A 90-year-old Ohio woman, facing eviction from the home she has lived in for 38 years, shot and wounded herself this week, becoming a grim symbol of the U.S. home mortgage crisis.
Addie Polk was found lying on the floor of her home with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to her shoulder when police came to the home on Wednesday to serve an eviction notice, Akron police spokesman Lt. Rick Edwards said on Friday. Read the rest of this entry »
AS THE Bush administration and Congress try to untangle the fallout from the defeat of the Wall Street bailout, foreclosures continue to climb, financial companies fail, and the middle class economic squeeze worsens by the day.
One significant action doesn’t need congressional approval and can make a big difference. Effective and wide-scale loan modification programs by lenders and mortgage holders can stop the freefall and begin the long way back to a sustainable economy. Read the rest of this entry »
Servicers tweaking loans, even though debt forgivenss more effective way of preventing defaults
Loan modifications for financially pressed homeowners have soared six-fold in the last year, though mortgage servicers are still making little use of the most effective approach to reducing borrowers’ delinquent payments.
Modifications rose to about 30,000 in August, from about 5,000 a year before, according to a report Wednesday by Rod Dubitsky, head of asset-backed securities research at Credit Suisse. The increase is a result of the decline in the performance of subprime loans, as well as new government and industry efforts.
“Our analysis does indicate some hope that indeed loan mods are a very useful tool in the housing rescue tool kit,” the eight-page report said. “Although mods have increased significantly this year, we think there is room for the industry to expand the scope, type and measurement of loan modification effectiveness.”
Nearly one year ago, the State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group met with the 20
largest servicers of subprime mortgage loans to discuss opportunities to prevent
unnecessary foreclosures. Over the past year, the State Working Group, composed of
state attorneys general and state banking regulators, has collected data monthly from 13
of these 20 servicers and published two reports on subprime servicing performance.
While some progress has been made in preventing foreclosures, the empirical evidence is
profoundly disappointing. Too many homeowners face foreclosure without receiving any
meaningful assistance by their mortgage servicer, a reality that is growing worse rather
than better, as the number of delinquent loans, prime and subprime, increases. Read the rest of this entry »
NEW YORK, Oct 2 (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage servicing companies permanently eased terms on about 79,000 home loans in August, slightly less than in July, suggesting the practice aimed at preventing foreclosure may be leveling off, according to data published by an industry group on Thursday.
Servicing companies, which collect payments and distribute the money to investors, modified 78,853 loans in August, down from 80,097 in July, said data from Hope Now, a coalition of mortgage lenders, servicers and counselors. But the level is up from the average monthly pace of 73,442 in the second quarter and less than 50,000 at the end of 2007. Read the rest of this entry »
Wachovia announced this summer it would stop offering pick and pay loans, but that wasn’t soon enough for thousands of homeowners like Marie, who are already in those loans.
Citigroup did not return our calls on Monday seeking comment about what it will do with the existing loans and Wachovia said it was too early to tell.
Regardless, Kevin Stein of the San Francisco based California Reinvestment Coalition said anyone in negotiations to make their payments more affordable should continue.
“If folks have entered into agreements, or work out agreements with Wachovia, they should be fine. If people are negotiating agreements with Wachovia they should continue to do so,” said Stein. Read the rest of this entry »
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The $700 billion bailout legislation now under consideration by Congress calls for the Treasury Secretary to implement a plan to stem foreclosures by working with servicers to modify loans.
But many housing experts question whether the bill will help struggling homeowners refinance into more affordable mortgages. They stress that the economy won’t recover until the tide of foreclosures stops, and the million-plus foreclosed homes on the market find buyers. Read the rest of this entry »
The “proposal is positive for the housing market to the degree that it shores up the banks’ ability to lend and prevents banks from closing their doors, that is key to finding stability for the housing market,” says Susan Wachter, professor of real estate and finance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “But it may not be enough.”
The hitch? The growing number of foreclosures. Nationally, foreclosures rose 12% in August from the month before and were up 27% from the year before, according to RealtyTrac.
“There is no sign of it abating,” Wachter says. “It is likely to worsen in the coming months. This has potential to drive down housing prices further. Read the rest of this entry »
Little more than a week ago, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley was in Washington, D.C., testifying before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee about the state’s prosecution of auction-rate securities fraud.
However, more interesting was written testimony Coakley submitted to the committee regarding the failure of the state’s attempt to get the mortgage industry to rearrange risky, inappropriate home loans voluntarily. The “loan modifications,” as Coakley’s office called them, would have kept homeowners in their homes under affordable, “sustainable” terms. Read the rest of this entry »
LA TIMES WASHINGTON — As congressional negotiators labored over the giant financial bailout plan last week, business leaders saw little to applaud in more than a few of the ideas under discussion, including one that proposed changing the nation’s bankruptcy laws to make it easier for homeowners to downsize troubled home mortgages.
On Sunday, when the head-butting ended and the dust cleared, a well-funded coalition of banking and mortgage industry lobbyists had reason to celebrate. The final bill included no changes in federal bankruptcy laws. Read the rest of this entry »
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Bush administration wants to help beleaguered financial institutions - and prevent the financial crisis from getting worse - by spending $700 billion to buy up troubled mortgage securities.
But many struggling homeowners are asking: “Where’s my bailout?”
Democratic lawmakers have taken up their battle and say they will include more help for homeowners as part of the proposal, according to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass, who heads the House Financial Services Committee. Final details are still being hammered out, but it appears that the idea is gaining traction. Read the rest of this entry »
The House Financial Services Committee is holding hearings this week into mortgage lenders’ efforts to help struggling homeowners avoid default. The testimony from one state official was less than encouraging.
“Based upon our experiences in Massachusetts, lenders, holders and servicers have not lived up to their very public promises of avoiding foreclosures by achieving loan modifications,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Coakley, who testified today. “We have been very active at the state level in urging the mortgage industry to take meaningful action to decrease the number of foreclosures, but we need Congress’ continued help in effectuating real change.” Read the rest of this entry »
Imagine you go to a Ford dealership, test drive a car, and then sign a contract to buy it. But as soon as the deal is done, they tell you you’re actually getting a Chevy, and the dealership across the street will be handling the details.
Or you go to a restaurant and order a steak, only to have the waiter tell you you’re going to get fish, and another restaurant will be preparing it.
Sound crazy? Not in the illogical world of finance.
If you own a home, you’ve probably had something similar happen to your mortgage. After weeks comparing rates and loan features, you decide on a lender, and go through the approval process. Then, maybe a month after the loan is funded you get a letter from the lender saying they have sold your mortgage to another “servicer”, and you will be doing business with them from now on. Goodbye. Read the rest of this entry »
When I hear the word, freeze, in regards to the mortgage and housing crisis, I immediately think of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Batman and Robin as Mr. Freeze with his super duper freeze gun.
Freezing everything in sight!
Yes, sometimes I fantasize in my own little loan modification and foreclosure freeze world. Hell, you have to fantasize a little. Especailly when you’re living in what is now known as the “American Nightmare.”
But in reality, that is exactly what struggling homeowners need to fight these villains known as mortgage servicers. Read the rest of this entry »
Attention American Homeowners: Do you think your servicer may be charging you fees illegally, abusing the debt collection laws or just plain scamming you? Guess what? They most likely are and if you do not do anything about it. You are what are called a helpless victim.
I am begging you to fight back and CHANGE the way homeowners are treated when reaching out for help. Do NOT tolerate this abuse and contact the proper governing authorities to protect your rights NOW!
Bear Stearns and EMC were caught in the act of deception and scams by the FTC and I am 100% positive there are many more of these huge fines to come. EMC and Bear Stearns are certainly NOT the ONLY servicers abusing the American homeowner……………………………
The Bear Stearns Companies, LLC and its subsidiary, EMC Mortgage Corporation, have agreed to pay $28 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they engaged in unlawful practices in servicing consumers’ home mortgage loans. The companies allegedly misrepresented the amounts borrowers owed, charged unauthorized fees, such as late fees, property inspection fees, and loan modification fees, and engaged in unlawful and abusive collection practices. Under the proposed settlement they will stop the alleged illegal practices and institute a data integrity program to ensure the accuracy and completeness of consumers’ loan information. Read the rest of this entry »
By Moe Bedard
The foreclosure process moves fast and in order to make it through this unforgiving time frame, you need to have a plan. The basic “mental foundation” for anyone in this situation is to “hope” for the best and plan for the worst because there are NO guarantees or rhyme or reason when attempting to negotiate with your lender or servicer.
If you have been looking for mortgage help or assistance with a loan modification, then you have come to the right website for safe and accurate information. This blog and our forum at LoanSafe.org was created for the sole purpose of assisting homeowners who are struggling with their mortgages to find the “real deal” when it comes to understanding what these crazy lenders and servicers are doing to help.
By all means DO NOT TRUST these phony loss mitigation companies that are preying on homeowners everywhere. Many of these fly by night companies are coming out of the wood work and their sole purpose is to scam desperate homeowners. You will see their websites advertised all over the search engines like Google. Many make false claims that that they have a 98% success rate and their results are guaranteed. There is no way in hell, ANYONE can promise that and remember, if it sounds too good to be true, then it is. Read the rest of this entry »
The lender carnage, death and destruction litter the home page of Aaron Krowne’s Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter like the beach at Normandy on D-Day. The infamous list has grown from September 2006 when Aaron started the website with approximately 10 failed lenders to a whopping 276 major U.S. failed lending operations today.
That comes out to about one failed lender every two days over the last two years. This is no anomaly- An anomaly is an irregularity, a mis proportion, or something that is strange or unusual, or unique.
Yes, 276 failed lenders are FAR from unique.
If you truly think about what is going on in our country right now and from the actual evidence on the ML-Implode.com website, your will realize that this is really not the “twilight zone” and our banking system is on the verge of complete collapse.
I think the question now is not “if” your bank will fail, but “when” will your bank fail. Read the rest of this entry »
This blog and my life has been dedicated to following what lenders, servicers and our government have done and are doing to assist the millions of Americans that are facing foreclosure as a result of being sold defective credit instruments. AKA subprime and ALT A mortgages.
In my hundreds of hours of research and work, only one agency and person seems to have a “true” grasp of reality and what needs to be done in order to help clean up the mortgage and housing mess.
That agency is the Federal Deposit Corporation (FDIC) and that person is the Chairwoman, Ms. Sheila Bair. Read the rest of this entry »
If you have a mortgage with Countrywide Home Loans and are in a KB home tract where Countrywide was the preferred lender, then please contact me right away.
You may have legal rights that were violated and may be eligible for mortgage relief. Please contact me here and I will contact you ASAP with possible help. This is 100% free service to uncover the truth to this relationship between Countrywide and KB Homes.
“We made a mistake in this society. We assumed that everybody can be a homeowner. That was wrong.
We ended up pushing people into home ownership - including a great many who weren’t ready for it.”
Question: How on earth did the U.S. mortgage market get here?
Answer: We had too little regulation at a point of great financial innovation. Twenty years ago, most loans were made by someone who expected to be paid back by the borrower. And lenders who want to be paid back by the borrower are careful about who they lend to. Read the rest of this entry »
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Legal Newsline)-Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says its lawsuit against Countrywide Financial Corp. should not be lumped with others filed by California Attorney General Jerry Brown and San Diego City Attorney Mark Aguirre, as the lender requested.
The Illinois attorney general’s office confirmed on Friday that its legal team will join Aguirre and, presumably representatives from California’s attorney general’s office, at Harvard University on Sept. 25. That’s the date Read the rest of this entry »
For millions, the American Dream has become the “American Nightmare”. Many people have lost their jobs, their mortgages have become cancerous and they can no longer pay the loan on their overvalued homes.
The social impact of these foreclosures is reaching every “dark” nook and cranny in almost every city in the country. Homelessness, domestic abuse, crime, violence and instability are rising in many communities as hundreds of thousands of homes go on the foreclosure auction block.
This is all happening in a country where if a child eats a hamburger and gets sick, there is a nationwide recall of the tainted and toxic meat and the company that sold this beef is put out of business. This is from the same country where people are literally dying from these toxic mortgages and millions more are being kicked out of their homes and not one bank has been held accountable for selling such an INCREDIBLY DEFECTIVE AND TOXIC consumer product. Read the rest of this entry »
![[The Fannie Mae Gang]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-BW924_oj_gig_20080722193036.jpg) |
Wall Street Journal October 4, 2004:
Fannie Mae isn’t an ordinary company and this isn’t a run-of-the-mill accounting scandal. The U.S. government had no financial stake in the failure of Enron or WorldCom. But because of Fannie’s implicit subsidy from the federal government, taxpayers are on the hook if its capital cushion is insufficient to absorb big losses. Private profit, public risk. That’s quite a confidence game — and it’s time to call it.
Moe- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have failed and you, the tax payers, ARE bailing them out. I just wanted to make that loud and clear.
Were there warning signs that Wall Street and our government knew more than they led us to believe? This October 4, 2004 article in the Wall Street Journal did a great job of pulling the covers off Fannie Mae’s questionable accounting practices and Enron style way of doing business. It also verifies that there were more than enough warning signs of the impending implosion 4 years later. Read the rest of this entry »
Good afternoon, thank you for taking the time to participate in this conference call. I would recognize John Bovenzi with IndyMac Federal, who is also on the line, and thank him for his contributions to today’s important announcement. John will provide brief remarks following mine.
I am pleased today to announce the implementation of a systematic loan modification program for troubled residential borrowers who have mortgages owned or serviced by IndyMac. Read the rest of this entry »
He said, she said and then the IRS said. Who are you going to listen to?
From the The IRS on Shorts Sales, Foreclosures and Debt Forgiveness.
Update Feb. 4, 2008 — The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 generally allows taxpayers to exclude income from the discharge of debt on their principal residence. Debt reduced through mortgage restructuring, as well as mortgage debt forgiven in connection with a foreclosure, qualify for this relief. Read the rest of this entry »
The Soup Nazi from the TV show Seinfeld was known for his abusive customer service skills and saying, “NO soup for you, to the back of the line!” Now, it appears that he is working at Wachovia in the loan modification department.
Attention American homeowners, the FDIC, the OCC, the FTC, Barney Frank and anyone else who will listen to this BS coming from a bank that must be afraid of write downs and or is about to go under or implode.
The word is out, Wachovia is NOT offering loan modifications to struggling homeowners at risk of losing their homes.
Apparently as of June 30, 2008, several employees and negotiators have communicated to my staff that they have stopped modifying mortgages and will only offer short term “payment help”. Anything that involves modifying a note, a loan modification, they absolutely will not do.
There is one exception to Wachovia’s new rule that Loan Safe has found, predatory lending. Mortgages with federal and state violations and or mortgage fraud are being looked at by their legal Read the rest of this entry »
From the Center for Responsible Lending:
In all the ongoing analysis of the foreclosure crisis, one point should not get lost: mortgage brokers played a key role in making the abusive subprime loans that continue to wreck the U.S. economy.
Today North Carolina became the first state to ban systematic overcharging by brokers. Governor Mike Easley signed into a law a number of new consumer protections, including a ban on subprime “yield-spread premiums” – essentially kickbacks that brokers routinely receive on subprime loans for steering a borrower into a higher interest rate than the lender has set for the loan. Read the rest of this entry »
A federal bankruptcy judge has rejected a settlement involving the Countrywide Financial Corporation, the mortgage lender, saying he was not convinced that it was fair to nearly 300 borrowers who claimed to have been hurt by the company’s abusive practices.
The settlement called for Countrywide, acquired by Bank of America last month, to pay $325,000 to the Chapter 13 bankruptcy trustee in Pittsburgh, Ronda J. Winnecour, to cover costs and settle litigation in 293 separate cases. Read the rest of this entry »
The social impact that foreclosures are having in our communities is nothing short of disturbing. From suicides, murders and as in this case, a stand off with swat.
SADDLE BROOK, N.J. - Authorities say a son held Bergen County sheriff’s officers at gunpoint as they tried to evict his 88-year-old mother from her foreclosed home.
Officials say John Brennan threatened two officers with a .22-caliber handgun.
Officers talked to the 60-year-old, who surrendered after about five minutes when a SWAT team arrived Tuesday.
Beatrice Brennan had refinanced her two-bedroom, $250,000 home and had fallen behind on payments. The house was sold at a sheriff’s auction in May.
NACA Durren Duarte - As for why it’s taking so long, the lender/servicers are overwhelmed. When you send lenders thousands of proposals, they get backed up, and it takes them longer to respond. Also, many of the lender/servicers who promised to be in their offices working on cases from the event Sunday, July 20th, did not show up. They were there Saturday, but most didn’t come Sunday. That was disheartening, but that’s another reason for the delay. Plus some of the lender/servicers require more documentation from the homeowners and that’s taking a little time.
In other words, it’s just not that easy. The volume, the complexity and the paperwork involved are overcoming even the best intentions. Also, some folks are just too far gone financially to get their loans restructured. Read the rest of this entry »
An attorney who spoke at the Western States Loan Servicing Conference in Las Vegas predicts that the Federal Trade Commission will produce a “significant enforcement action” involving a major mortgage servicer within the next several months. Anand Raman, a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said the FTC has broad authority to scrutinize loan servicing practices under its broad authority to address “unfair and deceptive trade practices,” and that even practices that are not “manifestly illegal” may get servicers into trouble.
Issues the FTC and other regulatory agencies are likely to investigate include internal documentation, monthly billing statement information, and customer service, he said, noting that regulators are under political pressure to get tough with the mortgage industry. Read the rest of this entry »
The pace of loan modifications has quickened in recent months. According to data from Hope Now, modifications made up 42.2% of total workout plans in June, or 76,000 modifications, compared with 18.6% in July last year, or 23,000 modifications.
Kenneth Lay, CEO of Enron is lead in handcuffs after Lay was found guilty on all six counts of conspiracy and fraud by a jury of eight women and four men. In a separate bench trial, Judge Lake ruled Lay was guilty of four counts of fraud and false statements. Will we see similar indictments clouding the major investment banks and lenders anytime soon?
The top 5 investment banks will pay out a record $38 billion in bonuses in 2008 as the housing and mortgage crisis spirals out of control. Only in America will you see corporate executives that are rewarded with millions of dollars for making bad calls, bad deals and then when their employment is discontinued (either by force or by will), they are sent off into a cozy retirement with plush packages and bonus spiffs to last them forever.
Last year, CEOs at the big five investment banks took home the following bonuses: Read the rest of this entry »
Obama wants the government to step in to help homeowners facing foreclosure. McCain has gradually broadened his position to support government intervention, but wants stricter requirements for borrowers seeking aid.
Obama’s plan to fight foreclosures:
Give homeowners the chance to have their loan modified, provided they meet certain criteria. Read the rest of this entry »
You can literally hear the clock tick when facing a looming and ominous foreclosure sale date. Tick tock goes the clock and the time just flies by. Now top that off with stress, lack of money, paralysis by analysis and we have a recipe for another lost home to foreclosure.
American homeowners need to know that there are laws that can help protect them. These news laws help them stay in their homes longer and some clarify that their servicer MUST do its “due diligence” when looking into a loan modification by a delinquent or defaulting borrower. Read the rest of this entry »
I have now officially become a “victim” of the foreclosure crisis. I don’t own a home, I do not have a mortgage and the ironic part of this is that my job actually entails assisting borrowers online that are in foreclosure.
Never would I have thought that I would be caught with my family in a home that is soon to be foreclosed on.
I have written about this new phenomenon called “predatory renting” a few times over the last year and it seems to be spreading across the country like wild fire.
The perfect crime is being perpetuated across America and there seems to be no laws or any way to prevent it. Read the rest of this entry »
Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) — As U.S. regulators brace for more bank failures, consumers are wondering for the first time since the savings-and-loan crisis of the 1980s about the safety of their money.
Harry Newton, a former publisher who lives in New York City, moved $604,000 in cash to seven different banks last month after the seizure of IndyMac Bancorp Inc. to ensure that his funds were covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Read the rest of this entry »