Over the past few weeks, there have been many announcements by major financial institutions of halting foreclosures in the 23 states which use a judicial process. This is in response to reports of faulty paperwork from the lenders employees. GMAC was the first to announce a freeze, followed quickly by JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America. 

Many in the media are anticipating a large scale response to the inefficiencies within the foreclosure process on the side of the servicers from both the public and the state and federal governments. Many efforts have already begun, including class action suits, state-level investigations, and voluntary foreclosure moratoriums in states with bureaucratic processes.

Author of post: Anne Rosen,NeighborWorks VISTA from NHS of Chicago. 


What will the foreclosure freeze mean for our communities? 
There is a lot of news coverage, but I found that this article in the New York Times gave the best overview:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/business/04mortgage.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=business 

For more on a class action suit in Kentucky: 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-04/citigroup-ally-sued-by-homeowners-alleging-racketeering-over-mortgages.html?cmpid=yhoo 

Local view from Chicago:
http://www.suntimes.com/business/2773188,CST-NWS-foreclose05.article 

And, on a related topic, here is a link to a report released this week about the linkage between race and foreclosure: 
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/files/2010/10/10ASR10_629-651_massey-2.pdf