Finally these banks Will have some accountability for their actions. Up until now, it has been all public and media lip service. Puff and fluff press releases and merry Hope Now meetings no more. They will have to report the truth or suffer. What they will suffer, I don’t know?
The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Friday that it was ordering nine big banks that service mortgages to provide monthly data on their home loans.
The information, including data going back to October, will provide regulators with a more complete picture of the market and help them better supervise the major banks and the loans they service, Comptroller John Dugan said in a letter to the institutions. The regulator wants data including delinquencies, foreclosures and efforts to modify mortgages.
My question is, “Will these banks ever be held accountable for their actions?”
It’s as if they are the modern day Billy the Kids or traveling snake oil salesman. In fact over the last 5 years, America was the wild, wild west and all the while, these governing agencies, regulatory agencies and our government turned a blind eye to these “financial crimes” on the American people.
Yes, “FINANCIAL CRIMES”! Personally, to me, it is a crime to sell a product and profit massively because you know 100% that this product you are selling will fail and cause the purchaser of that product to suffer extreme emotional and financial hardship.
Some very interesting comments from state officials:
Three weeks ago, a group of state attorneys general blamed the agency for hampering a study on foreclosures that they said were wreaking havoc on local economies.
The state officials accused the office of advising banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., to refuse to cooperate with the study issued Feb. 7.
If I was to sell houses, cars or a fricken hamburger using these same methods that these banks used, I would be in prison in a heart beat. Yet, these banks are “secretly protected” by our government. They never will admit to that. But hey, if you don’t believe me, I have some information that Angelo Mozilo and Countrywide are hiding weapons of mass destruction that are disguised as “adjustable rate mortgages.”
Maybe that will get Bush to do something about these “WMD’s” that are on our homeland’s grounds. This may be a language that the Bush administration can comprehend.
More form the LA Times:
The State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group, led by Iowa Atty. Gen. Tom Miller, found many servicers were set up to deal with defaults due to job loss or divorce, but not ready to re-underwrite a massive number of loans made under irresponsible terms.
The federal regulator said the banks that will be required to supply the monthly data were: Wells Fargo, Chase, Bank of America, Citi, Wachovia, National City, HSBC , First Horizon and US Bancorp.
Dugan said the information would be shared with states and also would help the loan modification efforts of the Hope Now alliance of lenders and servicers.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is also planning to collect data on home equity loans this year, he said.
Attention to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency: These banks and servicers do not have the man power to handle ALL the loans they made with irresponsible terms. In fact, they are operating at about 25% of the capacity that is needed to effectively perform loan workouts on all those lemon loans they made. You know, the loans made with irresponsible terms you speak of.
I just thought you would like to know that. If it matters…………….
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the article. I wonder when BAC takes over CountryWide if they will be required to include as a separate report the CountyWide holdings?
As a holder of ResCap LLC bonds, I also wonder why the GMAC bank was not required to begin reporting as their bonds are junk and worth about half of their par value. GMAC is a large mortage oringinator and buyer and so I would hope to see some clarity on their part.
It about time someone in government does what they are paid to do! Hope this is real discovery and not more lies, corruption or the band-aid approach.
Wow, OCC actually got off their neutered arse and did something? When they finally issue a monthly report and we can see what kind of “insight” they provide, then I’ll believe the OCC is not run by black-hearted scumbags.
Get over it. Foreclosures are here to stay. Home price declines are here to stay. No amount of government intervention will change materially the balance of the supply of and demand for homes. Look at the stats (e.g. record high supply or existing & new homes, record low sales rates for existing & new homes, record high vacancy rates). What possible conclusion could you draw from those data? Borrowers were accomplices to the current condition, rather than victims.
Yes, the damage is done. But the damge needs to be mitigated or we might be heading into a massive DEPRESSION. The writing is on the wall.
Don’t forget it is the borrowers who are in turn “consumers” who what Gary? Drive the economy sir. That’s exactly what they do. Not banks. Not Bernake. Not Paulson and not Bush.
It’s the people and the power needs to go back in the peoples hands. What do we need andother S & L another Enron, Another LENDRON??????
It’s obvious “some” of corporate America has taken the citizens of this country on several billion dollar swindles and this time, we need to put a stop to this BS.
Yes consumers drive the economy, consumer spending accounts for almost 70% of GDP. Thats fine, i won’t argue with that. And i would agree with the so called wealth-effect, that there is a causal relationship between the level of consumer spending and the amount of borrowers’ home equity. and i would also agree declining home equity likely would have a negative effect on consumer spending. the more i think about your comment, the more you sound like the national home builders assocation. I listened to them last week try to persuade the senate banking committee that the government and fed should do everything in their collective powers to prevent house price declines because of their associated effect on consumer spending. So we’re going to bail out everyone to keep consumer spending? That’s the argument? We can discuss this but i think it’s off-topic from my original post.
My original point is housing is overvalued, we had an asset bubble, and we should allow the market to correct without government influence. Examine the relationship of incomes vs. house prices over the last five years and you’ll immediately recognize how distorted that relationship became over the same period. That would indicate a correction is necessary, that either house prices must decline further or incomes must rise. Either could occur of course, but i would argue further house price declines are more likely given the current imablance of supply & demand in the market. Further, in my opinion, market forces are strong enough that inevitably we will have a correction regardless of what the fed & gov’t do. So, with that in mind, why not invite the correction now rather than try to delay it and prolong its effects through such futile efforts as the hope now alliance, FHA Secure, bankruptcy law reform, as well as changing the portfolio caps, loan limits and capital requirements of the GSEs.
another point i want to make–
Many in government and other areas complain about a lack of liquidity in the secondary RMBS market and its associated effects (e.g., lack of available and affordable housing credit). That lack of liquidity is caused in part by the uncertainty among RMBS investors. The uncertainty among RMBS investors stems from many factors, including the obvious credit risk concerns, as well as potential bankruptcy reform and loan modifications. Cramdowns and interest rate freezes are a real threat to RMBS investors. The irony is that the people complaining about a lack of liquidity in the secondary market and its associated effects are the same people suggesting and encouraging bankruptcy reform and mass loan modifications.