Government

Mortgage-backed securities (MBS) investors led an increase in mortgage-related lawsuits during the first quarter of 2009, according to a mortgage litigation report issued through PRNewswire on Tuesday.

McLean, Virginia-based mortgage financing giant Freddie Mac released statistics last week that showed in the first quarter of 2009, refinancing borrowers overwhelmingly chose fixed-rate over adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs).

BankUnited, Florida’s biggest independent regional bank, was closed Thursday by the Office of Thrift Supervision and sold to a consortium of private equity firms for $900 million. The deal was brokered by the FDIC and represents the largest bank failure this year and one of the agency’s costliest closures ever, second only to IndyMac’s seizure last year.

Senior government officials are weighing the prospect of charging one federal agency with oversight of mortgages, as well as other consumer-oriented financial products, according to multiple media reports.

President Barack Obama signed two housing bills into law on Wednesday afternoon – one that provides additional foreclosure relief and a second that targets mortgage fraud and other criminal activity related to federal assistance programs.

The Treasury announced new initiatives under the administration’s Making Home Affordable program late last week to provide additional options for homeowners facing foreclosure. The first of the two new program components is intended to help borrowers obtain modifications in those markets experiencing severe home price declines.

Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley have applied to repay the federal funding they received under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), according to a Tuesday report by Bloomberg News:http://www.

Huntington Bank and Columbus Housing Partnership have joined forces to stabilize homeownership in Central Ohio. The two have formed the Huntington Homeownership Alliance, a three-year, $10 million project that will provide the area’s residents with homeownership counseling, foreclosure avoidance services, and more affordable mortgages.

According to recent analysis released by Subsidyscope , an initiative of the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit advocacy group The Pew Charitable Trusts , federal subsidies to the government-controlled housing financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could reach $290 billion in fiscal year 2009.

Timothy M. Morrison, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, announced late last month that seven Indiana residents have been charged with multiple crimes – including conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering – related to an alleged $20 million mortgage fraud scheme.