FRONT PAGE FORGERY — NY TIMES

SERVICES YOU NEED “Linda M. Tirelli, a lawyer in White Plains who represents Ms. Nuer in the case against Chase. “This is not about getting a free house for my client. It’s about a level playing field. If I submitted false documents like this to the court, I’d have my license handed to me.” “Judges [...]

Forensic Analysis: Unions Amass Armory of Research on Foreclosures of Securitized Mortgages

“We did not service the loan,” Mr. Dale said. “We did not originate the loan, and we were not the financial entity that placed it into foreclosure. Do you understand what a trustee does?” Editor’s Note: Well, Yes Mr. Dale, we do understand what a trustee does and can do —- nothing. So why are [...]

Principal Reduction: A Step Forward by BofA, Wells Fargo

Editor’s Note: Better late than never. It is a step in the right direction, but 30% reduction is not likely to do the job, and waiting for mortgages to become delinquent is simply kicking the can down the road. The political argument of a “gift” to these homeowners is bogus. They are legally entitled to [...]

U.S. Plans Big Expansion in Effort to Aid Homeowners

March 25, 2010 U.S. Plans Big Expansion in Effort to Aid Homeowners By DAVID STREITFELD The Obama administration on Friday will announce broad new initiatives to help troubled homeowners, potentially refinancing several million of them into fresh government-backed mortgages with lower payments. Another element of the new program is meant to temporarily reduce the payments [...]

Want to Buy Your Loan?: Toxic Asset Plan Foresees Big Subsidies for Investors

To start the program, Treasury will ask banks, like Citigroup or JPMorgan Chase, to identify pools of residential and commercial real estate loans that they will be willing to sell through an auction. Private investors will bid against each other, setting a market price. No bank will be required to participate. Editor’s Note: it’s starting. [...]

“uncertain line between hope and despair”

The entities foreclosing don’t have ANYTHING at stake. They have no stake and yet they are still getting homes for nothing Editor’s Note: The federal plan is good as to its intent but unnecessary if the law was applied. Sure the bailout SHOULD apply to anyone who got stuck with one of these securitized mortgages. [...]

Do NOT Prepay Your Mortgage

As pointed out in the article below there are many good reasons for prepaying your mortgage on a monthly basis. But if you are in a securitized mortgage and you are either underwater or facing payments that are resetting, be aware that any prepayments will take you far out of the running for any modification. [...]

If the Bank of England wants this information, how can this court deem it irrelevant?

SEE ALSO BOE PAPER ON ABS DISCLOSURE condocmar10 If the Bank of England wants this information, how can this court deem it irrelevant? NOTE: BOE defines investors as note-holders. information on the remaining life, balance and prepayments on a loan; data on the current valuation and loan-to-value ratios on underlying property and collateral; and interest [...]

Obama Considering Expansion of Cash for Keys With Taxpayer Money

Editor’s Note: It seems to me that this concedes the battle to Wall Street. It encourages homeowners to take the loss that at the very least should be shared with ALL the players in the securitization scheme and creates more problems in housing and social services. Excerpt from NYT – do not buy into this [...]

Monster From Below, Not from Above — Appraisal Fraud

Editor’s Comment: Again, myth prevails. The monster that gobbled our home equity and the value of our pension funds came from the waters beneath the market not from some economic disaster or sudden migration of population to Australia. The “loss of value” was nothing of the sort. Prices were going up during a decade when [...]

No Help in Sight, More Homeowners Walk Away

New research suggests that when a home’s value falls below 75 percent of the amount owed on the mortgage, the owner starts to think hard about walking away, even if he or she has the money to keep paying. See the whole article in New York Times. Extensive discussion of the issue. It’s beginning to [...]

Walking Away and Keeping Your House: Strategic Default Strategy

A provocative paper by Brent White, a law professor at the University of Arizona, makes the case that borrowers are actually suffering from a “norm asymmetry.” In other words, they think they are obligated to repay their loans even if it is not in their financial interest to do so, while their lenders are free [...]

Taxing Wall Street Down to Size: Litigation Guidelines

The mistake I detect from those who are not faring well in court is the attempt to treat preliminary motions and hearings as opportunities to prove your entire case. Don’t talk about conspiracy and theft, talk about evidence and discovery. every debtor is entitled to know the identity of the creditor, the full accounting for [...]

FCIC Calm Before the Storm: Bankers Still Basking in Their Own Glory

Phil Angelides, the former state treasurer of California who is the commission’s chairman, told Mr. Blankfein “it sounds more like you were selling cars with faulty brakes and then buying insurance on the driver.” Mr. Angelides, who lost the governor’s race in California to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006, pointedly compared some Wall Street chief [...]

The Other Plot to Wreck America

“Americans must be told the full story of how Wall Street gamed and inflated the housing bubble, made out like bandits, and then left millions of households in ruin. Without that reckoning, there will be no public clamor for serious reform of a financial system that was as cunningly breached as airline security at the [...]

Federal Judge Narrows Options: Baltimore vs. Wells Fargo

Editor’s Note: Baltimore decided to take on one of the worst “Club 100″ players in the mortgage meltdown, Wells Fargo. The thrust of their argument is that Wells Fargo targeted poor people and made a bad situation worse, causing collateral damage all over the city. Baltimore will now file a narrower amended complaint, but the [...]