Banksters Go For The Kill In 50-State AG Settlement Talks; Demand Broad Liability Release Over Sloppy, Fraudulent Foreclosure Practices; 2 AGs Resist

Bloomberg reports:

• A push by U.S. banks to win broad liability releases has become one of the main obstacles in talks to resolve a nationwide probe of mortgage-servicing and foreclosure practices, two people briefed on the matter said.



• The mortgage servicers want protection from additional state and federal claims over their mortgage practices as part of reaching a settlement that may exceed $20 billion, according to the people, who declined to be named because the talks are private. The banks are seeking releases that go beyond servicing of mortgages to include lending and securitization of loans, one of the people said.



• That effort has encountered resistance from at least two states. Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who are investigating the bundling of mortgage loans into securities, don’t want their probes blocked by a broad settlement of liability.

For more, see Foreclosure Deal Said to Be Held Up Over Liability Releases.