Thousands of foreclosures are put on hold

During the housing boom, millions of homeowners got easy access to mortgages. Now, some mortgage lenders and government officials have taken action after discovering that many mortgage documents were mishandled.

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A man walks past the office of Girouard Properties, which specializes in residential resale of single-family homes, condominiums and townhomes, in San Mateo, Calif. Lenders are poised to take back more homes in 2011 than any other since the foreclosure crisis started in 2006, says industry tracker RealtyTrac Inc.

Paul Sakuma / AP

Justin Sanchez, an unemployed carpenter, sits at the table with his wife, Laura, after learning they had three days to vacate their Las Vegas home because of foreclosure.

Ricky Carioti / The Washington Post

Elizabeth Duke, governor of the U.S. Federal Reserve, testifies to the Housing and Community Opportunity Subcommittee about mortgage and foreclosure servicing in Washington. U.S. House lawmakers criticized the Obama administration's program to prevent foreclosures as a Treasury Department official testified that the initiative has reduced monthly mortgage payments for almost 520,000 homeowners.

Joshua Roberts / Bloomberg

Demonstrators whose homes are under or have been lost to foreclosure hold signs during a rally in front of a J.P. Morgan Chase Bank in Oakland, Calif.

Paul Sakuma / AP

The Senate banking committee holds a hearing in early December on the widespread documentation problems with mortgages and foreclosures. Testifying, from left, are Terry Edwards, executive vice president of credit portfolio management with Fannie Mae; Donald Bisenius, executive vice president of Freddie Mac; Tom Deutsch, executive director of the American Securitization Forum; and Kurt Eggert, professor at Chapman University School of Law.

Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg News

Valarie Stovall was evicted from her home in Damascus despite having arranged for a loan modification with her lender. The foreclosure pause has done little to address the common industry practice of taking homes from people who¿d been led to believe they could save them.

Katherine Frey / The Washington Post

Homeowners get help from a counselor in Daly City, Calif., in 2009 at an event that helps people to restructure high-risk loans. In recent weeks, major lenders like Ally Financial, J.P. Morgan Chase, PNC and Bank of America temporarily stopped some or all foreclosures while they tried to determine the scope of the problem.

Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP

A bank foreclosure sale sign is posted in front of a home in Los Angeles.

Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

President Obama is reflected in a garage window in a back yard at the Weithman family home in Columbus, Ohio. He was in town to discuss the economy with families. In October he refused to sign a bill that critics say would have made it easier to evict some homeowners.

Mike Munden / Getty Images

Thousands of homeowners wait in line to enter a Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America "Save the Dream" tour stop in Los Angeles. California has been among the states hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis.

Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

Registered nurse Ginneh Smith, from Inglewood, Calif., holds her 4-week-old son as she talks to a Wells Fargo bank home loan negotiator. Wells Fargo did not suspend any foreclosure activity but did admit to paperwork problems.

Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

In light of revelations about document irregularities, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) joined a growing chorus of Washington politicians in asking for a nationwide moratorium on foreclosures.

Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

Luis Fitzgerald, left, works on a computer while his wife, Miriam, works on her artwork in their cramped, extended-stay hotel suite. The Fitzgeralds challenged their eviction after they were thrown out of their home in a foreclosure.

/ Phelan M. Ebenhack

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has called for a national freeze on foreclosures. Here, he presides over a hearing on Capitol Hill.

Susan Walsh / AP

A foreclosure sign stands outside a Denver home in 2008.

David Zalubowski / AP

Ally Financial, the nation's fourth-largest home lender, said on Sept. 20 that they were suspending evictions on foreclosed homes in about half the country. Several other major lenders followed suit after discovering paperwork problems of their own.

Eric Gay / AP

Sen. Richard Blumenthal(D-Conn.), when he was Connecticut's attorney general, ordered a moratorium on all foreclosures by all banks for 60 days in that state. Later, attorneys general for all 50 states joined together to announce a foreclosure probe.

Jessica Hill / AP

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic lawmakers in October called for a federal probe of irregularities in foreclosure documents.

Alex Wong / Getty

On Sept. 29, J.P. Morgan Chase followed in Ally Financial's footsteps and froze foreclosures. Their move affected about 127,000 borrowers in 40 states. The firm announced on Nov. 4 that it would resume foreclosure proceedings in a couple of weeks.

Michael Nagle / Getty Images

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott made his state the third to put a moratorium on all foreclosures.

Gerald Herbert / AP

California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. temporarily stopped foreclosures in that state, calling Ally's document review process a "sham."

Mark Wilson / Getty Images

Bank of America announced on Oct. 1 that they would halt foreclosures in 23 states. They soon expanded to freeze to apply to all 50 states. Executive Renee Hertzler said in a deposition that she signed as many as 8,000 foreclosure documents a month without reviewing them.

Craig Ruttle / AP

In Georgia, an employee of a document processing company, Linda Green, for years claimed to be executives of Bank of America, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank and dozens of other lenders while signing off on tens of thousands of foreclosure affidavits. In many cases, her signature appeared to be forged by different employees.

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