mortgages

Four companies in the Baltimore area are among the best places to work in the nation, according to a list released Thursday.

A federal grand jury in Baltimore indicted a man on Tuesday for an alleged mortgage fraud scheme in which he bilked banks out of $2.5 million, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

The group allegedly would defraud banks, buyers and sellers

Consumer advocates welcomed a federal effort aiming to prevent predatory mortgage lending at a town hall in Baltimore on Thursday, but expressed worries that new rules would not halt discrimination.

Richard Cordray, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is expected to announce the adoption of a pioneering federal rule Thursday that is intended to prevent a repeat performance of the risky mortgage lending that led to the mid-2000s housing boom and bust.

Attorney Ari Karen has been named to lead the new mortgage compliance affiliate of the Baltimore-based law firm Offit Kurman.

Federal officials are continuing to waive a regulation that controls property "flipping," a predatory practice that left many Baltimore neighborhoods scarred with foreclosed and abandoned properties.

The Federal Housing Administration¿s aggressive efforts to increase homeownership helped lead to the foreclosure crisis.

Three Marylanders have been indicted for mortgage fraud related to homes in Baltimore's Reservoir Hill neighborhood, federal prosecutors announced Friday.

Federally insured mortgages in more than a dozen metro Baltimore ZIP codes in the recent years could see foreclosure rates above 15 percent because of risky lending practices, a data-driven study released this week concluded.

Peter Morici says the Fed's efforts to reduce the deficit and keep interest rates low will end badly

Ten months after the national mortgage settlement was hailed as a major step in reforming a broken system, some homeowners are getting aid — but some housing advocates say the overall results are not what they'd hoped.

Despite deal reached with banks, too many Maryland families are still losing their homes

An Owings Mills man was sentenced Monday to 35 years in prison for defrauding homeowners who sought his help with coordinating mortgage loan modifications, the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said in a statement.

Bob Ehrlich offers a 20-point platform of losing positions for the next GOP nominee.

Three decades into its mission, Enterprise has become an agenda-setter for the affordable housing community and it is responding to a challenging period by reassessing its goals and charting new paths to reach them.

he Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development is planning a series of events for next year about refinancing home loans, Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown announced at the 2012 Governor's Housing Conference that was held Tuesday at the Hilton Baltimore hotel.

CFPB outlines many complaints in annual report on private loans

The Bush tax cuts did not cause the economic crisis, despite what President Obama says

The Distressed Homeowner Initiative was the ¿first-ever nationwide effort to target fraud schemes that prey upon suffering homeowners,¿ according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill could face a Supreme Court test similar to the Affordable Care Act

Residents from every state ¿ more than 195,000 people ¿ have signed an online petition that demands Freddie Mac test the homes it is selling for methamphetamine contamination.

On Tuesday, five of the nation¿s largest mortgage servicers became obligated to follow 304 ¿servicing standards¿ laid out in a national mortgage settlement earlier this year.

Kamenetz plan to borrow money to invest in pension is a sensible idea

Baltimore's sale of the Senator still leaves taxpayers on the hook for a long-failing business, but there is reason to hope that its fortunes will finally improve.

Q&A with Baltimore lawyer Joel Sher, who is pursuing major mortgage-related actions against banks.

A Baltimore man pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud because he secured mortgages for six homes in Upper Fells Point with fraudulent information, prosecutors announced.

An Ellicott City woman pleaded guilty to wire fraud Wednesday for misusing more than $1.5 million in mortgage closing funds, federal prosecutors announced.

An Ellicott City woman plead guilty to wire fraud for using $1.5 million in mortgage closing funds to operate two Columbia-based businesses, according to a U.S. attorney's office news release.

As director of the newly-formed Help 4 Homeowners Community Foundation, Arbutus native Joe Liggett plans to offer credit counseling, mortgage modification assistance, real estate consulting and financial educational tutoring at no charge to residents of Arbutus, Catonsville, Lansdowne and Elkridge.

An Owings Mills man has pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud after prosecutors alleged he took money from at least 48 homeowners to help them get loan modifications, then stole the monthly payments they thought were going to their lenders, the state said.

Nearly 3,000 Maryland homeowners received almost $225 million in relief between the beginning of March until the end of June from the national settlement with five mortgage servicers, the state's attorney general announced Wednesday.

As part of a little-known effort, congressional staffers across the country have been calling banks relentlessly to bargain for help for homeowners.

Average sale prices stayed steady or rose in more than half the Baltimore region during the first six months of the year, according to a Baltimore Sun analysis. It's the newest evidence that the housing bust is over.

Gospel music lovers missed their chances to purchase tickets for this year's "Afternoon of Musical Praise" featuring Grammy-winning artist Yolanda Adams, slated for August 18 at Aberdeen Proving Ground's Post Theater.

The Baltimore metro region had the best July in six years for contracts signed to buy homes, according to data released Friday by an affiliate of the region's multiple listing service.