by Calculated Risk on 1/13/2012 07:43:00 PM

From Bloomberg: Attorneys General Discuss Mortgage Probes as Bank Talks Drag On

About a dozen state attorneys general met this week to discuss their mortgage investigations and how they might work together as settlement talks with banks over foreclosures drag on, three people familiar with the matter said.

The group, which met in Washington, included New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, California's Kamala Harris and Martha Coakley of Massachusetts ...

This is new:

Over the weekend, the Justice Department contacted four smaller mortgage servicers, including U.S. Bancorp, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and HSBC Finance Corp., with the goal of including them in any future settlement agreement. The overture was a first step meant to get reaction from the smaller banks.

More on the meeting from the Financial Times: State prosecutors confer over US mortgages probes. It doesn't sound like a deal is close.