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Florida was hit hard by foreclosures in 2009, and a predicted increase in foreclosures in 2010 has prompted many attorneys to add foreclosure defense to their practices, according to Sarasota, Florida-based AmStar Litigation Support, a provider of continuing education and legal process outsourcing (LPO).

While the Senate Banking Committee voted to back Ben Bernanke's second term as Federal Reserve chairman in December, the Senate as a whole must vote on this issue before January 31, and some are worried this looming deadline won't be met. As DSNews.

The real estate market is swimming with foreclosures in states like Arizona and Nevada, and banks are aggressively discounting these properties at auctions to move them off the books. As a result, distressed properties are becoming some of the most sought after homes for buyers, according to Hudson & Marshall of Texas, Inc.(H&M), a foreclosure auction firm.

Ambac Assurance Corp., a business unit of bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc., has sued Credit Suisse Securities and its affiliate DLJ Mortgage Capital over mortgage-backed securities (MBS) Ambac insured in 2007. Ambac alleges the two investment companies hid information about the borrowers' ability to repay their loans, resulting in high default claims.

The banking industry may go as far as a court battle to challenge the constitutionality of President Obama's bailout tax. One of the financial industry's top lobbying groups, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), says the tax unfairly penalizes big banks. The organization has already hired a well-known Supreme Court litigator to study whether a tax on one industry to recoup government rescue dollars could be considered arbitrary and punitive.

Mortgage interest rates for 30-year fixed loans are projected to hit 6.00 percent by the end of 2010, according to the latest housing and mortgage market outlook from the PMI Group. Long-term interest rates have generally headed higher since the end of November, and PMI expects this trend to continue, with a notable increase coming in Q2 when the Federal Reserve withdraws from the secondary mortgage market.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan has announced a temporary policy that will lift the 90-day waiting period to obtain Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance for the purchase of a foreclosed home. FHA research has shown that acquiring, rehabilitating, and reselling foreclosed properties often takes less than 90 days. The temporary waiver will allow FHA borrowers to purchase HUD-owned, bank-owned, or properties resold through private sales as soon as they hit the market.

The FDIC is looking for a buyer for the $20 billion loan servicing portfolio it seized from AmTrust Bank last year, and the agency has chosen the investment advisory firm Milestone Merchant Partners in Washington, D.C. to manage the sale.

Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative, a national alliance of more than 150 independent mortgage bankers, announced Monday the addition of Mike McDermott as member relations manager.

As receiver of the nation's collapsed banks, many of which have folded under the weight of bad real estate deals, the FDIC has amassed a vast portfolio of distressed mortgages the ones rescuing institutions didn't want when they stepped in to take over the operations and assets of the many that have made the FDIC's failed bank list.