MORTGAGE

New York's top legal officer is seeking information from Deutsche Bank AG and Bank of New York Mellon about their role as trustees for mortgage-backed securities, an expansion of his probe of mortgage practices, said a person familiar with the matter.

The new chief executive of bailed out British bank Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE: LYG) is planning to cut another 15,000 jobs, on top of the 28,000 positions the bank has already eliminated since it merged with HBOS in early 2009.

Applications for home mortgages eased last week, although demand for refinancing improved as interest rates edged down, an industry group said on Wednesday.

Alabama's Jefferson County, still reeling from a deal to finance a sewage system that has left the county deeply in debt, will put a third of its workers on unpaid administrative leave in an attempt to save money.

Just under 23 percent of all home mortgages across the United States are currently “under water,” according to a report by CoreLogic, the information, analytics and business services firm.

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is marshaling evidence to parry a Senate report that led the Manhattan District Attorney's office to subpoena the bank, the Wall Street Journal reported.

A settlement between a coalition of federal and state agencies and banks over foreclosure practices will take longer to hammer out than many expect, Bank of America Corp Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said on Wednesday.

Private-sector payroll growth slowed sharply in May, falling to the lowest level in eight months and prompting some economists to lower forecasts for job growth in Friday's government report.

by Adam TempkinNEW YORK, May 26 - Increasingly aggressive property appraisals, so-called incentive management fees for hotel properties, and the limited return of pro forma underwriting are among the troubling trends that Standard & Poor's cites as red flags in the quickly evolving revival of the commercial mortgage-backed security market.

Silver Prices handed back most of Wednesday's gains, dropping 6% inside three hours before hovering around $37 per ounce.

Goldman Sachs' mortgage-servicing division, Litton Loan, was accused of denying loans without proper review.

Sales of distressed U.S. homes fell in the first quarter as demand remained weak, but they still made up about 28 percent of total sales, the highest amount in a year, a RealtyTrac report said on Thursday.

Rental real estate can generate non-cash losses through depreciation of its building and improvements as well as accruing interest on mortgages it may have. If the property is owned by a limited partnership these losses are passed through to the individual partners in the partnership on their K-1.

Protests have erupted in Spain in response to the country’s devastatingly poor economy, high unemployment and the government’s draconian austerity measures that affect mostly the middle class.

A key measure of U.S. business activity rose in April and credit quality improved as the economy slowly gathered steam, a lender group said on Monday.

Government negotiators plan to squeeze big banks for a larger settlement over mortgage servicing flaws when the two sides meet in Washington on Tuesday.

U.S. authorities closed two small banks in west-central Georgia and one in Washington state on Friday, bringing the number of foreclosures in 2011 to 43.

American Home Mortgage Servicing, one of the largest servicers of subprime mortgages, is urging the U.S. Treasury to organize a plan to boost principal reductions for up to one million homeowners by unlocking loans from securities.

The delinquency rate for U.S. mortgages payments significantly overdue fell sharply in the first quarter, reaching the lowest level since early 2009, an industry group showed on Thursday.

JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon faced harsh questions about mortgage foreclosures at the bank's annual meeting, and he promised the company would fix what it could.

The New York attorney general's office has requested information from three major U.S. banks about their mortgage operations, according to a source familiar with the matter.