Foreclosuregate: One and Done for Obama?

[georgephillip]

"U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department's criminal division, were partners for years at a Washington law firm that represented a Who's Who of big banks and other companies at the center of alleged foreclosure fraud, a Reuters inquiry shows.

"The firm, Covington & Burling, is one of Washington's biggest white shoe law firms. Law professors and other federal ethics experts said that federal conflict of interest rules required Holder and Breuer to recuse themselves from any Justice Department decisions relating to law firm clients they personally had done work for."

In spite of overwhelming evidence from all across the country of apparent criminal violations in foreclosure cases, Holder and Breuer haven't brought a single criminal case against big banks (BofA, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo) or other mortgage servicing companies.

"The evidence, including records from federal and state courts and local clerks' offices around the country, shows widespread forgery, perjury, obstruction of justice, and illegal foreclosures on the homes of thousands of active-duty military personnel..."

"In an interview in late 2011, Raymond Brescia, a visiting professor at Yale Law School who has written about foreclosure practices said, 'I think it's difficult to find a fraud of this size on the U.S. court system in U.S. history.'"

Holder has resisted calls for a criminal investigation since October 2010, when evidence of widespread "robo-signing" first appeared, and Obama currently believes any investigation threatens the economic "recovery."

Insight: Top Justice officials connected to mortgage banks - Yahoo! News

 

[georgephillip]

Covington and Burling, the DC law firm where Eric Holder and Lannie Breuer were partners for years, was also a staunch defender of Freddie Mac and the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS).

"Covington represented Freddie Mac, one of the nation's biggest issuers of mortgage backed securities, in enforcement investigations by federal financial regulators.

"A particular concern by those pressing for an investigation is Covington's involvement with Virginia-based MERS Corp, which runs a vast computerized registry of mortgages.

"Little known before the mortgage crisis hit, MERS, which stands for Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, has been at the center of complaints about false or erroneous mortgage documents.

"Court records show that Covington, in the late 1990s, provided legal opinion letters needed to create MERS on behalf of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and several other large banks.

"It was meant to speed up registration and transfers of mortgages. By 2010, MERS claimed to own about half of all mortgages in the U.S. -- roughly 60 million loans.

"But evidence in numerous state and federal court cases around the country has shown that MERS authorized thousands of bank employees to sign their names as MERS officials.

"The banks allegedly drew up fake mortgage assignments, making it appear falsely that they had standing to file foreclosures, and then had their own employees sign the documents as MERS 'vice presidents' or 'assistant secretaries.'"

Insight: Top Justice officials connected to mortgage banks - Yahoo! News

 

[waltky]

New Obama mortgage bailout...

Obama Proposes New Mortgage Bailout: Tax Banks to Help 'Responsible' Homeowners
January 26, 2012 – President Obama during his State of the Union speech Tuesday debuted a new plan aimed at fixing one part of the housing crisis, saying that he would soon send Congress a bill to help some people refinance their mortgages.

Obama said he was sending lawmakers “a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage, by refinancing at historically low interest rates. No more red tape. No more runaround from the banks.” The president proposed to pay for his plan by taxing banks. “A small fee on the largest financial institutions will ensure that it won’t add to the deficit, and will give banks that were rescued by taxpayers a chance to repay a deficit of trust.” Obama went on to say that there would be “no bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts,” going forward for the financial industry. However, his mortgage plan would essentially be a bailout for the struggling homeowners it purports to help.

Typically, refinancing is not much of a problem, provided homeowners are current on their payments and have decent credit. However, it is nearly impossible for homeowners whose mortgage is worth more than the home it’s based on. This is because there is no financial benefit for banks to give one of these so-called “underwater” homeowners a new loan, as it would basically amount to forgiving part of the previous debt. Since the homeowner must borrow against the house – which has dropped in value – a bank would essentially be giving away the difference between the old mortgage’s value and the new mortgage’s value.

A government program allowing underwater homeowners to refinance their loans would constitute a bailout, essentially forgiving large amounts of debt they currently owe. Currently, interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages are approximately four percent – a historically low number. Allowing an underwater homeowner to get a new loan with a lower interest rate would result in much lower repayments. Unnamed White House officials have been quoted as saying the plan would allow underwater homeowners to refinance and obtain new loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Currently the FHA is prohibited from new loans to underwater homeowners because they have no financial incentive to repay the loans due to the reduced equity in the home: Because their homes are worth far less than their mortgage, borrowers face a financial incentive to default on their loans, to escape paying far more than the home is worth.

MORE

 

[konradv]

HUH?!?! Obama is singlehandedly lifting us out of the BUSH DEPRESSION.

Makes as much sense as the OP.

 

[georgephillip]

New Obama mortgage bailout...

Obama Proposes New Mortgage Bailout: Tax Banks to Help 'Responsible' Homeowners
January 26, 2012 – President Obama during his State of the Union speech Tuesday debuted a new plan aimed at fixing one part of the housing crisis, saying that he would soon send Congress a bill to help some people refinance their mortgages.

Obama said he was sending lawmakers “a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage, by refinancing at historically low interest rates. No more red tape. No more runaround from the banks.” The president proposed to pay for his plan by taxing banks. “A small fee on the largest financial institutions will ensure that it won’t add to the deficit, and will give banks that were rescued by taxpayers a chance to repay a deficit of trust.” Obama went on to say that there would be “no bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts,” going forward for the financial industry. However, his mortgage plan would essentially be a bailout for the struggling homeowners it purports to help.

Typically, refinancing is not much of a problem, provided homeowners are current on their payments and have decent credit. However, it is nearly impossible for homeowners whose mortgage is worth more than the home it’s based on. This is because there is no financial benefit for banks to give one of these so-called “underwater” homeowners a new loan, as it would basically amount to forgiving part of the previous debt. Since the homeowner must borrow against the house – which has dropped in value – a bank would essentially be giving away the difference between the old mortgage’s value and the new mortgage’s value.

A government program allowing underwater homeowners to refinance their loans would constitute a bailout, essentially forgiving large amounts of debt they currently owe. Currently, interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages are approximately four percent – a historically low number. Allowing an underwater homeowner to get a new loan with a lower interest rate would result in much lower repayments. Unnamed White House officials have been quoted as saying the plan would allow underwater homeowners to refinance and obtain new loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Currently the FHA is prohibited from new loans to underwater homeowners because they have no financial incentive to repay the loans due to the reduced equity in the home: Because their homes are worth far less than their mortgage, borrowers face a financial incentive to default on their loans, to escape paying far more than the home is worth.

MORE

Obama's finally discovered the housing mess is almost certain to get worse before it gets better, and he needs better propaganda to ensure it doesn't blow up before November. The banks will do what they do best and settle as many claims as possible with other people's money. That could allow banks the use pension funds to pay for the "settlement."

If this settlement allows mortgage servicers to write down the value of mortgage=backed securities owned by investors without requiring servicers to reduce principal on the mortgages and second liens that they own, then teachers, first responders and other pensioners and retirees will pay for Wall Street's crimes. (again)

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Screen-shot-2012-01-22-at-11.51.12-PM.png

 

[waltky]

Good news for consumers...

CFPB Takes Aim at High Mortgage Fees
5/10/12 --- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is out with new regulations that are designed to give home buyers more choice and more transparency when investing in a home mortgage.

The top target for the CFPB is high mortgage fees, and what they're proposing won't go over well with banks and lenders. The new rules, which are expected to take effect in Jan. 2013, mandate that banks and mortgage lenders provide a "no-discount" loan option that enables consumers to more easily compare different loans among various lenders. One provision allows home buyers to pay a lower interest rate when they pay discount points, which enable buyers to reduce their monthly mortgage payment. The agency also plans on stopping the practice of lenders slapping homebuyers with fat fees that are tied to the loan amount, and can rise as the loan amount rises. Now lenders will only be able to charge a fixed, one-time, up-front origination fee.

In a May 7 speech to the U.S. Mortgage Bankers Association in New York City, Raj Date, deputy director at the CFPB , elaborated on the new rules, and on the agency's philosophy on the consumer mortgage buying experience. "The mortgage industry was supposed to be the broadest, deepest, most liquid, most sophisticated consumer finance market in the history of the world," Date told his audience. "But it failed us. It failed us because it failed to calibrate price, and it failed to calibrate risk. The result was that millions of homeowners ended up in loans that they either couldn't understand or that they couldn't afford or both. And we are still slowly, painfully recovering." "So mortgage reform is appropriately front and center on the CFPB's agenda," he continued.

Date says the bureau, as an institution, is a firm believer in free and open mortgage markets, but wants more transparency in the consumer mortgage market. "Markets don't work well if both parties to a transaction don't understand what they're getting into," he said. "At the CFPB, we are already hard at work on this issue. We are working to integrate and simplify two needlessly complicated federal disclosure forms -- one under the Truth in Lending Act and the other under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. The idea is for borrowers to have a better chance to actually understand the price and risk profile of their obligations, and that's better for everyone involved."

Date, a former banker, says the CFPB is also targeting mortgage servicers. He told the New York audience that the bureau has already implemented "common-sense" rules to beef up mortgage dealer transparency. "Servicers should give borrowers better information about how much they owe every month; or maybe they should give an earlier heads-up that an adjustable rate payment is about to change; or maybe they should warn borrowers that they are going to be force-placed into a potentially expensive insurance policy," he said. "We're just at the early stages of these particular rule-makings, but I'm optimistic that we can find a common-sense path forward."

Banks and mortgage lenders are increasingly aware that there's a new sheriff in town. Business practices that thrived only six years ago are on the CFPB's hit list -- especially those high hidden fees, and what the bureau calls unfair and unbalanced mortgage approval processes, which historically have favored the lender at the expense of the borrower. That's good news for consumers, but it's an uphill climb, as banks surely won't take tighter regulations lying down.

Source

 

[Listening]

HUH?!?! Obama is singlehandedly lifting us out of the BUSH DEPRESSION.

Makes as much sense as the OP.

Another tax....just a small one.

If Obama's single handedly done anything it has been to put a drag on the recovery to where many still think we are in a recession.

BTW: It's the Pelosi/Ried depression....just to keep it clean.

 

[georgephillip]

65% of all economic gains during the Bush years went to the 1%.
93% of economic gains during the last two years went to the same 1%.
Bush and Obama serve the same masters.

 

[georgephillip]

"With only six decades of IMF history to draw from, the template being used in Europe (and in America) is (1) install or corrupt a political elite who will support extractive economic policies for the benefit of bankers, (2) indebt, or cause to become indebted, a naïve, oblivious or otherwise captive population who will accept, grudgingly or otherwise, the institutional convention that the debt is legitimate and must be repaid, (3) under a patina of intellectual legitimacy, implement openly extractive economic policies against entire populations for the benefit of said banks, (4) while the culpable elites retire to large houses behind high walls with their portions of the loot.

"In the 1980s major New York banks (Wall Street) made loans to South American and African nations using this template. In some fair proportion the proceeds of these loans were promptly re-deposited into these same banks in the names of specific government officials.

"When the victim populations rebelled, arguing either that the debt was not legitimate and didn’t need to be repaid, or realized that the debt was a de facto form of slavery and couldn’t be repaid, these New York banks were bailed out by the U.S. government under the veil of 'Brady Bonds' and the government took over as creditor to collect the debts.

Give Obama a second term and he will add privatization of Social Security to his list of class crimes.

FLUSH the DC Toilet in 2012.
Vote against every incumbent running for reelection.

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