Posts Tagged ‘federal reserve system’

Foreclosure Clean-Up Gets Police Response, But Not Bank Fraud?

Monday, May 7th, 2012

A group from the Miami Workers Center clean up the area around an abandoned bank-owned house, as police officers wait nearby (Photo Courtesy:Miami Workers Group)

It never ceases to amaze me the glaring duality of the world I live in.

I am constantly reminded that we live in world where you and I have to play by one set of rules, yet the vast financial complex that resides on Wall Street isn’t held to even a fraction of those standards.

The latest example comes way of a small protest in Liberty City last week.

A few members of the Miami Workers Center, a grassroots organization, arrived at an abandoned foreclosed home, a property that like countless others is nothing more than a glorified trash dump.

Their nefarious plot? To clean the home up, and try to make it a little less of an eyesore.

Scary right?

And what did this group, which included a grandmother and an pregnant woman, encounter when they arrived at that home?

About a half dozen cops, who threatened to arrest any of them if they stepped foot on the Bank Of America-owned property.

The protesters, to their credit, didn’t give up and cleaned up the public areas around the home. Not once was a burglary tool spotted.

The officers watched over these men and women like mother hens as they picked up beer bottles and broken glass, among other fabulous ‘accessories’ the home had accumulated over the last few years. (Bank of America took the home in 2010.)

But when the banks not only trespass, but break into my clients homes? How many police officers can I get on the case? Not a single one.
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An Open Letter to Pam Bondi

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

Florida Attorney General Pam BondiFlorida Attorney General Pam Bondi is now asking for the public’s input on what she should do with the $300 million the state will be receiving directly from the national mortgage settlement.

She is openly soliciting your suggestions through her website from now until May 14th. As a foreclosure defense attorney and one of the people on the front lines of the housing crisis, I have more than a few ideas.

So Pam, please consider this my open letter to you and your office.

First and foremost, here is what you should NOT do with the money. Don’t throw it at principal reduction. It will have virtually no impact on Florida’s communities, it would be like throwing the money into quicksand.

So far, Florida’s efforts to offer financial relief to homeowners have just fallen flat.

Florida’s Hardest Hit program just hasn’t worked, and even recent changes to the program’s requirements will not help it reach enough people.

Move The Banks Out of Your Cities

What you need to do Ms. Bondi, is use the money to make systemic changes to Florida’s housing market.

First, give the money to your towns and cities to clear out Florida’s foreclosure blight. Blight caused by the abundance of abandoned homes the banks own, but refuse to take care of.

I’ve long told my readers that banks are bad neighbors, and the Sun-Sentinel now has the numbers that make my case.

Ms. Bondi, despite what your boss says, banks are the problem and you need to get them out of your cities and towns. Give your local governments the ammo to do it.
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Time To Break Up ‘Too Big To Fail’ Banks Is Now

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

“Let me be frank. Our banks earn profit too easily. Why? Because a small number of large banks have a monopoly.”

Sounds like something I would have said. Or something our president SHOULD be saying.

Except here’s the thing. The elected official quoted isn’t talking about our own corrupt banking system.

The quote above came from the prime minister of China. And he’s talking about his own country’s state-run banking companies.

Wen Jiabao, during a recent broadcast of China’s state-run radio, said his banks need to be broken up to fix his country’s economy.

If China, a country not exactly known for embracing capitalism, wants to break up its banks, does the US have any other choice but to follow suit?

I believe our nation, as a people, is duty bound to do so.

I’m saying it. The Dallas Fed has said it. Even Bruce Springsteen has said it. And now the prime minister of China has said it.

When banks are not only ‘Too Big To Fail’ but too big to compete, we the people must step in and break them up.

There really is no other choice. It’s pretty shocking that China has come to that conclusion before us. In fact it’s an absolute disgrace.

The idea that it’s OK for the TBTF banks to continue operating at the size they now do is a fallacy and it’s a notion that’s only been propounded by the banking industry to basically preserve the status quo.

Just shows you whose pockets many of our politicians are in.

Only when we have competitive, nimble, smaller banks that are able to seize new opportunities as they arise are we going to be able to compete on the world stage.
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Friday Round-Up; Foreclosure Settlement Signed; Oversight Begins; Palm Beach Foreclosures Jump; Feds Offer REO Rental Rules

Friday, April 6th, 2012

cowboy lassoJudge Signs $25 Billion Foreclosure Settlement

It’s finally official. The so-called $25 billion foreclosure settlement has been signed off by a federal judge.

This comes after the settlement was filed in court last month. DC District Judge Rosemary Collyer did the honors Wednesday.

I won’t rehash my thoughts about what’s good and what’s bad about this settlement. Everything that needs to be said about it has been said.

You and I know that the banks will get more of a pass than they are entitled to for all of their robosigning shenanigans. In reality they are really only paying out about $5 billion in actual money, and I’ve still haven’t seen a single banking officer jailed.

Just remember this fight ain’t over yet!. This settlement was a necessary step, in order for the feds to move on to their investigation into securitized trusts.

THAT is where the banks will hopefully get what’s really coming to them.

Mortgage settlement oversight begins in North Carolina

Now that the settlement is official, the new government agency that will be watching the banks is now open for business.

North Carolina Banking Commissioner Joseph Smith is going to oversee the office and how the banks will receive “credits” towards the settlement for providing homeowners mortgage relief.

Relief, unfortunately, will often come in the form of transactions, such as short sales, that the banks were already doing before the settlement was announced.

“By itself, this settlement will not remedy every problem that system faces. But trust in our mortgage system can move forward if we use this opportunity to show fairness, transparency and accountability,” Smith said. “
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