State AGs Start Meeting With Banks
The 50-state attorney general task force that is investigating lender foreclosure practices has begun meeting with banks and loans servicers, but working around the state-specific laws makes a global settlement difficult.

“Our ability to act on behalf of consumers depends in part on the intricacies of state law,” said Janet Mills, Maine’s attorney general. “It is important for the AGs to share what they find out with each other, to monitor what is happening in other states, including the responses from financial entities,”

A member of the task force’s executive committee, Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, said, “Loan modifications may be a significant part of the solution. If you keep homes out of foreclosure, they don’t depress real estate values.”

Source: Bloomberg, Margaret Cronin Fisk (10/28/2010)