From the monthly archives:

April 2008

Countrywide Sells Home for $1

by Moe Bedard

CNBC
Psst, looking for a cheap place to live? Just how cheap can you buy a home for in some of America’s biggest cities?

Check out Countrywide’s [CFC  5.798    0.018  (+0.31%)   ] cnbc_quoteComponent_init_getData(“CFC”,”WSODQ_COMPONENT_CFC_ID0EUE15839609″,”WSODQ”,”true”,”ID0EUE15839609″,”off”,”false”); website of homes they have for sale: http://www.countrywide.com/purchase/f_reo.asp
On that site, you can find homes as low as:
–$1 [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Frank said he expects the Bush administration to threaten to veto two foreclosure assistance bills

by Moe Bedard

 Among the many golden nuggets he gave reporters this morning: Frank said he expects the Bush administration to threaten to veto two foreclosure assistance bills the House Financial Services Committee, which Frank chairs, is expected to send to the floor.
Frank said they’ve known for some time that the Bush administration would issue a veto threat [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

House representatives argue that new Federal funds are needed to defend homeowners against foreclosure

by Moe Bedard

Amen!
It finally looks like members of our congress finally realize that the Hope Line, AKA 995-Hope, operated by Neighborhood Works, is not a cure all for distressed homeowners.
In fact, many who call the Hope Line are in need of legal assistance. HUD trained counselors who operate these phone lines, do not have the legal savy or mortgage skills to [...]

6 comments Read the full article →

FHA Commissioner Brian D. Montgomery – We must not federalize the housing market

by Moe Bedard

Testifying before the Senate Finance Committee on April 9 Montgomery said, “We must not federalize the housing market. And we must not harm our economy through solutions that, however well-intentioned, further erode the foundation of the nation’s housing market, hurt homeowners who are meeting their mortgage obligations, or prolong the correction.”
There are two elements that [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Foreclosure Assistance Solutions Forced To Pay Back Homeowners

by Moe Bedard

A defunct business accused of doing little or nothing for Washington homeowners after promising to rescue them from foreclosure has agreed to pay partial refunds.In a settlement with the state attorney general’s office, Foreclosure Assistance Solutions of Clearwater, Fla., did not admit any wrongdoing. A similar deal involving the same company was announced last month [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Beware the fine print in tax waiver law

by Moe Bedard

The new law waives federal income tax on certain types of mortgage debt that might go away when a homeowner is foreclosed upon, sells the home for less than the outstanding debt (called a short sale), gives the lender a deed in lieu of foreclosure or gets a loan modification that reduces the outstanding balance.
Now [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Renters can’t escape housing foreclosure crisis

by Moe Bedard

On a chilly night after work last November, Christopher and Jenell Chow relaxed, watching the evening news while their children scampered around their rented two-story stucco home. Someone knocked at the door.
An officer was standing on the doorstep, eviction papers in hand. That’s when the Chows learned that the North Las Vegas home they’d rented [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

MTV Wants to Hear Your Story -I’m Losing My Home

by Moe Bedard

“MTVemailed me and was wondering if any of my readers can help them with a story they are doing called, “I’m Losing My Home”. I want to endorse MTV and the Tru Life documentary series as one of the best and true shows that tells it like it is from the peoples perspective. The more stories that [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Foreclosure Prevention Efforts Falling Short of Need, Miller Says

by Moe Bedard

Industry measures to keep homeowners out of foreclosure are barely keeping pace with the rising rate of homeowners in trouble, according to Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and other state officials. “The number of borrowers in loss mitigation has increased,” Miller said, “but the gains have been matched by an increasing level of delinquent loans.”
The [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Lender & Servicer Loss Mitigation 2.0 – The Homeowner is Now in Control

by Moe Bedard

Let’s face reality America. Almost every home in America is sitting in quicksand.
Slowly, but surely your home is sinking down, further and further and it looks like main street America is getting hip to the fact that lenders, servicers, Hope Now and our mighty government isn’t going to help them.
A new study, compiled by the [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

The Fed’s Krozner Wants Loan Modifications Streamlined

by Moe Bedard

Federal Reserve Board Governor Randall Kroszner said on Monday, ” With the continuing high rates of foreclosure and the high costs associated with foreclosures, it is in the interest of lenders, investors, and borrowers to develop prudent loan modification programs to help borrowers on a larger scale and at sustainable levels.
Efforts to streamline or standardize [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

More homeowners mailing keys to lenders instead of payments

by Moe Bedard

Instead of mailing in their monthly mortgage payment, a growing number of homeowners are sending lenders their keys.
As housing prices fall and rates on some mortgage loans rise, more homeowners are walking away from their homes, according to housing-market watchers.
These typically are people who can afford their mortgage but don’t want to pay on a [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

FHA to Handle Foreclosure Crisis

by Moe Bedard

It looks like the brunt of the foreclosure problems in our country will rest on the shoulder of the Federal Housing Administration - FHA.
All the key players in the housing and mortgage crisis plus the democratic presidential candidates have all agreed that there will be no new agency created to deal with the national foreclosure crisis.
House financial [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Homeowners take mortgage crisis to the grounds of the Minnesota governor’s mansion

by Moe Bedard

ST. PAUL – In response to Governor Tim Pawlenty’s threats to veto the Minnesota Subprime Foreclosure Deferment Act, families facing foreclosure brought the crisis to the governor’s mansion on Summit Ave in Saint Paul.
On Saturday, members of the housing-focused community organization ACORN and other groups constructed “Subprime City – the fastest-growing city in the nation” [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Economic and Housing Rescue Legislation Introduced in the House

by Moe Bedard

 Mark up of both measures set for April 23rd and 24th
Washington, DC – In response to the nationwide economic downturn caused by the housing and credit crisis, members of the House Financial Services Committee today introduced legislation to combat the unprecedented rise in foreclosures, and the associated impact on cities and states.  The legislation first [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Emergency Mortgage Loan Modification Act of 2007

by Moe Bedard

HR 4178 IH
110th CONGRESS1st SessionH. R. 4178To amend the Truth in Lending Act to remove an impediment to troubled debt restructuring on the part of holders of residential mortgage loans, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESNovember 14, 2007Mr. CASTLE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
A [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

MBA’s Story Testifies on Loan Modifications

by Moe Bedard

WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 15, 2008) –  Robert E. Story, Jr., CMB, Vice Chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and President of Seattle Financial Group of Seattle, WA testified today before the House Financial Services Subcommitee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises.  In his testimony, Mr. Story discussed H.R. 5579, The Emergency Loan [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Lawmaker Steps Up Modification Pressure

by Moe Bedard

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said in an interview with reporters and editors of The Associated Press that loan servicing companies – which collect mortgage payments and distribute them to investors – should help modify and refinance more home loans.
“If there’s not a lot of voluntary participation now, that’s [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Banks Must Write Down Loans to Prevent a Mass Homeowner Exodus

by Moe Bedard

The word is out and the banks and servicers need to get a clue. People are walking from their underwater homes in droves. What was once taboo has become the “smart” thing to do for many Americans.
This rhetoric that 50% of homeowners do not speak with their lenders or servicers is actually true.
But it isn’t because they [...]

36 comments Read the full article →

McCain Finally Goes to Bat for Homeowners

by Moe Bedard

Sen. John McCain addressed small business owners in Brooklyn, N.Y. this Thursday that the government should play a bigger role in easing the mortgage crisis. McCain has called for federal aid to distressed homeowners Thursday, saying, “There is nothing more important than keeping alive the American dream to own your own home.”
Under McCain’s “HOME Plan,”  homeowners [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Bush, House jockey over foreclosure fix

by Moe Bedard

Discussion of both plans, at a House Financial Services Committee hearing, highlighted the complex fault lines in the debate over how far the government should go to ease the mortgage crisis. It’s a tough question since there’s plenty of blame to go around: Lenders, brokers, investors, ratings agencies, federal regulators and some homeowners all played [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

FDIC Chief Calls for a Housing Rescue

by Moe Bedard

 Sheila Bair says government intervention is needed—soon
As chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.—the agency charged with protecting accounts at the nation’s 8,500 banks—Sheila Bair is knee deep in the government’s efforts to resolve America’s most harrowing financial crisis in a generation. She recently sat down with U.S. News to discuss the cancerous effect of [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Key House lawmaker warns mortgage servicers to cooperate or face more regulation

by Moe Bedard

WASHINGTON (Thomson Financial) – Mortgage servicing companies which are resisting loan modifications aimed at preventing foreclosures need to stop fighting the idea or face tougher regulation, Democratic Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank of Massachusetts warned today.
Read the rest of the Forbes Story

0 comments Read the full article →

Hillary Clinton Statement on Bush Mortgage Plan

by Moe Bedard

After weeks of ignoring and downplaying my calls for action, the Bush Administration is finally acknowledging the need to help more struggling families restructure their mortgages and stay in their homes. But their proposal today simply underscores how out-of-touch they are with the magnitude of our economic challenges.
In the face of an historic housing crisis, [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Remarks by Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr on Current Financial and Housing Markets at the US Chamber of Commerce

by Moe Bedard

 March 26, 2008
HP-887Washington – Thank you for inviting me to address your Capital Markets Competitiveness Conference. We share a commitment to competitive markets, and Treasury will soon release a Blueprint for Regulatory Reform that proposes a financial regulatory framework which we believe will more effectively promote orderly markets and foster financial sector innovation and competitiveness.
As [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Was Countrywide’s Rise to the Top Fast & Easy or Fast & Sleazy?

by Moe Bedard

Countrywide Home Loans were the kings of the Lending Sea.
The Big Kahuna’s (or Tunas) and expert big wave riders of Lender Island. Led by tanned Captain, Angelo Mozilo and his crew of what now appear to be drunk sailors who have taken the Countrywide boat (aka Lending Titanic) far adrift on what was supposed to be a 3 mile tour.
From the looks of things it looks like it [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Hope Now = Hopeless for Many

by Moe Bedard

I have been saying this from day 1, Hope Now is a joke and if the American people think that these guys “truly” have your best interests at heart, well then, you may be on the street soon with the other 1 million people that have been kicked out of their homes by the very [...]

30 comments Read the full article →

Presidential candidates rely on close advisers who had oversight roles at financial institutions that went bust because of subprime loans

by Moe Bedard

Hillary Clinton’s new Campaign Manager, Maggie Williams Accused of Predatory Lending
It finally looks like the media has finally placed a microscope on our presidential candidates and what better a place to look, then at their campaign staff. If these candidates are “serious” and their words not “hollow”, then they will address these issues, [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Hillary Clinton Statement on Resignation of Secretary Alphonso Jackson

by Moe Bedard

Secretary Jackson’s resignation ends a tenure at HUD marked by an indifference to Congressional oversight powers, cronyism, and corrupt contracting practices that have no place in our government. Yet while Secretary Jackson’s resignation is appropriate, it does nothing to address the Bush Administration’s wait-and-don’t-see posture to our nation’s housing crisis, which is threatening to drive [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Obama Urges Bernanke, Paulson to Fight Foreclosures, Hold Homeownership Summit – 1 Year Ago

by Moe Bedard

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Senator Barack Obama today sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Paulson urging them to immediately convene a homeownership preservation summit with key stakeholders to fight foreclosures driven by growth in the subprime mortgage market.
The text of the letter is below:
Dear Chairman Bernanke and Secretary Paulson,
There is [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

The Federal Reserve Releases Foreclosure Hot Spot Map

by Moe Bedard

The Federal Reserve System is offering online maps that illustrate subprime and near-prime mortgage loan conditions across the United States, and show “existing and potential foreclosure hot-spots”.
You can check out the new map service here http://www.newyorkfed.org/mortgagemaps/. However, it did not work when I tried using it.

0 comments Read the full article →

Treasury Releases Blueprint for Stronger Regulatory Structure

by Moe Bedard

March 31, 2008
hp-896
Washington- The U.S. Treasury Department today released its Blueprint for an improved financial regulatory structure, one that strengthens consumer protections, improves tools for market stability and enhances financial innovation. Treasury’s Blueprint for a Modernized Financial Regulatory Structure presents a series of short-, intermediate- and long-term recommendations for reform of the U.S. regulatory structure. [...]

0 comments Read the full article →