West Virginia sued Countrywide Financial Corp accusing the mortgage lender, now owned by Bank of America, of making risky and costly loans to consumers who could not afford them.
Darrell McGraw, the state’s attorney general, filed the lawsuit against Countrywide and its co-founder and former chief executive, Angelo Mozilo, on Tuesday with the Putnam County Circuit [...]

Fewer applicants sought mortgages last week, with the volume of applications down a seasonally adjusted 1.5% compared with the last week of July, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported on Wednesday.

Senior real estate executives say turmoil in the financial markets continues to hinder the accessibility of credit, while also taking a toll on income-producing properties such as office buildings, shopping malls and hotels, according to the latest Real Estate Roundtable Sentiment Survey.
The survey is released by the Real Estate Roundtable — a coalition of real [...]

Foreclosures in many military towns are increasing at rates drastically above the national average, according to RealtyTrac’s Q1 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. Military personnel may have been targeted by unscrupulous mortgages because of credit problems that can sometimes result from the frequent moves required of them. Although it is unknown how many of the [...]

U.S. mortgage market giant Freddie Mac’s chief executive dismissed internal warnings that could have protected the company from some of the financial problems now engulfing it, the New York Times said, citing more than two dozen current and former high-ranking executives and others.
In 2004, Chief Executive Richard Syron received a memo from Freddie Mac’s [...]

A lifeline is on the way for thousands of Americans in danger of losing their homes. The President signed off on a giant rescue plan that will help the housing market in its worst slump since the depression. Sean and Maggie Carolan look like a mortgage broker’s dream.- perfect credit, good incomes, low debt, but [...]

Applications for the week ended June 27 were down 22.8% compared with the same week in 2007, the Washington-based MBA said.
Refinance applications were up 4.7% on a week-to-week basis, while applications for mortgages to purchase a home increased a seasonally adjusted 2.8%.
The four-week moving average for all loans as tracked by the MBA was down [...]