anks'] failures and their wrongdoing," Cummings said. "This is a society that says, if you don't do things properly, there are consequences." Frederick Hill, a spokesman for Issa, said the foreclosure problems are "an issue that the committee continues to look at," but said Cummings' office has not clearly made the case for why subpoenas are necessary. Many House Republicans have been wary of investigations led by state attorneys general and federal officials into allegations of improper mortgage servicing practices that burst into public view last fall. In particular, Republicans have questioned the appropriateness of one potential penalty: forcing banks to write down loan balances for borrowers who owe more on their properties than their homes are worth. They have also accused the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of overreaching by becoming involved in the settlement discussions. Cummings in February asked for information from 10 companies about their foreclosure practices. Four companies have responded, but six provided no documents to Congress: Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), U.S. Bancorp (USB), SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI), MetLife Inc. (MET) and. PHH Corp. (PHH). In a letter sent to Cummings, Wells Fargo said the documents requested "are extraordinarily voluminous and they contain confidential and proprietary information." U.S. Bancorp said its reviews of its foreclosure procedures are confidential but have not identified any instances "where a borrower was wrongfully evicted from their home or was charged improper fees." MetLife said it would provide some documents only if it received a subpoena. PHH said the documents requested were produced by outside attorneys and were subject to attorney-clierade. The move came after the banks' senior debt and deposit ratings were placed under review for downgrade in early April. Moody's said the actions reflect the increasingly challenging operating environment for Portuguese banks as well as pressure on the Portuguese sovereign's credit profile. Among the banks' whose standalon