PA's biggest bank stops home foreclosures: Update
NYT says PNC is latest bank to stop taking over deadbeats' homes, due to problems with its paperwork
NEW: PNC Financial Services Group, the biggest bank in Pennsylvania, "is reviewign its mortgage service procedures to ensure that these comply with applicable legal requirements," spokesman Fred Solomon tells me.
That's after NY Times reported the bank has stopped action on foreclosures for 30 days, citing a memo from a title insurance company. NYT story here.
The bank would join JPMorgan, Bank of America, GMAC Mortgage (not Ally Bank) in holding off on seizing homes from people who have fallen months behind on their bills. Those banks cited problems with their highly-automated default documentation systems. An attempt by Congress to make it easier for banks to accept out-of-state notary signatures was vetoed by President Obama, who was afraid it would make him look like he was putting banks' needs before poor and out-of-work Americans.
By keeping more homes off the market, bank analyst Richard X. Bove says the foreclosure delays will temporarily boost home sales prices, but could result in lower prices a few months from now when the delay ends and these properties are dumped onto the weak housing market.