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The new probe will also look at whether lenders repossessed homes using shoddy paperwork
US banking regulators will carry out their own investigation into whether lenders were wrong to repossess hundreds of thousands of homes.
The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, says regulators will look at whether mortgage companies cut corners on their own procedures when they moved to foreclose on people's homes.
Attorney Generals in all 50 US states are already looking into the issue.
Related stories
The probes centre on whether shoddy paperwork was used for the evictions.
Mr Bernanke says preliminary results of the regulators' in-depth review are expected to be released next month.
It follows allegations that the companies often mishandled documents when people behind on their mortgages had their houses taken from them.
According to industry figures, more than 2.5 million US homes have been repossessed since December 2007.
A number of the US's biggest lenders have halted repossessions amid fears that some evictions were rushed through without the paperwork being read by bank employees.
Lenders including Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase have halted repossessions, although they have since restarted the process in certain states.
The Obama administration said last week it had found no sign so far of "systemic" home foreclosure troubles.
But the Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Shaun Donovan, said a four-month federal probe of big banks' mortgage practices had discovered "significant variation" in compliance with government rules, and has promised to force changes as needed.
This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The new probe will also look at whether lenders repossessed homes using shoddy paperwork US banking regulators will carry out their own investigation into whether lenders were wrong to repossess hundreds of thousands of homes.
The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, says regulators will look at whether mortgage companies cut corners on their own procedures when they moved to foreclose on people's homes.
Attorney Generals in all 50 US states are already looking into the issue.
Related stories
The probes centre on whether shoddy paperwork was used for the evictions.
Mr Bernanke says preliminary results of the regulators' in-depth review are expected to be released next month.
It follows allegations that the companies often mishandled documents when people behind on their mortgages had their houses taken from them.
According to industry figures, more than 2.5 million US homes have been repossessed since December 2007.
A number of the US's biggest lenders have halted repossessions amid fears that some evictions were rushed through without the paperwork being read by bank employees.
Lenders including Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase have halted repossessions, although they have since restarted the process in certain states.
The Obama administration said last week it had found no sign so far of "systemic" home foreclosure troubles.
But the Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Shaun Donovan, said a four-month federal probe of big banks' mortgage practices had discovered "significant variation" in compliance with government rules, and has promised to force changes as needed.
This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.