1% or higher and recorded at least one foreclosure for every 806 homes, the analysis said.

01/05/26

Adjustable-Rate Mortgages Caused Trouble in 2008. They’re Worrying Experts Again
As the country reemerged from the coronavirus pandemic lockdown in 2021, when the COVID-19 vaccine finally arrived, TikTok reached 1 billion downloads and Adele finally released new music — the housing market also saw its own interesting development. That year, banks offered some of the lowest interest rates seen in over a decade for a type of housing loan known as an adjustable-rate mortgage. If that term sounds familiar but you can’t place exactly where it’s from, think way before COVID-19 and TikTok. Think 2008 — interestingly enough, when Adele released her first album. Adjustable-rate mortgages (or “ARMs” for short) made headlines back then for comprising a big chunk of the foreclosures that brought down the housing market. An ARM, to be more precise, is a loan with a monthly interest rate that stays fixed for an initial amount of time — there are options for five, seven and even 10 years. But unlike the more conventional 15- or 30-year fixed mortgage, an ARM’s rate will change after that first period — up or down, depending on where the housing market is then — and keep changing periodically until the borrower pays off the loan.

01/03/26

Zombie mortgages threaten homeowners as debt collectors profit
US Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has sought documentation related to loans forgiven under a $25 billion national mortgage settlement that targeted foreclosure practices and other mortgage abuses by banks after the 2008 financial crisis. Some of these loans — known as zombie mortgages — were reportedly sold to debt buyers for pennies on the dollar, despite many homeowners having received tax forms years earlier indicating the debts had been canceled. “These zombie mortgages arise from second mortgages or HELOCs that homeowners believed were canceled in the wake of the Great Financial Crisis,” says Joel Berner, senior economist at Realtor.com®. “The original lenders stopped collecting payment on them, but when they are sold to debt purchasers, they ‘come back to life’ and homeowners are faced with bills they didn’t expect or even the threat of foreclosure. “This adds uncertainty to the prospect of homeownership, which is already an affordability challenge for many.” Collection agencies reportedly broke consumer protection laws Some collection agencies regularly broke consumer protection laws by charging years of back interest on these zombie mortgages for periods when no statements had been issued, according to a report by Bloomberg.

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