Friday, September 2, 2011

From the AP: Robo-Signing Practices Older, More Pervasive Than First Thought

More pervasive and older than thought by whom?

Not by many in the legal community fighting the banks efforts.

Read about it HERE

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Goldman Sachs is next. Sued by Allstate for toxic investments.

Allstate Sues Goldman Sachs Over Toxic Investments: via HuffPost
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Robo-Signing still Very Common - surprised?

Check it out on iWatch, a great site - read it HERE

Bank of America owns Recontrust, which was recently sued by Washington State

It is about time --- someone, somewhere, CARES that the banks OWN the entities that act as trustee to the homeowner on a Deed of Trust.

We have been complaining of breach of fiduciary duty for 3 years - and no one has listened.  It is amazing how the trustees act like the bank's attorneys during the foreclosure process and ARE the bank's attorneys in the eviction process in court - they should be helping the homeowner at least as much as the bank, if not more, as the bank usually is NOT a party to the Deed of Trust.

Recontrust often serves as trustee in VA as well - always alongside another firm (Sam White, or recently Atlantic Law Group is their co-trustee of choice).  This is necessary because non-resident entities may not serve as trustee to a deed of trust in VA.  They seem to think that by having a co-trustee that makes it ok.  It does not make it ok.

Check out the story HERE


Get ready for One World Govt conspiracy theorists to go crazy - "The Euro Zone"

Merkel and Sarkozy recommend a Euro Zone - one govt to set tax and budget policy for all 17 countries.

The concern - are sovereign nations (Euro members) ready to give up authority over tax and budget policy.

We shall see.


Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Goldman Sachs Sued For $490M By Regulator Over Risky Mortgages

Another lawsuit for selling crap securities, this time Goldman Sachs sold them to credit unions, and lied about the crap they were selling -- we continue to note that the crap mortgages peddled onto unsuspecting home buyers / re-financers, is something the courts, for the most part, have yet to acknowledge or allow claims against the lenders by the homeowners.  TILA, RESPA and other federal consumer protection laws have a 1-2 year statute of limitations from the time you went to settlement on the loan (or discovered the fraud, but this argument goes nowhere in the courts).

However, 15 USC 1640(e) provides that you can raise TILA claims at any time that efforts are made to "collect the debt."  A foreclosure is an action to collect a debt (See Wilson v. Draper & Goldberg, from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals), yet homeowners are being denied the opportunity to raise these defenses as the claims filed by our office have been repeatedly dismissed due to the statute of limitations; the court of appeals affirmed those decisions. 

Check out the Goldman story HERE

Monday, August 8, 2011

AIG Sues Bank Of America For More Than $10B Over Mortgage Securities

No surprise, was just a matter of time, and you can expect to see a lot more of this type of lawsuit.

Check out the story HERE

Friday, August 5, 2011

Thursday, August 4, 2011

BofA Settles For $10 Million Over Allegations Of Mortgage Abuse

BoA settlement .. what does this mean for homeowners who were / will be unlawfully foreclosed on?  No one knows - probably nothing.  10 million dollar settlement.

Read all about it HERE

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Side Deal With Bank Of America Would Cede Liability In Exchange For Homeowner Relief

BoA in talks with states to settle wrongful foreclosures - other banks in early talks as well. 

With all the major banks attempting to settle wrongful foreclosures, the courts cannot be far behind in forcing the banks to at least submit proper paperwork that is legally sufficient.  To date, it seems the banks are allowed to simply make up their documents, with no consideration of the language in them, the legal status of the entity acting, or the capacity in which they act (as agent, nominee, or in its own name).  These terms matter - one cannot act in his own name if he has no interest in the mortgage.  One cannot act as an agent for an entity that itself has no interest in the mortgage.  This has got to stop.

Check it out HERE

Lawyers, foreclosure fatigue and the dreaded FREE HOUSE

Excellent post on Mandelman's Blog about the status of foreclosure defense around the country - check it out HERE

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Internal Doc Reveals GMAC Filed False Document in Bid to Foreclose

Wow.  I cannot remember the number of times we have been in court to challenge the fake documents executed by Jeffrey Stephan.  Perhaps now the outcome might go our way ..... this article reveals how Ms. Stephan, as an agent for GMAC, working with the foreclosing law firm, literally fabricates a document to create the appearance of authority to foreclose.

We have been saying it for years (literally).  The problems are going to continue to come out, and the truth will eventually find its way to the surface.

Do not miss this story at ProPublica.Org

Read all about it here

Monday, June 13, 2011

NY Times article - NY and Delaware AG's investigating whether the REMIC trusts actually own anything

While it looks like some courts will question the Wall Street Trusts, others have no desire to challenge the securitization trusts ownership of blank endorsed notes.  On the other hand, the NY and DE AGs are investigating whether these trusts actually own anything. 

We know what they will find.  Question is, what will they do about it given the ramifications?

Check the article out HERE

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Lawsuit Reveals How a Middleman Is Blocking Mortgage Modifications for Homeowners

From our consultations with homeowners we can confirm that these problems are all too common.

Read about it at ProPublica HERE

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

A Test Where the Banks Had the Questions and the Answers

Article at ProPublica on the upcoming 2011 stress tests the banks will be going through.  Read it HERE

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Mortgage Industry To Face Massive Changes Under Regulators' Plan; Homeowners, Investors Better Protected

Great article by Shahien Nasiripour.  Want to know why getting a loan mod is so difficult? This tidbit from the article is the answer:

Instead of an industry geared towards maximizing the value of a mortgage -- like modifying a home loan so investors lose $0.20 on the dollar rather than the $0.50 they'd lose if it was repossessed -- servicers are instead forcing through foreclosures, racking up fees through prolonged foreclosure proceedings, and effectively disregarding the rights of investors and borrowers in pursuit of their own profit.

Read the whole article  HERE

Friday, March 4, 2011

When Cities struggle, workers punished but bondholders spared

Article by William Alden, its upon Huff Post.
This is the real issue - protect the bond holders, and push austerity on the workers.

Read about it HERE

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Ohio Judges Halt Foreclosure Proceedings In Fraud Search

Judges are beginning to force the banks to follow the same laws the rest of us have to follow .... read about Judges in Ohio HERE

FCIC Report Misses Central Issue: Why Was There Demand for Bad Mortgage Loans? the benefits for originating bad loans exceeded the cost of these negative consequences

"The introduction of a standardized contract on credit default swaps in the mortgage related market (which took place in June 2005….notice the timing relative to when the really bad mortgage issuance took off?) allowed interested parties to bet against the mortgage market in a remarkably efficient manner – through the use of CDOs."

BINGO!!!  Read this excellent post at Naked Capitalism HERE 

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report - a lot to read

Check out this LINK to stories on the FCIC report.  No surprise the FCIC came down on party lines, with democrats blaming ta greedy unethical financial industry and Republicans blaming government owned Fannie and Freddie.

Jodie Allen rhetorically asks? Who's Really to Blame for the Housing Crisis? And she has the right answer

Read it HERE

Republican Amnesia on the Financial Crisis

Miller has it right, read about it HERE

Rep. Brad Miller: Mortgage Crisis Won't Be Solved Until Banks Are Forced To Help

Read it HERE

HAMP program is not working for families trying to stay in their homes - more were kicked from the program than were helped, resulting in foreclosure for many

HAMP program woes

Monday, January 3, 2011

Quick Plug - Rather than link one story, just go to Baseline Scenario and ... read.

Read a lot.  Read the comments posted after stories.  Then read some more.  http://baselinescenario.com/

Of particular interest, this story: “They lived in a world that was not only harsh and cruel but that rationalized its cruelty under the guise of economic law. . . . It was the world that was cruel, not the people in it.

and this one: Why can't Europe avoid another crisis? Why not the US?

Note this quote:

"Most experienced watchers of the eurozone are expecting another serious crisis to break out in early 2011.  This projected crisis is tied to the rollover funding needs of weaker eurozone governments, i.e., debts falling due in March through May, and therefore seems much more predictable than what happened to Greece or Ireland in 2010.  The investment bankers who fell over themselves to lend to these countries on the way up, now lead the way in talking up the prospects for a serious crisis."

This has "Credit Default Swaps" written all over it.

Nail, meet head. Mark Blyth on why the bailouts won't work.

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