Have you all been following the foreclosure mess playing out now with some of the largest banking institutions in the US? Seems like Bank of America, who services 1 out of every 5 mortgages in America has taken the lead among big banks in the US and halted the foreclosure process in all 50 states in the US.

It appears that Bank of America has been receiving pressure from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae who both own many of the mortgages serviced by banks in the US. These institutions have apparently been pressuring the larger Banks in the US to expand their internal reviews of potential problems with the foreclosure documentation process after it was learned that Bank of America had been using “robo signers” who are employees who had been signing hundreds of documents per day without reviewing their contents for legitimacy and accuracy. The fear in using this practice is that there are problems and errors that are bound to occur and which will never be identified if no one is reviewing the submitted documentation.

There has been no timetable announced by B of A to remove the halt in foreclosures though most think that it will not last too long. While a halt in foreclosures can be a needed break for many homeowners who are behind in their mortgage payments, such a slowdown in the mortgage process can also be damaging for the housing market.

According to the Wall Street Journal, as of August there were more than 4.4 million home loans that were either in the foreclosure process or 90 days past due. So slowing the foreclosure process is not doing anything to reduce foreclosures, rather it is simply slowing down the inevitable since many of these homeowners will remain behind in their payments and the foreclosure process will be started or re-started once any moratoriums have been lifted.

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