Appeals court says homeowners can sue over denied loan modifications

Welcome to the morning roundup. Here's a look at what's news in banking and finance this morning.

Modification suits. A U.S. court of appeals has ruled that homeowners can sue banks they feel "unfairly" denied mortgage modifications, NBC Chicago says. The suit that led to the ruling was against Wells Fargo, which the plaintiff said made her jump through too many hoops.

Prepaid rules. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is set to unveil new rules for prepaid debit cards, which have exploded in popularity in recent years, the Wall Street Journal reports. The most prominent is expected to be about how fees are disclosed.

Facebook issues. Regulators are taking a look at how Morgan Stanley communicated with investors in advance of Facebook's IPO last week, The New York Times reports. Some believe the bank gave certain clients more information about diminished expectations for the debut. The Wall Street Journal tells a similar story.


Buybacks. Bank of America will buy back $330 million in loans from Freddie Mac after the mortgage lender said it found problems in how they were made, Bloomberg reports. BofA says most of them are current. The bank's current potential liability hit a high of $16.1 billion at the end of the first quarter.

Political JPM. Republicans in Congress are growing frustrated with JPMorgan Chase's $2 billion trading loss because it weakens their arguments against financial regulation, the Wall Street Journal reports. They're also still bitter that JPM gave more money to President Barack Obama and Democrats in the 2008 election.