U.S. Expects Foreclosure Probe Results in January

An Obama administration task force examining allegations of fraud in the mortgage foreclosure process will deliver its findings next month, two top officials said on Monday.

"We expect the results of the investigations will be presented to us next month," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said in a joint statement after meeting with the task force.

"The task force will take whatever action is necessary to hold accountable any institution that acted improperly," they said. The task force, a group of officials from 11 federal agencies, held a closed meeting Monday at the Treasury Department.

Both Geithner and Donovan have repeatedly said the administration has found no sign so far of "systemic" troubles with home foreclosures that might threaten U.S. financial stability, or structural problems that could undermine investments linked to mortgages.

The task force was put together to examine allegations of faulty foreclosure paperwork. Demands from investors that banks buy back billions of dollars in mortgages they had sold has raised fears that banks could face a new wave of difficulties similar to the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

The foreclosure documents fiasco, in which banks are accused of using "robo-signers" to sign hundreds of foreclosure documents a day, reignited public anger with banks.

Separately, all 50 U.S. state attorneys general are jointly investigating allegations that banks failed to properly review foreclosure processes and may have submitted faulty documentation to evict delinquent borrowers.