Last Friday Bank of America announced that it was planning on stopping foreclosures of mortgages in all the 50 states. In the 23 states where a judge’s approval is needed to permit a foreclosure, three banks, PNC Financial, the GMAC Mortgage unit of Ally Financial, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have also halted foreclosures. These policies are a result of the suspicion that mortgage companies have been violating laws governing the conduct of foreclosures.