More Mass. moves on foreclosures

On the heels of our story that Gov. Deval Patrick and the MassHousing agency have developed a $250 million fund to help refinance trouble homeowners, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced another major development this morning.

Coakley said she had gotten large subprime lender Fremont Investment & Loan to agree to hold off making more foreclosures against its delinquent customers in Massachusetts for 90 days. During that period, Coakley will review Fremont's pending foreclosure cases and "may object to any foreclosure that it determines may be tainted by unfair or deceptive lending practices," her office said in a statement.

Fremont will halt foreclosure actions on more than 2,000 loans during this period. Coakley's office had previously warned Fremont it was potentially facing an enforcement action over concerns its lending practices violated state consumer protection laws.