U.S. STANDS FIRM IN SUPPORT OF WALL STREET WHILE THE REST OF THE WORLD TAKES THE ECONOMIC CRISIS SERIOUSLY

MR. GEITNER, MR. SUMMERS AND OTHERS WHO ARE ON THE ECONOMIC TEAM DESERVE some CREDIT FOR BRINGING US BACK FROM AN ECONOMIC PRECIPICE THAT WOULD HAVE RESULTED IN A DEPRESSION FAR DEEPER AND LONGER THAN THE GREAT DEPRESSION. AND THEY SHOULD BE CUT SOME SLACK BECAUSE THEY WERE HANDED A PLATE ON WHICH THE ECONOMY [...]

Banks Ready to File Suit Against Short-Sellers

editor’s note: This is part of what we have been talking about. years down the road these bankers are looking to sue borrowers for deficiencies after people recover from the disaster the bankers caused. Also set to explode in a few years are title defects that are incurable resulting from the securitization of loans and incorrect [...]

Ex Freddie Mac Exec Says “Securitize No More”

In order to revive securitization, taxpayers would have to absorb large risk. The social gains would be small, or perhaps even nonexistent. The best thing to do with the shattered Humpty-Dumpty of mortgage securitization would be to toss the broken pieces into the garbage.
See Also Securitized Mortgages Are Illegal: Securitization Is ILLEGAL
Should Mortgages be Securitized?

Author: 
Arnold [...]

AIG Letter on CDS Shows Transfer and Subrogation

In November of 2008, AIG answered a request from the SEC that requird them to explain the inner workings of Credit Default Swaps. While they appear to have finessed certain issues, this is the clearest glimpse of how it worked.
There are several classes of transactions but each of them involves some “delivery” of the [...]

Don’t Get “HAMP”ED Out Of Your Home!

By Walter Hackett, Esq.

The federal government has trumpeted its Home Affordable Modification Program or “HAMP” solution as THE solution to runaway foreclosures – few things could be further from the truth.  Under HAMP a homeowner will be offered a “workout” that can result in the homeowner being “worked out” of his or her home.  Here’s [...]

OHIO SLAM DUNK by Judge Morgenstern-Clarren: US BANK TRUSTEE and OCWEN Crash and Burn

Pretender Lenders — read and weep. Game Over. Over the next 6-12 months the entire foreclosure mess is going to be turned on its head as it becomes apparent to even the most skeptical that the mortgage mess is just that —  a mess. From the time the deed was recorded to the time the [...]

FDCPA — Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

Don’t get misled by titles. The wording of the statute clearly uses “verification” not validation. Verification generally means some sworn document or affidavit. This means when you contest the debt under FDCPA (in addition to sending a QWR) the party who is supposedly collecting or enforcing the debt has a duty to “obtain verification”. And [...]

NY Times: Why Creditors Should Suffer, Too

Editor’s Note: This article is on the right track. Using the guidelines of resolution trust, a fair and equitable distribution of risk and loss could be achieved while at the same time demonstrating to the world that the United States accepts the responsibility for what our “masters of the universe” on Wall Street and Main [...]

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 mortgage restructuring, [...]

Closed: Utah’s MagnetBank, Florida’s Ocala National Bank, Maryland’s Suburban Federal Savings Bank — 6 so far in 2009

Utah’s MagnetBank closed without an acquirer
FDIC shuts down three banks in one day amid ongoing credit crisis

By John Letzing, MarketWatch
Last update: 6:42 p.m. EST Jan. 30, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Federal regulators closed three banks in a single day Friday, as the ongoing credit crisis showed no signs of abating.
Utah’s MagnetBank became the fourth [...]