The nation's top banks impeded a federal inquiry into their foreclosure practices by providing shoddy documents and blocking investigators' attempts to interview bank employees, according to a report released March 13 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Reuters reported.

The inquiry led to the $26 billion mortgage settlement with Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Ally Financial; the settlement was officially filed in federal court March 12.

The HUD Inspector General's report revealed that Bank of America, for example, provided only excerpts of files, incomplete documents and conflicting information to government investigators. The bank also refused to reveal some of its foreclosure policies, limited employee interviews and refused to allow employees to answer certain questions, Reuters reported.

The Inspector General's report said that the U.S. Department of Justice had to intervene in the Bank of America situation.

A Bank of America spokesperson disputed the report and told Reuters that the bank "fully cooperated with the HUD Office of the Inspector General's review of mortgage servicing practices and any suggestion otherwise is both inaccurate and inconsistent with how we work with all regulators.”

The HUD report also noted that investigators encountered problems similar to those experienced by homeowners who tried to work with their banks - namely that the banks were hard to reach, uncooperative and disorganized.

Both JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo failed to provide certain records, while others were provided in an incomplete state, the report noted. Additionally, the banks either failed to offer a point-of-contact who could help investigators clarify data or blocked employee interviews. A spokesman for Chase declined to comment on the report, while a Wells Fargo spokesperson said the issues raised in the report occurred years ago and have already been addressed, Reuters reported.

As for Citigroup, the report said that the bank's mortgage unit did not have a way to track how many foreclosure documents were being signed or who signed them, Reuters reported. Citigroup responded to the report by saying it has since improved its foreclosure processes and tightened its control processes.