Archive for March, 2012

Politics of Foreclosure? The Wall Street Journal Needs a Reminder

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

Over a year ago I felt compelled to call out The Wall Street Journal after a particular column really got under my skin.

It’s time to call them out once more. Not for another column, but rather, a lack of one.

In October 2010 their column “The Politics of Foreclosure” made light of the plight many of my clients have undergone, and shrunk the foreclosure crisis down to a mere inconvenience for a few Washington insiders.

You and I, of course, know different.

And as the crisis grew wider and wider, and the expansiveness of the banks fraud became even more apparent, The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board continued to be a haven for outdated ideas, protection of the status quo and disgust for anyone trying to do good by the American homeowner.

When the AG settlement was first announced back in February, the Wall Street Journal called it a ‘bank job’ worthy of the Barker gang.

I found it disturbingly amusing that a settlement that was basically little more than a public spanking for the banks angered them so. The settlement didn’t land a single banking executive in jail, yet the columnists at The Wall Street Journal still treat the banks as the victims in the housing crisis.

The crisis, you know that the banks basically created.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board still believes the banks didn’t illegally foreclose on a single homeowner, something I personally know not to be true.

Either their editorial board is remarkably stupid or just ignorant.

And so I shouldn’t be all that surprised that they have been silent after the Department of Housing and Urban Development released audits that laid out how pervasive the culture of fraud was amongst our nation’s lenders.
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Friday Round-Up; Budget Cuts Cripple Foreclosure Docket; Whistleblower Gets $18 mil; Stern Employees Settle

Friday, March 16th, 2012

cowboy lassoClerks of court warn budget cuts will delay filings

Just as I had predicted (and feared) now that the Florida legislature has passed a 7% budget cut to the state’s Clerk of Courts, officials from those offices are already warning of a major slowdown at courthouses across the state.

Case filings may now take weeks instead of days. Hearings may be delayed.

For people who have foreclosure cases before the court, don’t expect a return to the ‘rocket docket’ days.

Even though the state is giving the foreclosure docket a one-time $2 million allocation to hire more judges and caseworkers specifically to handle the foreclosure backlog, it will do little to fill in the gaps caused by the budget cuts.

For example in Palm Beach County, Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock said she is losing $2.5 million from her budget, but getting back just 200K. She added they’re expected to lose 55 jobs in that office, but will only be able to hire an additional 4 people for foreclosure cases.

So she’ll be able to hire more judges, but the Clerks Office won’t have anyone to process the titles for all these new foreclosures the state will now try to push through!!!

Palm Beach Gardens homeowner gets $18 million in foreclosure settlement

One of the little tidbits that came out of the finalizing of the settlement with the Attorneys General was that one homeowner in Palm Beach Gardens getting a little more financial relief than she ever expected.

$18 million dollars to be exact .

Now Lynn Szymoniak is no average homeowner. She’s a foreclosure fighter whose own personal investigation into the banks led to many of the industry changes that are being implemented by the settlement.
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Robosigning Exposed in HUD Audits

Thursday, March 15th, 2012

After you read the information in these audits, chances are you'll be screaming too!

Well what do you know.

Earlier this week I blogged about the mortgage settlement documents and their stunning lack of detail on the frauds committed by the banks during the days of robosigning.

I was frustrated because it seems like the complete recklessness of the banks was being whitewashed in order for the settlement to go through.

Turns out I was just looking in the wrong place.

Just as the Department of Justice announced that the mortgage settlement had been filed in court, Housing and Urban Development released the results of a series of stinging audits, one for each lender in the settlement.

It was HUD’s investigation that helped lead to the settlement in the first place.

The settlement is hundreds and hundreds of pages. Most of the audits were around 10 pages long. Yet there is more harsh truth about how far the banks went to rob people of their homes in those select pages than in the entire settlement.

So what’s in these audits that is so damning?

Facts. Numbers. Witness Statements. And just how far the banks went keep the lid on how pervasive robosigning was

In other words, plenty to make your skin crawl. There’s no whitewashing here.

In Bank of America’s case, their attorneys interfered with HUD’s investigation, refusing to allow some of their employees to answer questions, sometimes stopping them mid-sentence.

Ally Financial’s attorneys made 18 current employees plead the fifth and blocked them from talking to investigators.
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Foreclosure Settlement Filed; But Banks’ Crimes Go Largely Ignored

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

In the weeks after the mortgage settlement was announced by the Federal Government, I waited under baited breath to the see it in its entirety.

Almost every week I read a different report stating the documents to finalize the settlement were about to be filed in court.

And as each reported deadline came and went, I grew more and more skeptical.

Would the banks manage to sneak some last minute releases in? Would the lofty figures promised to beleaguered borrowers be diminished?

The good news, now that documents have been completed and released to the public, is that the answer to both questions is a sound no.

The banks are not getting any get-out-of-jail-free cards, claims against MERS and the securitization process are still very much on the table.

On the other hand, did I learn anything new about the massive frauds perpetrated by the banks? Not really.

There are pages listing what the government has now labeled as “Unfair, Deceptive, and Unlawful Loan Practices”.

The settlement does say that the banks violated federal laws, that they wrongfully denied modification applications, and overcharged for ‘forced place insurance, among other misdeeds.

It even finally acknowledges that the banks engaged in robosigning.

But these are things that my clients and I have long known.

If you’ve read the Wall Street Journal, or the New York Times, or any thorough news story on the housing crisis, there’s little in the mortgage settlement’s pages that will surprise you.

And that’s thoroughly disappointing. What the government has presented to the public is a complete white-washing of the robosigining and “fraudclosure” scandal. It acknowledges that the banks committed certain indiscretions yes, but I couldn’t find one concrete example, not one thorough examination of how it occurred.
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