Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 10, 2012, 7:00 pm
``Imagine you are asked to sign a document but three pages were missing. Further imagine the documents you were asked to sign were written in English but you only speak Greek. Would you sign?''
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 10, 2012, 7:00 pm
"The U.S. Justice Department has unveiled a record mortgage settlement with the nation's five largest banks to resolve claims over faulty foreclosures and mortgage practices that have indebted and displaced homeowners and sunk the nation's economy. While the deal is being described as a $25 billion ...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 10, 2012, 7:00 pm
``American Banker reports that the reason why the terms of the so-called historic (just ask the Teleprompter in Chief) foreclosure settlement deal are not public yet, is "because a fully authorized, legally binding deal has not been inked yet." Wait, so America's cohort of AGs just all, pardon the p...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 10, 2012, 7:00 pm
MF Global commodity customers whose cash vanished when the firm collapsed last year are owed $1.6 billion -- up significantly from previous estimates -- the trustee tasked with recovering the money said on Friday. The revised figure reflects growing concerns that the trustee will not be able to claw...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 10, 2012, 7:00 pm
``The government's deal with banks over their foreclosure practices after 16 months of investigations is cheap for the loan servicers while costly for bond investors including pension funds, according to Pacific Investment Management Co.'s Scott Simon.''
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 10, 2012, 7:00 pm
Further financing may be needed, as the economy shrinks more rapidly than originally estimated. The draft of a new financing deal between Greece, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, obtained by Bloomberg News, predicts a contraction of 4 percent to 5 percent this year, in part be...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 10, 2012, 7:00 pm
``Delinquencies for office and retail loans have hit their highest-ever levels while overall U.S. CMBS delinquencies  fell for the sixth straight month, according to the latest index results from Fitch Ratings. CMBS late-pays declined five basis points (bps) in January to 8.32% from 8.37% a month e...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 9, 2012, 7:00 pm
"Greek workers went on strike against austerity measures on Friday, docking ships and halting public transport, hours after euro zone finance ministers said Athens needed to make more cuts to convince them to release a financial bailout."
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 9, 2012, 7:00 pm
``Most of the money in the settlement isn't a penalty, or a fine levied on the banks. Instead, the biggest slice of the settlement will be money banks put toward principal reduction -- reducing the amount owed by struggling or underwater borrowers. (Banks will also put smaller amounts toward refinan...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 9, 2012, 7:00 pm
"While Bondi described the deal yesterday as a historic win, interviews around the Sunshine State revealed anger among homeowners stuck in foreclosure cases that last longer than in any other state, and skepticism from real-estate professionals leery of banks' promises."
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 6, 2012, 7:00 pm
``bailout of the banking system by purchasing more and more questionable mortgage backed securities. You would think that $1 trillion would catch the attention of the media but they seemed focus on other trivial items. The Fed balance sheet is still at record levels above $2.8 trillion to be exact, ...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 6, 2012, 7:00 pm
"California's Kamala Harris and New York's Eric Schneiderman, who have been some of the most outspoken in pushing for changes to the deal, are among those who hadn't joined the agreement as of yesterday's deadline for states to decide. More than 40 states signed on to the accord, according to Iowa A...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 6, 2012, 7:00 pm
"Fannie and Freddie are required to help homeowners while earning profits so they can pay back the taxpayers who bailed them out. Here is our guide to the little-known federal regulator, Edward DeMarco, ultimately in charge of the two companies. You may have never heard of him, but as The Washington...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 6, 2012, 7:00 pm
"China's central bank pledged support for first-home buyers as a crackdown on real-estate speculation threatens to trigger a property slump in the world's second- biggest economy."
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 6, 2012, 7:00 pm
"Athens is racing to push through economic changes that it hopes will persuade its private sector creditors to grant easier debt repayment terms and will prompt Europe to release 130 billion euros, or $171 billion, in the next round of bailout money it needs to avoid defaulting on bond payments due ...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 5, 2012, 7:00 pm
"The customer attempting to pay his mortgage, firefighter Robert Somerton, recorded the ordeal in Lakeport branch which made the bank manager so upset that he called the police. The police detained Somerton for a half hour before releasing him with a warning that he may never return to that BoA bran...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 5, 2012, 7:00 pm
``Atlanta's 55-story Bank of America Plaza, the tallest tower in the Southeast, is set to be sold at an open outcry auction on the steps of the Fulton County Courthouse tomorrow after landlord BentleyForbes missed mortgage payments. It bought the skyscraper in 2006 for $436 million from Bank of Amer...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 5, 2012, 7:00 pm
"Despite the modest monthly increase, the price of the average property in the UK was down by 1.8% year-on-year to £160,907. The quarterly measure, which is preferred by some economists as a more accurate indicator of market direction, showed a 0.9% fall in prices."
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 5, 2012, 7:00 pm
``While some states have already announced their intention to sign the deal, others including California Attorney General Kamala Harris have yet to publicly commit in part due to terms that protect the banks from future litigation. Without Harris, the deal's value will drop by several billion dollar...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 5, 2012, 7:00 pm
``Atlanta's 55-story Bank of America Plaza, the tallest tower in the Southeast, is set to be sold at an open outcry auction on the steps of the Fulton County Courthouse tomorrow after landlord BentleyForbes missed mortgage payments. It bought the skyscraper in 2006 for $436 million from Bank of Amer...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 4, 2012, 7:00 pm
``In hindsight, what he found looks like a blueprint of today's foreclosure crisis. Even then, Mr. Lavalle discovered, some loan-servicing companies that worked for Fannie Mae routinely filed false foreclosure documents, not unlike the fraudulent paperwork that has since made "robo-signing" a househ...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 4, 2012, 7:00 pm
"...,why did some Democrats seem so cozy during the Dodd-Frank debates with a financial industry whose unwise risks almost triggered Great Depression 2.0?" It's impossible to say for sure what motivates anyone. But a new report on the growth of big money in politics suggests that something beyond a ...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 4, 2012, 7:00 pm
"Throughout metro Atlanta, thousands of vacant homes now owned by the federal government sit languishing -- dragging down home values and adding to a mass of housing woes that stunt the region's economic recovery"
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 3, 2012, 7:00 pm
"I've learned a lot from Professor Coates and I'm confident you will too. So, turn up your speakers... click below... sit back and relax... and listen to an uninterrupted hour with Professor David Coates as he talks about the foreclosure crisis here and in the UK, why democracy and progressive polit...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 3, 2012, 7:00 pm
"The for-profit prison scheme is a case study in crony capitalism, as it involves private prison corporations donating to the politicians best in position to grant them lucrative contracts. Cenk Uygur, in the video below, breaks down this "cherry picking" strategy that sets up FL taxpayers to carry ...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 3, 2012, 7:00 pm
"Poor L gets all kinds of real estate related spam, but he graciously sorts through it and sends the more interesting stuff. I did think that the following chart on "When Can I Buy A House", sent out by an Arizona mortgage broker, might be interesting to some of our readers"
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 3, 2012, 7:00 pm
"California Attorney General Kamala Harris objects to giving banks broad releases of liability for predatory lending. At the same time, she may be locked into her predecessor's 2008 settlement with the largest lender in the state during the mortgage boom that does exactly that."
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 3, 2012, 7:00 pm
"U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. granted a request by the Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi to let it represent more than 150 investors in the offering, according to an opinion Baer gave to the parties yesterday. The opinion hasn't been released publicly, and a clerk in Baer's c...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 3, 2012, 7:00 pm
``[Fransen] had won two of his cases and at least one would result in his client getting a "free house." The other might be a free house too, or maybe just a pretty good size pile of money. It's true... Nathan had gone in front of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals... his first time, by the way... and...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 3, 2012, 7:00 pm
``This chart (below) shows the behavior of inflation as measured by "our" government's official measure, CPI-U (bottom line) and John Williams measure which uses the official methodology of when I was Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury. The gap between the top and bottom lines represents the amo...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 2, 2012, 7:00 pm
``Bank of America Corp. won dismissal from Allstate Corp. lawsuit over the insurer's alleged losses from $700 million in mortgage-backed securities purchased from Countrywide Financial Corp... Bank of America, as a corporate parent, isn't responsible for the liabilities of Countrywide, the mortgage ...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 2, 2012, 7:00 pm
"The goal is to help stabilize the troubled housing market by turning properties into rental units. Similar programs are expected to be launched by Fannie Mae's sibling company, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration, the government-controlled mortgage insurer."
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 2, 2012, 7:00 pm
"Florida's once-heralded foreclosure mill investigations have fizzled as the attorney general's office has failed to find the right strategy to continue its pursuit and three law firms call for the cases to be dismissed."
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 2, 2012, 7:00 pm
"Spain's new government gave banks an extra year to recognize losses if they agree to merge, as it tries to overhaul the financial industry crippled by the collapse of the nation's property boom four years ago."
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 2, 2012, 7:00 pm
"The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association's Asset Management Group planned to release a statement last week urging government negotiators to protect innocent investors, amid reports that banks will get credit for lowering the balances of mortgages packaged into bonds, three people f...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 2, 2012, 7:00 pm
"Ben Bernanke defended the Federal Reserve's decision to hold interest rates at record-low levels for the next three years, during a contentious hearing before federal lawmakers"
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 2, 2012, 7:00 pm
"U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said the first non-bank financial companies deemed systemically risky will be named this year, and the department will release more plans for an overhaul of housing finance."
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 2, 2012, 7:00 pm
"Even as the Securities and Exchange Commission has stepped up its investigations of Wall Street in the last decade, the agency has repeatedly allowed the biggest firms to avoid punishments specifically meant to apply to fraud cases."
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 2, 2012, 7:00 pm
``No, that's not a typo: 1.2 million people dropped out of the labor force in one month!... the civilian labor force tumbled to a fresh 30 year low of 63.7% as the BLS is seriously planning on eliminating nearly half of the available labor pool from the unemployment calculation.''
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Feb 2, 2012, 7:00 pm
``As it was in 1980, could it be again in 2012? The 1980 presidential election was fought by a Democratic incumbent weakened by a poor economy amid worries that the United States had lost its ability to compete in the world. Gold prices had risen to unprecedented levels as the election approached, a...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Jan 25, 2012, 7:00 pm
``We can only keep our societies alive and running by telling a seemingly neverending series of lies. And if everyone had the same interests, this delusion could last quite a while; we've been doing it for 4-5 years already, after all (and arguably for much longer). But not everybody has the same in...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Jan 25, 2012, 7:00 pm
"New York developers Simon Elias and Izak Senbahar may lose two boutique hotels in midtown Manhattan after a state judge cleared an investor group to proceed with foreclosure on the properties."
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Jan 25, 2012, 7:00 pm
"The Illinois attorney general sued Standard & Poor's Ratings Services Wednesday, alleging the firm misled investors when it assigned top-notch ratings to mortgage-linked securities that later imploded during the financial crisis."
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Jan 25, 2012, 7:00 pm
"Transactions involving bank-owned property and short sales, where lenders accept less than the amount owed, were down from 22 percent of total home purchases in the second quarter and 30 percent a year earlier"
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Jan 25, 2012, 7:00 pm
On Monday at 5:00 PM, as I was running to catch a flight to Phoenix to work with a state senator on a piece of legislation I'll be announcing soon, I posted a DOER ALERT titled: "Dear Bank of America," about an octogenarian by the name of Dale Wright. He had been trying to get his loan modified for ...
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Jan 25, 2012, 7:00 pm
"The objection raised by the nation's biggest state delivered a major setback to the deal, which promised to help roughly 1 million homeowners see the size of their mortgage reduced by an average of $20,000"
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Jan 25, 2012, 7:00 pm
""Our preliminary interpretation is that the program is aimed at refinancing borrowers with underwater private label mortgages into FHA loans," "
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Jan 25, 2012, 7:00 pm
"Haven't you figured it out yet... if it wouldn't be so rude, the GOP convention would be nominating OBAMA in 2012, right?"
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Jan 25, 2012, 7:00 pm
"It turns out California's redevelopment agencies--which, I just love to keep saying, will be abolished in a week--have produced something beside corruption, poverty, and blight: The RDAs have also run up nearly $30 billion in debt that must be serviced by Golden State taxpayers. "
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Randall M. posted an article on The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter - Jan 25, 2012, 7:00 pm
``Mortgage delinquencies on single-family homes rose for the fourth-straight month in December, according to a monthly report from Freddie Mac (FMCC). The rate had been trending down most of the year ...''
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