Our government is still making noises about chasing the bad guys, yes, the mortgage monsters who terrorized Michigan, and the rest of the country, with their practices.

Making noises, yes.  Accomplishing anything?  Not so far.

image by:  Dreamstime

What terrifying mortgage practices?

Robo-signing is a glaring example of greed overcoming all ethics. 

From the linked to story:  “Whether massive robo-signing occurred is no longer in issue. The question that needs to be investigated is why it was being done. The alleged justification—that the bankers were so busy that they cut corners—hardly seems credible given the extent of the practice.”

Uh, yeah.  You (the mortgage industry) are making hundreds of millions of dollars, but, you have to hire people at minimum wage to sign affidavits that a mortgage is in default, and the mill law firm you hired now can use this in a court to foreclose.

People were signing hundreds of affidavits per day.  The signers knew nothing about any of the affidavits they signed.

Gretchen Morgensten’s book, Reckles$ Endangerment, has the best recounting of how the mortgage monsters led the world economy to the brink of destruction.

How would you like to be in the position of losing your house, based on a ten dollar per hour clerk signing a paper that he is familiar with all the records of your mortgage, and you are in default?

Then, when courts started holding their feet to the fire about not having the records of who bought which mortgage when,

image by:  Dreamstime

the mortgage crooks simply started making up documentation of transfers, backdating them, and putting them in the pile for the robo-signers.

I understand it is difficult for law enforcement to wade through the paperwork on these massive frauds.

The SEC chairman said they have looked at 25 million, yes, million, pages of documents and on mortgage fraud issued lots of subpoenas, yada, yada, yada.

How about some indictments?  Some criminal charges against the crooks?

No related posts.

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The foreclosure crisis has hit Michigan as hard as any state.

Like my boat after a rainstorm,

most Michigan homes with a mortgage are underwater, that is, worth less than what is owed

on them.

Uh, this is not newsworthy.

Just today, spoke to a former client who is 64, yes, sixty four months behind on his home, and

the foreclosure process is just starting.  He owes over half a million, yes, $500,000, dollarrs on

a home that may be worth $200,000.

Then a prospective client from Detroit calls.  Trying to get a loan modification to avoid foreclosure, pursuant to his rights under Michigan’s foreclosure law.

House worth maybe $12,000, owes $112,000 on the first mortgage alone, another $40,00 on the

second mortgage.  Wife works part time, and they both get pensions.  And their neighborhood is

no longer safe.

President Obama, in his State of the Union speech talked about chasing the crooks

image credit: dreamstime

who caused the foreclosure crisis.

So, my question, now will the government help foreclosed homeowners?

Uh, sure.

My view is the crooks bought both political parties on the way up, when the bubble was still

inflating.  The real estate bubble, that is.  So, when it popped, back in the summer of 2008,

they never worried about being prosecuted for their crimes.

Hell, the sons of bitches got federal government appointments.  Big ones.

So, this new commission to

“ to investigate misconduct and illegalities that contributed to both the financial collapse and the mortgage crisis.”

is another smoke screen, by the crooks, for the crooks.

I am not a left wing critic of the administration, like Abigail C. Field, but her review is dead on.

This transcends party politics, even political philosophies.

I have yet to meet someone who justifies the looting, fraud, OK, I am close to frothing at the mouth recalling the destruction of the global economy these clowns started.

That is not even a sentence.  My point is, no one excuses the crimes they committed, left, right, Libertarian, Communist, you name it.

Yet, not only do they walk, make that fly, freely among us, they are still living well off the

fruits of their crimes.

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Michigan’s foreclosure law changed dramatically a couple of years ago to

encourage the evil bankers, uh, sorry, responsible mortgage companies to

assist homeowners in keeping their homes.

I have seen no statistical studies.  Based on what I hear from Michigan

bankruptcy and foreclosure clients, not many people actually get modifications

out of this process.  Like all the other government programs.

photo image: dreamstime

It does give you more time, 3 months plus, to adjust your life.

The temporary law has been extended once, and the legislature has passed

another extension with significant changes to the Michigan foreclosure laws.

You can read the bills, there are three of them by clicking on these links:

Michigan foreclosure,   foreclosure law, and foreclosure in Michigan.

The old law required the scumbags, uh, sorry, mortgage companies, to publish

a notice somewhere, always appeared in the Legal News, with your address.

et cetera, advising you of your right to request a modification within 14 days.

The new laws make publishing the notice in a newspaper, optional.

                               image credit: dreamstime

You can bet that will no longer be done, as it enables lawyer, realtors, and

hustlers to send form letters to solicit business from potential foreclosure

victims, and mortgage companies think you know too much about your rights

as it is.

If no timely request, they could get on with the process of taking your house.

If you made the request on time, the mortgage company was required to

provide an agent to meet with you to discuss modification.  You had to give

them financial information about yourself, of course.

Son of a gun, every mortgage company I heard about simply hired the law

firm that did their foreclosures, and, you could go to their office.

New law:  agent has to be a person or someone within the mortgage company.

It will be interesting to see how they manage that.

Benefits to mortgage companies:  homeowners liable for damages incurred

during the redemption period, and, 6 month, down from 12 month, redemption

period for non farms more than 3 acres in size.

What do you think?

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The nightmare of foreclosures and all their bad consequences continues to inflict our state of Michigan, from St. Clair Shores to Troy to Redford to Grand Have to the U. P.

Its been awhile between posts here, sorry, holidays, and working on a bunch of Chapter 11 cases.

Nothing good to report!

(image credit luigi diamonti)

Creditslips details the failure of the OCC, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, to make even a token effort at reviewing the compliance of the bastards, uh, excuse me, mortgage companies, that caused this mess.

They use law firms who represent mortgage companies, to review whether mortgage companies complied with applicable foreclosure laws.

Gee, wonder if you could make book in Vegas on what their findings will be?

Adam Levitin goes on with chapter and verse, and does not pretend he has an exhaustive list of the conflicts of interest and huge areas that are just being overlooked.

I wish I could say I was surprised at some, any, of the revelations of what the rats

did, and continue to do.

I have seen the work of Countrywide, the worst offender, for years, up close and personal, as they used to say on TV.

They just got whacked for another $355 million, with the usual statement that they did nothing wrong.  Nope.  Just had $355 million laying around they wanted to give away.

And, of course, this was all done by Countrywide BEFORE Bank of (everything in) America acquired them, so don’t go thinking Bank of (everything in) America ever did or does or countenances any wrongdoing.  No sirreee Bob.

This one is for discriminating against minorities.

(image credit: David Castillo Dominici)

People were smiling like this when Countrywide gave them that loan.

Not so much when they found out, oh, the interest rate was higher than what the mortgage broker told them, and higher than if they were white.

Well, only so much bad news per post.

More to come.

Happy New Year!

I hope we really get the bastards in 2012.

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L is for Lie, in the Alphabet Game, blogs by experts across the country on various issues.  Scroll to the bottom for more topics.

No news to loyal readers:  the story about mortgage modifications being told by the mortgage industry is bogus.

Gee, why would they lie about this?

Hmm.  Let’s ponder that one.

Well, in March of 2009, the House passed judicial mortgage modification, and the screams of the mortgage industry reached record decibel levels in the Senate, who knuckled under and declined to pass real reform that would have addressed the foreclosure crisis, stabilized the housing market, and saved us taxpayers trillions of dollars.  Hey, why would our leaders pass something like that?

When they can keep bailing out their golf buddies with our money?

Why isn’t America too big to fail?  Why is it just the haves, and I mean, the haves with political access who use it to subvert the free market to line their pockets at public expense.

Oooh.  Guess I am not quite in a holiday mood yet.

So they lied to the politicians, you don’t have to make us do anything, see, we are voluntarily suspending foreclosures, doing modifications, blah, blah, blah.

The mortgage modification successes predicted, and even reported, by the mortgage industry, simply didn’t happen.

I spend my life helping the collateral damage, the lives wrecked, by the cavalier crooks, whom our President defends.

“I can tell you, just from 40,000 feet, that some of the most damaging behavior on Wall Street, in some cases, some of the least ethical behavior on Wall Street, wasn’t illegal.” as quoted in (www.nakedcapitalism.com)

Maybe Fearless Leader should get a little closer to planet earth once in a while.

Fraud is illegal.  Deceiving people to get their money, or their home, telling investors you are selling them quality mortgages which you know are anything but, I could go on and on.

And I do; hey, it’s my blog!

If there is some topic you want me to rant about, uh, discuss intelligently, let me know.

But sooner or later I will resume raking the bad guys over the coals.  Seems to be the only punishment they will get.

image credit:  dreamstime

Lien Stripping    Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska Bankruptcy Attorney, Ryan D. Caldwell

Lien    New York Bankruptcy Lawyer, Jay S. Fleischman

Lift the Stay    Marin County Bankruptcy Attorney, Catherine Eranthe

Luxuries    Colorado Springs Bankruptcy Attorney Bob Doig    http://springsbankruptcylaw.com/?p=1193

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RESPA stands for Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act.

Some provisions relate to how mortgage companies must handle escrow accounts, and various notices they must provide, and the timing for same.

My favorite part requires mortgage accounting, if you send a QWR (lawmakers love acronyms) qualified written request.

Now, why would you need an accounting from your mortgage company?

Do you have a dispute with them over how much you owe, whether you are behind?

Are you trying to get a modification, and disagree on the numbers?

You do need a basis to send the QWR, so if you are paying on time every month, and they are not claiming you are behind, don’t waste your time.

But if they are playing games with your insurance escrow, or paying taxes you already paid, send the letter.

If they are billing you for late charges for payments you made on time, if they are not crediting payments you sent, send the QWR.

If you just came out of a Chapter 13 bankruptcy which brought you up to date on your mortgage payments, and they are threatening to foreclose, send the QWR.

The law still gives them 20 days to acknowledge they received the letter, and 60 business days to send you the mortgage accounting.

They owe you a complete accounting, every penny you sent in, and where they applied that penny.

Dollars to donuts, the accounting they send you will not make sense.

That is, it will not add up correctly.

Most of the mortgage companies use an invention of theirs, the Suspense Account.

This is where they stick your money rather than returning it, when they decide it is not enough.

I have seen mortgage accountings that leave out all Suspense Account entries.

If the accounting does make sense, great, problem solved!

If not, this is a fee shifting statute, so, if you sue and win, and I have not lost one of these yet, the mortgage companies has to pay your attorney fees and costs.

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Hope everyone had as great a holiday as I had, largely thanks to Denard Robinson!!!

Back to work.

Yeah, the MERS bad guys are smiling over this one.  The Michigan Supreme Court, in a 4 – 3 vote, overturned the Court of Appeals decision that MERS did NOT qualify under Michigan law to foreclose by publication.

Ah, well.  It was fun while it lasted.

MERS is getting the last laugh.

image credit: dreamstime

To rewind the tape, in April, a Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that MERS did not have standing, a legal term meaning the right to bring a suit or take an action, to foreclose by publication.  If I get hit by a car, and it is the other guy’s fault, I can sue, not you or somebody else.

MERS is at the center of the murky condition mortgage document situation across America.  The sloppy record keeping and practices, like robo-signing, of the mortgage industry, frequently make it difficult to determine who really owns the note, has the actual right to foreclose on a mortgage.

Some mortgages just state that everyone agrees that MERS is the mortgagee, which is the entity that has the right to foreclose.

What MERS did is just foreclose anyway, regardless of what the paperwork said.

So, when the April court ruling tossed that out, the scramble was on, title companies panicked, foreclosure sales were undone, re-sales of foreclosed homes were cancelled.

This being a matter of state law, the state Supreme Court gets the final word, so MERS is back in business.

But, the clock does not go back, so all the undoing remains undone.

If your foreclosure sale was cancelled, it will have to be done over, unless you do a deed in lieu of foreclosure.

Once again, be warned!  DO NOT PAY SOME SCAM COMPANY TO DO A MORTGAGE MODIFICATION!!!

Talk to one of the non-profit counseling agencies, you can get referrals through the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

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The foreclosure crisis, natural fallout from the bursting of the real estate bubble, affects homeowners in St. Clair Shores and Troy Michigan and everywhere else in our state and country.

Why did it happen?

     Before a bubble can burst, it has to be blown up.

As Ron Paul (constantly) says:  the Fed!

   1.  THE FED PRINTED TOO MUCH MONEY

When you think about it, the federal government has a monopoly on printing money.  If you don’t think so, try competing with it and printing up some.  (Note to the Secret Service: just kidding!)

Since 1971, when President Nixon took us off the gold standard, there is no limit on how much money the Fed prints.

As Nobel prize winning economist Milton Friedman said:  Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.  Only the government can cause it.

So, when more money is printed than the economy needs, prices of something go up.

2.  THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PUSHED LENDERS INTO LOWERING MORTGAGE LENDING STANDARDS

This is well documented in the Gretchen Morgensen book everyone should read: “mortgage companies would wail “The devil made me do it!” but they were not forced.  They cooked the books, came up with gimic after gimic, SIVs, (Special Investment Vehicles) so they would look solvent to the regulators, 100% loan to value, interest only, 80-20 where they lent you the 20% that used to be the down payment, no doc loans, and so on.

4.  THE RATINGS AGENCIES WENT RIGHT ALONG WITH IT

The ratings agencies, Moodys and Standard & Poors and Fitchs, who do just about all of the ratings of debt, abandoned any pretense of objectivity and actually doing their job, and simply rated the crap mortgage securities that were being sold, without even researching what the hell was being sold.

5.  APPRAISERS SOLD THEIR SOULS

To complete the perfect storm, only appraisers who signed off on whatever value the mortgage broker put on the form got any business, so they did so.  Greed all around.

So, to sum up:  Federal government prints too much money, pushes lenders for more mortgages, lenders lower standards, ratings agencies make it work by giving high ratings to mortgage backed debt, and, on the front lines, appraisers go along with the whole scam.

(image by dreamstime)

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