It is indeed time to sort out the mess brought about by sloppy paperwork regarding foreclosure procedures. With homeowners filing lawsuits left and right plus state attorneys general combining efforts to investigate on the matter, banks are really under hot water. They face further heat as they are set to make appearances in twin hearings in Congress this week.

Congress hearings on foreclosure practices are set for Tuesday and Thursday this week and are expected to renew pressure on banks to come up with ways of keeping borrowers in their homes. Executives of major mortgage lenders – like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase – will make an appearance in the Congress hearing, the first ever since the fiasco on sloppy foreclosure paperwork hit the newsstands in September.

The foreclosure paperwork mess is centered in accusations of banks hiring robo-signers to sign off on hundreds of foreclosure documents every day. This has caused outrage among the public – and they had a right to be angry as these same banks received taxpayer aid during the financial crisis, amounting to billions of dollars. And the issue has since been used as further evidence that mortgage modification is a better option than evicting homeowners.

Another witness in Tuesday’s Senate Banking Committee hearing is Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller. Miller leads the probe on foreclosure proceedings being done by 50 state attorneys general. His testimony will be closely watched as any settlement with lenders can lead to fines and loan modification commitments.

Front-runner to chairmanship of House Financial Services Committee next year Republican Representative Spencer Bachus admitted that the current issue over foreclosure paperwork is ‘disturbing’. He, however, blames the mess on Federal regulators.

“It is disappointing that the regulators didn’t catch this before the media since most of the problems in the contested foreclosure proceedings occurred at the nation’s largest banks,” Bachus says.

The House panel’s hearing is set for Thursday.