No end in sight to foreclosure quagmire

Four years after a wave of rogue mortgage lending sent the U.S. housing market into the worst collapse since the Great Depression, the devastating flood of resulting foreclosures shows no sign of abating. In some ways, the problem is getting worse...

The government's efforts to stem the crisis are widely viewed as a failure. Its flagship foreclosure relief program, the Home Affordable Modification Program, has been hampered by confusion over its terms, lenders' widespread refusal to forgive loan principal and a "trial modification" process that, in some cases, leaves homeowners worse off than when they entered the program...

Federal bank regulators, citing widespread "unsafe and unsound practices," recently announced a series of new regulations for lenders to follow to try to fix the problem. Critics argue the new rules don't go far enough and merely codify changes the industry already is making.