Daily News related to the Foreclosure Crisis

The biggest unpunished heist in human history - Max Keiser

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

 Date

Article

Articles are added weekly 

Source

  Comment

02/22/24

These Charts Reveal Why the Fed Is Frightened about Capital Levels at the Wall Street Mega Banks
According to Federal Reserve data dating back to July 3, 1985 – a span of close to 39 years – there has not been a time when the largest 25 banks were bleeding deposits on the scale that has been happening for the past 22 months. There has also never been a time comparable to the last 22 months when the largest 25 banks were bleeding deposits while the smaller banks were growing deposits. (See the chart above.) To get our minds around today’s situation, we made another chart using Federal Reserve data dating back to 1998 – the year before the Glass-Steagall Act was repealed. It shows that the ratio of deposits of the 25 largest banks to the smaller banks stood at 3 times in 1998 and has shrunk to its lowest level of 2.03 times as of February 7 of this year.

02/22/24

U.S. Commercial Foreclosures Increase in January 2024
IRVINE, Calif. — February 22, 2024 — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released a special report on U.S. Commercial Foreclosures. The report reveals a significant climb in commercial foreclosures over the years, from a low of 141 in May 2020 to the current figure of 635 in January 2024. This represents a steady increase throughout the period.

02/17/24

Thousands of vets fell victim to a bait-and-switch...by the VA? Lawmakers want a fix
Lawmakers summoned the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs' loan program, John Bell, to Capitol Hill this week and asked him to explain how the VA is going to fix a debacle that's left many vets in danger of losing their homes. His answer: They don't know yet. "We are looking for a solution to be able to help 40,000 borrowers stave off foreclosure," Bell told them. The VA has been scrambling since an NPR investigation revealed that it pulled the plug on a key program while thousands of vets were still in the middle of it – effectively turning a well-meaning pandemic aid effort into a bait-and-switch trap for homeowners. At issue is what's called a COVID mortgage forbearance. Set up by Congress after the pandemic hit to help people who lost income, it gave homeowners with federally backed loans a sanctioned way to skip mortgage payments. The missed payments would get moved to the back of the loan term so when homeowners got back on their feet they could just resume their normal payments. But in October 2022, the VA abruptly ended a crucial part of its forbearance program, stranding tens of thousands of vets who were told they now needed to come up with all the missed payments at once.

02/15/24

2023 Year in Review: Mortgage Origination and Servicing
Looking Ahead to 2024 Enforcement efforts are expected to increase in 2024 and will likely reflect anticipated industry growth (e.g., total mortgage origination volume is expected to increase to $1.95 trillion in 2024 from the $1.64 trillion expected in 2023). The CFPB will likely focus its efforts on RESPA violations, force-placed insurance, and time-barred loans.
Key Trends From 2023

02/13/24

Five Wall Street Banks Hold $223 Trillion in Derivatives — 83 Percent of All Derivatives at 4,600 Banks
According to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC), derivatives played a major role in the financial crash of 2007 to 2010 in the United States, the worst financial crisis in the U.S. since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The FCIC wrote in its final report: “…the existence of millions of derivatives contracts of all types between systemically important financial institutions — unseen and unknown in this unregulated market — added to uncertainty and escalated panic….”
Americans believed that the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010 would fulfill its promise of reining in concentrated risks like derivatives. It did not. (See our report from 2015: President Has His Facts Seriously Wrong on Financial Reform.)

02/08/24

CFPB Secures $12 Million From Ringleaders of Foreclosure Relief Scam
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today announced that it resolved an appeal in a long-running enforcement suit against a foreclosure relief scam operation for $12 million in consumer redress and penalties. Consumer First Legal Group, LLC and four attorneys, Thomas G. Macey, Jeffrey J. Aleman, Jason Searns, and Harold E. Stafford, charged millions of dollars in illegal advance fees to financially-distressed homeowners for legal representation the defendants promised but did not provide.

02/08/24

S&P 500 Sets a Record on Wednesday as Banks Continue Tanking
The S&P 500 closed at a record of 4995.06 yesterday while banks – big, medium, and small – continued to see their share prices hammered. And while the media is focusing the public’s attention on the share price collapse of New York Community Bancorp, which as of yesterday’s closing price is down 56 percent year-to-date and had its credit rating downgraded to junk by Moody’s on Tuesday evening, numerous other banks are trading at their lowest levels in two years.

02/07/24

NYCB Downgraded to Junk; Shocking Charts for Citigroup, Barclays and Deutsche Bank
New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) closed out 2023 with a share price of $10.23. At the closing bell yesterday, its share price was $4.20 – a year-to-date decline of 59 percent. More pain is expected today as the credit rating agency, Moody’s, cut the regional bank’s credit rating two notches to junk after the market closed yesterday.

02/07/24

Here Come the HELOCs: Mortgage Balances, Delinquencies, and Foreclosures
Mortgage balances outstanding ticked up by 0.9% in Q4 from Q3, to a record of $12.3 trillion. Year-over-year, the increase was only 2.8%, according to data from the New York Fed’s Household Debt and Credit Report. This small increase in mortgage balances is the result of a strange mix: Purchases of existing homes have plunged by one-third, and mortgage origination volume has collapsed, with existing home prices still sky high; but new house sales have held up, as prices have dropped 17%. And homeowners with these infamous 3% mortgages are not selling, and they’re not buying, and so they’re not paying off their 3% mortgages, and they’re not getting bigger new mortgages.

02/01/24

Lawmakers move to help veterans at risk of losing their homes
The chairmen of the U.S. Senate's Banking and Veterans Affairs committees introduced a bill Thursday to help veterans at risk of losing their homes because of a COVID-assistance program that the VA ended abruptly in 2022. The bill, which they call the "Veterans Housing Stability Act," would let the Department of Veterans Affairs restart the program, which thousands of veterans used to skip mortgage payments when they faced pandemic-related financial problems. "Our veterans earned their home loan guarantee benefit, and they deserve a viable option to get back on track with payments and keep their homes," said Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat and chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee. He sponsored the bill along with Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat who heads the Banking Committee.

02/01/24

Victim of ‘foreclosure rescue scam’ wins $2.75M judgment
Christopher St. Louis seized a lifeline he thought would save his home in Dorchester. Instead, he lost nearly everything he owned. But a $2.75 million judgment entered last month in Suffolk Superior Court will go a long way toward making things right for the former homeowner now forced to live in a Boston apartment. On. Jan. 22, Judge Peter B. Krupp entered final judgment in St. Louis’ lawsuit against Stoughton real estate agents Mitra Ghobadi and Richard Fitzgerald. A jury found Ghobadi liable for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, and civil conspiracy. Fitzgerald — who’s Ghobadi’s husband — was found liable for fraud and conspiracy. St. Louis was awarded $1 million in damages against Ghobadi and $500,000 against Fitzgerald. Krupp’s final judgment tacked on an additional $1,249,048 in prejudgment interest and $290 in costs. Nicole M. BluefortSt. Louis has Lynn attorney Nicole M. Bluefort to thank.

copyright MSFraud.org