From the monthly archives:

October 2009

California Attorney General Brown’s Letter to Banks & Loan Servicers

by Moe Bedard

The foreclosure crisis continues to plague California homeowners who are trapped in mortgages with exploding monthly payments. While the economy is beginning to improve, homeowners desperate to save their homes have seen little relief. And analysts predict that foreclosures will continue to worsen, particularly as Pay Option ARMs begin to recast.

Economists estimate that about one [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

California AG Brown Demands the Banks & Mortgage Servicers Foreclosure Plan

by Moe Bedard

Brown Calls on Banks and Loan Servicers to Detail Plans to Stem New Wave of Foreclosures

Los Angeles – Concerned about a “new wave” of foreclosures, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today called on ten major banks and loan servicers to detail their plans to assist homeowners facing dramatic monthly payment increases on Pay [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Loan Modification Numbers are Fantasy Land

by Moe Bedard

Mortgage expert and one-time Fannie Mae Chief Credit Officer Edward Pinto says a claim made by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner that 500,000 homeowners have entered the Obama administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) is ridiculous.
In fact, he says, the program is rapidly becoming: “I will pretend to modify your loan if you pretend that you [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Maxine Waters Under Investigation for Husband’s Bank Bailout

by Moe Bedard

WASHINGTON — The House ethics committee said Thursday it’s investigating whether California Rep. Maxine Waters used her influence to help a bank in which her husband owned stock — and whether the couple benefited as a result.
Waters is the No. 3 Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee and chairwoman of its subcommittee on housing. [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Hundreds of Florida Homeowners File Complaints Against Their Mortgage Servicers

by Moe Bedard

The Attorney General’s Office has logged 452 complaints about Bank of America, Florida’s largest mortgage lender, concerning mortgages and loan modifications. With its acquisition of Countrywide Financial last year, Bank of America had almost 82,000 mortgage loans outstanding in Florida worth $15.3 billion in 2008, according to National Mortgage News.
Next largest is JP Morgan Chase, [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Video: A Trip in Loan Modification Hell

by Moe Bedard

Sometimes loan modifications can be a real pain, others believe that trying to get a loan modification is a form of hell on earth. This video shows you why they lose faxes constantly and who is really in charge of the banks.
Watch this video and decide for yourself.

0 comments Read the full article →

Bankers File Lawsuit Against Arizona Governor

by Moe Bedard

Remember when we wrote about a bill that could financially devastate homeowners facing foreclosure, and then we wrote about how it was reversed?
Well, the bill might just be back.
The Arizona Bankers Association — which represents more than 70 banks in the state — has filed a lawsuit in the Arizona Supreme Court against Governor Jan [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

New Foreclosure Hot Spots Ravage the US

by Moe Bedard

Among those new hot spots were Boise City-Nampa, Idaho which saw a 142 percent increase in foreclosures in the third quarter compared with the same period a year ago. Other new foreclosure hot spots include Provo-Orem (120 percent increase) and Salt Lake City (105 percent increase) metro areas, both of which are in Utah.
 
And in [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Foreclosures Spread to Unemployed Middle Class

by Moe Bedard

What’s this new “wave” in the foreclosure crisis?
The first wave was caused by bad loan products, while the second will be driven by unemployment. Right now, we’re at the beginning of wave two. There are virtually no more foreclosures that are the result of subprime lending. The demographics of the foreclosure crisis are changing and [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Unemployed and Trying to Save the American Dream

by Moe Bedard

SPRINGDALE — Homeowners who lose their jobs and collect unemployment income now have a better chance to modify their mortgages, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
Until recently, unemployment income was not utilized when calculating a loan modification, leaving distressed homeowners with few options.
Because income is the basis for mortgage modification or loan qualification, unless a [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Bank of America CEO Search in Limbo

by Moe Bedard

Apparently Bank of America Corp.’s (NYSE:BAC) search for a new CEO is at a standstill, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The board was hoping to pick a successor for Ken Lewis by Wednesday, but the committee choosing the new CEO needs more time. Lewis actually forewarned that the committee was taking its time during [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Homeowner Told to Stop Making Payments by Mortgage Servicer

by Moe Bedard

When MC lost his second job he had trouble affording his $3,000 mortgage payment. He called his mortgage holder, Flag Star Bank, asking for a break, but the bank told him there was nothing it could do for him unless he skipped payments and submitted a loan modification package.
Can you tell where this is going? [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Desperate Americans Flood Emergency Help Hot Lines

by Moe Bedard

She can feel what the callers on the other end of the line are feeling. Recently it’s been tearing, gripping, throat-tightening.
Giselle Sanchez and 12 other call center operators spend all day answering questions about where to find help. Sometimes it’s help with the rent. Other times it’s help steering away from suicide.
These call-takers are the [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Government Wants School Children and Homeowners to Spot Scams

by Moe Bedard

And it is one of the first places targeted in the homeowner education campaign launched on Monday by government agencies, local leaders and housing advocates to stop scammers preying on desperate borrowers nationwide.
Officials do not know how many scams have been perpetrated among millions of American families who have lost their homes or face foreclosure. [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Maryland Gov. O’Malley Pushing for Foreclosure Mediation

by Moe Bedard

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley plans to introduce legislation that would require mediation efforts before foreclosure processes began, a spokesman said Tuesday.
The bill would provide an incentive for lenders who drag their feet to do more to help struggling homeowners, said Shaun Adamec, a spokesman for O’Malley.
“This is a way to level the playing field,” Adamec [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

More Details on Loan Modification Beating and Torture

by Moe Bedard

More disturbing details are  coming out in regards to the  beating, torture and robbery of two loan modification agents. Apparently the victims and the suspects were actually doing business together in a loan modification referral scheme that involved some California Realtors.

This is actually quite common in California for licensed real estate agents to be involved in some type of [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

The Housing Gamble

by Moe Bedard

Artificially low interest rates and a government tax credit are luring buyers, but both those inducements are scheduled to end. Defaults and distress sales are rising in the middle and upper price ranges. And millions of people have lost so much equity that they are locked into their homes for years, a modern variation of [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Fed Says Recession Almost Over and Unemployment to Continue. Huh?

by Moe Bedard

The U.S. housing market faces a “difficult” return to normal because government-sponsored enterprises own or guarantee most mortgage lending while alternative sources have disappeared, said an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
“Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae now own or guarantee an overwhelming share of originations,” bank senior economist John Krainer [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Man Fights Chase Mortgage After Wifes Death

by Moe Bedard

Little said he mailed paperwork to JP Morgan Chase seeking a loan modification, but that the bank said he did not qualify. He will be three months behind on his payments in November.
Chase officials said they could not discuss Little’s case specifically because of privacy laws, but that the bank has sent him more papers [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Debtors Revolt: The Banks Do Not Care!

by Moe Bedard

The debtors revolt is gaining steam as the few lenders left in our country send out millions of letters raising the rates on their clients credit cards. Many of these people are now following Ann Minch’s lead and telling their credit card companies to take their cards and shove them where the sun don’t shine.
While this is a [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Main Street’s Animosity Towards Banks Increasing

by Moe Bedard

The bankers were criticized yesterday by U.S. Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, who told protesters more regulation of the financial services industry is required.
“We need to ensure that the robber barons that are responsible for this recession don’t get away with creating it and then declaring themselves a dividend,” Durbin [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Regulators Warn Bankers of Sweeping Changes

by Moe Bedard

While the Senate’s time has been consumed by healthcare reform and has not made significant progress on financial regulation, Dugan said bankers should not be lulled into thinking a comprehensive reform package will not pass eventually.
“I would not be fooled by that,” he said.
The Obama administration is also planning to send new language to Congress [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Loan Modification Employees Beaten and Tortured

by Moe Bedard

Prosecutors have charged five people in Los Angeles in the torturing and robbing of two men who operated a loan modification business. Apparently the two men had promised to save their home and when these promises failed, they sought revenge.
Daniel Weston and Mary Ann Parmelee, both 52, allegedly sought loan modifications from Lamond Dean and [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

NACA Employee: Did you know that NACA’s employees are abused?

by Moe Bedard

Submitted unsolicited to LoanWorkout.org by a NACA Employee – Sure NACA can help restructure your home loan and they maybe able to stop a foreclosure or auction. Huh! you should here some of the horror stories for the 10’s of thousand who don’t get help?
Oh and the employee’s include some people who are not qualified [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

$500 Homes in Detroit Not Selling: What’s next, free homes?

by Moe Bedard

When foreclosed homes do not sell at auction, the aucioneers lower the price to entice potential home bidders. When the price goes as low as it can go, do they then just give these unsalebale homes away?
My prediction in the next two years is that certain areas of the country such as Detroit, Michigan will actually give homes away to qualified [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Nevada Loan Modification Companies Still Think it’s the Wild, Wild West

by Moe Bedard

What if you had a home modification law that everyone ignored? In its 2009 legislative session the State of Nevada passed a law requiring loan modification companies to be licensed. The law, which recently took effect, not only required a license but the companies were also required to post a $75,000 surety bond. It seemed [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Government Loan Modification Numbers Way Off

by Moe Bedard

Mortgage expert and one-time Fannie Mae Chief Credit Officer Edward Pinto blasts the claim that 500,000 homeowners have entered into HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program).
Based on comments being made by industry participants and program results to date, HAMP is rapidly becoming: I will pretend to modify your loan if you pretend that you will make [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Will Main Street Recover?

by Moe Bedard

Meanwhile, back on Main Street U.S.A., the picture is drastically different. Unemployment has doubled in a year, to 9.8% in September, and there are about six unemployed Americans for every job opening. Home foreclosure-related filings—including default notices, foreclosure auctions, and bank repossessions—are on pace to reach about 3.5 million this year, up from more than [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Homeowners Continue to Walk Away in Droves

by Moe Bedard

He stopped paying the mortgage, basically forcing the lender to take the condo off his hands through foreclosure.
“I was able to pay off all my credit cards,” said Duque, who is biding his time in the condo, waiting until they come and evict him. “In a way, it was the best thing that happened to [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Lack of Good Lawyers Adding to the Foreclosure Crisis

by Moe Bedard

Unlike similar legal fields such as bankruptcy, foreclosure is rarely a full-time practice and is often handled by real estate attorneys or legal aid services agencies. Still, more than 3 million property foreclosures were filed in the U.S. last year; South Florida is expected to see more than 150,000 this year compared to fewer than [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Real California Unemployment Rate at 19.6%

by Moe Bedard

Beyond the marginally attached, who are included in U-5, involuntary part-time workers are included in U-6. The larger the difference between U-6 and U-5, then, the higher the incidence of underemployment. Oregon and California posted the largest gaps between their U-6 and U-5 rates, +7.8 and +7.6 percentage points, respectively. These two states also had [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

California Attorney Christopher L. Diener Labled Substantial Threat by State Bar

by Moe Bedard

You can call it lazy, but in reality this is theft by deception. Attorneys using their licenses to steal under the guise of helping consumers avoid foreclosure are the lowest form of scum on the earth. They prey on the weak for their financial gain.
‘Substantial Threat’
The State Bar said Diener, principal attorney for Home Relief Services [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Obama’s Plan is a Particular Disappointment, Consumer Advocates Say

by Moe Bedard

The relative failure of Obama’s plan is a particular disappointment, consumer advocates say. After spending hundreds of billions of dollars in bank bailouts, the administration proposed a plan that would pay mortgage servicers for successfully modifying eligible delinquent home loans. Investors that owned securitized mortgages that were modified would get paid, too. Most importantly, distressed [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Homeowner Continues to Live Payment Free for One Year

by Moe Bedard

It’s been almost a year since Horatio Bernard effectively lost his Baltimore row house to foreclosure and roughly 15 months since he last made a payment on his primary mortgage.
And yet to his amazement and those following his story, Bernard continues living in the home with his ailing mother without any sign of an eviction [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Washington One Step Closer to Forming Consumer Protection Agency

by Moe Bedard

Democrats have said the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency would help to reach across various businesses to stop fraud and abusive practices. That regulators didn’t monitor nonbank institutions like mortgage brokers was considered a major factor in subprime lending abuses that led to the housing market crash.
But there’s plenty of fine print that will limit [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

New Homebuyer Program Already Seeing Signs of Mortgage Fraud

by Moe Bedard

While government officials said many suspect claims could turn out to be simple errors, the report found examples of claimants who already owned homes or had not yet bought one. Some 582 taxpayers were under 18 years old — as young as 4. Of the 1.4 million people who have claimed nearly $10 billion in [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Unemployment Soars as Rents Plunge in the West

by Moe Bedard

The average asking rent fell to $965 from $1,002 a year earlier, said Novato, California-based RealFacts, which surveyed owners of more than 12,600 complexes. The occupancy rate dipped below 92 percent from almost 93 percent a year earlier.
U.S. employers cut 263,000 jobs last month, more than forecast, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent, [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Commercial foreclosure crisis to swallow local economies

by Moe Bedard

The impending  commercial foreclosure crisis will be one like our nation has never seen. Once bustling buildings of commerce, now many commercial projects have turned into ghost towns of economic destruction. With vacancy rates sky rocketing, tenants not paying rent, bankruptcies galore and that fact that no one is buying anything, can only mean one thing.
The commercial [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

California AG Jerry Brown – CNBC: Pimping for State Street Bank?

by Moe Bedard

CNBC: Pimping for State Street Bank?
By Attorney General Jerry Brown October 21, 2009
When the suit was filed, we notified the media and held a press conference – to bring the fraud to light and to deter other financial traders from considering similar action. This is a routine part of prosecuting important corporate fraud cases.
But, in [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Chase & Wells Fargo profiting big time from mortgage servicing

by Moe Bedard

Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) — Wells Fargo & Co. earned almost a third of its pretax quarterly profit by hedging mortgage- servicing rights, producing gains similar to those that have helped some of the biggest U.S. banks offset weaker consumer- lending businesses.
Wells Fargo’s hedges outperformed writedowns it took on the so-called MSRs by $1.5 billion and [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

5 reasons why loan modifications are not happening

by Moe Bedard

1. Why servicers foreclose when they should modify: The National Consumer Law Center takes a look into why loan servicers – the people who actually control most mortgages – aren’t helping home owners when they should. The report goes into a fair bit of depth over 60 pages. The report says that “servicers remain largely [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Loan modification scams continue in Nevada

by Moe Bedard

Boxes of complaints have poured into the state’s Business and Industry Department on people scamming homeowners out of thousands, claiming they can help modify loans but instead never do a thing.
“Weed out bad actors. When you put requirements in place, a lot of them will drop off, hopefully, because they have no intention of operating [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Congresswoman Maxine Waters Calls for More Class Action Lawsuits to Prevent Foreclosures

by Moe Bedard

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-35), Chairwoman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, recognizing the impact foreclosures are having on the country, called on the attorneys general from the nation’s 50 states to bring suit against lenders in order to force more loan modifications.
“We need aggressive action to force lenders [...]

4 comments Read the full article →

Lincoln Lending Services & 1st Loan Modification of America: Lawsuit alleges owner scammed homeowners

by Moe Bedard

Back in March, Lincoln Lending’s Miami office was shut down by state prosecutors following numerous consumer complaints. Tuesday, Miami Attorney Ricardo Corona announced he’s filed a class action lawsuit against the company to get his clients’ money back.
“There’s an estimated there could be as much as $15 Million from the business missing and unaccounted for,” [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Do Loan Servicers Really Prefer Foreclosures?

by Moe Bedard

At the start of the foreclosure crises, personal finance experts urged struggling homeowners to contact their lenders if they started to fall behind on their mortgages. The lenders want to do everything they can, homeowners were told, to avoid a foreclosure.
Now, the experts aren’t so sure that’s the case.
Consumers who have jumped through a frustrating [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries