The Cities Blog

Better late than never for foreclosed Twin Cities folks?

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What a difference from two months ago.

That's when we reported what appeared to be a truly anemic federal response to going after the bad actors at the top in the mortgage meltdown.

State regulators and prosecutors and some local officials have been going after mortgage originators, title companies and others involved in fraudulent mortgages. And they've had some success.

But the fraud we've seen in Minnesota is a small part of the picture, compared to the risky mortgage-backed securities deals that consumed the industry at the beginning of the recession.

In the last 10 days the U. S. attorney general has launched a fusilade of lawsuits aimed at the big banks and another set at individuals.

Enough to keep armies of attorneys tied up in legal warfare for years.

Seems a safe assumption that any lawsuit settlements will come too late for the more than 100,000 Minnesotans foreclosed on since 2007.