The Bank of Lincolnwood, Illinois, was closed last Friday by state regulators – yet another small community bank crushed under the weight of the nation’s economic crisis. So far this year, 37 financial institutions have been forced to shut their doors.

Reston, Virginia-based MERSCORP, Inc. (MERS) unveiled a new program on Tuesday that informs borrowers of ownership changes regarding their mortgage. The company says its program supports new federal legislation, which is designed to help homeowners keep their homes by bringing greater transparency and accountability to the mortgage lending process.

Three Texas-based companies – REO Alternatives, Rapid Reporting Verification Company, and SigniaDocs – together with Maryland’s Overture Technologies unveiled plans on Tuesday to offer expedited electronic loan modifications through a collaborative initiative they’ve dubbed the eMortgage System Processing (ESP) program.

The Congressional Oversight Panel, one of the federal watchdogs that oversees the government’s $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, says regulators’ stress tests of the nation’s 19 largest banks should be administered again using more severe economic assumptions, and should be conducted over a longer period.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its Mortgage Applications Survey on Wednesday, for the week ending June 5, 2009. The association’s study shows that refinances, typically an effective tool for lowering distressed homeowners’ monthly payments, continued to fall last week – a trend that has prevailed for several weeks now.

Stonegate Mortgage Corporation, headquartered in Fishers, Indiana, near Indianapolis, recently announced that it has added $175 million in home loans to its portfolio and more than 2,000 borrowers to its customer base through its acquisition of Swain Mortgage Company.

After seeing millions of dollars in real estate lost by property owners at county-based tax sales last year, attorney Stephen M. Hladik, Esq. has formed the Real Estate Tax Sale Law Network, Inc., a Pennsylvania corporation.

Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative recently sponsored the Third Annual Lenders One Legislative Summit in Washington, D.C., to give its mortgage banker members an audience with federal housing agencies and lawmakers.

Regulators have given 10 major financial institutions the green light to start repaying billions of dollars in federal bailout money. These banks were deemed by their regulatory supervisors on Tuesday to be strong enough to withdraw from what was formerly the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) but was renamed the Capital Purchase Program (CPP) under the Obama administration.

The Massachusetts Division of Banks issued 87 cease-and-desist orders against licensed mortgage lenders and brokers in the state last week. The regulator cited failure to provide required financial information, including failure to post a bond, as the reason for the closures.