What happened to Joe Nocera?

Sometimes you just have to wonder. Nocera has been an excellent, even if somewhat reluctant investigative reporter who brought almost as much daylight as Gretchen Morgenstern. Like others reporting on the mortgage mess, he has not yet attempted to quantify or even describe the financial damages to investors and homeowners, much less the total financial [...]

Bank of New York Slammed for Misrepresenting Standing

6.29.10Bank-of-New-York-v-Michael-Raftogainis[1] Judge Todd also stated that additional discovery is to be produced when the foreclosure involves a securitization, lost note claims, or a holder in due course challenge (which may arise in the context of the purported assignment of a toxic loan to a securitized trust prior to the trustee of that trust instituting a [...]

Ratings Arbitrage a/k/a Fraud

Investment banks bundled mortgage loans into securities and then often rebundled those securities one or two more times. Those securities were given high ratings and sold to investors, who have since lost billions of dollars on them. Editor’s Note: The significance of this report cannot be overstated. Not only did the investment bankers LOOK for [...]

Top New York Judge Urges Greater Legal Rights for the Poor

Editor’s Note: Judge Lippman is certainly onto something here. There is no doubt that the poor get the short end of the stick when it comes to legal matters. Whether this will have any effect on foreclosures is a question that cannot be answered as yet. With more people moving into the poverty level due [...]

Shareholders Sue Goldman, Blankfein Confirming Trusts Do NOT Own the Loans

Leo II bgitt47@verizon.net 2010/04/25 at 12:26 am Editor’s Note: I believe Leo is right. These suits allege that the SPV do not own the loan portfolios. They also allege directly that the Trust Assets included insurance — payments from credit default swaps. Two revealing lawsuits filed against Goldman-Sachs that I believe further support arguments that [...]

Foreclosure Prevention 1.1

Nobody ever thought that returning a lady’s purse to her after a purse snatcher ran away with it was a gift. So why is anyone contesting returning the purse to homeowners who had their lives snatched from them? The baby steps of the Obama administration are frustrating. Larry Summers, Tim Geithner and those who walk [...]

Tax Apocalypse for States and Federal Government Can be Reversed: Show Me the Money!

SEE states-look-beyond-borders-to-collect-owed-taxes states-ignore-obvious-remedy-to-fiscal-meltdown tax-impact-of-principal-reduction accounting-for-damages-madoff-ruling-may-affect-homeowner-claims taxing-wall-street-down-to-size-litigation-guidelines taking-aim-at-bonuses-based-on-23-7-trillion-in-taxpayer-gifts payback-timemany-see-the-vat-option-as-a-cure-for-deficits As we have repeatedly stated on this blog, the trigger for the huge deficits was the housing nightmare conjured up for us by Wall Street. Banks made trillions of dollars in profits that were never taxed. The tax laws are already in place. Everyone is paying taxes, [...]

States Look Beyond Borders to Collect Owed Taxes

as more states catch on and start investing in more payroll auditors and data mining tools to get money back, the end result may be an arms race until every state comes out more or less evenly. Editor’s Note: There is no better place to start than the trillions in profits from securitized mortgages and [...]

States Ignore Obvious Remedy to Fiscal Meltdown

without raising taxes one cent, many states could recover much or all of their deficit and perhaps some states could be looking at a surplus. The money is sitting on Wall Street waiting to be claimed through existing tax laws, regulatory fees, and even damage claims much like the Tobacco litigation. Editor’s Note: Bob Herbert [...]

Man Sends Message to Banks-Bulldozes $350k House

 Sending Banks a Message - Cincinnati OH  - Click Here to View Video “The average homeowner that can’t afford an attorney or can fight as long as we have, they don’t stand a chance,” he said. Hoskins said he’d gotten a $170,000 offer from someone to pay off the house, but the bank refused, saying they could [...]

The Elephant in the Room – Well One of Many…

By Brad Keiser For those of you who have been to our seminars, (coming to Southern California next month) You have heard me ask about Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke…”Are they stupid or were they lying when they said everything was OK through out all of 2007 and most of 2008?” You have seen and heard why Neil and I declare [...]

Give me a little help here: Trusts, REMICs, and the Authority of the Trustee or Trustee’s Attorney to Represent

When U.S. Bank comes in as Trustee for the the holders of series xyz etc., the use of the words Trustee and series certificates give it an air of legitimacy. But this is probably just another bluff. Reading the indenture on the bond (mortgage backed security) and the prospectus, you will see that the “Trust” [...]

Wells Fargo Steps on A Rake (We Hope) — EGGS — a New Country

And when that rakes hits them in the head, it will hopefully start a domino effect with the rest of the pretender lenders. OH Sup Ct – Wells Fargo Appeal WF has decided to go for the brass ring by bringing an appeal from a case they lost. What they are saying to the Ohio [...]

Media picks up on evil business practices of servicers: Watch These Videos

HOMEOWNER FIGHTS AND WINS WITH ACORN: watch HOMEOWNER FIGHTS AND WINS ON PRODUCE THE NOTE: watch BLACKMAIL: NO LATE PAYMENTS? NO PROBLEM. GET OUT!: watch PRODUCE THE NOTE: WHEN THE BANK LOST OR DESTROYED THE EVIDENCE: watch “EVERYONE SHOULD PUT THE ‘LENDER’ TO TASK”: watch Servicers do everything they can to keep loans in default, make money [...]

Federal Appeal Slams Lawyers and Pretender Lenders with Sanctions for Misrepresentation on Ownership of Loan

Read it and use it: judge-youngs-decision-on-nosek Challenge everything: As we have repeatedly stated, the entire position of the would-be foreclosers is a bluff and a fraud upon the court, the borrower and the system. Non-judicial process is improper procedure and unavailable for securitized mortgages: These astonishing breaches of ethics, duties and contract law together with [...]

Florida Petition Seeks Mediation of Foreclosures

As reported in the Florida Bar News dated March 1, 2009, The Supreme Court of Florida has received a petition to require foreclosure mediation. The article by Mark D Killian, managing editor states “Contending that prejudgment mediation could save more than 130,000 Florida homes from foreclosure  and assist more than 360,000 borrowers,” the plan is [...]

QUANTS — The Guys Behind the Guise

it follows that the investors are the ONLY parties with standing to make any claim on the mortgage, note or obligation. But they won’t make that claim because of the exposure to risk that could leave them with even more loss than the current loss on their investment. This leaves trillions of dollars in unclaimed [...]

More Banks failing: Title Chain Gets Cloudier

Three U.S. Banks Shut by Regulators as Financial Crisis Deepens Email | Print | A A A   By Margaret Chadbourn and Ari Levy Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) — Three banks, two in California and one in Georgia, were seized by regulators, bringing this year’s tally of closings to nine as a recession and record foreclosures [...]

Let’s Hear It For Sherriff Evans: Federal bailout act protections preempt State foreclosure

The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing -Edmund Burke Release Date: February 2, 2009 Contact: Ofc. John Roach, 313-224-0615 Evans halts sale of foreclosed homes o Sheriff says move is necessary to ensure homeowners´ rights o Federal bailout act protections preempt State foreclosure law, Evans says DETROIT, Michigan [...]

The Mortgage 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, qualifies for the relief.

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act and Debt Cancellation If you owe a debt to someone else and they cancel or forgive that debt, the canceled amount may be taxable. The Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 generally allows taxpayers to exclude income from the discharge of debt on their principal residence. Debt reduced through [...]