Veterans Affairs
By Esther Cho | 05/23/2012
Senators Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island), Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), and Mark Begich (D-Alaska) are sponsoring a bill to expand protections for military members in the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden is also supporting the bill, known as the Servicemember Housing Protection Act (S. 3179), which has been has been referred to the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
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By Esther Cho | 02/21/2012
Operation Homefront, a non-profit which assists military members, partnered with Chase to place at least 100 Wounded Warriors, military, and veteran families into permanent residences this year through the Homes on the Homefront program.
Chase is providing the homes, and Operation Homefront will provide ongoing transitional services to the families until properties are deeded to the recipients.
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By Krista Franks | 02/14/2012
The settlement reached last week between federal and state officials and the nation's five largest servicers includes specific provisions for U.S. military members wrongfully harmed by their mortgage servicer. Four of the five banks participating in the settlement - JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Ally - will review foreclosures of military members since January 2006, identifying instances of violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, according to the Department of Justice.
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By Carrie Bay | 02/01/2012
The mortgage servicing system is badly broken and would benefit from a single set of federal standards, according to White House officials. President Obama on Wednesday introduced what he's termed the Homeowner Bill of Rights - principles that he says will ensure borrowers and lenders are playing by the same common-sense rules. These rules address disclosures, conflicts of interest posed by investors and junior lien holders, assistance for at-risk homeowners, and safeguards to prevent wrongful foreclosures.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/13/2012
LRES Corporation has teamed up with Veterans Lender Services to form a new partnership known as VLS/LRES. As the first nationwide minority and service disabled veteran-owned asset management joint venture, it will provide financial institutions with asset disposition solutions that provide jobs and market defaulted and foreclosed properties as affordable homeownership opportunities to the underserved first-time military, veterans, and minority communities.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/12/2012
Gateway Mortgage Group is a privately held mortgage bank headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which provides conventional, Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and Veterans Affairs (VA) loans through 50 retail branches nationwide. The company announced Thursday that it has developed an in-house subservicing unit focused on the specialty and default servicing of FHA and VA loans and hired Kevin Osuna to direct the new operation.
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By Krista Franks | 10/14/2011
While five major banks continue to deliberate with the state attorneys general for a settlement involving violations in mortgage documentation, the same five banks, plus several others, also face charges for committing fraud against veterans and taxpayers. Defendants accuse 13 banks of "a brazen scheme to defraud both our nation's veterans and the United States Treasury of millions of dollars" by overcharging borrowers in connection with home loans refinanced through a U.S. Veterans Affairs program.
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By Carrie Bay | 09/22/2011
Chase has opened two new Homeownership Centers in North Carolina to provide one-on-one help for borrowers struggling with their mortgage payments - one in Fayetteville, near Fort Bragg and the second in Jacksonville, near Camp Lejeune. The company is staffing all of its Homeownership Centers near military bases with employees who have served in the military or military family members. Chase also recently set up Centers near bases in Texas and Virginia, and has plans for openings later this year in Tennessee and Washington.
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By Carrie Bay | 07/21/2011
Chase has opened its newest Homeownership Center near the U.S. military base in Fort Hood, Texas, to provide one-on-one help for homeowners struggling with their mortgage payments. It is Chase's first Homeownership Center near a military base. The bank plans to open five other centers this year near military bases in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington state.
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By Heather Hill Cernoch | 07/01/2011
HUD announced a revised Notice of Disclosure form that emphasizes the rights of active duty military and their dependents who are protected under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). Under the SCRA, military personnel on active duty are entitled to mortgage relief, including a lower interest rate on their mortgages and foreclosure protection. HUD says it is the lender's responsibility to determine military status in connection with a foreclosure.
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