Did policies in place at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac help fuel foreclosure abuses such as robo-signing? That's the question posed by Rep. Elijah Cummings to the GSEs' regulator. As ranking member of a House oversight committee, the nation's housing crisis has been a central focus of Cummings' work. He says documents show FHFA directed the GSEs to fine servicers $150 million in 2010 for not processing foreclosures fast enough, even though an internal report concluded servicers were overloaded and documentation problems were evident.

This year's tally of failed banks rose to 90 over the weekend, as state and federal regulators stepped in to close the doors on two more community-based lenders in Iowa and Louisiana. Polk County Bank has been acquired by Grinnell State Bank in Iowa, and Louisiana's Central Progressive Bank is now part of First NBC Bank. Together the two closings are expected to cost the FDIC more than $70 million.

First Guaranty Mortgage Corp. (FGMC), signaling that it will become more aggressive in the capital markets channel, has added Mark Mayhook as managing director, capital markets. FGMC is a national mortgage lending firm offering retail, wholesale, and correspondent mortgage solutions to clients of varying income and credit types as well as financial institutions of all kinds.

Sales of previously owned homes got an unexpected boost last month while the number of homes on the market continued to decline, according to data released Monday by the National Association of Realtors. The trade group recorded a 1.4 percent month-over-month increase and a 13.5 percent year-over-year increase for existing-home sales in October. At the same time, housing inventory fell 2.2 percent to 3.33 million existing homes available for sale, which represents an 8.0-month supply. Distressed homes made up 28 percent of October's transactions.

Lawmakers voted late Thursday to increase the ceiling for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Included in a ""minibus"" spending bill passed by both the House and Senate was an amendment to restore the FHA loan limit to $729,750 in high cost areas. The maximum loan limit was lowered from that amount to $625,500 on October 1st for government housing agencies, including FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. The loan limits for Fannie Mae- and Freddie Mac-backed mortgages were not raised with the newly passed measure.

Freddie Mac plans to re-securitize certain mortgage loans that were previously delinquent but have been reinstated to current, performing status. The new-issue bonds will not, however, include loans that have been modified. The GSE says this new avenue for securitization will provide more flexibility for the company to manage its mortgage-related investment portfolio and its distressed assets. Freddie Mac expects to make its first offering of reinstated loans later this month.

Clayton Holdings announced Friday that it has agreed to buy Green River Capital. The transaction is expected to close within 60 days. No financial details were announced. Green River will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Clayton Holdings. The company will continue to operate as a standalone business, under its current brand, in its current location, and will be led by its current management team.

There were 6,298,000 mortgages going unpaid in the United States as of the end of October, according to Lender Processing Services (LPS). It's a daunting number, but the data show that it's actually been on a fairly steady decline for nearly two years now. At the start of 2011, the total number of non-current mortgages in the U.S. stood at 6,870,000. In January 2010, it was 8,118,000. LPS' report indicates mortgage delinquencies are declining while the nation's foreclosure inventory is growing.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have notified servicers that they can no longer refer foreclosure or bankruptcy cases to the law firm of Steven J. Baum, P.C. in upstate New York. The Baum law firm has found itself at the center of controversy. In early October, the firm agreed to pay $2 million to end an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into its foreclosure practices. Two weeks after the DOJ settlement was announced, the New York Times ran photos of the firm's 2010 Halloween party, which depicted a mockery of homeowners who had been foreclosed on.

A deteriorating housing picture, coupled with an increase in expenses and a drop in consumer confidence, led to a sharp decline in consumers' financial health during the third quarter. The nonprofit credit counseling agency CredAbility puts out a regular quarterly index measuring consumer distress. Between July and September, the gauge recorded its largest drop since the third quarter of 2008. CredAbility's data show the average consumer has been in distress for 12 straight quarters now.