Wells Fargo, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, is set to go to trial on Monday as homeowners seek to recoup about $629 million for alleged overcharges by a company once owned by Wachovia.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin in federal court in Manhattan in a long-running class-action lawsuit concerning HomEq Servicing, a subprime mortgage servicer.

The lawsuit was filed in 2001 on behalf of borrowers whose mortgages were owned or serviced by HomEq or the lender whose loans it was established to manage, Money Store. 


 Wachovia in 2006 sold HomEq to Barclays, which in turn in 2010 sold the mortgage servicing business to Ocwen Financial.

Wells Fargo bought Wachovia at the end of 2008 and thus never owned HomEq, but a spokesman confirmed it remained liable for some claims raised in the lawsuit. Ocwen in a statement said it did not have similar liability. Barclays declined to comment.

The lawsuit filed by Joseph Mazzei, a California resident, contends that HomEq kept charging borrowers monthly late fees even after their mortgages went into default, making the full amounts owed immediately due.

read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/102247871

New rules governing the home loans market have attracted widespread criticism.

Introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority earlier this year to ensure both responsible lending by banks and building societies and sensible borrowing by loan applicants, the so-called mortgage market review has drawn a variety of responses from the former and sown confusion among the latter.

Borrowers’ expenditure has been scrutinised like never before, resulting in some not getting the mortgage they applied for. Others, in their 40s, have been told they cannot have loans that end after their expected retirement.

Jeff Prestridge, personal finance editor of The Mail on Sunday, speaks to David Hollingworth, mortgage expert at broker London & Country, to get the lowdown on a home loans market post MMR


Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-2853236/MORTGAGE-EXPERT-new-mortgage-rules-really-making-harder-older-borrowers-home-loan-want.html

Americans are putting their mortgages ahead of their credit cards when they pay the bills, reversing an unusual pattern that had developed after the housing bust.

As home values plunged during the downturn, consumers began to default on their mortgages while continuing to make credit card payments, according to research from TransUnion, reversing a long-standing hierarchy in which lenders expected mortgages to be paid first.

New data from the credit-reporting firm reveal that the normal payment hierarchy returned at the end of last year, following around two years of rising home values. “People are paying their mortgages again ahead of their bank card,” said Steven Chaouki, a financial-services executive at TransUnion, though the payment relationship hasn’t returned entirely to pre-crisis levels.

The data also show that before, during and after the crisis, Americans are most likely to make their car payments first.


read more: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/05/27/consumers-are-back-to-paying-mortgages-ahead-of-credit-cards/