The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one- to four-unit residential properties increased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 7.58 percent of all loans outstanding as of the end of the second quarter of 2012, an increase of 18 basis points from the first quarter, but a decrease of 86 basis points from one year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) National Delinquency Survey. The non-seasonally adjusted delinquency rate increased 41 basis points to 7.35 percent this quarter from 6.94 percent last quarter.Click to continue

The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, as a leader of the Loan Modification Scam Prevention Network, has announced its support of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for its enforcement action against the Gordon Law Firm, et al. Though the foreclosure crisis began moer than four years ago, millions of homeowners continue to struggle and remain vulnerable to foreclosure rescue fraud.Click to continue

RealtyTrac has announced the hiring of real estate data licensing veteran Lauren Guzak as vice president of data licensing.Click to continue

Borrowers seeking a review of their mortgage foreclosures under the federal banking agencies' Independent Foreclosure Review now have until Dec. 31, 2012, to submit their requests. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) have announced that the deadline for submitting requests for review under the Independent Foreclosure Review has been extended.Click to continue

U.S.Click to continue

CoreLogic has released its National Foreclosure Report for June, which provides monthly data on completed foreclosures and the overall foreclosure inventory. According to the report, there were 60,000 completed foreclosures in the U.S. in June 2012 compared to 80,000 in June 2011 and 60,000 in May 2012. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 3.7 million completed foreclosures nationwide. Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure.Click to continue

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has called on the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) to cease making threats to the local officials of San Bernardino County, Calif. SIFMA recently attacked the idea of local governments using existing law to help families remain in their homes and keep their communities viable. The San Bernardino County region is considering the acquisition, by private investors via eminent domain, of home-secured loans, to protect homeownership while delivering the market value of the old loans to their owners.Click to continue

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley has offered a new plan to tackle underwater mortgages. In a white paper containing the proposal, called “The 4% Mortgage: Rebuilding American Homeownership,” Sen. Merkley lays out a plan to allow underwater homeowners who are current on their mortgages to refinance to a lower interest rate. Click to continue

RealtyTrac has released its Mid-Year 2012 Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report, which shows that foreclosure activity in the first half of 2012 increased from the previous six months in 125 of the nation’s 212 metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more. Despite the increases from the second half of 2011, 129 of the metro areas still posted year-over-year decreases in foreclosure activity. California accounted for seven of the 10 highest metro foreclosure rates and 10 of the top 20 metro foreclosure rates during the first half of the year.Click to continue

Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) has reported the following "first look" at June 2012 month-end mortgage performance statistics derived from its loan-level database representing approximately 70 percent of the overall market. With the June 2012 month-end data, LPS has updated its extrapolation methodology to incorporate, among other things, improved estimates of market size, which includes higher coverage of government and sub-prime products and increases LPS' estimate of the total first lien residential mortgage market by three percent to 50.4 million.Click to continue