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Lawmakers introduced a bill on Monday with plans to once more revamp the Home Affordable Refinance Program for current borrowers with eligible loans with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Robert Menendez, among others, drafted the Responsible Homeowner Refinancing Act to increase lender competition, open up refinance opportunities to all current borrowers with government-backed mortgages, and strike through appraisal costs and upfront fees on home loans.

The FDIC announced on Friday the closure of First Commercial Bank in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Eighteen percent of current loans remain underwater, according to LPS' July Mortgage Monitor report. In states where the percentage of current loans sitting underwater is extremely high, the share of new problem loans was also higher. For example, the state with the highest percentage of new problem loans was Nevada, where 54.7 percent of current loans are underwater, followed by Florida (33.1 percent), Arizona (28.4 percent), and Georgia (42.8 percent).

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) is suing the global investment firm UBS Securities for allegedly falsely representing the level of risk associated with mortgage-backed securities (MBS) the firm sold to two federal credit unions. According to NCUA officials, the defaults and losses that resulted directly contributed to the collapse of both credit unions. The case against UBS marks the sixth outstanding suit brought by NCUA against securities issuers. The agency has settled similar claims worth more than $170 million with three securities issuers.

According to the GSE's August 2012 National Housing Survey, consumers maintain a cautious but improving view of homeownership and the housing market. The average home price change expectation is 1.6 percent, mostly consistent with July's results and down from a June high of 2.0 percent. Meanwhile, 11 percent of those surveyed say home prices will go down in the next year, holding steady at the lowest level since the survey began in 2010.

After much anticipation, FHFA announced the first winning bidder for its REO bulk sale. San Diego-based Pacifica Companies, LLC, purchased 699 Fannie Mae properties in Florida through the REO pilot initiative. Out of the 699 properties, 506 were occupied units. In a release, the agency stated it will announce the winning investors for properties in other areas in the coming weeks when the transactions close.

Home prices ticked up by 0.9 percent year-over-year, according to Lender Processing Services. The Florida-based analytics and technology provider revealed that prices also rose by 0.7 percent month-over-month. Home values climbed by $203,000 on average, reflecting a 0.7-percent uptick from $202,000 last year.

Delinquent borrowers oftentimes make themselves as elusive and unavailable as possible when it comes to communicating with their servicers. During a panel at the Five Star Conference, industry experts discussed the reasons behind the difficulty in reaching borrowers. Colleen Hernandez, CEO and president of the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, explained three main reasons why borrowers won't respond or reach out to their servicer.

A mere 96,000 jobs were added in August, and the unemployment rate fell only because of a drop in the labor force, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. Based on August's numbers, economists are anticipating another round of quantitative easing. Here are responses from economists on the latest employment report.

From January 2012 to July, 519,339 loans were refinanced under the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), FHFA announced Friday. Two factors were named as the main drivers behind the high volume of refinancings: record-low mortgage rates and HARP changes such as the removal of the loan-to-value (LTV) ceiling.