From the monthly archives:

December 2007

Here’s the deal, I get real cranky having to decline over 60% of what I am looking at, real cranky.

by Moe Bedard

By Poppy (30 year mortgage underwriting veteran) 

Well, I am back to underwriting again – and I have to say – WTF, you have not stopped with the Mis-Rep and Crap that you are submitting. Damn, you are more creative than ever folks. Here’s the deal, I get real cranky having to decline over 60% of [...]

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It saddens me that now a mortgage professional (Broker or Banker) has about the same credibility as a used car salesman

by Moe Bedard

I guess as an industry we’ve earned that reputation. We sold too many of the wrong types of loans to the wrong types of people. There were too many crooks out looking out for their own paychecks, and not their customers best interests.

Its really a shame because mortgage transactions are usually the biggest financial transaction [...]

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NeighborWorks America to administer a $180 million national mortgage foreclosure mitigation counseling program

by Moe Bedard

FORECLOSURE PREVENTION COUNSELING EFFORTS RECEIVE BOOST FROM
$180 MILLION APPROPRIATION

NeighborWorks® America Selected to Award Grants to Approved Intermediaries

 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today NeighborWorks America announced that it was named in the FY2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act to administer a $180 million national mortgage foreclosure mitigation counseling program.
Under the legislation, NeighborWorks America (formally the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation) will make [...]

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Ohio Homeowner Fights Foreclosure and Lives Payment Free for 11 Years

by Moe Bedard

Let the truth be known. Most homeowners do not respond or fight back when they are facing foreclosure. The lender files the notice of default and the court hearing comes and goes without an appearance from the defendant (homeowner). Four to six months later, the trustee’s sale happens on the court steps and the home [...]

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Mortgage Probes Face Big Hurdles

by Moe Bedard

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has issued subpoenas to Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank for their roles in packaging and selling mortgage loans. (By Louis Lanzano — Associated Press)
The nation’s largest banks are losing billions of dollars from the mortgage debacle. But will pain from bad housing bets be compounded by government investigations?
As credit [...]

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Foreclosure help on the internet for homeowners from LoanSafe.org

by Moe Bedard

 Please join our one of a kind homeowners forum for foreclosure help. A safe place where you can ask questions and get answers in this unique and interactive community that was created to assist people in an anonymous, yet open format. Meet other homeowners that are going through the same thing and get the help you need [...]

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Are Mortgage Brokers Ancient History in 08?

by Moe Bedard

By Moe Bedard 
The mortgage and real estate industry has resembled a battlefield marred with carnage and destruction with what appears to have no end in sight. 210 imploded lenders and thousands of mortgage, real estate professionals and anything related to these professions in one way, shape or form, litter the path of no jobs and no hope.
The [...]

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Ohio Lawyers to Help Homeowners

by Moe Bedard

More than 200 lawyers have volunteered to help financially strapped homeowners facing foreclosure in response to a request by Chief Justice Thomas Moyer to provide free legal advice.
The president of the Ohio State Bar Association put out a call for volunteers to meet Moyer’s request, association spokesman Ken Brown said Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, it’s a big problem, [...]

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San Bernardino County – Taxpayer Beware of Foreclosure Scams

by Moe Bedard

Below are examples of two scams currently plaguing homeowners in our counties. The first involves the Homeowner’s Exemption. While this scam is not illegal, homeowners should be aware that they can submit a request for the Homeowner’s Exemption for free using this form. Homeowner’s Exemption Claim
The second is illegal. Homeowners are told that they can [...]

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Forcing banks to get the paperwork, known as an assignment, could hamstring a high-volume industry that prefers to transfer loans electronically

by Moe Bedard

Forcing banks to get the paperwork, known as an assignment, could hamstring a high-volume industry that prefers to transfer loans electronically, said Cleveland State University Law Professor Kathleen Engel.
A Cleveland federal court ruling that has the potential to block foreclosures across the country looks as if it is already doing that in the court where [...]

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Countrywide and ACORN Work on Blueprint for Home Retention and Foreclosure Prevention

by Moe Bedard

CALABASAS, Calif. and NEW ORLEANS, La., Dec. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC – News) and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (”ACORN”) announced a joint initiative to develop a blueprint for home retention programs, with a particular focus on subprime borrowers. “Countrywide and ACORN share the belief that subprime borrowers [...]

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JacMac … you are not ignorant … you got caught up in the “shell game” that was being promoted by several lenders to mortgage brokers

by Moe Bedard

Debate of the week: homeowner and loan officer. A peek inside the mortgage game with views from both sides of the fence. Did homeowners really know what they were getting into and did brokers really disclose the “truth” when representing their clients or was it all about the “benjamins”?
[The following discussion recently took place [...]

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The FHA Secure Bait and Switch – FHA Clearly Violates Truth in Advertising Laws

by Moe Bedard

By Moe Bedard 
“Thousands Have Switched to FHASecure to Keep Their Homes - Why Not You?” – FHA Website
“only 266 such borrowers have cleared all FHA hurdles, according to data compiled by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that was provided to Reuters” – Reuters
“In only the first 4 months of FHASecure, more than 40,000 households [...]

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President Bush Signs H.R. 3648, The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007

by Moe Bedard

1:05 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. Welcome to the White House. I’m pleased to sign a bill that will help homeowners who are struggling with rising mortgage payments. The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 will protect families from higher taxes when they refinance their homes. It will help hardworking Americans [...]

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The FHA Secure Flop and The No Hope Now Plan = 2 Strikes for the Bush Administration

by Moe Bedard

In only the first 4 months of FHASecure, more than 40,000 households have refinanced under the new housing insurance program to protect their families’ investment in the American Dream.  Announced by President Bush on August 31, 2007, along with HUD Secretary Jackson and Treasury Secretary Paulson, FHASecure is already helping thousands of American families, faced [...]

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The Federal Reserve System is not a strong advocate for consumers, and two, there is no Santa Claus

by Moe Bedard

Barney Frank’s Statement on the Federal Reserves Proposed Changes to HOEPA 
Washington, DC – Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services today released the following statement in reaction to the Federal Reserve’s proposed rules on the Home Owner’s Equity Protection Act (HOEPA): “The staff of the Financial Services Committee and I have [...]

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What are they going to do, put the ‘frig in their car after the foreclosure?

by Moe Bedard

Submitted by Bill H.
I have been an FHA originator for 25 years and I can tell you that the FHASecure is a joke. In order to qualify, the borrower must be diliquent on his mortgage, but all of his other credit must be paid on time. Who in their right mind will pay their Sears [...]

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FHA Secure Flop. Only 266 Borrowers Have Been Assisted!

by Moe Bedard

By Moe Bedard and Aaron Krowne

It has been 4 months since President Bush announced a new refinancing program called the FHA Secure. This new refinancing product was touted as a foreclosure prevention device and viable alternative to homeowners stuck in adjustable rate mortgages as a way “out” of their toxic loan and into a 30 [...]

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Secretary Paulson Prepared Remarks in Orlando, Florida

by Moe Bedard

December 17, 2007
HP-740

 
Orlando, Fla. – Good afternoon. Thank you, Congressman Feeney and thanks to all of you for joining me to discuss the current housing market.
After years of unsustainable home price appreciation and an abundant supply of easy credit, the U.S. housing market is experiencing an inevitable downturn. Here in Orlando, house prices increased by [...]

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Hope for the best and plan for the worst. Renting may not be all that bad, after all.

by Moe Bedard

A story of encouragement from the LoanSafe.org forum. In life, we all need to hope for the best and plan for the worst. The forum is all about paying it forward and helping one another out. A place where homeowners can remain anonymous, ask questions without getting ostracized, vent and rant. Join our community that is [...]

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Countrywide Home Retention Department – My 16 week loan workout with Countrywide

by Moe Bedard

This is a post in my forum at LoanSafe.org from a struggling homeowner. I thought I would showcase these every now and then on my blog so people can see the troubles that homeowners face when they reach out to the Countrywide Home Retention Department for help.
Submitted by Andrea;
This is my first post on this forum [...]

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I’ll NOT have you pleading the case of greedy corporate opportunists that make their CEO’s filthy rich through the financial suffering of honest working men and women.

by Moe Bedard

These comments are in response to an anti-homeowner article by Steve Chapman of the Chicago Tribune tittled, “Democrats may commit the real mortgage fraud”. 
These are the voices of the American people, that you rarely get to read in these self serving articles by so called journalists.
Submitted by JJK;
Of course when corporations bankrupt after paying CEOs millions to do [...]

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House Panel Approves Banruptcy Bill That Would Allow Judges to Modify Mortgages

by Moe Bedard

The U.S. House Judiciary approved a new bankruptcy bill Wednesday that would enable homeowners to modify their mortgages in bankruptcy court. The bill that has been designed to keep homeowners in their homes has had it’s share of controversy and opposition.
The bill would change the lender friendly and pro creditor stance to amend part of the nation’s bankruptcy [...]

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California Attorney General Jerry Brown Subpoenas Countrywide

by Moe Bedard

California AG Jerry Brown is very interested in investigating loans made to borrowers with yield spread premiums (YSP).
Some people characterize these “hidden” fees as broker “kick-backs” that are essentially built into your mortgage by bumping up the interest rate, and the lender pays the originator of that loan extra money for doing so.
Brokers have [...]

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Lenders Say, “Reach out and call us if you’re in trouble”. Let’s see what homeowners get, when they reach for help.

by Moe Bedard

Since day 1 in running this blog and my forum, I have been alerted and have personally experienced the abuses that homeowners are suffering at the hands of their lenders or servicers.
Uncaring employees, rude employees, unanswered phone calls, multiple lost faxes and paperwork, over charges, unexplainable charges and the list goes on. My goal is [...]

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Reader Comments of the Week

by Moe Bedard

 Reader response to – Foreclosure Warfare – “It is troubling that the plaintiff has filed this case before it had any interest in it”

Myshkin ~ In the mortgage and foreclosure world so much abuse has been tolerated for so long that it had become common practice to simply look away and ignore the facts. Now, things [...]

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Foreclosure Warfare – “It is troubling that the plaintiff has filed this case before it had any interest in it”

by Moe Bedard

By Moe Bedard & Aaron Krowne
“It is troubling that the plaintiff has filed this case before it had any interest in it,” Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Steven E. Martin said in a letter to Wells Fargo’s lawyer.
The judge said the foreclosure lawsuit was filed before Wells Fargo owned the mortgage – thus, the suit [...]

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Well it’s finally over! We got our loan modified and fixed for the next 7 years

by Moe Bedard

We don’t always hear about successful stories where someone fought back against their lenders and was lucky enough to avoid foreclosure with a loan modification.
Our forum at LoanSafe.org has had some recent homeowner success stories and I wanted to share one with you all here on my blog. I hope to report on more stories like this [...]

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Democratic proposal giving bankruptcy judges the power to force loan modifications

by Moe Bedard

Lobbyists Hope Bush Rate-Freeze Plan Prevents Democrats’ Bankruptcy Proposal on Home Loans
December 05, 2007: 06:23 PM EST

NEW YORK (Associated Press) – A White House plan asking lenders and investors to freeze interest rates on troubled mortgages could derail a Democratic proposal giving bankruptcy judges the power to force loan modifications.
Lobbyists for some of the biggest [...]

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Goldman Sachs to Cash in Big Time With the Litton Loan Servicing Purchase

by Moe Bedard

This is a very interesting purchase by Goldman Sachs. The question that many people will ask is “why the hell would anyone want to buy a company that services a tremendous amount of  adjustable rate mortgages; AKA, suprime slime?”
Because servicing subprime mortgages is a very profitable business, that’s why!
Take this quote for Bloomberg;
Subprime loans are made to [...]

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Please do not call 888-995-HOPE for Hope Now, if you are not late on your mortgage

by Moe Bedard

This is from the lips of a nice woman that answered the 888-995-HOPE foreclosure prevention hot line. “If you are not late on your mortgage, there is nothing we can do to help you. You have to be “late” for us to assist you.”
Wow, talk about a mixed and convoluted message to struggling homeowners.
You can’t be late, oh [...]

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Hillary Clinton’s Response to Bush Foreclosure Plan

by Moe Bedard

“Throughout the foreclosure crisis President Bush has ignored the cries for help. Today he responded, but once again it’s too little, too late. President Bush’s plan takes the heat off the mortgage industry but leaves homeowners to sink.
“The Bush plan is designed to help as few homeowners as possible. Lenders will decide on a case-by-case [...]

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Barney Frank – you not only don’t know your borrower, you have no idea who your borrower’s borrowers’ were or are

by Moe Bedard

 By Moe
“I have always been told by bankers that the prime rule of banking was ‘know your borrower.’ And what has happened is that we have created through a whole group of new methods a situation in which you not only don’t know your borrower, you have no idea who your borrower’s borrowers’ were or [...]

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Emergency Mortgage Loan Modification Act of 2007

by Moe Bedard

A the bill intended to address the potential for lawsuits against mortgage holders or servicers who enter into modifications or workout agreements with borrowers by investors is making its way before the House Committee on Financial Services and was addressed at length in a hearing held by the Committee on December 6th.
The ”Emergency Mortgage Loan Modification [...]

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Show Us the Mortgage Relief

by Moe Bedard

A New York Times Editorial
When he announced a new plan to try to stanch the foreclosure crisis, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. said that the officials, lenders and investors involved had been working toward it since August. That start date is a useful benchmark for measuring the plan’s inadequacy.
Only an estimated 250,000 borrowers, at best, [...]

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Statement of Sheila C. Bair, Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Accelerating Loan Modifications

by Moe Bedard

Improving Foreclosure Prevention and Enhancing Enforcement before the Financial Services Committee; U.S. House Of Representatives; 2128 Rayburn House Office Building
December 6, 2007
Conclusion of Statement
Poor underwriting and abuses in the subprime mortgage market are having a significant negative impact on the housing markets and the U.S. economy. In the coming months, large numbers of subprime adjustable [...]

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Home, Sweet Home

by Moe Bedard

By Moe 
The opening lines of Home, Sweet Home

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home;

There was a day not long ago when owing a home meant owning the proverbial “American Dream”. A place where you could call home and come home on a Sunday [...]

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Bad guys wear suits now, they’re angels with soft telephone voices, the bad guys have left the streets and they are among us and they’re better at what they do than you are at what you do!

by Moe Bedard

     
The capitalistic pigs hate me and the grandma/homeowners love me. I can live with that!
Not ALL homeowners were speculators! Not ALL homeowners deserve foreclosure!
My guess is none of Mr. Mozilo’s or Secretary Paulson’s family members are “stuck” in a toxic mortgage.
Submitted By  Vickie Cruz  December 9th, 2007 at 4:48 am  (a real homeowner, grandma and [...]

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The ill informed capitalistic, homeowner hater club needs to get a clue!

by Moe Bedard

This post is in response to the constant critical comments from the capitalists that “think” they are superior and more intelligent than everyone else. Especially the struggling homeowner. 

Ron and Joe – Do you really know what “truly” happened in the mortgage industry over the last 5-10 years? 

Ron – No, I do not delete opposing views because [...]

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American Securitization Forum Outlines Procedures for Servicers to Follow in Streamlining Loan Modifications

by Moe Bedard

By Moe Bedard 
American Securitization Forum, which represents companies that issue mortgage backed securities, as well as investors, loan servicers and rating agencies, issued a 34 page document outlining guidelines for servicers to follow in streamlining refinancing or loan modifications on adjustable rate mortgages that are scheduled to adjust in the next 2 1/2 years.
ASF Executive Director George Miller [...]

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The Wall Street high rollers have raked in a fortune at the expense of the every day American

by Moe Bedard

Submitted by JacMac 
Hag, you said:
“I am still confused why anyone needs help? This is the most competitive country in the world. That is the way capitalism works and guess what… it has worked so well over a short 200 years, that the US is the most powerful, wealthiest nation in the world.”
Hag, really?
For whom has [...]

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Statement of Center for Responsible Lending in Response to President Bush’s Plan to Address Foreclosure Crisis

by Moe Bedard

From the Center of Responsible Lending December 6, 2007
With 2 million foreclosures predicted over the next two years, the plan announced by President Bush for targeted loan modifications for some subprime borrowers is a positive, but very limited, first step. CRL estimates the President’s plan will only help about 7% of subprime borrowers—about 145,000 families—because of the program’s [...]

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Statement by Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. at Press Conference to Announce Framework to Help Preserve Communities by Preventing Foreclosure

by Moe Bedard

December 6, 2007
HP-716
Washington, DC – Good afternoon. Thank you, Secretary Jackson, Chairman Bair, Comptroller Dugan, Governor Kroszner, Director Lockhart, Director Reich and representatives from the American Securitization Forum, HOPE NOW, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the Housing Policy Council for your creativity and flexibility during these recent months. We have worked through an evolving process [...]

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No Hope Now for These Homeowners

by Moe Bedard

JacMac December 6th, 2007 at 7:56 pm  - “But for now, many homeowners will have to fight the battle with their lenders or servicers one call, one fax, one headache at a time and many, will succumb to the pressure and just give up out of frustration or run out of time and face the inevitable, [...]

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Will Homeowners Have Hope Now?

by Moe Bedard

Today is a great day for “some” homeowners across the country. Many will have Hope Now, but only ”some”, not “all” struggling homeowners will receive mortgage relief.
Our government has spoken and it appears that they are doing what they “can” to asist  borrowers in exploding adjustable rate mortgages. The plan is far from perfect, but it’s a [...]

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