Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Consumer Confidence In 50-State AG Foreclosure Fraud Probe Beginning To Wane?

ProPublica reports:
  • Since flawed foreclosure practices by the nation’s biggest banks became last fall’s biggest scandal, federal bank regulators and the attorneys general of all 50 states launched simultaneous investigations. But there are an increasing number of warnings that neither of those efforts have addressed the full scope of the problem.


  • Most notably, Elizabeth Warren, a senior Obama administration advisor, warned about the ongoing probes in Congressional testimony last week: “I think there’s a real question about whether there’s been an adequate investigation.”


  • After news about fraudulent and missing mortgage documentation raised questions last fall about the legitimacy of foreclosure actions, all 50 states launched a joint investigation. A group of federal bank regulators launched a separate investigation.


  • As we'd noted, some observers had low expectations for the federal investigation all along, especially given the involvement of the historically bank-friendly Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.


  • But Warren herself had once expressed higher hopes for the effort led by the states: "Right now my money is on the attorneys general," she'd told the L.A. Times last fall. Now nine months later, it seems she's not so confident about either.

For more, see Officials Warn That Foreclosure Probes May Prove Inadequate.