Only a handful of banking and mortgage firms have gotten the lion share of the foreclosure market in Texas. In Fort Worth and Dallas areas, nearly 40 percent of repo homes were owned or managed by only a few major banking and mortgage firms.



According to results of a study of 2008 foreclosure sales of residential properties in Texas, Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo were responsible for almost 25 percent of filings for repo homes in five counties of Fort Worth and Dallas.





The following is a list of lenders and their respective number of repo homes in Fort Worth and Dallas areas in 2008:

Wells Fargo with 3,073 repo homes

Deutsche Bank with 2,295 total foreclosures

U.S. Bancorp with 1,480 repo homes

Citigroup with 1,170 foreclosures

Countrywide with 1,030 foreclosure properties

Chase with 917

738 foreclosures for HSBC

687 foreclosures for GMAC

Bank of New York with 636 foreclosed homes

And, LaSalle Bank with 571 foreclosure homes



For 2008, mortgage banks and lenders foreclosed on nearly $300 million properties in North Texas.



According to Foreclosure Listing Services data, the postings for foreclosures increased by 17 percent in 2008 from 2007.



The average number of homes foreclosed in the Fort Worth and Dallas areas in 2008 were mortgaged in 2004.



Meanwhile, Wells Fargo and companies affiliated to the banking firm accounted for over 3,000 houses lost to distressed homeowners in 2008, the most number of foreclosure activity done by any lender in the area.



Wells Fargo explained that some of the foreclosures were not done by the bank but were executed on its name even if it did not service or originate the troubled loans.



Just like other financial companies, Wells Fargo may sometimes act as servicer, administrator or trustee of large home loan mortgages.



Deutsche Bank echoed Wells Fargos explanation, describing itself as a trustee of mortgage-backed securities in which troubled loans are part of the portfolio.



Deutsche Banks media relations representative John T. Gallagher pointed out that the banking firm is not a mortgage lender and is not involved in foreclosure cases



The list of home foreclosures was compiled from over 21,000 repo homes in 2008. Statewide, Texas foreclosures in January of this year reached 5,367.



Texas is one of the 10 states in the country with the highest foreclosure rate.