States Fight Back Against MERS Mortgage FraudMERS: The Center of the Mortgage Scam A prominent economist said about the 2008 financial crisis: “At the root of the crisis we find the largest financial swindle in world history”, where “counterfeit” mortgages were “laundered” by the banks.

Banks Roused by the CFPB’s Database of ComplaintsWhen the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in January 2012 proposed creating a free, public database of consumer complaints against credit-card issuers, financial firms urged officials to reconsider. In letters to the agency, trade groups argued that doing so would expose trade secrets and breach customer privacy.

Prudential Sues Bank of America for ‘Racketeering’ – TheStreetNEW YORK ( TheStreet) — Prudential Financial has sued Bank of America , alleging the bank and Merrill Lynch engaged in “racketeering” in connection with mortgage-backed securities sales, according to a Reuters blog post. Prudential spokesman Bob DeFillippo confirmed the insurer “did bring an action against Bank of America that concerns residential mortgage backed securities,” but offered no further comment.

Bank of America to pay $165 million to settle lawsuitThe association has filed similar lawsuits against other banks and has won a combined $171 million in settlements from Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and HSBC. It still has lawsuits pending against Barclays, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, RBS, UBS and others.

MBIA Wins Ruling on Loan Buybacks in Bank of America LawsuitMBIA Inc., the bond insurer suing Bank of America Corp. to recover losses tied to mortgage loans, won an appeals court ruling that the lender could be required to repurchase securitized loans even if they arenât in default.