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Mortgage Servicing Fraud
occurs post loan origination when mortgage servicers use false statements and book-keeping entries, fabricated assignments, forged signatures and utter counterfeit intangible Notes to take a homeowner's property and equity.
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12/28/23

Family Found Dead in 27-Room Boston Mansion Faced Foreclosure, Filed for Bankruptcy Last Year The Messenger

Family Found Dead in 27-Room Boston Mansion Faced Foreclosure, Filed for Bankruptcy Last Year
The Massachusetts husband and wife who were found dead along with their 18-year-old daughter in an apparent domestic violence case recently faced significant financial woes, including foreclosure on their 27-room mansion in a wealthy Boston suburb, according to reports.

12/28/23

30 US Cities With the Most Foreclosures in 2023 Yahoo Finance

30 US Cities With the Most Foreclosures in 2023
In this article, we will take a look at the 30 US cities with the most foreclosures in 2023. If you want to skip our discussion on the trends in the real estate market, you can go directly to the 5 US Cities With the Most Foreclosures in 2023.

12/28/23

A Big Picture Look at Our Major Wall Street Corruption Stories of 2023 Wall Street On Parade

A Big Picture Look at Our Major Wall Street Corruption Stories of 2023
The year 2023 will go down in U.S. banking history as the year in which the fastest bank runs in U.S. history occurred, producing the second, third and fourth largest banking failures in U.S. history in the span of seven weeks. Losses of more than $32 billion from these failed banks hit the Federal Deposit Insurance Fund (FDIC). Adding to the regulatory hubris, the largest and riskiest bank in the U.S., JPMorgan Chase, was allowed by its compromised regulators to become even riskier by gobbling up the failed First Republic Bank while JPMorgan Chase got an unexplained $50 billion 5-year loan from the FDIC at an undisclosed interest rate to sweeten its purchase of the failed bank.

12/26/23

The DOJ Took More than Two Years to Answer a FOIA on Its Criminal Division Head; Three Days Before Christmas 2023 We Got a Troubling Disclosure Wall Street On Parade

The DOJ Took More than Two Years to Answer a FOIA on Its Criminal Division Head; Three Days Before Christmas 2023 We Got a Troubling Disclosure
On July 20, 2021 the U.S. Senate voted 56-44 to confirm Kenneth Polite (pronounced Po-leet) to head the most powerful criminal law enforcement office in the United States, the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. The vetting of this candidate immediately raised red flags at Wall Street On Parade.

12/22/23

Mortgage lender vs. servicer: What’s the difference? Bankrate

Mortgage lender vs. servicer: What’s the difference?
Key takeaways:

  • Mortgage lenders fund a home loan, while mortgage servicers handle the ongoing administration of the loan after funding, including repayment and loss mitigation, or payment relief.
  • It’s important to know your mortgage servicer and keep track of any changes to ensure it sends payments to the correct place. If you auto-pay your mortgage, this might not be necessary.
  • You can find out who is servicing your loan by checking your mortgage statement.

12/20/23

These Are the Bank Bailout Charts the Fed Hopes You’ll Never See in One Place Wall Street On Parade

These Are the Bank Bailout Charts the Fed Hopes You’ll Never See in One Place
Jerome Powell became the Chairman of the Federal Reserve on February 5, 2018 after being nominated by then President Donald Trump and passing his Senate confirmation. Powell was sworn in again on May 23, 2022 for a second term as Chair. His second term runs until May 15, 2026. Unlike most Fed Chairs, Powell has no economics degree. He has a law degree from Georgetown University. For more background on Powell, see our May 18, 2020 article: The Fed’s Chair and Vice Chair Got Rich at Carlyle Group, a Private Equity Fund with a String of Bankruptcies and Job Losses. Powell’s tenure as Fed Chair has been mired by the biggest trading scandal in the Federal Reserve’s 110-year history.

12/19/23

From 2010 through 2014, the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Focused on Crime on Wall Street; Since Then – Head in the Sand Wall Street On Parade

From 2010 through 2014, the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Focused on Crime on Wall Street; Since Then – Head in the Sand
From 2010 through 2014, the most intractably corrupt industry in America – Wall Street – was the perpetual focus of the Senate Permanent Subcomittee on Investigations. The late Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) Chaired that Subcommittee throughout that span of time. Then Levin retired from the Senate in January 2015 and Wall Street’s name disappeared from hearings of that critical Subcommittee from 2015 through 2023 – a span of nine years. Wall Street did not become less corrupt from 2015 through 2023 to warrant it falling off the hearing schedule of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In fact, Wall Street became more corrupt. Financial watchdog, Better Markets, wrote the following in its detailed report in October on Wall Street mega banks’ unending crime spree:

12/15/23

Some Senate Democrats Move to the Dark Side for Jamie Dimon & Company’s Front Group Wall Street On Parade

Some Senate Democrats Move to the Dark Side for Jamie Dimon & Company’s Front Group
A Wall Street cartel of lobbying groups has launched their fiercest anti-regulation battle with Congress since it was in the midst of writing the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010. That legislation hoped to address the worst Wall Street abuses and corruption that brought on the crash of 2008 – the most devastating financial meltdown since 1929 and the Great Depression. (See our report: Meet the Banking Cartel that Is Planting the Seeds for the Next Banking Panic and Bailout.)

12/14/23

MSP® Loan Servicing System from ICE Now Offering Automated Lien Release Functionality Yahoo Finance

MSP® Loan Servicing System from ICE Now Offering Automated Lien Release Functionality
ATLANTA, December 14, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) a leading global provider of data, technology, and market infrastructure, announced that its MSP® loan servicing system now features the ability for the automated release of the lien once a mortgage has been paid off. The new Automated Lien ReleaseSM (ALR) capability integrated with MSP combines document creation and automated workflows into one solution and routes lien release packages for eSigning and eRecording, adhering to local regulations for the more than 2,500 U.S. counties where eRecording is available. The launch of the MSP ALR capability marks the first time ICE has harnessed the full capabilities of its expanded mortgage technology business to quickly build and implement solutions that address market needs.

12/14/23

The New York Fed Has Extended Its Half Trillion Dollar Bailout Facility to a Sprawling Japanese Bank You’ve Never Heard Of Wall Street On Parade

The New York Fed Has Extended Its Half Trillion Dollar Bailout Facility to a Sprawling Japanese Bank You’ve Never Heard Of
Quietly, on December 1, the New York Fed published the following statement on its website: “The Norinchukin Bank, New York Branch, has been added to the list of Standing Repo Facility Counterparties, effective December 1, 2023.” The Standing Repo Facility (SRF) is a permanent $500 billion bailout facility created by the Federal Reserve and operated by the New York Fed – the private regional Fed bank where multi-trillion dollar Wall Street bank bailouts have become a regular feature of its operations.

12/13/23

Junk Fees: Regulatory and Litigation Activity in 2023 and Beyond JDSupra

Junk Fees: Regulatory and Litigation Activity in 2023 and Beyond
Consumer financial service providers and depository institutions are no strangers to attacks on fees charged to consumers while servicing a loan or account. Regulatory action and litigation have long targeted these fees. However, in 2023, federal and state regulators significantly increased pressure to attack so-called “junk fees,” defined by opponents as “fees designed either to confuse or deceive consumers or to take advantage of lock-in or other forms of situational market power.” Consumer financial service providers and depository institutions would do well to prepare for more scrutiny of their fees and practices next year.

12/13/23

Home Foreclosures Surge in These 3 States Newsweek

Home Foreclosures Surge in These 3 States
Home foreclosures in the U.S. dropped last month, but financial experts don't expect the numbers to continue in that direction in the new year. For three states in particular, foreclosures are surging, indicating troubling economic times ahead. There were 32,120 U.S. properties at some point in the foreclosure process in November, down 7 percent from October, according to ATTOM, which compiles land, property and real estate data. Overall, completed foreclosures were down 32 percent from last year, with lenders repossessing 2,558 properties in November.

12/12/23

Housing Crisis Could Be the Death Knell for America's Middle Class Newsweek

Housing Crisis Could Be the Death Knell for America's Middle Class
Middle-class households are being priced out of the housing market amid high mortgage rates and spiking prices, making it increasingly difficult for them to build wealth. Some financial experts say it's an environment that could lead to the end of the American middle-class dream of owning a home.

12/12/23

If Wall Street’s Mega Banks Are Safe and Sound as the Fed Says, Why Do They Need a Half Trillion Dollar Bailout Facility at the New York Fed? Wall Street On Parade

If Wall Street’s Mega Banks Are Safe and Sound as the Fed Says, Why Do They Need a Half Trillion Dollar Bailout Facility at the New York Fed?
There is a battle raging between the Wall Street mega banks and their federal banking regulators. The regulators want the mega banks to hold more capital against their high risk trading positions to prevent a replay of the bailouts in 2008 and repo bailouts in the fall of 2019. The mega banks have launched a deceptive ad campaign and public relations battle to thwart that from happening.

12/11/23

Who Turned The American Dream Of Home Ownership Into a Nightmare? Yahoo Finance

Who Turned The American Dream Of Home Ownership Into a Nightmare?
First of all, the American Dream is much younger than the nation itself. The term emerged 92 years ago, at the nadir of the Great Depression, when the historian James Truslow Adams defined the American Dream as “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone.” As for how it’s been applied since, well, that’s another story.

12/10/23

Post-Pandemic, Homeowners of Color Face Losing Homes African American Voice

Post-Pandemic, Homeowners of Color Face Losing Homes
California homeowners of color already face many threats to their family home. Now, more will risk foreclosure than ever as millions of dollars in pandemic-era mortgage relief is set to run out before they even know it’s there. At a Thurs., November 2 briefing co-hosted by Ethnic Media Services and Housing and Economic Rights Advocates (HERA), housing attorneys and mortgage experts explained how homeowners can keep their family homes against these threats, while homeowners of color shared their personal experiences of struggling to preserve generational wealth. Threats facing homeowners Joe Jaramillo, a senior attorney at HERA, a statewide housing legal service and advocacy nonprofit, said the main threats facing vulnerable homeowners are “keeping the family home when a parent or grandparent passes away; financing Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs which risk the borrower’s home if unpaid; and “zombie” second mortgages “that haunt borrowers with unexpected bills and threats of foreclosure.”

12/08/23

Homeowner Assistance Applications Closes Soon My Central Oregon

Homeowner Assistance Applications Closes Soon
Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) is closing the Oregon Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) program to most new applicants to avoid overcommitting funds. The application portal will close at noon PST Dec. 20. Homeowners who are in active foreclosure may still be able to apply through a housing counselor.

12/07/23

Indiana researchers unveil first-of-its-kind statewide evictions, foreclosure dashboard NPR WYFY

Indiana researchers unveil first-of-its-kind statewide evictions, foreclosure dashboard
Indiana researchers have unveiled a statewide evictions and foreclosures dashboard, believed to be the first of its kind in the country. Thursday marked the launch of the data tool from the Polis Center and New America. The Polis Center collected data from the Indiana courts system and joined it with demographic data from New America to create the dashboard. It shows eviction and foreclosure filings and judgments down to the census tract level, data that wasn’t really available to the public before now

12/07/23

Wall Street CEOs Want the Line Between a Federally-Insured Bank and a Wall Street Trading Casino Erased; Regulators Want Higher Capital to Prevent That Wall Street On Parade

Wall Street CEOs Want the Line Between a Federally-Insured Bank and a Wall Street Trading Casino Erased; Regulators Want Higher Capital to Prevent That
David Solomon, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, let it slip out at yesterday’s Senate Banking hearing what is really driving the mega banks’ backlash against federal banking regulators’ proposal to raise capital requirements at banks with more than $100 billion in total consolidated assets. (Community banks would not be impacted by the proposed capital increases.)

12/01/23

VA Urges Servicers to Implement Foreclosure Moratorium on VA Loans Consumer Finance Monitor

VA Urges Servicers to Implement Foreclosure Moratorium on VA Loans
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently issued Circular 26-23-25 in which VA “is strongly encouraging a foreclosure moratorium on all VA-guaranteed loans through May 31, 2024.” Additionally, VA “urges servicers to cease initiating, continuing, and/or completing foreclosures on all VA-guaranteed loans during this moratorium.” The voluntary moratorium does not apply to vacant or abandoned properties. In the Circular, VA explains the reasons for urging a foreclosure moratorium.

11/30/23

The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crisis Warning Bell Didn’t Ring Before the Repo Crisis of 2019 or This Year’s Bank Runs Wall Street On Parade

The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crisis Warning Bell Didn’t Ring Before the Repo Crisis of 2019 or This Year’s Bank Runs
The Office of Financial Research (OFR) is a unit of the U.S. Treasury Department. OFR was created as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010 to keep the Financial Stability Oversight Council (F-SOC) informed about emerging threats that have the potential to spread contagion throughout the U.S. financial system — as occurred in 2008 in the worst financial crash since the Great Depression.

11/30/23

Investors buying up homes in Massachusetts at red-hot pace: report Boston Herald

Investors buying up homes in Massachusetts at red-hot pace: report
An investor purchased one in every five homes sold between 2004 and 2018 across Greater Boston, a recent finding that housing advocates say is not surprising and one that confirms what they’ve seen anecdotally in their communities over the past decade. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council released a report this week, dubbed “Homes for Profit: Speculation and Investment in Greater Boston,” showing that investors accounted for 21% of total home sales in the region during the period. Roughly 87% of the transactions involved single-family homes and condominiums, with investor activity increasing from 16% of purchases in 2004 to 23% in 2018, the report found.

11/30/23

FHA issues extensive new reverse mortgage servicing updates Reverse Mortgage Daily

FHA issues extensive new reverse mortgage servicing updates
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) on Thursday published new Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) servicing guidance in response to industry feedback. In Mortgagee Letter (ML) 2023-23, FHA has codified several core reverse mortgage program servicing changes after posting an initial draft ML on the Single Family Drafting Table at the beginning of November.

11/29/23

Managing Today’s Tech Trends in Mortgage Servicing DS News

Managing Today’s Tech Trends in Mortgage Servicing
Gagan Sharma is the Founder and CEO of BSI Financial Inc., a cloud-based, open API and AI-driven platform. BSI offers an end-to-end digital servicing platform that enables investors and originators to transact seamlessly, with automated loan boarding, investor reporting, and data-driven loan monitoring through the lifecycle of the mortgage. BSI Financial has also built a proprietary AI-driven compliance automation and workflow that ensures complex, state-by-state regulations are kept up-to-date and acted on with precision and certainty, providing real-time visibility into the mortgage details and exceptions.

11/24/23

Foreclosure Whirlwind: Report Unveils A Tale Of Contrasts Yahoo Finance

Foreclosure Whirlwind: Report Unveils A Tale Of Contrasts
The latest snapshot of the U.S. real estate landscape reveals a nuanced pattern of foreclosure filings. Real estate data firm ATTOM's October U.S. Foreclosure Market Report shows a 6% decline from September, suggesting a respite; the report also underscores a 6% increase compared to the same period a year ago. The dynamics reflect a delicate balance with signs of improvement slightly tempered by persistent challenges, creating an environment where homeowners, lenders and policymakers must navigate a complex intersection of economic forces. The report found there were 34,472 foreclosure filings encompassing a range of stress indicators, including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions.

11/22/23

The housing market’s deep slump, in five charts NBC News

The housing market’s deep slump, in five charts
The U.S. housing market is slumping. Home sales have dropped this year, as high prices, high borrowing costs and a low supply of available homes have combined to send potential buyers to the sidelines. Here are five charts that show the state of the housing market.

11/22/23

Six Big Banks Forced to Declare $9.3 Billion in Additional FDIC Expenses; Another Reason Their Talons Are Out for FDIC Chair Gruenberg Wall Street On Parade

Six Big Banks Forced to Declare $9.3 Billion in Additional FDIC Expenses; Another Reason Their Talons Are Out for FDIC Chair Gruenberg
The biggest banks in the U.S. that have been serially bailed out by the Federal Reserve since they blew up the financial system in 2008, are ripping mad at the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Martin Gruenberg. In addition to the FDIC and other federal banking regulators’ proposed rule to increase capital requirements on the largest banks, the FDIC just issued a final rule on November 16 that will force six banks to report an FDIC special assessment expense totaling more than $9.3 billion in the final quarter of this year. (See chart above.)

11/21/23

The VA stops foreclosures for thousands of veterans after NPR investigation NPR

The VA stops foreclosures for thousands of veterans after NPR investigation
The Department of Veterans Affairs put a stop to foreclosures for veterans with VA home loans after NPR found that thousands were at risk of losing their homes through no fault of their own.

11/20/23

5 Triggers to Shift In-House Servicing to a Subservicer DS News

5 Triggers to Shift In-House Servicing to a Subservicer
Efficiency in mortgage servicing is vital, especially during times of significant change in the mortgage landscape. Changes in the market, such as interest rate shifts, regulatory alterations, or major economic events, can trigger a surge in mortgage applications, refinancing requests, or default rates. An efficient mortgage servicing operation is better equipped to handle these fluctuations, maintaining seamless customer experience, minimizing the risk of errors, and ensuring regulatory compliance.

11/17/23

'Zombie mortgages' could be attached to a property, even if they were charged off years ago ABC7

'Zombie mortgages' could be attached to a property, even if they were charged off years ago
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Zombie mortgages: are they as terrifying as they sound? They could be. Last month, Eyewitness News shared the story of Carson resident Adaina Brown. Her dream home is turning into a nightmare. "It kind of just broke my heart," she said last month. "I told my husband, 'I can't take another thing.'" When she and her husband bought the house in 2007, they needed a first and second mortgage. She said after property values plummeted, one of her lenders eventually charged off the second loan. She received a letter stating she was not responsible for the debt. "'This debt has been charged off. You are no longer liable for this debt,'" Brown said as she recalled what was indicated in the letter. But that's where it gets tricky. Even if you are not responsible personally, a lien can still remain against the property. Another loan company now has that debt and says there is still an amount due of more than $139,000. "The company that now owns that debt, whether it's a debt collector or a new loan company, is coming back after it because housing prices have risen and they're hoping to collect on that," explained Ali Hashemian, the President of Kinetic Financial. After ABC7's report, the new loan company, Specialized Loan Servicing, or SLS, sent Eyewitness News at statement, saying in part "... There is a mortgage lien on the property that is intact and enforceable. A lien remains in place on the property in question until the debt is resolved through payment in full, an agreed settlement, or foreclosure." It's like a horror story. ByKinetic Financial President Ali Hashemian Financial experts worry there are thousands of these so-called "zombie mortgages" handled by many different companies, and homeowners might not be aware of the consequences.

11/14/23

The Deposit Insurance Fund Has a Balance of $117 Billion to Protect Deposits at 4,622 Banks. But One of Those Banks Has $1.4 Trillion in Uninsured Deposits Wall Street On Parade

The Deposit Insurance Fund Has a Balance of $117 Billion to Protect Deposits at 4,622 Banks. But One of Those Banks Has $1.4 Trillion in Uninsured Deposits
Today, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee will call federal banking regulators before it to testify at a hearing at 10 a.m. The underlying theme will be why these regulators were caught napping when the second, third, and fourth largest bank failures in U.S. history occurred in a span of seven weeks this past Spring and hear about the new plans of action to restore confidence in the U.S. banking system.

11/13/23

PHH Mortgage Announces New Subservicing Agreement With Zillow Home Loans Yahoo Finance

PHH Mortgage Announces New Subservicing Agreement With Zillow Home Loans
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Nov. 13, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PHH Mortgage Corporation (“PHH” or the “Company”), a subsidiary of Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE: OCN) and a leading non-bank mortgage servicer and originator, today announced that it has entered into a mortgage subservicing agreement with Zillow Home Loans, LLC (“Zillow Home Loans”).

11/11/23

Thousands of veterans face foreclosure and it's not their fault. The VA could help NPR

Thousands of veterans face foreclosure and it's not their fault. The VA could help Becky Queen remembers opening the letter with the foreclosure notice. "My heart dropped," she said, "and my hands were shaking." Queen lives on a small farm in rural Oklahoma with her husband, Ray, and their two young kids. Ray is a U.S. Army veteran who was wounded in Iraq. Since the 1940s, the federal government has helped veterans like him buy homes through its VA loan program, run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. But now the VA has put this family on the brink of losing their house. "I didn't do anything wrong," says Ray Queen. "The only thing I did was trust a company that I'm supposed to trust with my mortgage."

11/08/23

Five Star Announces Launch of Mortgage Servicing Executive Alliance DS News

Five Star Announces Launch of Mortgage Servicing Executive Alliance
The Five Star Institute, parent company of MortgagePoint, has announced the launch of a mortgage industry trade group—the Mortgage Servicing Executive Alliance (MSEA). Intended as a forum to facilitate progress, collaboration, mentorship, and networking for mortgage industry executives, the MSEA joins Five Star’s National Mortgage Servicing Association (NMSA) as a group that represents thought leadership and best practices in mortgage servicing.

11/08/23

Report: During Spring Banking Crisis, Banks Borrowed Over $1 Trillion from Federal Home Loan Banks — $100 Billion More than During the Crash of 2008 Wall Street On Parade

Report: During Spring Banking Crisis, Banks Borrowed Over $1 Trillion from Federal Home Loan Banks — $100 Billion More than During the Crash of 2008
Yesterday, the regulator of the Federal Home Loan Bank system, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), released a report on its recommended changes going forward. The report was in response to the questionable conduct of the Federal Home Loan Banks in the leadup to the banking crisis this past spring.

11/07/23

Bond-market crash leaves big banks with $650 billion of unrealized losses as the ghost of SVB continues to haunt Wall Street Business Insider

Bond-market crash leaves big banks with $650 billion of unrealized losses as the ghost of SVB continues to haunt Wall Street

  • Big banks are sitting on $650 billion of unrealized losses, Moody's has estimated.
  • It's a sign even Wall Street's best-known names are feeling the heat from the Treasury-market rout.
  • Crashing bond prices sank Silicon Valley Bank earlier this year, and there may be more chaos to come.

11/07/23

Mortgage & HELOC Balances, Delinquencies, Foreclosures: How Are our Drunken Sailors Holding Up? Wolfstreet

Mortgage & HELOC Balances, Delinquencies, Foreclosures: How Are our Drunken Sailors Holding Up?
Mortgage balances outstanding ticked up 1.0% in Q3 from Q2, to a new record of $12.1 trillion, after having dipped in Q2, according to data from the New York Fed’s Household Debt and Credit Report. This increase is less than half the pace than the big jumps during the era of the 3% mortgages, when mortgage balances had soared quarter-to-quarter by as much as 2.8% in Q2 2021.

11/03/23

What's Worrying New York's Banking Regulators? Plenty, Including CRE Loans Globest

What's Worrying New York's Banking Regulators? Plenty, Including CRE Loans
New York’s top financial regulator — Adrienne Harris, director of the state’s Department of Financial Services — has been vocal about a number of issues, including cryptocurrency regulation and better and faster bank oversight. And the state of CRE loans. Harris stated in a recent Bloomberg TV interview that the “banking system is very stable” after the actions federal regulators took in March, closing several banks like Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank in California and Signature Bank in New York. But then she added that “there’s still lots of issues looming,” like risks from interest high interest rates, attending unrealized losses, and exposure to commercial real estate loans. “So, the regional banking crisis, I think, is over,” Harris added. “The banks are stabilized, but certainly we’re mindful of other risks in the system.”

11/03/23

HELOC, Broker Pricing, LOS, Servicing Retention Products; Training and Webinars; STRATMOR on Tech Mortgage News Daily

HELOC, Broker Pricing, LOS, Servicing Retention Products; Training and Webinars; STRATMOR on Tech
The upcoming credit price changes were not discussed yesterday at the counter in Paul’s Pancake Parlor here in Missoula, but they might have been. As well as the resignation of NAR’s CEO… are there cracks in the powerful NAR empire? One thing that did come up was the commercial real estate market, reminding us that people need a place to live, not necessarily a place to work. Want to know how bad the commercial real estate market may become? Follow the money.

11/03/23

FHA publishes proposed reverse mortgage servicing guidance to Single Family Drafting Table Reverse Mortgage Daily

FHA publishes proposed reverse mortgage servicing guidance to Single Family Drafting Table
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) this week published a new draft version of a Mortgagee Letter (ML) containing a series of proposed changes to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program to the Single Family Drafting Table, an online portal designed to gather stakeholder input on proposed guidance before implementation. The new draft ML primarily contains proposed changes focused on reverse mortgage servicing. Stakeholder feedback is due by Nov. 7.

11/02/23

Vesta and Willow Servicing Partner to Forge a Seamless Bridge Between Origination and Servicing, Paving the Way for an End-to-End Digitized Mortgage Process Yahoo Finance

Vesta and Willow Servicing Partner to Forge a Seamless Bridge Between Origination and Servicing, Paving the Way for an End-to-End Digitized Mortgage Process
SAN FRANCISCO, November 02, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vesta, the creator of the modern mortgage loan origination system, is pleased to announce its integration with Willow Servicing. This partnership marks a significant step toward harmonizing traditionally segmented origination and servicing processes. It provides seamless, end-to-end connectivity from application through post-close, all within the LOS.

11/02/23

ICE’s mortgage business outperforms in Q3 despite industry headwinds Housing Wire

ICE’s mortgage business outperforms in Q3 despite industry headwinds
ICE's improved adjusted operating income of $131M in Q3 was driven by strong sales in its Encompass loan origination, MSP solutions systems

10/29/23

Fines Levied: Oregon reaches $2.3B settlement with ACI The Chronicle Online

Fines Levied: Oregon reaches $2.3B settlement with ACI
The Oregon Division of Financial Regulation (DFR) joined 43 other state financial agencies in reaching a settlement with ACI Payments Inc. (ACI), for erroneously initiating electronic transactions totaling $2.3 billion from the accounts of 480,000 mortgage-holders nationwide. By the numbers State regulators levied $10 million in fines through a multistate enforcement action. In Oregon, there were over 13,000 erroneous ACH entries affecting nearly 5,000 accounts. The dollar value of transaction in Oregon alone was over $23 million. Additionally, 50 state attorneys general, including the Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, levied an additional $10 million in fines to ACI, in coordination with state regulators.

10/27/23

Wire You Foreclosing? JD Supra

Wire You Foreclosing?
Does a lender have the right to foreclose its mortgage if a payoff of such mortgage is made by wire transfer, but the payment does not make it to the lender’s account? A recent case[1], heard on appeal by the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, Second Department (the “Court”), explored this issue, specifically looking to the language of Article 4-A of the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”), which governs “funds transfer”[2] or what we commonly refer to as a “wire transfer,” to issue its ruling. The plaintiff in the case, U.S. Bank National Association (“US Bank”), was the holder of a mortgage on certain real property located in Bay Shore, New York (the “Bay Shore Property”). The mortgage was serviced by Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC (“Ocwen”).

10/26/23

Hedging, Webinars, HELOC, Prequal Tools; STRATMOR on Servicing; Lunches and RESPA Mortgage News Daily

Hedging, Webinars, HELOC, Prequal Tools; STRATMOR on Servicing; Lunches and RESPA
It is said that if all the hunters on opening day(s) of deer season in Wisconsin were grouped together, they would comprise the sixth largest army in the world! Sometimes lenders feel that they have a target on their backs, and here at the WMBA’s 49th Annual Real Estate & Finance Conference in Milwaukee, some of the informal talk in the hallways is about avoiding redlining, a focus of audits and exams. Another is RESPA. When does “As you wish” or “intent” figure into lending? “Rob, is it true that the same business lunch can either be a RESPA violation, or not?” I am not an expert in compliance, but yes, that is true.

10/25/23

Tozer Proposes Ginnie Mae Support of Independent Mortgage Bank Funding DS News

Tozer Proposes Ginnie Mae Support of Independent Mortgage Bank Funding
In a recent paper presented by The Urban Institute, Ted Tozer, Nonresident Fellow in the Housing Finance Policy Center of the Urban Institute, proposes that Ginnie Mae support the housing system to stabilize financing for independent mortgage banks (IMBs).

10/24/23

Freddie Mac Sells $19.1 Million in Non-Performing Loans DS News

Freddie Mac Sells $19.1 Million in Non-Performing Loans
Freddie Mac has announced it sold, via auction, 88 non-performing residential first lien loans (NPLs) from its mortgage-related investments portfolio to GITSIT Solutions LLC and VRMTG ACQ LLC, a woman-owned business. The loans are currently serviced by Specialized Loan Servicing LLC.

10/20/23

JPMorgan Chase Paid $1.085 Billion in Legal Expenses in Last Six Months; It’s Still Battling Hundreds of Charges and Legal Proceedings on Three Continents Wall Street On Parade

JPMorgan Chase Paid $1.085 Billion in Legal Expenses in Last Six Months; It’s Still Battling Hundreds of Charges and Legal Proceedings on Three Continents
At some point, federal regulators, the Senate Banking Committee and the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice are going to reach the same conclusion that Wall Street On Parade reached quite some time ago: JPMorgan Chase is a criminal enterprise in drag as a federally-insured bank.

10/20/23

Foreclosures continue to surge: Are they a threat to the housing market? NY Post Foreclosures continue to surge: Are they a threat to the housing market?


Is this a repeat of the 2008 housing bust? The number of homeowners hit with foreclosure notices in the third quarter of the year jumped 34% from a year ago to nearly 125,000, according to a recent report from real estate data firm ATTOM. They were up 28% from the previous quarter. Across the country, about 1 in every 1,121 properties had a foreclosure filing in the third quarter. That’s a return to almost pre-pandemic levels as foreclosure moratoriums put in place in the early days of COVID-19 have expired. Filings included default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions.

10/19/23

Prepared Remarks of CFPB Director Rohit Chopra on the Proposed Personal Financial Data Rights Rule CFPB

Prepared Remarks of CFPB Director Rohit Chopra on the Proposed Personal Financial Data Rights Rule
Good morning, and thank you for being here today. In the last few decades, sectors across the economy have become more concentrated and centralized. A key priority for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is to ensure that consumer finance markets are fair, transparent, and competitive.

10/17/23

Three Oregon counties face class action suit over foreclosure law KOIN

Three Oregon counties face class action suit over foreclosure law
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A class action lawsuit filed Thursday is looking to stop Oregon counties from retaining entire tax foreclosure proceeds, arguing the practice violates the United States Constitution, according to court documents.

10/17/23

What is a zombie mortgage? Couple facing foreclosure because of 'zombie' loan | What to know ABC7 News

What is a zombie mortgage? Couple facing foreclosure because of 'zombie' loan | What to know
CARSON, Calif. -- A Carson, California couple is facing foreclosure because of what's known as a "zombie loan." That term refers to a second mortgage that seemed to have been forgiven or written off - until years later when a collector reaches out about the unknown, but supposedly unpaid, debt. Such confusion over mortgages has led to a surprise massive bill that Adaina Brown and her husband can't pay.

10/17/23

Foreclosure valid despite lack of servicing license RI Lawyers Weekly

Foreclosure valid despite lack of servicing license
A mortgage foreclosure should not be invalidated despite the fact that the plaintiff borrower was sent a notice of default before the defendant had a loan servicing license, a U.S. District Court judge has decided.

10/17/23

Bank of America’s Deposits Fall, But at Slower Pace than JPMorgan Chase Wall Street On Parade

Bank of America’s Deposits Fall, But at Slower Pace than JPMorgan Chase
Bank of America is the second largest bank by assets in the United States, topped in assets by only JPMorgan Chase. Both mega banks have seen a steady decline in deposits since the first quarter of 2022. But the decline in deposits at Bank of America represents just 65 percent of the deposit outflows that have occurred at JPMorgan Chase in the past seven quarters. (Bank of America, as the chart above shows, did report a small uptick in deposits in the current quarter.)

10/16/23

JPMorgan Chase Has Lost a Quarter Trillion Dollars in Deposits in Last 7 Quarters — Fortress Balance Sheet or Leaky Sieve? Wall Street On Parade

JPMorgan Chase Has Lost a Quarter Trillion Dollars in Deposits in Last 7 Quarters — Fortress Balance Sheet or Leaky Sieve?
On May 1, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced that First Republic Bank had failed and that it was being sold to JPMorgan Chase. At the time, JPMorgan Chase was already the largest and riskiest bank in the United States. The sweetheart deal the bank got from the FDIC to take over First Republic included the FDIC eating 80 percent of any losses on single-family residential mortgages for 7 years and 80 percent of any losses on commercial loans, including commercial real estate, for five years. The FDIC also provided JPMorgan Chase with a $50 billion, five-year fixed-rate loan at an undisclosed interest rate.

10/12/23

U.S. Foreclosure Activity Shows Continued Rise In Third Quarter, Approaching Levels Seen Before Pandemic ATTOM Data

U.S. Foreclosure Activity Shows Continued Rise In Third Quarter, Approaching Levels Seen Before Pandemic
IRVINE, Calif. – Oct. 12, 2023 — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, released its Q3 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 124,539 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — up 28 percent from the previous quarter and 34 percent from a year ago.
The report also shows there were a total of 37,679 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings in September 2023, up 11 percent from the previous month and up 18 percent from September 2022.

10/12/23

Fed’s Vice Chair for Supervision Says Another Financial Crisis Could Cost U.S. $5 Trillion to $25 Trillion – Potentially as Much as 100 Percent of GDP Wall Street On Parade

Fed’s Vice Chair for Supervision Says Another Financial Crisis Could Cost U.S. $5 Trillion to $25 Trillion – Potentially as Much as 100 Percent of GDP
On Monday, Michael Barr, the Vice Chair for Supervision at the Federal Reserve, addressed a contentious issue in a speech before the American Bankers Association’s annual convention in Nashville. The topic was why federal banking regulators have proposed higher capital levels for the largest U.S. banks, those with assets over $100 billion. As we reported on September 20, there has been aggressive pushback on the proposal from large banks, their lobbyists and their trade associations. (Community banks are not impacted by the proposal.)

10/11/23

Is the Mortgage Servicing Space in Need of a Reset? DS News

Is the Mortgage Servicing Space in Need of a Reset?
MortgageFlex has published a new white paper entitled, “The Evolution of Modern Servicing Software: Why industry disruption from the inside is changing how the mortgage servicing industry operates,” where it is suggested that it’s not technology that leads to disruption, but rather the mortgage servicers that put it to use.

10/11/23

Janet Yellen’s Treasury Department Hires 5-Count Felon JPMorgan Chase to Look for Fraud Wall Street On Parade

Janet Yellen’s Treasury Department Hires 5-Count Felon JPMorgan Chase to Look for Fraud
Immediately upon departing her post as Chair of the Federal Reserve, but prior to getting the nod from the Biden administration to become U.S. Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen engaged in what the courageous reporter at ProPublica, Jesse Eisinger, called a “two-fisted money grab from banks.” Yellen raked in more than $7 million in speaking fees with the bulk of that coming from Wall Street banks and trading houses, including JPMorgan Chase. In a Tweet, Eisinger said: “This is corruption, but isn’t called that because it’s so quotidian.” Now there is the appearance that a quid pro quo is coming full circle.

10/10/23

There Are Two Reasons that 75 Percent of U.S. Banks Didn’t Hedge Their Interest Rate Risk as the Fed Hiked Rates at the Fastest Pace in 40 Years Wall Street On Parade

There Are Two Reasons that 75 Percent of U.S. Banks Didn’t Hedge Their Interest Rate Risk as the Fed Hiked Rates at the Fastest Pace in 40 Years
An academic study released in April found that during the fastest pace of Fed interest rate hikes in 40 years, the majority of U.S. banks failed to hedge their interest rate risk. The study on hedging is titled: Limited Hedging and Gambling for Resurrection by U.S. Banks During the 2022 Monetary Tightening? Its authors are Erica Jiang, Assistant Professor of Finance and Business Economics at USC Marshall School of Business; Gregor Matvos, Chair in Finance at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University; Tomasz Piskorski, Professor of Real Estate in the Finance Division at Columbia Business School; and Amit Seru, Professor of Finance at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

10/09/23

International Bank Study, Using 150 Years of Data, Shows Mega Banks Like the Big Four in the U.S. Produce Financial Instability and More Severe Crises Wall Street On Parade

International Bank Study, Using 150 Years of Data, Shows Mega Banks Like the Big Four in the U.S. Produce Financial Instability and More Severe Crises
It took eight years of research to compile a data set of annual balance sheets of more than 11,000 commercial banks dating back to 1870 in 17 advanced economies. And in every country, the study arrived at the same finding: concentrating the banking system in the hands of five or less giant banks leads to financial instability and more severe financial crises. The bank balance sheets of the following countries were examined: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

10/08/23

Viewpoint: Consumers Deserve a Mortgage Bill of Rights Scotsman Guide

Viewpoint: Consumers Deserve a Mortgage Bill of Rights
Lawmakers must strengthen protections to ease costs and counter harmful practices
Digging out from the 2008 housing crisis has not been easy. Americans were harmed by predatory mortgage lending practices, a collapse in home prices and a steep drop in the national homeownership rate. Since then, the U.S. housing market has experienced a slow but steady recovery.
Census data shows the national homeownership rate was 65.9% as of second-quarter 2023, up a full 3 percentage points since 2016. But challenges remain. The National Association of Realtors found that the gap in the homeownership rate between Blacks and whites is the biggest in a decade. And a report this past June from the National Association of Homebuilders showed that while wage gains boosted affordability at the start of this year, the trade group’s first-quarter 2023 affordability index was still significantly lower than one year earlier.
When 30-year mortgage rates were in the 3% range, it was easier to overlook mortgage practices that harmed consumers. But now that interest rates have skyrocketed, protecting people from glitches in consumer protections should be more of a priority than ever.
This past summer, the Community Home Lenders of America released its Consumer Mortgage Bill of Rights. This document identifies specific areas where consumer protections need to be strengthened. Mortgage professionals should advocate for these positions to ensure a fair and thriving mortgage market.

10/07/23

Charted: The U.S. Mortgage Rate vs. Existing Home Sales Visual Capitalist

Charted: The U.S. Mortgage Rate vs. Existing Home Sales
The U.S. Mortgage Rate vs. Existing Home Sales The U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has reached its highest level since 2002. Coupled with rising home prices and a constrained housing inventory, U.S. housing affordability is now at its lowest point in history, according to the National Association of Realtors.

10/06/23

GuideWell reaches $30 billion in revenue; ICE: Black Knight deal helps mortgage ‘ecosystem’ Jacksonville Daily Record

GuideWell reaches $30 billion in revenue; ICE: Black Knight deal helps mortgage ‘ecosystem’
After Intercontinental Exchange Inc. agreed in May 2022 to acquire Jacksonville-based mortgage technology firm Black Knight Inc., antitrust officials were concerned the deal would give ICE too much control over mortgage technology in the U.S. Now that the deal is completed, ICE officials said in a Sept. 28 conference call the merged businesses will benefit everyone involved in the mortgage process.

10/06/23

CFPB reports steep drop in mortgage applications, refinances Dodd Frank Update

CFPB reports steep drop in mortgage applications, refinances
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) report on 2022 trends in residential lending reveals a notable drop in mortgage applications and originations from the year prior. This drop coincided with an increase in rates, fees, discount points and other costs, according to the bureau’s analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data recorded during that timeframe.

10/05/23

After Getting the Largest Bailout in U.S. History in 2008, 85.5 Percent of the $1.34 Trillion in Deposits at Citigroup’s Citibank Lack FDIC Insurance Today Wall Street On Parade

After Getting the Largest Bailout in U.S. History in 2008, 85.5 Percent of the $1.34 Trillion in Deposits at Citigroup’s Citibank Lack FDIC Insurance Today
As evidenced by the speech that the FDIC Chair, Martin Gruenberg, delivered at a conference yesterday, the FDIC is very much aware that both the level of uninsured deposits and the concentration of those uninsured deposits among a handful of mega banks is a serious problem for the U.S. banking system. Gruenberg didn’t name names, but we will do that in this article.

10/04/23

A Public Policy Professor Who Served Under Three U.S. Presidents, Says Jamie Dimon Is an Oligarch and Has “Hijacked the System” Wall Street On Parade

A Public Policy Professor Who Served Under Three U.S. Presidents, Says Jamie Dimon Is an Oligarch and Has “Hijacked the System”
Jamie Dimon is the Chairman and CEO of the serially-charged criminal trading operations of JPMorgan Chase, which thanks to the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, is also allowed to own the largest federally-insured bank in the United States and use its trillions of dollars in mom and pop deposits to gamble in derivatives.
Robert Reich is Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley; served in the administrations of Presidents Ford and Carter and as Labor Secretary under Clinton; is the author of 18 books, including bestsellers The Work of Nations, Saving Capitalism, and Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future. Reich received his B.A. from Dartmouth College, his M.A. from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and his J.D. from Yale Law School.

10/02/23

Five-Count Felon JPMorgan Chase Gets Hit with Another Federal Fine for 40 Million Derivative Violations; Pays 37 1/2 Cents Per Violation Wall Street On Parade

Five-Count Felon JPMorgan Chase Gets Hit with Another Federal Fine for 40 Million Derivative Violations; Pays 37 1/2 Cents Per Violation
In the eyes of Wall Street veterans who are paying close attention to what’s going down at the mega banks on Wall Street, federal regulators are making the crime wave at these banks worse, not better. The federal fines for egregious behavior at these banks are getting smaller and more meaningless by the day.
Take, for example, what happened on Friday. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fined three of the largest trading houses on Wall Street a combined $53 million for derivative reporting violations. Those trading houses were units of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase.

10/02/23

Federal court rules against servicers in pay-to-pay lawsuit National Mortgage News

Federal court rules against servicers in pay-to-pay lawsuit
A federal district court in Houston ruled in favor of a class-action plaintiff last week in a three-year-old case involving pay-to-pay fees, approving a summary judgment against two mortgage servicers.

09/28/23

Analysis of CFPB Complaints by State: Helping Consumers in New Hampshire American Progress

Analysis of CFPB Complaints by State: Helping Consumers in New Hampshire
On October 3, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) v. Community Financial Services Association of America regarding the constitutionality of the agency’s independent funding structure. CFPB critics have long sought to limit the agency’s congressionally given autonomy and, by extension, its capacity to promote a fairer financial marketplace for all consumers. The Supreme Court’s decision in the case, which will come down next spring, could significantly harm consumers and spread uncertainty in the financial markets.
Since opening its doors 12 years ago, the CFPB has been a formidable advocate for everyday Americans, holding financial institutions accountable for predatory practices and returning $17.5 billion to wronged customers across the 50 states, including in New Hampshire.

09/28/23

Nutter Bank Report: September 2023 JD Supra

Nutter Bank Report: September 2023
Headlines
CFPB Issues Guidance on Credit Denials Using Artificial Intelligence in Underwriting
FDIC Chairman Warns of Financial Stability Risks of Nonbank Financial Institutions
Court Issues Nationwide Injunction Delaying Compliance with CFPB Data Collection Rule
Annual Mortgage Review Finds Increasing Closing Costs and Denials for Insufficient Income
Other Developments: Lease Financing and Equal Housing

09/28/23

There’s a Trump Era/Charles Koch Big Law Firm Behind the Supreme Court Case that Hopes to Gut the Federal Agency that Fights for the Little Guy Wall Street On Parade

There’s a Trump Era/Charles Koch Big Law Firm Behind the Supreme Court Case that Hopes to Gut the Federal Agency that Fights for the Little Guy
Next Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that could have far reaching effects on the legislative ability of Congress to have flexibility in how it funds regulatory agencies, as well as place in jeopardy the survival of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a government watchdog for the little guy, elderly, young, poor and unsophisticated against goliaths on Wall Street and other financial predators.
The case arrives at the Supreme Court as a result of a decision handed down in October by a three-judge panel at the right-wing 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. All three judges on the panel (Don Willett, Kurt Engelhardt, and Cory Wilson) were appointed by former President Donald Trump. The 5th Circuit effectively ruled that the CFPB’s funding system, legislated by Congress, was unconstitutional.

09/27/23

Mortgage Servicing Software Market 2023 is Booming Worldwide Benzinga

Mortgage Servicing Software Market 2023 is Booming Worldwide

Latest Mortgage Servicing Software Market Growth Analysis 2023 Mortgage Servicing Software Market 2023 with 120 Pages Report and enhance with extents shares into sub-counties are covered in this market. Mortgage Servicing Software Market conditions can be influenced by a wide range of factors, including economic policies, geopolitical events, and technological developments. Major Key Players of the Market:

09/27/23

Jay Bray: The Path to Building a $1 trillion Mortgage Servicing Rights Business Housing Wire

Breaking Down August Foreclosure Filing Report Data

On today’s episode, HW Media CEO Clayton Collins sits down with the CEO of Mr. Cooper Group, Jay Bray. Jay brings more than 25 years of experience to the table, including his time at Mr. Cooper as well as with both Arthur Anderson and Bank of America. Today, he and Clayton reflect on mortgage servicing rights and the two major acquisitions Mr. Cooper has announced so far in 2023: HomePoint Capital and Roosevelt Management Company.

09/25/23

Freddie Mac Sells $586 Million in Non-Performing Residential Loans DS News

Breaking Down August Foreclosure Filing Report Data

Freddie Mac has announced it sold 3,564 non-performing residential first lien loans (NPLs) via auction from its mortgage-related investments portfolio. The loans, with a balance of approximately $586 million, are currently serviced by Specialized Loan Servicing LLC, Select Portfolio Servicing, Inc., NewRez LLC, d/b/a Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing and Nationstar Mortgage LLC d/b/a RightPath Servicing. The transaction is expected to settle in November 2023 as part of Freddie Mac’s Standard Pool Offerings (SPO).

09/21/23

Meet the Banking Cartel that Is Planting the Seeds for the Next Banking Panic and Bailout Wall Street On Parade

Meet the Banking Cartel that Is Planting the Seeds for the Next Banking Panic and Bailout
On July 27, the Federal Reserve, FDIC and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released a proposal to require higher capital levels at banks with $100 billion or more in assets – those that demonstrated quite clearly this past spring that they could spread systemic contagion throughout the U.S. banking system. Community banks will not be impacted at all by the new proposals according to the regulators.
The three federal bank regulators provided a very generous public comment period of 120 days on the proposal. (Submit your own comment here.) The large banks had to only begin transitioning to the new rules on July 1, 2025, with full compliance not due for an absurd five years – on July 1, 2028.
On September 12, the banking cartel made their anger known in a 7-page letter that assaulted the proposal from every conceivable angle and demanded that the three federal agencies turn over all “evidence and analyses the agencies relied on” in making the proposal.

09/21/23

Real Estate May Have a New ‘Predatory’ Problem The Messenger

Real Estate May Have a New ‘Predatory’ Problem
The financial crisis of 2008 highlighted the predatory behavior of residential mortgage lenders. Today, 15 years later, experts say that similar practices persist, only this time on the commercial side. At issue are loans backed by retail centers, offices, hotels, warehouses and apartment buildings — a much less regulated sector that is experiencing increased distress due to fallout from the pandemic.

09/20/23

Lobbyists Grab Control at House Financial Services Hearings, Backing Jamie Dimon’s Push to Gut Higher Capital Proposals Wall Street On Parade

Lobbyists Grab Control at House Financial Services Hearings, Backing Jamie Dimon’s Push to Gut Higher Capital Proposals
We’re very sorry to have to tell you this, but if you’re not watching Senate Banking or House Financial Services Committee hearings when the topic is about increasing bank capital or any new regulations to make the U.S. banking system less prone to blowing up, you are likely seriously underestimating how corruption has become the new normal in the United States of America.

09/18/23

Professors Point to JPMorgan Chase as Poster Boy of a Financial System Dependent on Corruption to Sustain Itself Wall Street On Parade

Professors Point to JPMorgan Chase as Poster Boy of a Financial System Dependent on Corruption to Sustain Itself
The full day conference sponsored by nonprofit watchdog Better Markets last Wednesday was a unique opportunity to gain brilliant insights from academic experts who have battled on the frontlines of the most unprecedented and ongoing era of corruption in U.S. financial history. (You can watch it on YouTube at this link.) In fact, at the close of the conference, Anat Admati, Professor of Finance and Economics at Stanford Graduate School of Business, summed up the U.S. financial system in five words: “Corruption has become the system.”

09/15/23

SMALL BUSINESS ADVISORY REVIEW PANEL FOR CONSUMER REPORTING RULEMAKING OUTLINE OF PROPOSALS AND ALTERNATIVES UNDER CONSIDERATION CFPB

SMALL BUSINESS ADVISORY REVIEW PANEL FOR CONSUMER REPORTING RULEMAKING OUTLINE OF PROPOSALS AND ALTERNATIVES UNDER CONSIDERATION

Table of Contents I. Introduction .................................................................................................................1
II. The SBREFA Process...................................................................................................4
III. Proposals and Alternatives Under Consideration ........................................................... 5
A. Def initions of consumer report and consumer reporting agency ........................6
1. Data brokers..............................................................................................................7
2. Defining “assembling or evaluating” .......................................................................... 9
3. “Credit header” data.................................................................................................10
4. Targeted marketing and aggregated data................................................................... 11
B. Permissible purposes ............................................................................ 12
1. Written instructions of the consumer........................................................................ 12
2. Legitimate business need .........................................................................................13
3. Data security and data breaches................................................................................14
C. Disputes ............................................................................................ 15
1. Disputes involving legal matters...............................................................................15
2. Disputes involving systemic issues...........................................................................16
D. Medical debt collection information......................................................... 17
E. Implementation period .......................................................................... 19
IV. Potential Impacts on Small Entities.............................................................................19
A. Overview........................................................................................... 19
B. Small entities covered by the proposals under consideration .......................... 20
C. CFPB review of implementation processes and costs.................................... 22
1. Costs imposed on entities not currently complying with the FCRA............................ 23
2. Costs imposed on entities currently complying with the FCRA.................................. 23
D. Consideration of the impacts on business operation and revenues ................... 23
E. Additional impacts of proposals under consideration.................................... 24
F. Impact on the cost and availability of credit to small entities ......................... 24
Appendix A—Fair Credit Reporting Act................................................................................25
Appendix B—Excerpt from Regulation V, 12 CFR 1022........................................................ 91

09/15/23

CFPB Director Rohit Chopra Addresses Mortgage Post-Crisis Reforms and Importance of Consumer Protection Regulations Consumer Finance Monitor

CFPB Director Rohit Chopra Addresses Mortgage Post-Crisis Reforms and Importance of Consumer Protection Regulations

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra recently addressed The Mortgage Collaborative National Conference recounting the Congressional response to the mortgage industry crisis that began in 2008 that resulted in the creation of the CFPB. Mr. Chopra emphasized that challenges to the validity and authority of the CFPB could hurt the stability of the U.S. housing market and broader consumer protections. Mr. Chopra’s remarks began with a brief history of the 2008 mortgage market crash, and how the actions of IndyMac Bank resulted in one of the largest ever bank failures managed by the FDIC. In response, Congress shook up the federal financial regulators by shutting down the Office of Thrift Supervision and stripping authorities from a number of banking regulators, transferring these authorities to the CFPB.

09/15/23

9 Consumer Finance Issues to Note From CFPB Report Troutman

9 Consumer Finance Issues to Note From CFPB Report

Published in Law360 on September 15, 2023. © Copyright 2023, Portfolio Media, Inc., publisher of Law360. Reprinted here with permission. In July, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published a report highlighting various unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices it claims to have uncovered during its supervisory examinations from July 2022 to March 2023. The summer 2023 report covers, among other things, what the CFPB considers to be unfair and deceptive acts or practices in areas such as automotive loan origination and servicing; consumer reporting; debt collection; deposits; fair lending; information technology (for the very first time); mortgage origination and servicing; payday and small-dollar lending; and remittances. Here are the most significant issues identified by the CFPB.

09/14/23

This is when mortgage interest rates will fall, experts say CBS News

This is when mortgage interest rates will fall, experts say

Over the past year and half, the Fed has gradually increased interest rates by about 5%. While the hikes have helped to cool inflation, they've also driven up the cost of getting a mortgage. During the pandemic, Americans saw record-low mortgage rates in the ballpark of 3%. Now, they've plateaued around 7%. If you're wondering how long they'll stay there and if it's a good time to buy a home, then it helps to know what some experts think.

09/13/23

Breaking Down August Foreclosure Filing Report Data DS News

Breaking Down August Foreclosure Filing Report Data

August 2023’s Foreclosure Market Report, curated by ATTOM Data, showed that there was a total of 33,952 residential real estate properties with foreclosure filings against them, a number that jumped 7% from July but decreased by 2% year-over-year. A foreclosure filing is defined by ATTOM as a default notice, bank repossession, or scheduled auctions

09/12/23

CFPB Affirms HUD RESPA Guidance Related to Housing Credit Counselors Husch Blackwell

CFPB Affirms HUD RESPA Guidance Related to Housing Credit Counselors
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been making waves in the mortgage settlement services space with its renewed increased attention to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act’s (RESPA) anti-kickback provisions. For instance, in August, the Bureau issued a $1.75 million civil penalty against a non-bank mortgage company and a real estate brokerage firm for alleged RESPA Section 8 violations. And earlier this year, the CFPB issued new guidance related to digital mortgage comparison shopping platforms. Continuing this trend,

09/12/23

Grab an Easy Chair and Watch 21 Experts Explore the Path from the Collapse of Lehman Brothers to This Spring’s Banking Crisis to the Urgency of Defanging the Mega Banks Wall Street On Parade

Grab an Easy Chair and Watch 21 Experts Explore the Path from the Collapse of Lehman Brothers to This Spring’s Banking Crisis to the Urgency of Defanging the Mega Banks
The outspoken nonprofit watchdog, Better Markets, and its co-founder, President and CEO, Dennis Kelleher, have planned a unique full-day webinar for tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET. (Register here at no cost. You do not need Zoom to watch the program.) For millions of Americans who understand that the U.S. cannot remain a superpower, or even compete effectively on the world stage without a first-class banking system and a properly functioning Wall Street, this is an opportunity to hear from people who have been on the front lines of the battle for genuine reform for decades. Wall Street On Parade has covered the efforts of many of these individuals over the years.

09/10/23

Loan Servicing Software Market Trends Report 2023-2030 | 108 Pages Report Benzinga

Loan Servicing Software Market Trends Report 2023-2030 | 108 Pages Report

[108 Pages Report] "Loan Servicing Software Market" Market Size, Share and Industry Trends Analysis Report By Applications (Auto Lending, Title Lending, Mortgage),Types (Cloud-based, On-premise), By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2023-2030. The report presents the research and analysis provided within the Loan Servicing Software Market Research is meant to benefit stakeholders, vendors, and other participants in the industry. The Loan Servicing Software market is expected to grow annually by magnificent (CAGR 2023 - 2030).

09/09/23

Residential Mortgage Service Market Size 2023 | Historic Data with New Benchmarks till 2030 | No of Pages 118 Benzinga

Residential Mortgage Service Market Size 2023 | Historic Data with New Benchmarks till 2030 | No of Pages 118

| The Research Report on Residential Mortgage Service Market | This extensive report comprises 118 pages and features a detailed table of contents, along with figures and charts that assist thorough analysis. Moreover, the report provides a comprehensive estimation of the market's pre and post-COVID-19 impact, accompanied by an overview of the current situation in each region.

09/08/23

Examining QC Trends in the Mortgage Servicing Space DS News

Examining QC Trends in the Mortgage Servicing Space

MetaSource, LLC, a mortgage compliance services partner, has published its annual servicing quality control (QC) findings report which reveals that while the market was contracting amid plummeting volumes and shrinking workforces in 2022, servicing documentation challenges were not. During its servicing QC audit findings analysis, MetaSource reported several document-related issues that have plagued servicers for years, but the team also uncovered a fresh layer of documentation challenges.

09/08/23

Treatment of Mortgage Loans and Mortgage Servicing Rights Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Mayer Brown

Treatment of Mortgage Loans and Mortgage Servicing Rights Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act

Transactions involving the purchase and sale of residential mortgage loans and mortgage servicing rights (“MSRs”) frequently raise the question of whether they require submitting premerger notification filings to the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (“HSR Act”). This Legal Update provides an overview of how residential mortgage loans, MSRs and related assets are treated for HSR purposes in the context of asset or servicing platform sales and equity transactions pertaining to entities that hold mortgage loans or MSRs, including residential mortgage servicers.

09/07/23

Acadian Asset Management Acquires Position in Ocwen Financial, Evaluating Potential Impact on Stock Performance Best Stocks

Acadian Asset Management Acquires Position in Ocwen Financial, Evaluating Potential Impact on Stock Performance

Acadian Asset Management LLC, a global investment management firm, recently acquired a new position in Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE:OCN). According to their filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Acadian Asset Management purchased 12,612 shares of the financial services provider’s stock during the first quarter. These shares were valued at approximately $341,000. At the end of the reporting period, Acadian Asset Management owned 0.17% of Ocwen Financial.
Ocwen Financial Corporation is a prominent company in the financial services industry. It operates in various regions including the United States, United States Virgin Islands, India, and the Philippines. The company has two main segments – Servicing and Originations.

09/07/23

25 years of low-income foreclosure protections are at stake in this Maine case Bangor Daily News

25 years of low-income foreclosure protections are at stake in this Maine caseA case that has sat before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court since late 2021 could upend the state’s policies on foreclosures and default notices that lenders send to borrowers. The state’s highest court has yet to issue a ruling in the case, J.P. Morgan Acquisition Corp. v. Camille Moulton, since receiving the appeal in December 2021 and asking in August 2022 for interested parties to weigh in. At stake is 25 years of legal precedent in Maine that has prevented lenders from going after borrowers repeatedly for loan defaults by “accelerating” a note, or asking for repayment at once, if they initially sought back, for example, an incorrect amount of money.

A case that has sat before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court since late 2021 could upend the state’s policies on foreclosures and default notices that lenders send to borrowers. The state’s highest court has yet to issue a ruling in the case, J.P. Morgan Acquisition Corp. v. Camille Moulton, since receiving the appeal in December 2021 and asking in August 2022 for interested parties to weigh in. At stake is 25 years of legal precedent in Maine that has prevented lenders from going after borrowers repeatedly for loan defaults by “accelerating” a note, or asking for repayment at once, if they initially sought back, for example, an incorrect amount of money.

09/05/23

Intercontinental Exchange Completes Acquisition of Black Knight and Announces Preliminary Results of Elections Made by Black Knight Stockholders in Connection with the Acquisition Yahoo Finance

Intercontinental Exchange Completes Acquisition of Black Knight and Announces Preliminary Results of Elections Made by Black Knight Stockholders in Connection with the Acquisition

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology, and market infrastructure, and Black Knight, Inc. (NYSE: BKI), a software, data and analytics company that serves the housing finance continuum, including real estate data, mortgage lending and servicing, as well as the secondary markets, today announced that ICE has completed its acquisition of Black Knight. The Black Knight acquisition follows ICE’s 2020 acquisition of Ellie Mae, its 2019 acquisition of Simplifile, and its 2018 acquisition of Mortgage Electronic Registrations Systems (MERS), which together created the foundation of its ICE Mortgage Technology business segment.

09/01/23

Attorney General Bonta Announces Settlement with Mortgage Servicer over Failure to Properly Process Military Reservists’ Mortgage Deferment Requests ROB BONTA Attorney General

Attorney General Bonta Announces Settlement with Mortgage Servicer over Failure to Properly Process Military Reservists’ Mortgage Deferment Requests

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced a settlement with The Money Source, Inc. (TMS), resolving allegations that the company failed to properly process, and timely grant, mortgage deferment requests made by California military reservists called to active duty. Under the California Military and Veterans Code, including the California Military Families Financial Relief Act (CMFFRA), reservists called to active duty can defer payments on certain financial obligations — including their mortgage, credit cards, property taxes, car loans, utility bills, and student loans — if they submit a written request and a copy of their military orders to the lender or other appropriate entity. Last year, the California Department of Justice (DOJ) received a credible complaint alleging that TMS mishandled a reservist’s mortgage deferment request. Subsequently, DOJ launched an investigation into TMS’s processes for handling mortgage deferment requests. As part of today’s settlement, TMS will pay $58,000 in penalties, fully reimburse the affected reservists, and be subject to injunctive terms.

09/01/23

End-of-year foreclosure activity should gain steam Scotsman Guide

End-of-year foreclosure activity should gain steam

A vestige of emergency loss- prevention policies implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic have kept the U.S. foreclosure market funnel partially clogged. But many of the nation’s mortgage servicers expect foreclosure volume to gradually pick up speed in the final months of 2023. That’s according to a survey of more than 50 representatives from leading mortgage servicers and government agencies conducted this past June at the Auction.com Disposition Summit.

09/01/23

CoreLogic: Mortgage Delinquencies, Foreclosure Rates at Historic Lows Mortgage Orb

CoreLogic: Mortgage Delinquencies, Foreclosure Rates at Historic Lows

For the month of June, 2.6% of all mortgages in the U.S. were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure), representing a 0.3 percentage point decrease compared with 2.9% in June 2022 and unchanged from May 2023. To gain a complete view of the mortgage market and loan performance health, CoreLogic examines all stages of delinquency. In June 2023, the U.S. delinquency and transition rates and their year-over-year changes were as follows:

09/01/23

Latest Grifting by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Is Just Tip of the Iceberg Wall Street On Parade

Latest Grifting by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas Is Just Tip of the Iceberg
After the public interest news outlet, ProPublica, revealed more grifting by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in April, the Supreme Court finally released the much delayed financial disclosure form for calendar year 2022 for Thomas yesterday. Thomas grudgingly provided details of some of that grifting involving billionaire Harlan Crow. But this latest grifting saga is just the tip of the iceberg for Thomas and his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas. In 2011 the watchdog group, Protect our Elections, filed a bar complaint with the Missouri Supreme Court. At the time, Thomas was admitted to practice law in the State. The complaint asked for the disbarment of Thomas on the following grounds:

09/01/23

Illinois Homeowner Assistance Fund Program Closing in 60 Days Illinois.gov

Illinois Homeowner Assistance Fund Program Closing in 60 Days
CHICAGO - The Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) announced the Illinois Homeowner Assistance Fund (ILHAF) will no longer accept applications beginning at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023. ILHAF supports qualified homeowners with grants of up to $60,000 for past-due mortgage payments, property taxes, property insurance and homeowner and/or condo association fees. Any application submitted prior to closing will be reviewed to determine eligibility and a submitted application is not a guarantee of approval. Eligible Illinois homeowners can apply online at www.illinoishousinghelp.org.

08/26/23

ICE, Black Knight announce FTC agreement that clears way for $11.7 billion buyout Jacksonville Daily Record

ICE, Black Knight announce FTC agreement that clears way for $11.7 billion buyout

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and Black Knight Inc. announced an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission late Aug. 25 that clears the way for ICE to complete its $11.7 billion buyout of Jacksonville-based Black Knight. The companies expect to close the deal Sept. 5, which is 16 months after announcing a merger agreement. The deal has been held up by FTC antitrust concerns that the merged company would control too much of the U.S. mortgage technology market. Black Knight dominates the market for processing home loans, with nearly two-thirds of all first mortgage loans in the U.S. processed through its system. Atlanta-based ICE is mainly known as the operator of the New York Stock Exchange but it also has a large mortgage technology subsidiary.

08/25/23

The housing market will be stuck in a rut for a long time even if the US avoids a recession, Fannie Mae says Business Insider

The housing market will be stuck in a rut for a long time even if the US avoids a recession, Fannie Mae says

The housing market isn't coming out of its deep freeze anytime soon, even if the US economy manages to steer away from a recession in the next year, according to Fannie Mae economists.

08/24/23

Zombie Foreclosures Hold Steady During Third Quarter, Still With Minimal Impact Around Most Of U.S. ATTom Data

Zombie Foreclosures Hold Steady During Third Quarter, Still With Minimal Impact Around Most Of U.S.

IRVINE, CA – Aug. 24, 2023 —ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its third-quarter 2023 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report showing that 1.3 million (1,277,612) residential properties in the United States are vacant. That figure represents 1.3 percent, or one in 79 homes, across the nation – the same as in the second quarter of this year.

08/24/23

Fitch Spotlights RMBS Delinquency Trends, Borrower Assistance Impacts DSnews

Fitch Spotlights RMBS Delinquency Trends, Borrower Assistance Impacts

Mortgage servicers nationwide continue to work with struggling homeowners to avoid loan default, as early delinquencies remain flat and late stage delinquencies show positive movement, according to Fitch Ratings’ 1Q23 U.S. RMBS Servicer Metric Report.

08/24/23

Black homeowners facing foreclosure can find help at an unlikely place — a farmer’s market | Calavia-Robertson NJ.com

Black homeowners facing foreclosure can find help at an unlikely place — a farmer’s market | Calavia-Robertson

In between stands selling fresh fruit and green veggie smoothies at the East Orange Farmer’s Market, Veronica Fairweather sets up her own shop. She throws a black tablecloth on a white plastic table, lines it neatly with brochures and one-sheets and, voilà, she’s open for business. But the 39-year-old real estate broker, known mostly by her social media moniker “Veronica, The Broker,” isn’t selling your typical farmer’s market fare: She’s here hoping to connect with people of color whose homes are in foreclosure.

08/24/23

More Than 1 Million U.S. Homes Are Standing Vacant Investopedia

More Than 1 Million U.S. Homes Are Standing Vacant

About 1.3 million homes in the U.S. stood vacant in the third quarter, representing 1.3%, or one in 79 residential properties. 1 ATTOM Data. “2023 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report”

08/24/23

Zombie Foreclosures Began ‘Ticking Up’ in Q3 DSnews

Zombie Foreclosures Began ‘Ticking Up’ in Q3

ATTOM Data has released its new third quarter market trends report highlighting the blight of zombie homes and the impact they are having on the economy. All in all, the report, which covers the third quarter of 2023, found that there were 1,277,612 vacant properties in the country. That figure represents 1.3%, or 1-in-79 homes, across the nation—the same as in the second quarter of this year.

08/23/23

Deposits at the 25 Largest Banks Are Setting Lower Lows as Smaller Bank Deposits Set Higher Highs Wall Street On Parade

Deposits at the 25 Largest Banks Are Setting Lower Lows as Smaller Bank Deposits Set Higher Highs
The speed at which the largest U.S. banks are shedding deposits is unlike anything seen in the last half century – at least. But then again, the speed at which those same banks gained deposits from the various stimulus programs during the COVID-19 pandemic was also unprecedented.

08/22/23

S&P Downgrades Credit Ratings on Five Banks, Puts Three Others on Negative Outlook Wall Street On Parade

S&P Downgrades Credit Ratings on Five Banks, Puts Three Others on Negative Outlook
The stock prices of KeyCorp and Comerica had already lost more than 40 percent of their market value over the past year through the closing bell on Monday. KeyCorp was sporting a depressed share price of $10.89 at the close yesterday after trading in the single digits during the banking crisis in March. Then S&P Global delivered more bad news yesterday. It downgraded the credit rating on both KeyCorp and Comerica by one notch. Outlooks were indicated as “stable” for both banks by S&P.

08/22/23

2023 Updates to the Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Law and Property Registration Considerations for Lenders in Illinois National Law Review

2023 Updates to the Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Law and Property Registration Considerations for Lenders in Illinois
With foreclosure rates on the rise in 2023, lenders in Illinois should take particular care to ensure that they are in compliance with the various state, county and municipal notice and registration requirements for properties subject to foreclosure proceedings.

08/18/23

Oregon Bankruptcy Court Decides a Post-Foreclosure, but Post-Petition Eviction of a Borrower Violates the Automatic Stay JD Supra

Oregon Bankruptcy Court Decides a Post-Foreclosure, but Post-Petition Eviction of a Borrower Violates the Automatic Stay

On August 4, 2023, the bankruptcy court for the District of Oregon determined that proposed actions by a lender to enforce a pre-bankruptcy petition foreclosure judgment and evict a borrower—after the borrower filed for bankruptcy—were in violation of the automatic stay. The court, however, did allow the lender the ability to pursue sanctions, criminal charges, and civil claims against the borrower for refusing to relinquish possession of the property after the bankruptcy filing (In re Natache D. Rinegard-Guirma, Case No. 22-31651-dwh13 (Bankr. D. Or. 2023)). This decision serves as a reminder of the broad protections of the automatic stay, while providing some avenues for relief for lenders far down the foreclosure and eviction process.

08/17/23

Florida Foreclosure Defense Strategies That Will Prevent Your Lender From Taking Your Home MFI-Miami

Florida Foreclosure Defense Strategies That Will Prevent Your Lender From Taking Your Home

The following Florida foreclosure defense strategies can act as a way to bar a lender from taking your home. However, there are other factors you need to keep in mind. Florida judge assigned to your foreclosure case could be a wild card.
Most judge don’t want to hear foreclosure cases especially from pro-se litigants. They have had their fill of them for the decade after the 2008 financial crisis. In other words, you could have the best foreclosure case in the world but you could still be screwed.
Let me let you in on a secret. Most Judges in Florida don’t care. They are prejudiced against homeowners in foreclosure. However, most of the time they are just pre-occupied with other matters. Mostly, they’re thinking about personal matters. So they make the easiest ruling ruling can to clear the docket and get you out of the court room. So they rule in favor the lender.
Why? Well, it’s boils down to economics. In order file an appeal in one of Florida’s District Court of Appeals, the homeowner needs to post a bond. Most of the time the homeowner doesn’t have it. The court figures if the homeowner did, they wouldn’t be in foreclosure.
In other words, you need a foreclosure defense lawyer who know what they are doing and has brass balls. So, here are some ways that your lawyer can convince a judge you have a legitimate reason to fight for your home.

08/17/23

Average long-term US mortgage rate climbs to highest level in more than 20 years Dayton Daily News

Average long-term US mortgage rate climbs to highest level in more than 20 years

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate jumped this week to its highest level in 20 years, grim news for would-be homebuyers already facing high home prices caused a lack of supply

08/17/23

CFPB Penalizes Freedom Mortgage and Realty Connect for Illegal Kickbacks CFPB

CFPB Penalizes Freedom Mortgage and Realty Connect for Illegal Kickbacks

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) took action against Freedom Mortgage Corporation (Freedom) for providing illegal incentives to real estate brokers and agents in exchange for mortgage loan referrals. Freedom provided real estate agents and brokers with numerous incentives — including cash payments, paid subscription services, and catered parties — with the understanding they would refer prospective homebuyers to Freedom for mortgage loans. This conduct violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and its implementing regulation.

08/17/23

Navigating California’s New Foreclosure Laws: A Guide for Institutions JD Supra

Navigating California’s New Foreclosure Laws: A Guide for Institutions

On July 26, 2023, the CFPB released its Summer 2023 Supervisory Highlights, which focuses on alleged unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices (UDAAP) violations found in recent supervisory examinations. The report also detailed violations caused by insufficient technology controls.
In the ever-evolving landscape of residential real estate, California is once again at the forefront with the passage of Assembly Bill (AB) 1837 and AB 2170, which became effective on January 1, 2023. Aimed at increasing homeownership for individual residents, these laws build upon the groundwork laid by Senate Bill (SB) 1079 in 2020, which required institutions to sell foreclosed homes individually instead of in bundles, in an effort to create more affordable housing and community stability by limiting when investors can purchase foreclosed homes. The new law, codified in California Civil Code section 2923, extends SB 1079’s protections until January 1, 2031.

08/17/23

Cook County loses appeal for compensation from 2000s foreclosure crisis The Real Deal

Cook County loses appeal for compensation from 2000s foreclosure crisis
Cook County has lost its appeal to receive financial compensation, stemming from a series of litigations related to Chicago’s foreclosure crisis in the early 2000s Three judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the county wasn’t a victim of predatory lending that left tens of thousands of homes in the Chicago area vacant and in disrepair, Crain’s reported.

08/16/23

Update on the New York Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act: Challenges and Current Considerations Dechert

Update on the New York Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act: Challenges and Current Considerations
As more fully discussed in our previous OnPoint, the New York Legislature enacted FAPA on December 30, 2022 in response to the New York Court of Appeals’ holding, in Freedom Mortgage Corp. v. Engel, that a noteholder’s voluntary revocation of an acceleration of debt constituted an “affirmative act” that would restart the clock for the statute of limitations for mortgage foreclosure actions. 146 N.Y.S.3d 542 (2021). The New York Legislature effectively rejected this decision, which had followed years of precedent. Instead, FAPA provides that a noteholder’s voluntary discontinuance of a foreclosure is not sufficient, in and of itself, to reset the six-year statute of limitations period for mortgage foreclosure actions. As a consequence, noteholders (and anyone whom the note is subsequently transferred to) are barred from commencing a subsequent foreclosure proceeding once a debt has been accelerated if six-years have elapsed since the commencement of the original action, even if it was voluntarily discontinued. As a practical result, Borrowers are able to raise the defense of statute of limitations and leave noteholders without any protection where a prior enforcement action was filed. The retroactive application of FAPA, provided for therein, further compounds the problem and puts all noteholders on notice that their loans may not have recourse to the standard lender protections they once had.

08/16/23

Mega Banks Take Down Stock Prices after a Fitch Warning About a Possible Downgrade to JPMorgan Chase and Its Peers Wall Street On Parade

Mega Banks Take Down Stock Prices after a Fitch Warning About a Possible Downgrade to JPMorgan Chase and Its Peers
Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average took a tumble of 361 points by the closing bell. Numerous headlines attributed the big decline to a weakening economy in China. But the actual trigger for angst among traders was a headline at 5:30 a.m. EDT yesterday at CNBC. The headline read: “Fitch warns it may be forced to downgrade dozens of banks, including JPMorgan Chase.” JPMorgan Chase is not just the biggest bank in the United States in terms of assets and deposits. It is the biggest bank in terms of its derivative exposure.
Moody’s cut the ratings of 10 banks by one notch, placed six banks on review for potential downgrade, and changed its outlook to negative on 11 other banks.

08/15/23

Second chance for foreclosed property owners in Schuyler County WENY

Second chance for foreclosed property owners in Schuyler County

SCHUYLER COUNTY, N.Y. (WENY) -- Schulyer County is giving one last chance for foreclosed property owners to avoid loosing their land. Offers can be submitted to the County Treasurer by September 18th for consideration. If accepted, the property deed will be returned to the former owner.

08/15/23

Connecticut Court Reconciles Case Involving State’s Mortgage Assistance Program DSnews

Connecticut Court Reconciles Case Involving State’s Mortgage Assistance Program

The Rolling Stones sang “you can’t always get what you want, but sometimes, you get what you need.” That tune has practical application to Connecticut foreclosures, particularly after the Supreme Court issued its opinion in KeyBank v. Yazar, 2023 Conn. Lexis 169. That case addressed whether the statutory pre-suit Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (EMAP) notice requirement under EAMP implicates subject matter jurisdiction. It also addressed whether a second EMAP notice is required after a case has been dismissed on procedural grounds. It is the Connecticut Supreme Court’s first opinion on EMAP, which is a state loss mitigation program

08/15/23

Wall Street Mega Banks and Their Disgraceful Bailout Charts Since the Repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 Wall Street On Parade

Wall Street Mega Banks and Their Disgraceful Bailout Charts Since the Repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999
The Bill Clinton administration’s repeal in 1999 of the 1933 Banking Act, commonly known as the Glass-Steagall Act, ushered in the greatest kleptocracy America has ever known. The Cambridge dictionary defines “kleptocracy” as: “a society whose leaders make themselves rich and powerful by stealing from the rest of the people.” In fact, the actual goal of repealing Glass-Steagall was to do just that.

08/14/23

UBS to pay $1.4 billion over fraud in residential mortgage-backed securities CNBC

UBS to pay $1.4 billion over fraud in residential mortgage-backed securities

Swiss bank UBS agreed to pay a combined $1.4 billion in civil penalties over fraud and misconduct in its offering of residential mortgage-backed securities dating back to the global financial crisis, federal prosecutors announced Monday.

08/13/23

State urged to pick up pace to end ‘equity theft’ Mass Lawyers Weekly

State urged to pick up pace to end ‘equity theft’

Look no further than the immediate aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, et al. for a recent example of how nimble and proactive state legislative leaders can be when they see a legal tidal wave cresting on the horizon.
Before the ink was even dry on Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.’s majority opinion overruling Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, so-called “trigger laws” immediately took effect in more than a dozen states, severely restricting abortion access.
Though a less highly publicized issue, Massachusetts had a similar opportunity to get its house in order with respect to its municipal tax lien foreclosure process, long decried as enabling home equity “theft.”

08/11/23

CFPB Report Details UDAAP Violations Uncovered During Recent Supervisory Examinations JD Supra

CFPB Report Details UDAAP Violations Uncovered During Recent Supervisory Examinations

On July 26, 2023, the CFPB released its Summer 2023 Supervisory Highlights, which focuses on alleged unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts or practices (UDAAP) violations found in recent supervisory examinations. The report also detailed violations caused by insufficient technology controls.
Mortgage Servicing. Servicers violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)/ Regulation X by failing to evaluate complete loss mitigation applications and provide written notices of any loss mitigation options to borrowers within 30 days of receipt. Servicers also engaged in unfair or deceptive acts or practices by delaying processing of borrower requests to enroll in loss mitigation options, and by informing borrowers that the servicers would evaluate loss mitigation applications within 30 days but then move forward with foreclosure without reviewing the applications. Finally servicers violated RESPA/ Regulation X by: 1) not maintaining adequate procedures to ensure continuity of contact with delinquent borrowers; 2) not providing required information, including in cases where required language was included in English-language notices but not in Spanish-language versions; 3) not crediting payments sent to prior servicer after a transfer of servicing; and, 4) failing to maintain adequate policies and procedures to ensure that necessary information is transferred to the new servicer after a servicing transfer.

08/11/23

HUD: Foreclosure moratorium in place for Maui homeowners with government-backed loans Hawaii News Now

HUD: Foreclosure moratorium in place for Maui homeowners with government-backed loans

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Following President Biden’s major disaster declaration for Maui County on Monday, several relief measures are being made available to impacted homeowners.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures for mortgages in Maui County insured by the Federal Housing Administration.

08/10/23

Foreclosure Filings Up 5% Year-Over-Year in July DSnews

Foreclosure Filings Up 5% Year-Over-Year in July

ATTOM has released its July 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 31,877 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings—default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions—down 9% from a month ago, but up 5% from a year ago. "The slight decline in foreclosure filings we are seeing is yet another sign of a rebounding housing market," said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM.

08/10/23

US set to unveil long-awaited crackdown on real estate money laundering Reuters

US set to unveil long-awaited crackdown on real estate money laundering

NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department will soon propose a rule that would effectively end anonymous luxury-home purchases, closing a loophole that the agency says allows corrupt oligarchs, terrorists and other criminals to hide ill-gotten gains. The long-awaited rule is expected to require that real estate professionals such as title insurers report the identities of the beneficial owners of companies buying real estate in cash to the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

08/10/23

Loan Servicing Market Is Thriving Worldwide During The Forecast Period 2023-2030 360 Research Reports

Loan Servicing Market Is Thriving Worldwide During The Forecast Period 2023-2030

Loan Servicing Market PUNE, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA, August 10, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- "Loan Servicing Market" [2023-2030] Research Report Analysis and Outlook Insights | Latest Updated Report | The Loan Servicing Market is segmented into Regions, Applications (Homeowner, Local Bank, Company), and Types (Conventional Loans, Conforming Loans, FHA Loans, Private Money Loans, Hard Money Loans). The report presents the research and analysis provided within the Loan Servicing Market Research is meant to benefit stakeholders, vendors, and other participants in the industry. This report is of 103 Pages long. The Loan Servicing market is expected to grow annually by magnificent (CAGR 2023 - 2030). Who is the largest manufacturers of Loan Servicing Market worldwide?

08/10/23

U.S. Foreclosure Activity Dips In July 2023 While Lender Repossessions Continue To Climb ATTom Data

U.S. Foreclosure Activity Dips In July 2023 While Lender Repossessions Continue To Climb

August 10, 2023 — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its July 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 31,877 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — down 9 percent from a month ago but up 5 percent from a year ago.

08/09/23

Mortgage payoff fraud rises 532% quarter-over-quarter: CertifID Housing Wire

Mortgage payoff fraud rises 532% quarter-over-quarter: CertifID

With home sale transactions down, fraudsters are turning to mortgage payoff fraud to secure bigger payouts. Mortgage payoff fraud occurs when a title company mistakenly sends a mortgage payoff to a fraudulent bank account after receiving wiring instructions that appear to be from the mortgage servicer. The instructions, however, are actually from fraudsters.

08/08/23

Fannie Mae CEO: ‘Housing today is a tale of two markets. We need to make it work for everyone’ Yahoo Finance

Fannie Mae CEO: ‘Housing today is a tale of two markets. We need to make it work for everyone’

It’s hard to make sense of today’s housing market. The swirl of statistics and headlines can seem confusing and contradictory. Is the housing market relatively strong and healthy? Or is it struggling and out of balance?

08/08/23

Moody’s Cuts Credit Ratings on 10 Banks; Places 4 of the 15 Largest Banks in U.S. on Review for Possible Downgrade Wall Street On Parade

Moody’s Cuts Credit Ratings on 10 Banks; Places 4 of the 15 Largest Banks in U.S. on Review for Possible Downgrade
Brace yourself for some tremors in the stock prices of banks today — especially those that have counterparty risk to the biggest U.S. banks. In a move that sent Dow futures on a steady downward plunge beginning at 5 a.m. EDT this morning (clocking in at down 268 points by 8:14 a.m.), last evening the credit ratings agency, Moody’s Investors Service, took more sweeping actions in the U.S. banking sector.
Moody’s cut the ratings of 10 banks by one notch, placed six banks on review for potential downgrade, and changed its outlook to negative on 11 other banks.

08/07/23

The 25 Largest U.S. Banks Are Seeing the Largest Fall in Deposits in 38 Years With No Signs of Letting Up Wall Street On Parade

The 25 Largest U.S. Banks Are Seeing the Largest Fall in Deposits in 38 Years With No Signs of Letting Up
Deposits at the 25-largest domestically-chartered U.S. commercial banks peaked at $11.680 trillion on April 13, 2022, according to the updated H.8 data maintained at the Federal Reserve Economic Database (FRED). As of the most current H.8 data for the week ending on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, deposits stood at $10.709 trillion at those 25 commercial banks, a dollar decline of $970 billion and a percentage decline of 8.3 percent.
Equally noteworthy, the decline shows no signs of letting up. According to the FRED data, between July 5 and the most current reading on July 26, the 25 largest U.S. banks shed $174 billion in deposits.

08/07/23

Intercontinental Exchange, Black Knight and the Federal Trade Commission Jointly Agree to Dismiss Federal Court Case, Pending Settlement Negotiations Yahoo Finance

Intercontinental Exchange, Black Knight and the Federal Trade Commission Jointly Agree to Dismiss Federal Court Case, Pending Settlement Negotiations

-Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) and Black Knight, Inc. (NYSE: BKI) announced today that, amid progress toward a potential resolution, they have jointly stipulated, along with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to dismiss the preliminary injunction proceeding in the United States District Court seeking to block the close of ICE’s previously announced acquisition of Black Knight.

08/04/23

State urged to comply with Supreme Court ruling Salem News

State urged to comply with Supreme Court ruling

BOSTON — The state’s Land Court is being asked to take steps to stop the practice of “equity theft” from homeowners who fall behind on their property taxes, in response to a recent Supreme Court ruling. In a letter to Chief Justice of the Land Court Gordon Piper, Holliston-based attorney Christopher M. Perry asks the court to take immediate “remedial action” to bring the state into compliance with the high court’s ruling in a Minnesota tax foreclosure case. He said the high court’s ruling made it clear that home “equity theft” is unconstitutional.

08/04/23

‘It shouldn’t be this difficult:’ Pa. homeowners desperate as mortgage aid struggles drag on Philadelphia Iquirer

‘It shouldn’t be this difficult:’ Pa. homeowners desperate as mortgage aid struggles drag on

Broken promises. Months without water. Facing foreclosure with no clear answers. Desperate homeowners are stuck in the middle as Pennsylvania struggles to overhaul a troubled mortgage relief program.

08/04/23

Top 10 U.S. States Posting Mid-Year Declines in Foreclosure Filings ATTom Data

Top 10 U.S. States Posting Mid-Year Declines in Foreclosure Filings

According to ATTOM’s recently released Mid-Year 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, ATTOM CEO Rob Barber noted, “Similar to the first half of 2022, foreclosure activity across the United States maintained its upward trajectory, gradually approaching pre-pandemic levels in the first half of 2023. Although overall foreclosure activity remains below historical norms, the notable surge in foreclosure starts indicates that we may continue to see a rise in foreclosure activity in the coming years.”

08/03/23

The Fitch Downgrade of U.S. Debt: What You Need to Know Wall Street On Parade

The Fitch Downgrade of U.S. Debt: What You Need to Know
At 5:13 p.m. ET on Tuesday, after the stock market closed, Fitch downgraded the U.S. credit rating from AAA to AA+. Fitch is now the second of the three major credit rating agencies to have taken the historic step of removing the triple-A rating from the U.S. S&P made its first-ever downgrade to the U.S. credit rating on August 5, 2011, also from AAA to AA+, and has kept it there ever since. Moody’s is now the only member of the Big Three credit rating agencies that has maintained a triple-A rating on the U.S. As the chart above indicates, the stock market responded negatively to this development yesterday, particularly over the fact that it came at a time when the U.S. Treasury is boosting the amount of debt it is issuing.

08/03/23

Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates Rescues Jennifer Jackson from Foreclosure, Saving Her Home and Financial Future NonProfit Alliance of Consumer Advocates

Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates Rescues Jennifer Jackson from Foreclosure, Saving Her Home and Financial Future

CALIENTE, CA, UNITED STATES, August 3, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- In a heartwarming success story, Jennifer Jackson, an Oregon resident, was facing the imminent threat of foreclosure on her beloved home due to unforeseen health issues and the financial strain of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to the timely intervention of the Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates (N.A.C.A), Jennifer can now breathe a sigh of relief, as they stepped in and prevented the foreclosure, securing a brighter future for her and her family.

07/28/23

Home foreclosures rising with California, Florida in the lead News Nation

Home foreclosures rising with California, Florida in the lead

  • Most foreclosures seen in California, Florida, Texas, New York and Illinois
  • Eviction moratoriums expired, returning rates to pre-pandemic levels
  • Average 30-year mortgage loan rate nearly 7% after latest Fed rate hike

The housing market is being impacted as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates for the eleventh time since March 2022, causing a spike in foreclosures. Eviction moratoriums protected families during the pandemic, but now, eviction rates in major U.S. cities are rising, returning to or surpassing pre-pandemic levels. Data from ATTOM Data Solutions reveals a rise in home foreclosures, impacting top five states from January-June 2023:

07/28/23

U.S. Supreme Court Bankruptcy Roundup - July 2023 JD Supra

U.S. Supreme Court Bankruptcy Roundup - July 2023
Since May 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued three decisions addressing or potentially impacting issues of bankruptcy law. These included rulings concerning the abrogation of sovereign immunity for Native American tribes under the Bankruptcy Code, and for instrumentalities of Puerto Rico under a similar statute enacted in 2016 allowing the Commonwealth to restructure its debts. The Court also handed down an opinion concerning a homeowner's entitlement to the surplus proceeds of a real estate tax foreclosure sale. That ruling could conceivably impact fraudulent transfer litigation in bankruptcy cases arising from real property foreclosures. Finally, the Court denied petitions to review three decisions concerning the "solvent-debtor exception," which has been applied by some courts to require the payment of postpetition interest to unsecured creditors under a cram-down chapter 11 plan.

07/27/23

Equity Improves For U.S Homeowners As Housing Market Boom Shows Signs Of Revival ATTom Data

Equity Improves For U.S Homeowners As Housing Market Boom Shows Signs Of Revival

Equity-Rich Portion of Mortgaged Homes Rises Back Up Amid Home-Price Rebound; Half of all Homeowners Paying Mortgages are Equity-Rich; Seriously Underwater Level of Mortgages Also Sees Improvement IRVINE, Calif. — July 27, 2023 —ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its second-quarter 2023 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report, which shows that 49 percent of mortgaged residential properties in the United States were considered equity-rich in the second quarter, meaning that the combined estimated amount of loan balances secured by those properties was no more than half of their estimated market values.

07/25/23

What needs to happen to fix the housing market? Experts have some suggestions The Hill

What needs to happen to fix the housing market? Experts have some suggestions
Homebuyers are staying on the sidelines as housing prices hit record levels and homebuilding and rental supply are failing to keep up with the demand. Home prices neared their all-time high last month, eclipsing $400,000 for only the third time on record.

07/25/23

Supreme Court Says No to Equity Forfeiture in Tax Foreclosures JD Supra

Supreme Court Says No to Equity Forfeiture in Tax Foreclosures
In 14 of our 50 states, laws are on the books that say when authorities foreclose real estate for unpaid taxes, the government is entitled to keep the full auction proceeds - even beyond the owner’s debt obligation. Enabled by laws known as “surplus retention statutes,” counties, towns, and cities can use those excess funds – a forfeiture of the owner’s equity in the property – as essentially “profit” to supplement their unrelated budgetary items or for other statutory purposes. A May 25, 2023 ruling of the United States Supreme Court put an end to this practice.

07/25/23

Trillions of Dollars in Uninsured Deposits Are Now a Serious Albatross Around the Necks of the Mega Banks on Wall Street Wall Street On Parade

Trillions of Dollars in Uninsured Deposits Are Now a Serious Albatross Around the Necks of the Mega Banks on Wall Street
In June, Reuters reported that JPMorgan Chase was expanding the reach of its commercial bank into two additional foreign countries – Israel and Singapore – bringing its foreign commercial bank presence to a total of 28 countries. Those plans could potentially add billions of dollars more to its already problematic uninsured deposits.

07/24/23

This Chart Shows How Wall Street Banks and the Fed Have Become a Match Made in Hell Wall Street On Parade

This Chart Shows How Wall Street Banks and the Fed Have Become a Match Made in Hell
Prior to Ben Bernanke being sworn in as Fed Chair on February 6, 2006, the United States had been through World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, the Vietnam War and the stagflation of the 1970s, without an explosion in the Fed’s balance sheet. But since Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen and Jerome Powell have, in turn, sat at the helm of the Federal Reserve, there has been unprecedented growth in the Fed’s Balance Sheet.

07/23/23

As foreclosures inch back up, advocates tout NH housing assistance fund Valley News

As foreclosures inch back up, advocates tout NH housing assistance fund
TIn the years after COVID arrived, foreclosures in New Hampshire dropped. That was intentional: The federal government imposed a moratorium preventing lenders from carrying out foreclosures on federally backed mortgages and offered forbearances to allow homeowners to pause their existing payments. Those programs ended last year. And now, the rate of foreclosures across the country is ticking up.

07/21/23

JPMorgan Chase Has Bled $230.6 Billion in Deposits Since Q1 2022, With Declines in 5 of the Last 6 Quarters Wall Street On Parade

JPMorgan Chase Has Bled $230.6 Billion in Deposits Since Q1 2022, With Declines in 5 of the Last 6 Quarters
The data in the chart above comes directly from what the biggest bank in the United States, JPMorgan Chase, reported on its 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the quarter ending March 31, 2023. Despite all those mainstream media headlines and news stories about the biggest banks in the U.S. being the deposit beneficiaries of the banking panic earlier this year, the cold, hard facts on the ground are the following: at the end of the first quarter of this year, JPMorgan Chase had seen deposit outflows in four out of the past five quarters. Mainstream media conveniently forgot to mention that.
The only quarter in which JPMorgan Chase saw an inflow of deposits was the first quarter of this year, when three banks blew up: Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. That increase was a mere pittance compared to the huge outflows of deposits it had already suffered in 2022.
Now we are getting an even clearer picture of the downward trend in deposits at JPMorgan Chase thanks to the 8-K filing that the bank made with the SEC on July 14. Had it not been for that sweetheart deal that the FDIC cooked up with JPMorgan Chase in the second quarter of this year, allowing it to buy the good stuff it wanted from the failed First Republic Bank, while regulators ate the bulk of the bad stuff, JPMorgan Chase would have had another decline in deposits in the second quarter.

07/21/23

Economic Pessimism Forcing Lenders to Prioritize Cost-Cutting Measures DS News

Economic Pessimism Forcing Lenders to Prioritize Cost-Cutting Measures
According to a new Fannie Mae Perspectives Blog authored by Doug Duncan, the SVP and Chief Economist for Fannie Mae, the most recent Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey found that mortgage lending firms are again prioritizing cutting costs for the second year in a row as lender sentiments of the economy remained extremely pessimistic, continuing a trend that began in the third quarter of 2021.
The survey, which reaches 232 lending institutions and highly placed senior mortgage executives, is meant to understand lenders’ top business priorities for the year and how they differ from previous surveys. Something new for this survey was the addition of questions to gauge lenders’ views about the U.S. economy and possible risk factors for the 2023 mortgage business.

07/21/23

Consumer Finance State Roundup - July 2023 JD Supra

Consumer Finance State Roundup - July 2023
The pace of legislative activity can make it hard to stay abreast of new laws. The Consumer Finance State Roundup is intended to provide a brief overview of recently enacted measures of potential interest. Since our last update, the following eight states have enacted measures of potential interest to Consumer Finance ABstract readers:

07/20/23

Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: What the Biden Administration’s “Junk Fees” Initiative Means for the Consumer Financial Services Industry: A Look at the Fees Under Attack, Part II JD Supra

Consumer Finance Monitor Podcast Episode: What the Biden Administration’s “Junk Fees” Initiative Means for the Consumer Financial Services Industry: A Look at the Fees Under Attack, Part II
The Biden Administration has launched an initiative directed at combatting so-called “junk fees,” with the CFPB and FTC leading the Administration’s efforts. In Part II of this two-part episode, we first look at CFPB supervisory activity relating to auto servicing, mortgage servicing, payday and small dollar loans, and student loan servicing. We then discuss likely CFPB next steps relating to its credit card late fees proposal and potential future actions by the CFPB, FTC, and state regulators to address “junk fees.” We conclude with

07/20/23

Little-known Massachusetts law causing major consequences for some homeowners WCVB

Little-known Massachusetts law causing major consequences for some homeowners
WORCESTER, Mass. — Imagine paying off your mortgage -- only to find yourself in foreclosure and at risk of being evicted from your home. In Massachusetts, residents who fall behind on their taxes or other town bills are at risk not only of being foreclosed on but also of losing the equity in their homes.
5 Investigates’ Karen Anderson interviewed a woman in Worcester who is going through this very ordeal, which some legal advocates call equity theft, and in light of a recent Supreme Court ruling, are now saying is unconstitutional.

07/20/23

Bank stops foreclosure, Graham woman can stay in her home WFMY News

Bank stops foreclosure, Graham woman can stay in her home
GRAHAM, N.C. — Tucked down a long gravel road in Graham, North Carolina is the home of Priscilla Atwater. The bumpy road is surrounded by tall trees and dead ends at an open grove with Atwater’s home in the middle. “I’ve been (here) 20 years,” Atwater shared. The home isn’t fancy but in good condition and is perfect for Atwater.

07/20/23

The CFPB’s top 10 actions to protect consumers so far in 2023 PIRG

The CFPB’s top 10 actions to protect consumers so far in 2023
As a reminder, the CFPB opened its doors on July 21, 2011, one year after President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Typically referred to as “Dodd-Frank” or “Wall Street Reform,” this law created the CFPB in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crash caused, in large part, by the financial industry’s malfeasance. The CFPB became the United States’ first federal agency dedicated to protecting consumers from financial shenanigans.

07/19/23

Goldman Sachs’ Workers Have Screamed for Help in Lawsuits, Pitch Decks and the OpEd Page of the New York Times Wall Street On Parade

Goldman Sachs’ Workers Have Screamed for Help in Lawsuits, Pitch Decks and the OpEd Page of the New York Times
For more than two decades, we have been reading about former employees of Goldman Sachs who have fled jobs there over a toxic, soul-crushing work culture. The pace of these stories has been picking up steam, rather than declining. Shareholders of Goldman Sachs should be asking themselves, is this good for the future of the company over the long haul and the price of its stock. Here’s a small sampling of some of the complaints from 2004 to the present:

07/17/23

The mortgage market isn’t sending the signal homebuyers need on affordability CNBC

The mortgage market isn’t sending the signal homebuyers need on affordability

Lawrence Yun has as big a stake in the Federal Reserve’s moves as any economist: As the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, his industry is a target of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to tame inflation with higher interest rates.
But the housing’s industry’s bigger problem right now may be the bond market, and specifically, spreads between treasuries and mortgage rates that suggests homebuyers’ economic challenges may not decline even as the Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its interest-rate hikes.

07/17/23

ANGELO MOZILO, FORMER COUNTRYWIDE FINANCIAL CEO, DIES AT 84 WRE News

ANGELO MOZILO, FORMER COUNTRYWIDE FINANCIAL CEO, DIES AT 84

Angelo Mozilo, the former chairman and chief executive of Countrywide Financial who received widespread criticism for his role in the subprime mortgage meltdown, died at the age of 84. “It is with great sadness that the family of Angelo Robert Mozilo announces his passing from natural causes,” said a statement from the Mozilo Family Foundation, a philanthropy that he founded. “The family requests privacy at this time.”

07/17/23

ICE, Black Knight Announce Deal To Sell Optimal Blue National Mortggae Professional

ICE, Black Knight Announce Deal To Sell Optimal Blue

Sale to Constellation Software contingent on closing of ICE’s acquisition of Black Knight. Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) and Black Knight Inc. on Monday announced an agreement to sell Black Knight’s Optimal Blue business to a subsidiary of Constellation Software Inc. The deal is contingent on the closing of ICE’s acquisition of Black Knight, which was originally announced in May 2022 and is being contested by federal regulators.

07/13/23

Only a tenth of mortgages have an interest rate above 6% — that’s a big problem for the U.S. housing market Market Watch

Only a tenth of mortgages have an interest rate above 6% — that’s a big problem for the U.S. housing market

Mortgage rates are inches away from 7% — but less than a tenth of U.S. homeowners have a home loan at that rate.
In fact, only 9% of all existing mortgages in the U.S. were taken out with a rate of above 6%, according to data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and analyzed by Torsten Slok, chief economist of Apollo Global Management.
Around a quarter of all mortgages — 23% — have a rate of less than 3%, Slok added, and 38% homeowners have a mortgage rate of between 3% and 4%.
In other words, the vast majority of U.S. homeowners have low mortgage rates.
Today’s home buyer vs. pandemic-era buyer

07/13/23

Foreclosures Continue To Surge With More Homeowners Now in Danger of Losing Their Properties Realtor.com

Foreclosures Continue To Surge With More Homeowners Now in Danger of Losing Their Properties


More Americans are in danger of losing their homes as the number of foreclosure filings continues to surge.
In the first half of this year, foreclosure starts shot up 15%—nearing pre-COVID-19 levels—according to real estate data provider ATTOM’s Midyear 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. Nearly 186,000 properties across the country received foreclosure filings during that period.
ATTOM collected data from more than 3,000 counties where property owners received default and lis pendens notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions.

07/13/23

Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates refers Consumer Defense Law Group to Save Cuong Phung's Home from Foreclosure NonProfit Alliance of Consumer Advocates

Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates refers Consumer Defense Law Group to Save Cuong Phung's Home from Foreclosure

Trustee sale reversal
GARDEN GROVE, CALIFORNIA, USA, July 13, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- The Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates referred the A+ BBB rated Consumer Defense Law Group to save the home of Cuong Phung, a struggling homeowner facing foreclosure due to financial difficulties compounded by health challenges. After being denied by Cuong Phung’s servicing lender the Nonprofit Clinic recommended forcing the Investor of the Loan to be brought to the bargaining table. Through Consumer Defense Law Groups legal strategy Mr. Phung's home was saved from foreclosure, providing him with a renewed sense of stability during a difficult time.
Cuong Phung, a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy, reached out to the Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates on October 14, 2022, when he found himself $620,371.21 behind on his mortgage payments. The interest rate on his monthly payment, set at 6.625%, amounted to $2,608.59, placing an overwhelming burden on his already strained financial situation.
Compounding his challenges, Mr. Phung discovered that the original lender had sold his loan to another institution without any prior communication or updates. Despite repeated attempts to contact the new servicing lender, he received no response, leaving him in a state of uncertainty and desperation.

07/13/23

Foreclosure Activity In First Half Of 2023 Ticks Upwards Toward Pre-Covid Levels ATTom Data

Foreclosure Activity In First Half Of 2023 Ticks Upwards Toward Pre-Covid Levels

U.S. Foreclosure Starts Increase 15 Percent in First Six Months of 2023; Average Days to Complete a Foreclosure Hits Peak; June and Q2 2023 Foreclosure Activity Also Post Annual Increases
IRVINE, Calif. — July 13, 2023 — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its Midyear 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 185,580 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — in the first six months of 2023. That figure is up 13 percent from the same time period a year ago and up 185 percent from the same time period two years ago.

07/13/23

U.S. Foreclosure Filings Exceed 185K in First Half of 2023 DSNews

U.S. Foreclosure Filings Exceed 185K in First Half of 2023

According to ATTOM’s Midyear 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, there were a total of 185,580 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings—default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions—in the first six months of 2023, up 13% year-over-year and up 185% from the same time period two years ago during the heart of the pandemic.

07/13/23

Senator Elizabeth Warren Slams Treasury Secretary Yellen and Bank Regulator Hsu for “Courting Disaster” on Bank Mergers Wall Street On Parade

Senator Elizabeth Warren Slams Treasury Secretary Yellen and Bank Regulator Hsu for “Courting Disaster” on Bank Mergers
Senator Elizabeth Warren is the Chair of the Senate Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Policy. She is also the most knowledgeable member of Congress when it comes to the mega banks on Wall Street and the most willing to hold them accountable. (See related articles below.)
Yesterday, Warren’s Subcommittee held a hearing on “Bank Mergers and the Economic Impacts of Consolidation.” The urgency of this hearing was heightened by the fact that almost two years after President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order urging members of his administration to take a more aggressive investigation into the harmful impacts of consolidation and monopoly power before approving more mergers in a number of industries, including banking, bank regulators signed off on one of the most egregious mergers of this century. Senator Warren explained it this way:

07/11/23

‘There’s nothing in the data that shows prices crash’: U.S. housing market is showing remarkable resilience. Marketwatch

‘There’s nothing in the data that shows prices crash’: U.S. housing market is showing remarkable resilience.
The housing market may feel out of whack to home buyers coping with fast-rising home prices and 7% mortgage rates. But like it or not, the housing market is in the pink.
Several economic indicators that measure housing activity — from home prices to sentiment surveys — show that home builders and sellers (the few that are out there) are finding strong demand from buyers.
News of the housing market’s relative health may be welcome to some — like real-estate agents and investors — but it’s becoming a concern for economists. The more buoyant the housing market, economists say, the more likely the U.S. Federal Reserve will unveil another interest-rate hike, which further heightens the risk of a recession.

07/11/23

CFPB Takes Action Against Bank of America for Illegally Charging Junk Fees, Withholding Credit Card Rewards, and Opening Fake Accounts Wall Street On Parade

CFPB Takes Action Against Bank of America for Illegally Charging Junk Fees, Withholding Credit Card Rewards, and Opening Fake Accounts
Bank of America will pay more than $100 million to harmed consumers, and $150 million in penalties to CFPB and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

07/11/23

Gallup Poll: Confidence in U.S. Banks Stood at 60 Percent in 1979. Today, It Stands at 26 Percent. Wall Street On Parade

Gallup Poll: Confidence in U.S. Banks Stood at 60 Percent in 1979. Today, It Stands at 26 Percent.
The polling organization, Gallup, conducted a survey between June 1-22 to update its annual poll that measures the confidence that Americans have in key U.S. institutions. Banks, as might be expected, continued their downward trend, registering an abysmal 26 percent of Americans who have “a great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in the banks. That confidence ranking stood at 27 percent last year and at 33 percent in 2021.

07/10/23

JACKSONVILLE AREA LEGAL AID HAS EMPLOYED MORE ‘FLORIDA CONSUMER PROTECTION LAWYERS OF THE YEAR’ THAN ANY OTHER FIRM OR GOVERNMENT AGENCY Florida Bar

JACKSONVILLE AREA LEGAL AID HAS EMPLOYED MORE ‘FLORIDA CONSUMER PROTECTION LAWYERS OF THE YEAR’ THAN ANY OTHER FIRM OR GOVERNMENT AGENCY

Of the 16 lawyers in Florida who have received the Consumer Protection Lawyer of the Year Award from The Florida Bar’s Consumer Protection Law Committee, four either work at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid currently or did at the time they received the award. That is more than any other law firm or government agency in Florida, according to JALA.

07/09/23

New York Courts Split on the Constitutionality of the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act JD Supra

New York Courts Split on the Constitutionality of the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act

In the six months since New York’s governor signed the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act, L. 2022, ch. 821 (eff. Dec. 30, 2022) (FAPA), a split has emerged about whether the law applies retroactively.
FAPA strictly cabins the time limits for commencing mortgage foreclosures by amending five New York procedural rules (CPLR 203; CPLR 205; CPLR 213; CPLR 3217; RPAPL 1301) and the state’s General Obligations Law (GOL 17-105). The intent of the act, according to its sponsor, was to overturn certain precedent interpreting those rules and laws. Most significantly, FAPA invalidates the holding of Freedom Mortgage v. Engel, 37 N.Y.3d 1 (Feb. 18, 2021). In that case, New York’s highest court concluded that a mortgage holder may revoke a prior election to accelerate an installment debt (acceleration is generally a precursor to foreclosure), thereby preserving the option to accelerate again in the future. By undoing Engel, and other precedent too, FAPA takes away this and similar options from foreclosing plaintiffs.
Recent court decisions applying FAPA have varied as to whether or not the act’s effects may, constitutionally, be retroactive.

07/09/23

Affordable Housing Investment Programs Created, Funded Under New State Laws TAP Into Mount Laurel

Affordable Housing Investment Programs Created, Funded Under New State Laws

TRENTON, NJ — Homeowners, and prospective home buyers, in New Jersey have three new avenues to make their dream an affordable reality under a set of bills recently signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy. The three new laws prioritize housing investments and initiatives in an effort to make New Jersey a more affordable place to live, work, and raise a family according to the governor's office. “As we strive to make New Jersey more affordable for all, we must ensure we remove barriers that prevent people from becoming homeowners,” said Governor Murphy. “Stable and affordable housing has the potential to be transformative in people’s lives as well as our communities. I am proud to sign legislation that will not only expand opportunities for first-time homebuyers and those seeking affordable housing, but will further advance our state as the best place in the nation to raise a family.”

07/08/23

Foreclosures Are Rising: Here’s What Experts Say It Means for the Housing Market Yahoo Finance

Foreclosures Are Rising: Here’s What Experts Say It Means for the Housing Market

In May of this year, ATTOM recorded a sharp uptick in foreclosure rates around the United States. Adding up notices of default, repossession by banks and auctions on the calendar, the U.S. Foreclosure Market Report found 35,196 US properties with foreclosure filings.
Foreclosure is never a good sign — back in 2008 and 2009, it was a stark symbol of the Great Recession. This current data set shows a 7% increase from April, but twice that much from 2022, with 14% by comparison. However, taking into account all that foreclosures mean, analysts can use the data to predict real estate trends going forward.
GOBankingRates spoke with some real estate experts to find out why foreclosures are rising and what they think will happen next.

07/07/23

HAF Assistance Protects 300,000-Plus Homeowners From Foreclosure DSNews

HAF Assistance Protects 300,000-Plus Homeowners From Foreclosure

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has released data on the Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) through March 31, 2023 (Q1 of 2023), which shows a substantial increase in assistance to homeowners at risk of losing their homes.
As of March 31, HAF programs made approximately $3.7 billion in payments to more than 318,000 homeowners at risk of foreclosure. In Q1 of 2023 alone, HAF programs distributed $1.2 billion in assistance to households–a 50% increase over Q4 of 2022. Additionally, 14 states and two U.S. territories have expended more than 50% of their HAF program funds, excluding administrative expenses.

07/06/23

Large Banks Have Bled $921 Billion in Deposits Since April 2022 — the Fastest Pace in 40 Years — and a Much Larger Decline than Small Banks Wall Street On Parade

Large Banks Have Bled $921 Billion in Deposits Since April 2022 — the Fastest Pace in 40 Years — and a Much Larger Decline than Small Banks
You may recall reading a burst of headlines during the banking crisis in March of this year about depositors fleeing small banks for the perceived comfort of the largest banks. Unfortunately, those headlines were never put in context or updated to reflect a broader picture.
In fact, using deposit data that is updated weekly from the Federal Reserve’s own H.8 releases, it becomes crystal clear that the large banks are bleeding deposits at the fastest pace in 40 years.

06/29/23

Tragic Death of JPMorgan Board Member Adds to the Bank’s String of Unusual Deaths Wall Street On Parade

Tragic Death of JPMorgan Board Member Adds to the Bank’s String of Unusual Deaths

On Sunday, James S. Crown died in an unusual single-car accident, reportedly on a motorsport racetrack at a “member-owned country club” in Aspen, Colorado. The Pitkin County Coroner’s Office said in a statement that “The official cause of death is pending autopsy, although multiple blunt force trauma is evident.” The Sheriff’s Office indicated that the earliest new information would be made available to the public is next week.
In August of last year, Wall Street On Parade made a referral to the U.S. Department of Justice involving James S. Crown, who was a long-term member of the Board of Directors of JPMorgan Chase and two predecessor banks, Bank One Corporation (previously Banc One) and First Chicago Corporation. Following mergers between the banks, Crown seamlessly went from First Chicago (1991 to 1996) to Bank One (1996–2004) to JPMorgan Chase (2004 to the present) – a stunning tenure of 32 years for a Board Member dubbed an “Independent Director.”
Wall Street On Parade’s referral to the Justice Department concerned financial dealings between Crown and JPMorgan Chase that were not disclosed in public filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission or to shareholders. We reported at the time:
For more than a decade, JPMorgan Chase has been asserting in its proxy statement that its entire Board of Directors, other than Jamie Dimon, its Chairman and CEO, consists of independent directors. In its most recent proxy statement for 2022, JPMorgan Chase asserts that “The Board, having reviewed the relevant relationships between the Firm and each director, determined, in accordance with the NYSE’s listing standards and the Firm’s independence standards, that each non-management director…had only immaterial relationships with JPMorgan Chase and accordingly is independent”…
But JPMorgan Chase has failed to disclose the granular details of a string of financial dealings it has had with companies tied to its Board member James S. Crown, Chairman and CEO of Henry Crown and Company, a private company owned by Crown and his siblings that invest in a sprawling array of businesses…

06/27/23

CFPB Takes Action Against ACI Worldwide for Illegally Processing $2.3 Billion in Mortgage Payments that Homeowners Did Not Authorize CFPB

CFPB Takes Action Against ACI Worldwide for Illegally Processing $2.3 Billion in Mortgage Payments that Homeowners Did Not Authorize

ACI will pay a $25 million penalty for data handling practices that negatively impacted nearly 500,000 homeowners whose mortgages were serviced by Mr. Cooper
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an order against ACI Worldwide and one of its subsidiaries, ACI Payments, for improperly initiating approximately $2.3 billion in unlawful mortgage payment transactions. ACI’s data handling practices negatively impacted nearly 500,000 homeowners with mortgages serviced by Mr. Cooper (formerly known as Nationstar). By unlawfully processing erroneous and unauthorized transactions, ACI opened homeowners to overdraft and insufficient funds fees from their financial institutions. Today’s order requires ACI, among other things, to pay a $25 million civil money penalty.
“The CFPB’s investigation found that ACI perpetrated the 2021 Mr. Cooper mortgage fiasco that impacted homeowners across the country,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “While borrower accounts have now been fixed, we are penalizing ACI for its unlawful actions that created headaches for hundreds of thousands of borrowers.”

06/27/23

This is the Bank Chart that Is Alarming Fed Insiders Wall Street On Parade

This is the Bank Chart that Is Alarming Fed Insiders

Between March 10 and May 1 of this year, three of the largest bank failures in U.S. history occurred.
On March 10 the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) seized Silicon Valley Bank after $42 billion in deposits had exited the bank the day prior with another $100 billion queued up to leave the next day – meaning it was possible for a federally-insured bank to lose 85 percent of its deposits in the span of 48 hours in the digital age. (For a closer look at what was going on at Silicon Valley Bank, see our report: Silicon Valley Bank Was a Wall Street IPO Pipeline in Drag as a Federally-Insured Bank; FHLB of San Francisco Was Quietly Bailing It Out.)
Two more bank failures followed in short order: Signature Bank on March 12 and First Republic Bank on May 1. Both banks were experiencing bank runs as a result of a loss of confidence by their customers.
First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank were the second, third and fourth largest bank failures in U.S. history, respectively. (The largest failure was Washington Mutual during the financial crisis of 2008.)

06/23/23

Home Flipping Activity Remains High Across Nation As Investor Profits Show Signs of Improving in First Quarter of 2023 Attom Data

Home Flipping Activity Remains High Across Nation As Investor Profits Show Signs of Improving in First Quarter of 2023

IRVINE, Calif. – June 22, 2023 — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its first-quarter 2023 U.S. Home Flipping Report showing that 72,960 single-family homes and condominiums in the United States were flipped in the first quarter. Those transactions represented 9 percent of all sales.
The latest portion was down from 9.4 percent of all home sales in the nation during the first quarter of 2022. But it was still up from 8 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, hitting the second-highest level this century.
The report also revealed that while flipping activity rose, mixed trends emerged for raw profits and profit margins. Profits and investment returns both increased slightly from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of this year. But both also remained near low points over the past decade, reflecting ongoing financial struggles for home flippers.
The quarterly gain in the typical profit margin, of 22 percent, represented a modest reversal of fortune for investors following three years of nearly continuous declines that began well before a slowdown in the broader U.S. housing market last year.

06/23/23

More than 2,600 Nebraska homeowners get help from $50 million pandemic relief fund Nebraska Examiner

More than 2,600 Nebraska homeowners get help from $50 million pandemic relief fund

OMAHA — More than 2,600 Nebraska property owners have received an average of $13,418 to help stay in their homes since the state early last year launched the pandemic-related Nebraska Homeowner Assistance Fund.
The program — which aimed to prevent Nebraskans from losing their houses over COVID-19 hardships — launched in February 2022 with a $50 million allotment from the U.S. Treasury Department.
It was part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. So far the state has distributed about $31 million. Now officials are about to close the application portal. They are urging income-qualified homeowners to submit requests for funding by June 30.

06/23/23

Serious Delinquencies Continue to Improve in May DSNews

Serious Delinquencies Continue to Improve in May

According to Black Knight, reversing much of April's calendar-driven spike, the national delinquency rate fell 11 basis points in May 2023 to 3.10%–the lowest reported total rate since March 2023's record low of 2.92% The number of borrowers who were a single payment past due improved by 94,000 (-9.5%), erasing nearly half of the prior month's increase.
Serious delinquencies (loans 90 or more days past due) continued to improve nationally, sliding by 18,000 (-3.7%) from April 2023’s reported total, putting the population of such loans down more than 200,000 (nearly 30%) since May of 2022

06/22/23

Mortgage Reserve Accounts Aimed at Averting Foreclosure Could Help Narrow Black-White Homeownership Gap Yahoo Finance

Mortgage Reserve Accounts Aimed at Averting Foreclosure Could Help Narrow Black-White Homeownership Gap

New research from FHLBank San Francisco and Urban Institute collaboration investigates ways to reduce mortgage default risk for vulnerable homeowners SAN FRANCISCO and WASHINGTON, June 22, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Efforts to close the persistent and detrimental Black-white homeownership gap, currently at 30 percentage points, must include not only measures to decrease the barriers to Black homeownership opportunity, but also mechanisms to ensure that homeownership is sustainable once achieved. Mortgage reserve accounts are among the innovative solutions that could help homeowners overcome temporary hardships and get back on track with their mortgage payments, instead of falling into foreclosure.

06/21/23

Wall Street’s Most Dangerous Derivative Secrets Are Hiding in Plain Sight in a Regulator’s Report Wall Street On Parade

Wall Street’s Most Dangerous Derivative Secrets Are Hiding in Plain Sight in a Regulator’s Report

On March 17, 2022, the Federal Reserve began its interest rate hiking cycle, which has, thus far, evolved into 10 consecutive rate hikes, making it the fastest rate increases in 40 years. The Fed’s actions to tame inflation included four consecutive interest rate hikes of an aggressive 75 basis point hike (three quarters of one percent) on June 16, July 28, September 22, and November 3 of last year.
At that point, every trading veteran on Wall Street was scratching their head and asking themselves the same question: why aren’t we hearing about interest rate derivatives blowing up and taking down either a U.S. mega bank or its counterparty on the wrong side of the trade?

06/15/23

The CFPB intends to identify ways to simplify and streamline the existing mortgage servicing rules CFPB

The CFPB intends to identify ways to simplify and streamline the existing mortgage servicing rules

Borrowing to buy a home is one of the biggest financial decisions a family will make. Mortgage servicers are the companies responsible for processing payments and managing mortgage accounts, and they play a critical role in assisting homeowners with repayment. Borrowers don’t choose these companies – servicers are chosen by the lender or investor that owns the mortgage.
In the mid-2000s, predatory mortgage practices spread throughout the country. Many large financial institutions with mortgage servicing operations experienced serious breakdowns. This resulted in a crisis where 10 million homes ended up in foreclosure between 2006 and 2014.
The foreclosure crisis was an important catalyst for the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Congress required the CFPB to implement new rules to make the mortgage market work better. These new rules first took effect in 2014. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw how these rules worked when unemployment spiked. The CFPB observed that there were places where the rules could be revised to reduce unnecessary complexity.

06/15/23

Housing Market Slowdown Across U.S. Starting to Affect Upscale and Western Markets More Than Others Attom Data

Housing Market Slowdown Across U.S. Starting to Affect Upscale and Western Markets More Than Others

IRVINE, Calif. — June 15, 2023 — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released a Special Housing Impact Report spotlighting how the recent downturn in the U.S. housing market is starting to affect counties around the nation, based on key measures from the first quarter of 2023. The report shows that the Western region and other more-upscale areas around the country are bearing the greater brunt so far from the slowdown, than other parts of the U.S., with larger-than-average declines in home values or increases in underwater mortgage rates and foreclosure activity. In contrast, lower-priced markets across the country have experienced relatively less impact from the market downturn that started in the middle of last year.

06/14/23

FHA Offers New Multi-Language Resources DS News

FHA Offers New Multi-Language Resources

Home / Market Trends / Affordability / FHA Offers New Multi-Language Resources Print This Post Print This Post FHA Offers New Multi-Language Resources in Affordability, D&I, Daily Dose, Default Servicing, DEI, Featured, FHA/VA/HUD, Government, Government, Lending and Originations, Loss Mitigation, Market Trends, News, Real Estate, REO, Traditional 4 days ago The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is making available in Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese, more than 30 single-family mortgage documents and related resources used in the origination of FHA-insured mortgages. The educational resources are accessible from FHA’s new language access web page and are intended to assist lenders, servicers, housing counselors, and other FHA program participants in explaining information related to FHA-insured mortgages to those with limited English proficiency prior to borrowers executing legal documents in English, as required by law. This first set of translations is part of ongoing efforts by FHA to remove language access barriers for consumers whose preferred language may not be English, and a part of HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge’s commitment to making equity a leading compass within the Biden-Harris Administration.

06/12/23

Rhode Island General Assembly passes bill sponsored by Sen. Euer that extends foreclosure protections Whats Up Newp

Rhode Island General Assembly passes bill sponsored by Sen. Euer that extends foreclosure protections

STATE HOUSE – A bill sponsored by Sen. Dawn Euer and Rep. Leonela Felix that would help homeowners facing foreclosure has passed the House and Senate and heads to the governor’s desk for his signature.
“I know how devastating foreclosures can be for families and communities firsthand. When I was a kid, my mom got seriously sick and had to stop working for a while. She fell behind on payments and the bank refused to work with her,” said Representative Felix (D-Dist. 61, Pawtucket) in a statement. “If we had had this program back then, we could have gotten on a payment plan we could afford and stayed in our home. This program has given other families security we didn’t have. It works and I’m glad we’re keeping it going.”
The legislation (2023-S 0163, 2023-H 5761Aaa) preserves the process established by the 2013 Foreclosure Mediation Act. Before 2013, the foreclosure processes in Rhode Island had relatively few restrictions.

06/08/23

In search of the perfect foreclosure victim Readers take issue with portrayal of Brooklyn homeowner battling lender The Real Deal

In search of the perfect foreclosure victim Readers take issue with portrayal of Brooklyn homeowner battling lender

Home foreclosure stories, like eviction stories, trigger two very different reactions. One is sympathy for the homeowner, who is enduring a traumatic, life-changing event that could have been avoided. Inevitably some observers call the lenders cruel, the courts uncaring and the politicians corrupt. The other reaction is from those who consider foreclosures essential for a functioning housing market (foreclosure makes mortgages possible) and focus on the homeowner’s role. They look for evidence that the borrower made irresponsible decisions and should deal with the consequences. Which brings us to a Gothamist story Wednesday about New York’s courts pushing foreclosure cases along without assessing — as state law requires — whether the homeowner can afford a lawyer or should be given free representation.
It’s obviously important for the court system which declined Gothamist’s request for comment to follow the law. Advocacy groups and a Brooklyn homeowner have sued to ensure that it does, the article reported. But readers were more interested in why the homeowner, Carl Fanfair, stands to lose the Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone he bought in 1999 for $200,000. Gothamist reported that Fanfair, 47, fell more than $80,000 behind on his mortgage after losing his appliance-repair job in the pandemic and taking time to care for his wife and her elderly mother. Fanfair, a Yoruba priest, told Gothamist the court referee at his settlement conference never considered his need for a lawyer, and his lender, Reliance First Capital, sent no information about a loan modification. “There’s no personal type of interaction,” he told the reporter. “You’re just a number.”

06/08/23

U.S. Foreclosure Activity Sees Spike In May 2023 Attom Data

U.S. Foreclosure Activity Sees Spike In May 2023

IRVINE, Calif. — June 8, 2023 — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its May 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 35,196 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — up 7 percent from a month ago and up 14 percent from a year ago.

06/06/23

JPMorgan and Citigroup Are Using the Same Accounting Maneuver as Silicon Valley Bank on Hundreds of Billions of Underwater Debt Securities Wall Street On Parade

JPMorgan and Citigroup Are Using the Same Accounting Maneuver as Silicon Valley Bank on Hundreds of Billions of Underwater Debt Securities

As we reported yesterday, Silicon Valley Bank was not even on the “Problem Bank List” maintained by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) when it imploded in a span of 48 hours in March. According to testimony by the Federal Reserve’s Vice Chairman for Supervision, Michael Barr, on March 28 before the Senate Banking Committee, depositors had yanked $42 billion of their deposits from the bank on March 9 and had queued up to grab another $100 billion on March 10 when it was abruptly put into FDIC receivership. Had the FDIC not stepped in, Silicon Valley Bank would have lost 85 percent of its deposits in a two-day stretch.

06/05/23

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Issues “Zombie Mortgage” Advisory Opinion JD Supra

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Issues “Zombie Mortgage” Advisory Opinion

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an advisory opinion last month to affirm that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and its implementing Regulation F prohibit a debt collector, as that term is defined in the statute and regulation, from suing or threatening to sue to collect a time-barred debt. The advisory opinion concerns “piggyback” mortgages “in which high-interest second mortgages were issued simultaneously with the origination of the first mortgage.”

06/05/23

This ‘Retired’ Big Island Attorney Is Still A Fierce Advocate For The Little Guy Civilbeat

This ‘Retired’ Big Island Attorney Is Still A Fierce Advocate For The Little Guy

Courts This ‘Retired’ Big Island Attorney Is Still A Fierce Advocate For The Little Guy Will Rosdil came out of retirement to take on the case of a man who lost his home to foreclosure. He's still at it.

06/02/23

Disgraced Silvergate Bank Hints It May Not Be Able to Cover All of Its Deposits; Fed Slaps It with a Cease and Desist Consent Order Wall Street On Parade

Disgraced Silvergate Bank Hints It May Not Be Able to Cover All of Its Deposits; Fed Slaps It with a Cease and Desist Consent Order

Last week, on Tuesday, May 23, the Federal Reserve and California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (the state banking regulator) hit the collapsed federally-insured bank, Silvergate Bank, and its parent, Silvergate Capital Corporation, with an enforcement action called a “Cease and Desist Consent Order.” The action was not announced to the public until yesterday.
A Consent Order is meant to function along the lines of a legal settlement, with the bank agreeing to the detailed terms of the Consent Order and waiving its right to judicial review. The individual signing the Consent Order on behalf of the bank was its controversial CEO, Alan Lane, who had allowed his federally-insured bank to get in bed with Sam Bankman-Fried’s house of frauds, including the FTX crypto exchange and Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund, Alameda Research. Lane also had allowed his deposit base to become heavily involved with other crypto-related companies.

06/01/23

Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates Steps in to Prevent Foreclosure on Elizabeth Siliezar's Home NonProfit Alliance of Consumer Advocates

Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates Steps in to Prevent Foreclosure on Elizabeth Siliezar's Home

OAKLEY, CA, USA, June 1, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- In a heartwarming turn of events, Elizabeth Siliezar, a resident of Oakley, CA, has been spared from the devastating consequences of foreclosure, thanks to the relentless efforts of the Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates. Facing financial hardship after her husband abandoned her and struggling to raise her grandchildren, Siliezar found herself on the verge of losing her cherished home due to mounting debts and exorbitant fees charged by the bank.
She contacted the Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates on October 7, 2022, to seek help regarding the foreclosure date of November 26, 2022. Siliezar had been managing two loans on her property, with the first mortgage being current. However, the second mortgage had become a significant burden, as she was $36,000 Delinquent with a 9% interest rate and a $197 monthly payment. She struggled to keep up with the payments amidst the emotional and financial toll of her husband's departure. The mounting interest and additional fees imposed by the bank compounded her challenges, leaving her in a precarious position.
Recognizing the urgency of Siliezar's situation, the Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates refers to the Consumer Defense Law Group. With the expertise and dedication of the attorneys at the Consumer Defense Law Group, a lawsuit, case # C23-00835 was filed against the lender to halt the foreclosure proceedings and secure a more favorable outcome for Siliezar.
The lawsuit, backed by a comprehensive analysis of Siliezar's financial situation and the lender's predatory lending practices, revealed the unjust burden she had been facing. The Consumer Defense Law Group argued that the lender had taken advantage of Siliezar's vulnerable circumstances, and their actions violated consumer protection laws and regulations.

06/01/23

Advocates call for foreclosure protection and rent control in Massachusetts WWLP

Advocates call for foreclosure protection and rent control in Massachusetts

BOSTON (WWLP) – With the housing crisis in the state and effects still being felt by the pandemic, housing advocates rallied at the State House Thursday in support of foreclosure protection and rent control.
According for the Homes for All coalition, Massachusetts is the fifth most expensive state in the country to rent a home and the city of Boston is the second most expensive rental market in the nation.
Poll shows support for local option rent control The two bills the group were lobbying for are An Act Establishing Foreclosure Prevention Program and An Act Enabling Cities and Towns to Stabilize Rents and Protect Tenants.
The first bill on Thursday’s agenda deals with foreclosure protection. It would require service providers to provide accurate loan information and be a part of foreclosure prevention conferences. Every other state in New England has some sort of foreclosure conference or mediation.

05/26/23

US mortgage giants were placed on credit watch. Here’s what that means for home buyers CNN

US mortgage giants were placed on credit watch. Here’s what that means for home buyers

Washington, DC CNN — The credit ratings of US mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were put on watch for possible downgrade by Fitch Ratings late Thursday. A downgrade is not expected to happen, as a deal to resolve the debt ceiling standoff continues to be worked out in Washington, but even the warning is having an impact on mortgage rates. The warning came because the ratings for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are linked to the sovereign rating of the United States. The watch is a result of the ratings agency warning on Wednesday that America’s credit rating could be downgraded if the debt limit showdown was not resolved soon. Negotiations on the debt limit continue in the House of Representatives between mediators from the Biden administration and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, May 24, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) The latest on the debt ceiling impasse Fannie and Freddie, which guarantee roughly 70% of the country’s mortgages, do not directly issue mortgages to borrowers, but instead buy mortgages from lenders and repackage them for investors. They are each a government-sponsored enterprise, or GSE, chartered by Congress.
The aim of Freddie and Fannie is to provide liquidity into the mortgage market and enable a reliable flow of affordable funds to mortgage lenders. This ultimately allows more homeowners to borrow at more affordable rates. The enterprises buy loans from lenders, pools them and sells them as securities to investors. Because they are backed by the government, these securities are viewed as less risky than other investments and considered to be as creditworthy as the US government. But this flow of funds could be disrupted if the United States defaults on its debt, Fitch warned.

05/25/23

New Evidence Emerges that the Investigation of the Fed’s Trading Scandal by the Inspector General Has Been a Coverup from the Beginning Wall Street On Parade

New Evidence Emerges that the Investigation of the Fed’s Trading Scandal by the Inspector General Has Been a Coverup from the Beginning

Unlike his three immediate predecessors who chaired the Federal Reserve (Janet Yellen, Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan), who all had doctoral degrees in economics, the current Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell, has a law degree from Georgetown University. Given his legal education, one might have expected that when Fed Chair Powell became aware of the largest trading scandal in the Fed’s history in September of 2021, he would have done his legal due diligence to determine where to refer the matter for investigation.

05/25/23

What do I ask? Living Lies

What do I ask?

Because most lawyers and homeowners think they “know” the self-evident answers, they don’t ask the questions that would completely destroy the case against them. Just make a note that unless you ask, there is no obligation to give you answers. And unless you seek enforcement, the violation of the rules will go unnoticed and will not be a proper subject on appeal. You must ask in a timely, appropriate and proper manner. Your question must be clear as a bell. If your question is vague, then that invites evasive answers.

05/25/23

Keep Profits From Tax-Foreclosed Homes Investopedia

Keep Profits From Tax-Foreclosed Homes

If your local government seizes your property and sells it at an auction over unpaid taxes, they’re no longer allowed to keep the profits, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday. In the unanimous ruling, the court sided with Geraldine Tyler, 94, a Minneapolis resident whose condo was seized by Hennepin County in 2015 over $2,300 in unpaid property taxes and $12,700 in penalties and interest. While tax lien foreclosures are well-established law, the controversial part was what happened next: the county sold her house at an auction for $40,000 and kept the difference.

05/25/23

Distraught homeowner’s blind faith resulted in loan Servicer initiating foreclosure after denying assistance NonProfit Alliance of Consumer Advocates

Distraught homeowner’s blind faith resulted in loan Servicer initiating foreclosure after denying assistance

PALMDALE, CA, USA, May 25, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- In a heartwarming turn of events, the Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates has rescued distressed homeowner Yoni Majano, who found themselves trapped in blind faith due to someone close to the family. In 2019, the homeowner purchased a second house with a significantly higher interest rate based on false information that they would receive assistance from the lender to refinance and lower their rates. They were advised not to pay the mortgage on the second house.
After $79,051.75 delinquent on the mortgage with an interest rate of 6.75% and a monthly payment of $464.65, their lender, who turns out to be only a Servicer of the loan-initiated foreclosure proceedings. The homeowner applied for a loan modification from the lender but was rejected multiple times. As a result, the homeowner was left stressed and buried under a mountain of threatening foreclosure letters.

05/23/23

Why homeowners should consider interlocutory appeals from orders denying enforcement of discovery demands Living Lies

Why homeowners should consider interlocutory appeals from orders denying enforcement of discovery demands

The practical effect of denial of discovery demands by the trial court is a ruling in favor of the party making a claim against the homeowner — even if the party had no standing. The homeowner is forced to litigate against a ghost — like going to a gunfight with no guns and no bullets. Most homeowners cannot afford to enter into a needless period of litigation with a party who lacks standing. Hence the ultimate result is the loss of a homestead to a fake claimant who may not even exist.

05/23/23

The Fed Has a New Scandal on Its Hands: Colluding with Central Banks to Rig Libor; Evidence Is Being Tweeted Out Wall Street On Parade

The Fed Has a New Scandal on Its Hands: Colluding with Central Banks to Rig Libor; Evidence Is Being Tweeted Out

The Fed has been under non-stop scandals for the past two years. It pumped out trillions of dollars in repo loans to Wall Street’s casino banks beginning on September 17, 2019 and then made up a hokey excuse to cover up its massive bailout of banks it is incompetent to supervise. After former Dallas Fed President, Robert Kaplan, was caught trading like a hedge fund kingpin while sitting on confidential Fed information, the Fed’s Board of Governors had the audacity to refer the matter to its own Inspector General, who reports to the Fed’s Board of Governors and can be fired by it. Not surprisingly, 19 months later there’s still no word on this investigation.

05/22/23

Attorney Richard Antognini Score Big Win in California Living Lies

Attorney Richard Antognini Score Big Win in California

Here is a case where a lawyer took the trouble to parse the words and documents down to their essence. And he won under circumstances where virtually all other attorneys and judges would have predicted defeat. This is what I have been talking about. The case decision is important for several reasons.

05/22/23

The Banking Crisis for the Biggest U.S. Banks Began in April 2022; By December 14 They Had Shed $457 Billion of Deposits Wall Street On Parade

The Banking Crisis for the Biggest U.S. Banks Began in April 2022; By December 14 They Had Shed $457 Billion of Deposits

Pretty much everything the average American has read about the banking crisis is wrong. And there is at least a prima facie case that could be made that Big Media is responsible for that misinformation.
Let’s start with the dozens of mainstream media reports that small banks were bleeding deposits and these deposits were flooding into the biggest banks in the U.S. as a safe haven. Those reports gave the distinct impression that the mega banks on Wall Street are viewed by Americans as a safe place to stash money, never mind that they blew up the U.S. financial system in 2008 and still have more than $200 trillion in derivatives lurking in the shadows.

05/19/23

New dataset traces Milwaukee’s long foreclosure crisis Marquette Law School

New dataset traces Milwaukee’s long foreclosure crisis

The dramatic consequences of the late 2000s subprime mortgage crisis on Milwaukee neighborhoods are well known, but specific data on foreclosures has been remarkably difficult to come by.
Previous studies have documented plummeting homeownership across the city (particularly on the north side), followed by a surge in out-of-state investment. But researchers have lacked public data on how many foreclosures occurred, who initiated them, which properties experienced them, and the subsequent ownership history of those parcels. To fill that gap, I have assembled a novel dataset of residential foreclosures matched to city parcel records for the years 1995 through 2022. This includes all detached single family homes, condos, duplexes, and triplexes. See the data note at the end of this article for details.

05/18/23

Fake Foreclosures Using the Fannie Mae Name Living Lies

Fake Foreclosures Using the Fannie Mae Name

The central issue is not whether the homeowner owes a “servicer” any money. The central issue is whether the homeowner owes a creditor money. Wall Street securities firms (Investment Banks) have many tricks by which they make fictitious claims appear to come alive. It is like those movies in which animated characters join the “Real-Life” figures. We accept this because we are there to be entertained, and we do not concern ourselves that neither animated characters nor the “real-life” characters are, in fact, real. They are imaginary, and we watch them to be entertained. And to be entertained, we must accept the story and characters as true.
Securitization and foreclosure are the same. The animated characters are those “mortgage-backed securities,” and the “real-life” characters are either fictional names of nonexistent entities or fictional use of names of business entities that technically exist but have no business interests in creating to a claim to collect money from anyone.
But in this case, the ticket price is always in six or seven figures. The homeowner may eventually lose the house to a non-creditor party, or the investors will lose their money by buying certificates that convey no interest in any loans. But this does not stop Wall Street intermediaries and sham conduits from being named by ignorant lawyers as being the parties on whose behalf a foreclosure is initiated.
One of the favorite tools used to force the sale of homesteads strictly for profit and not to pay off any debt is invoking the name “FANNIE MAE.”

05/18/23

The Banking Crisis Has Produced Extraordinary Testimony about Land Mines Lurking in the U.S. Banking System Wall Street On Parade

The Banking Crisis Has Produced Extraordinary Testimony about Land Mines Lurking in the U.S. Banking System

On Wednesday, March 8 of this year, the holding company for the federally-insured Silvergate Bank announced it was winding down the bank. It had little choice but to do so. It was experiencing a bank run and had incinerated its reputation by focusing on deposits from crypto companies, including those majority-owned by indicted crypto kingpin, Sam Bankman-Fried.
According to testimony from the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Martin Gruenberg, before the Senate Banking Committee on March 28, “in the fourth quarter of 2022, Silvergate Bank experienced an outflow of deposits from digital asset customers that, combined with the FTX deposits, resulted in a 68 percent loss in deposits – from $11.9 billion in deposits to $3.8 billion.”

05/18/23

Out-of-state banks own nearly all of Bangor’s vacant homes Bangor Daily News

Out-of-state banks own nearly all of Bangor’s vacant homes

Nearly all of Bangor’s vacant residential properties are owned by out-of-state banks or investment holdings, according to the city’s code enforcement director. And it can be difficult, if not impossible, to track down the right person to facilitate a sale.
Out-of-state banks or investment holdings own 56 of the 70 total vacant residential properties in Bangor, according to Jeff Wallace, Bangor’s code enforcement director. The remaining 14 vacant properties are owned by individuals.

05/17/23

Why $1 Billion Settlement Won’t Stop Wells Fargo or Anyone Else From Starting Fake Accounts Living Lies

Why $1 Billion Settlement Won’t Stop Wells Fargo or Anyone Else From Starting Fake Accounts

The problem with free speech is that it enables people to lie without fear. It is the dominant method of securing patrons for your business, votes for your candidate, and investors for your stock. Although frequently illegal, it doesn’t stop anyone from doing it. Only the lowly go to jail. The real big liars go on to make more pornographic profits. The recent $1 Billion Settlement between Wells Fargo and its investors highlights this continuing problem.

05/16/23

While you were sleeping, your client lost their house Living Lies

While you were sleeping, your client lost their house

Bill Paatalo published his analysis and frustration with the way that lawyers create “shades of gray” when there is nothing to be seen. See

05/15/23

Foreclosure: To Appeal or not to Appeal Living Lies

Foreclosure: To Appeal or not to Appeal

The best practical time to challenge the pretender lender in any jurisdiction is when the homeowner receives a “notice” (usually unsigned) announcing that some company is now their servicer. That is a lie, and effective use of the Administrative Process provided by statute can stop them.

05/14/23

'We can help': Non-profit organization offering help to eligible Texas homeowners at risk of foreclosure 12 News Now

'We can help': Non-profit organization offering help to eligible Texas homeowners at risk of foreclosure

BEAUMONT, Texas — For some Americans, it is getting harder to make ends meet amid the rising cost of housing. Some homeowners are at risk of foreclosure, and a Southeast Texas non-profit organization is hoping to provide them with relief. Kirkni Richardson works with Legacy Community Development. The non-profit organization has taken in 1,000 applications from Southeast Texas families for a homeowners assistance program.

05/14/23

6th Circuit: Tennessee judicial foreclosure time-barred JD Supra

6th Circuit: Tennessee judicial foreclosure time-barred

On May 4, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s decision in a judicial foreclosure action, holding that a bank’s lawsuit was barred by Tennessee’s 10-year statute of limitations for actions to enforce liens on real property. The appellate court also refused to establish an equitable lien on the property in favor of the bank.

05/12/23

A Holder is not a Holder in Due Course Living Lies

A Holder is not a Holder in Due Course

The second requirement is usually completely ignored by the homeowner, the lawyers, and the judge. But it is still there. The possessor of the note, once that is established and confirmed by competent evidence, must allege and prove that it is authorized to enforce the note. By legal definition accepted in all jurisdictions, a holder is not a holder in due course even if they satisfy the two aforesaid requirements

05/11/23

Why you would use a declaration or affidavit from anyone Living Lies

Why you would use a declaration or affidavit from anyone

Why you would use a declaration or affidavit from anyone: As context for QWR and DVL demands.
As context for discovery
As context for motions to compel discovery and for sanctions
As context for motion in limine
As context for a memorandum in opposition to a motion for summary judgment
As context motion to dismiss or a motion for clarification
As context for the motion and memorandum of the homeowner asking for Summary Judgment
As context for Motion to Strike due to inconsistent positions, assertions, or documents
As context for a memorandum of law supporting objections and motions to strike during trial Get the picture?

05/11/23

At Year End, 4,127 U.S. Banks Held $7.7 Trillion in Uninsured Deposits; JPMorgan Chase, BofA, Wells Fargo and Citi Accounted for 43 Percent of That Wall Street On Parade

At Year End, 4,127 U.S. Banks Held $7.7 Trillion in Uninsured Deposits; JPMorgan Chase, BofA, Wells Fargo and Citi Accounted for 43 Percent of That

If the dark secrets about the U.S. banking system that federal regulators have been keeping since the financial crash of 2008 are allowed to be aired in public Congressional hearings as a result of the current banking crisis – and mainstream media will grow a backbone and cover those hearings – it could help the U.S. avoid a catastrophic financial reckoning down the road.

05/11/23

FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY NATIONWIDE SHOWS SLIGHT DECLINE IN APRIL 2023 Attom Data

FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY NATIONWIDE SHOWS SLIGHT DECLINE IN APRIL 2023

IRVINE, Calif., May 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its April 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 32,977 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — down 10 percent from a month ago but up 8 percent from a year ago.

05/10/23

Getting your words and their words straight in foreclosure litigation Living Lies

Getting your words and their words straight in foreclosure litigation

I am having a spirited exchange with a very experienced trial lawyer on the West Coast. We are discussing whether some declaration should be filed in a pending case where a Motion for Summary Judgment is pending. My answer is no, but a procedural objection should be raised on two grounds:

05/09/23

How good is an “expert” affidavit in foreclosure litigation Living Lies

How good is an “expert” affidavit in foreclosure litigation

Very few people have studied the use of expert testimony, and fewer still have understood it. Start with the basics: An Expert is a person with knowledge beyond the scope of knowledge of the judge. So if you want someone accepted as an expert, you need to show that it is more likely than not that this witness will testify about something that the court concedes (formally or informally) it does not yet know.

05/08/23

Deposits at JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo Shrank by $465 Billion Y-O-Y; More than Twice the Total of 4,000 Small Banks Wall Street On Parade

Deposits at JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo Shrank by $465 Billion Y-O-Y; More than Twice the Total of 4,000 Small Banks

Since the banking crisis began making headlines at expensive media real estate, the narrative has been that deposits are fleeing the small commercial banks and flooding into the biggest banks that are perceived as too-big-to-fail and thus offer a safer venue for deposits. Because these mega banks are the same ones that the Fed has been bailing out since the financial crisis of 2008, that narrative requires believing that our fellow Americans are dumber than a stump.

05/03/23

We just want to stay in our home’: Springfield residents protest decision to foreclose a woman’s house Western Mass News

We just want to stay in our home’: Springfield residents protest decision to foreclose a woman’s house

SPRINGFIELD, MA. (WGGB/WSHM) - A rally tonight in Springfield to keep one local woman’s house from being foreclosed. Dozens of Springfield residents came out to show their support for a local woman who’s fighting to stay in her house on Wednesday night. “We just want to stay in our home,” said Barbara Williams. Barbara Williams has lived in her Springfield house for more than a decade. After losing her job in 2016, Williams said Fannie Mae started the foreclosure process. “I purchased my house in good faith,” said Williams. “I lost my job and I fell behind in my payments. Now I have regained my income, I have remarried. I raised my children here and I had one child left at home when my house was foreclosed on.” Wednesday night, friends, neighbors, and community leaders gathered at her house protesting the efforts to take back Williams’ home. The rally was organized by the Springfield No One Leaves organization, which fights to keep locals in their home following foreclosures. “We’re always there to help,” said Sue Gamelli, one of the organizers. “We are not a service organization, what we teach you to do is to fight for yourself.”

05/03/23

This Maine foreclosure has taken more than a decade. All that’s left is an empty lot. Bangor Daily News

This Maine foreclosure has taken more than a decade. All that’s left is an empty lot.

A Sanford man abandoned his home after he lost his job in 2010 and could no longer pay the mortgage.
What followed was a mess of red tape, delays and botched attempts at selling and foreclosing on a house from which he still isn’t free. The city leveled the decrepit home a year ago, deeming it dangerous. But the owner continued to be charged for lawn maintenance and property inspection. An empty lot is all that is left.
These stories are playing out across Maine, although numbers of dangerous properties in mortgage defaults are hard to come by. Part of the reason is the large number of federal mortgages in Maine and across the country with layers of loan servicers. Some homes have been hung up in the process since the mortgage crisis of the Great Recession.

05/03/23

Governor Hochul Announces Support For Homeowners, Tenants and Public Housing Residents As Part of FY 2024 Budget New York State

Governor Hochul Announces Support For Homeowners, Tenants and Public Housing Residents As Part of FY 2024 Budget

Adds $391 Million for New York's Emergency Rental Assistance Program to Support Thousands More Tenants and Families, Including New York City Housing Authority Residents and Section 8 Voucher Recipients
Creates Nation-Leading Program to Combat Childhood Lead Exposure in Residential Buildings in 24 High-Risk Areas
Expands Governor's Pioneering Buffalo Program Statewide With $50 Million Homeowner Stabilization Fund to Support Critical Home Repairs in 10 High-Need Communities
Provides $40 Million for the Homeowner Protection Program to Assist Homeowners in Default and Foreclosure in Every County of the State

05/03/23

Short Sellers Cratered Silvergate Bank and First Republic; They’re Now Targeting PacWest and Numerous Other Regional Banks Wall Street On Parade

Short Sellers Cratered Silvergate Bank and First Republic; They’re Now Targeting PacWest and Numerous Other Regional Banks

President Joe Biden is putting the national security of the United States at risk by not suspending the short-selling of federally-insured banks. Concerns over the safety and soundness of the U.S. financial system could cause money flight out of the U.S., impacting the strength of the U.S. dollar and a loss of confidence by our foreign allies.
This is also a matter that impacts the financial lives of every American, because every American – rich, poor or middle class – will suffer the consequences in terms of ability to access bank credit and higher fees on that credit as a result of rebuilding the rapidly depleting federal Deposit Insurance Fund that protects bank deposits.

05/03/23

Who is a legally authorized servicer? Living Lies

Who is a legally authorized servicer?

Here is a simple tip: if the same company is named in other similar actions and that company did not receive the proceeds of the repossession or foreclosure, then the claim and the process was faked through and through. Hint: ask for proof or even a statmeent under oath that the company named as “creditor” is inteded and expected to receive money from the successful outcome of the repo or foreclosure.

05/02/23

Homeowner Strategy in Foreclosure Litigation Living Lies

Homeowner Strategy in Foreclosure Litigation

Court procedure is a long and tedious process during which the parties make their points and counterpoints. If you don’t make the point evident, you lose. If you don’t make the counterpoint, you lose. If you lose, the opposition wins. This is about the rules, not justice or the pursuit of truth.

04/28/23

CFPB Issues Guidance to Protect Homeowners from Illegal Collection Tactics on Zombie Mortgages Living Lies

CFPB Issues Guidance to Protect Homeowners from Illegal Collection Tactics on Zombie Mortgages

The CFPB release says “It is illegal for debt collectors to sue or threaten to sue to collect debts past the statute of limitations.” The more subtle message is that Wall Street needs to stop making claims and threats on claims that either never existed or don’t exist anymore. And that is not just about the statute of imtiations. I would go further and say that anyone who uses that approach as a business model belongs in prison.
Consumers don’t know how legal debts are created, managed, serviced, or extinguished. They typically rely entirely on the statements, correspondence, and notes sent to them — even if those notices come on unsigned paper under the letterhead of business names with which they have never done business.
So the CFPB is catching up with an aspect of this and a fine nuance regarding the legal right to make claims or threaten action to collect an alleged debt. This time it is about Zombie mortgages. The success of the business plan depends entirely on convincing the consumer that his/her transaction was a loan, that an obligation was created, and that the instructions in the letter, statement or notice are authentic communications from a legally recognized creditor. In other words, the business plan requires lying to the consumer and convincing them to pay money when none is due, or there is no right to demand the money.

04/28/23

Advisory Opinion program CFPB

Advisory Opinion program

On April 26, 2023, the CFPB issued an Advisory Opinion to affirm that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and its implementing Regulation F prohibit a debt collector, as that term is defined in the statute and regulation, from suing or threatening to sue to collect a time-barred debt.

04/28/23

Court halts owner-occupied foreclosures after Wayne County petition CBS News

Court halts owner-occupied foreclosures after Wayne County petition

(CBS DETROIT) - The Third Circuit Court in Detroit halted owner-occupied foreclosures after a petition submitted by the Wayne County Treasurer's Office. The motion granted by Chief Judge Patricia Fresard extends through March 31, 2024. Officials say about 3,400 residential properties faced foreclosure.

04/27/23

Nationwide Mortgage Delinquency Rate Neared Record Low in February DS News

Nationwide Mortgage Delinquency Rate Neared Record Low in February

CoreLogic has released its monthly Loan Performance Insights Report for February 2023, which found that 3% of all mortgages in the U.S. were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure), representing a 0.4-percentage point decrease compared with 3.4% in February 2022, and a 0.2-percentage point increase compared with January 2023.

04/27/23

Banks that Put Up $30 Billion to “Rescue” First Republic May Have Been Trying to Rescue their Own Exposure to $247 Trillion in Derivatives Wall Street On Parade

Banks that Put Up $30 Billion to “Rescue” First Republic May Have Been Trying to Rescue their Own Exposure to $247 Trillion in Derivatives

Ever since 11 banks on March 16 donned the garb of heroic fire fighters, rushing to extinguish an inferno at a competitor bank before it spread further, we have been asking ourselves the question – why just this group of 11 banks.
We’re talking about the action on March 16 when 11 banks chipped in a total of $30 billion and bizarrely placed those funds as uninsured deposits into First Republic Bank – which was in full scale unraveling mode because of bond losses and – wait for it – too many uninsured deposits.

04/27/23

What Lawyers and Judges Are Missing in Foreclosure Cases Living Lies

What Lawyers and Judges Are Missing in Foreclosure Cases

The first question is, “if it wasn’t a loan, then what is it?” Lawyers and homeowners get hooked on this question because they think it is up to them to answer it. But the first rule of procedure and due process is that if you have a claim, then you need to describe it. If it is left to your opponent to speculate about the nature of the claim, then all existing US law requires dismissal of the case, perhaps with leave to amend.

04/26/23

Justices appear likely to side with homeowner in foreclosure dispute SCOTUS Blog

Justices appear likely to side with homeowner in foreclosure dispute

Geraldine Tyler, a 94-year-old grandmother, lost her Minneapolis condo when she failed to pay the property taxes for several years. Tyler does not dispute that Hennepin County could foreclose on the $40,000 property and sell it to obtain the $15,000 in taxes and costs that she owed it. But she argued that the county violated the Constitution when it kept the $25,000 left over after the property was sold. After roughly 100 minutes of debate on Wednesday, a majority of the justices seemed inclined to agree with her.

04/26/23

Grandma didn't pay taxes. Now her house is focus of property rights test case NPR

Grandma didn't pay taxes. Now her house is focus of property rights test case

The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Wednesday in the case of a 94-year-old Minneapolis woman whose condominium was seized by Hennepin County for failure to pay property taxes. At issue is the way at least a dozen states handle the sale of homes to pay off overdue taxes.

04/26/23

Woman narrowly avoids reverse mortgage foreclosure due to communication breakdown KOLD

Woman narrowly avoids reverse mortgage foreclosure due to communication breakdown

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX/Gray News) - Retirement is typically a time of relaxation, assuming you have enough savings to live comfortably. Unfortunately, things don’t always go as planned. Some seniors turn to reverse mortgages, loans that allow homeowners who are at least 62 years old to withdraw some of their home equity and convert it into cash. While it can be a useful loan for many seniors, one College Station resident almost lost her home after her mortgage company claimed she had failed to fulfill all the requirements of her reverse mortgage.

04/26/23

Federal Agencies Are on Board Living Lies

Federal Agencies Are on Board

“We already see how AI tools can turbocharge fraud and automate discrimination, and we won’t hesitate to use the full scope of our legal authorities to protect Americans from these threats,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “Technological advances can deliver critical innovation—but claims of innovation must not be cover for lawbreaking. There is no AI exemption to the laws on the books, and the FTC will vigorously enforce the law to combat unfair or deceptive practices or unfair methods of competition.”

04/26/23

Maine home foreclosures plummet while sales drop, prices inch up Press Herald

Maine home foreclosures plummet while sales drop, prices inch up

New data on foreclosure filings and on recent home sales create a mixed outlook for the state's residential real estate market. But it appears stronger than those in many other states.

04/26/23

Jamie Dimon’s Deeply Conflicted Role as “Rescuer” of First Republic Bank Requires a Credible Investigation Wall Street On Parade

Jamie Dimon’s Deeply Conflicted Role as “Rescuer” of First Republic Bank Requires a Credible Investigation

The Board of Directors and shareholders at the largest bank in the U.S., JPMorgan Chase – which has more than 5,000 Chase Bank branches dotting the landscape from coast to coast – have ample reason to ask themselves where the loyalties of the bank’s Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon exactly lie.

04/25/23

While we are all napping: Trading in MSRs hit $1 trillion. Living Lies

While we are all napping: Trading in MSRs hit $1 trillion.

According to recent reports: MSR trading volume this year is on pace to meet or exceed last year’s robust mark, when some $1 trillion in MSRs exchanged hands — then fueled by the spike in interest rates. The trading volume of MSRs so far this year is on pace to meet or exceed last year’s robust mark, when some $1 trillion in MSRs exchanged hands — then fueled by the spike in interest rates.

04/24/23

Don’t Say “LOAN” Living Lies

Don’t Say “LOAN”

Whenever anyone refers to your transaction as a loan, you should be objecting at the earliest possible moment (or else it is waived), and you should be moving to strike the phrase from the court record. But you need to do so properly.
Up until now and for the foreseeable future, homeowners will continue to lose their cases by either waiting until it is “their turn,” at which point their objections are waived, or by “demanding answers” that nobody is obligated to give them.
So if you at to do it right, you need to do it in the only that is legally recognizable. All other approaches may sound good but mean nothing in a court of law.

04/21/23

Black Knight's First Look: Mortgage Delinquencies Hit Record Low in March, While Prepayments Rose on Easing Rates and Seasonal Tailwinds Black Knight

Black Knight's First Look: Mortgage Delinquencies Hit Record Low in March, While Prepayments Rose on Easing Rates and Seasonal Tailwinds

  • The national delinquency rate dropped 53 basis points (-15%) in March, falling below 3% for the first time on record, ending the month at just 2.92%
  • While delinquency rates almost always fall in March – as borrowers utilize tax refunds and other seasonal revenues to pay down past-due debt – the drop marked the second largest decline in the past 17 years
  • Factoring in March's decline, the total number of past-due mortgages (including active foreclosures) has fallen to its lowest level in nearly 23 years, dating all the way back to April 2000
  • Serious delinquencies (90+ days past due) showed marked improvement, falling by 51K to their lowest level since March 2020, with volumes shrinking in every state
  • Likewise, every state saw overall delinquencies fall in March, with improvements ranging from 11.9% in Washington to 21.5% in Vermont
  • Both foreclosure starts (+9.0%) and sales (+4.6%) rose in the month but still remain well below pre-pandemic volumes at the national level
  • Active foreclosure inventory held steady, but remains 31K (12%) below March 2020 levels
  • The prepayment rate (SMM) rose to 0.50% (+44% month over month) driven, as anticipated, by seasonal tailwinds in sale-related prepayments and an increased demand for refis due to falling rates

04/21/23

Foreclosures spike as banks lower the boom on homeowners CBS News

Foreclosures spike as banks lower the boom on homeowners

Americans are losing their homes at a faster rate this year as banks make up for lost time after state and federal foreclosure bans expired. Lenders repossessed nearly 96,000 properties during the first three months of 2023, up 22% from the same period last year, according to real estate data provider ATTOM.

04/21/23

It is NOT the job of the court to answer your questions Living Lies

It is NOT the job of the court to answer your questions

People familiar with my victories in court frequently ask for a list of generic questions that they hope will work in every case. Lay people are not rained to think within the context fo the rules of civil procedure or motions required to force the opposing side to comply with those rules.
There are plenty of POSSIBLE questions and plenty of ways to ask them. But there is no list that is one size fits all. It MUST be tailored to the specific case. Some of the questions are obvious from my prior correspondence.

04/20/23

Former New York Fed Pres Bill Dudley Calls This the First Banking Crisis Since 2008; Charts Show It’s the Third Wall Street On Parade

Former New York Fed Pres Bill Dudley Calls This the First Banking Crisis Since 2008; Charts Show It’s the Third

The official that oversaw the secret funneling of trillions of dollars of bailout money from the New York Fed to the grossly mismanaged mega banks on Wall Street during the financial crisis of 2008 to 2010, had the temerity yesterday to pen an opinion piece at Bloomberg News pointing his finger at current Fed officials for today’s banking crisis – without once mentioning his role in getting us here.

04/20/23

Biggest U.S. Banks Report Bumper Profits Amid Industry Turmoil Living Lies

Biggest U.S. Banks Report Bumper Profits Amid Industry Turmoil

The mega banks are reporting higher profits that were most likely created years ago and stuffed into offshore repositories in off balance sheet transctions. From 1998 to 2008, they siphoned trillions of dollars out of the US economy using worthelss and faslely represented “Mortgage-backed bonds.”

04/19/23

Is Modification Legal? Living Lies

Is Modification Legal?

You are completely correct to say that modification of a contract is not possible without the parties to that contract agreeing to modify. Even a court may not modify that contract unless it contains something that is patently unlawful.

04/19/23

Heading off the next foreclosure crisis Commonwealth Magazine

Heading off the next foreclosure crisis

OVER THE LAST few years, Americans have faced countless challenges we couldn’t have easily predicted: a global pandemic, war in Ukraine, supply chain snarls, a roiling economy — including recent bank collapses — and skyrocketing housing costs amidst all of it.
But we could have predicted what was to follow: a volatile housing market and inflation at levels we have not seen since the 1970s. Household budgets for people with low and middle incomes are being put to the test, and many homeowners are turning to increased credit card spending to sustain their cost of living expenses. Most troubling, home foreclosure stats are on the rise nationwide.

04/19/23

Home prices see largest decline since 2012 as banking crisis hits demand: 'There's this fear that everything will crash' Business Insider

Home prices see largest decline since 2012 as banking crisis hits demand: 'There's this fear that everything will crash'

Median home prices in March dropped 3.3% annually, the biggest decline since 2012, Redfin said. Pandemic boomtowns and the San Francisco Bay Area led the price declines. "I was consistently busy in the fall, but things got really quiet in March after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank."

04/18/23

Hawaii court ruling establishes precedent for reverse foreclosure cases Reverse Mortgage Daily

Hawaii court ruling establishes precedent for reverse foreclosure cases

At the end of March, the Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii vacated a reverse mortgage foreclosure handed down by lender James B. Nutter and Co., which was doing business as Nutter Home Loans. The court found that Nutter “submitted a materially deficient attorney affirmation to the circuit court” regarding the foreclosure. The case, which has made its way through the state court system since 2009, now sets a precedent for foreclosure cases within the state, according to legal experts who spoke to the Honolulu Civil Beat.

04/18/23

CFPB Issues Guidance on Abusive Conduct Under Federal Law Living Lies

CFPB Issues Guidance on Abusive Conduct Under Federal Law

Most homeowners will continue to ignore such pronouncements that fail to give relevant examples. Most lawyers are too lazy or presumptive to research the issue and seek advice from experts who actually are competent to comment on investment banking applied to the loan market. But since the implied unpaid loan account does not exist and the designated party as claimant expects no payment, they are missing out on easy enforcement of obviously abusive behavior — including attorney fees and costs under the FDCPA and RESPA.

04/18/23

Nothing Is Obvious or Clear in Court Until You Make It So Living Lies

Nothing Is Obvious or Clear in Court Until You Make It So

Hat tip to Elle She raises probably the most important problem confronting homeowners in conflict with pretender lenders. “what if the witness is clearly lying, but it is affecting the judgment of the presiding judge?”

04/17/23

Only unbridled arrogance could produce a statement like this Living Lies

Only unbridled arrogance could produce a statement like this

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) renewed proposal to prohibit conflicts of interest in securitizations is critically flawed and would impose significant impediments to the ongoing functioning of the assetbacked securities market, industry advocates said recently. See https://asreport.americanbanker.com/news/damage-to-financial-markets-and-economy-feared-from-secs-abs-proposal It is astonishing that anyone could say that with a straight face. The fact is that the entire value proposition that certificates sold under the name “Mortgage-backed securities” is based on conflicts of interest.

04/14/23

How to use the statutory definitions of the word “servicer” Living Lies

How to use the statutory definitions of the word “servicer”

Hat tip to summer chic. I might add a hat tip to some State and Federal agencies that are waking up and trimming the edges around the false claims implied to support the remedy of foreclosure. Things are changing — and before the banks manage to use their influence in state and federal legislatures, homeowners would be doing themselves and everyone else a favor if they went on the attack now.
Getting down in the weeds is what wins. For about 2 decades or longer, lawyers have been claiming to represent companies that are implied to be creditors and companies that are implied to be servicers. In truth, the lawyer does not represent either one, and neither of those companies has ever touched a single penny of the payments tendered by homeowners.
The word “servicer” has been used to define any company that claims to be a servicer and who satisfies one of several elements. One element is that it claimed to have physical possession of the implied loan file, including the promissory note. Although untrue, this has always been implied and largely unchallenged by homeowners, thus forcing the court to rule in favor of the lawyer implying the existence of a claim.
The second condition is always argued but never true. That is, the company implied to be processing payments from the homeowner has in fact been doing so. Therefore its records of such are admissible as business records, and those business records are easily admitted into evidence against the homeowner as an exception to the hearsay rule. Until 2022, this was a somewhat gray area.
But in 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Board changed all of that. It said that any company that was in fact, receiving and processing payments from homeowners was a servicer. This made sense since the record of payments could only come from transactions between the company receiving the payments and the homeowner who tendered such payments.
But companies like CoreLogic et al (FINTECH) continue to argue that they are NOT servicers because they do not own or hold the implied underlying obligation or any documents pertaining to the transaction with the homeowner. Most homeowners and lawyers back off simply because they don’t know the next step. Here it is —-
Servicing means receiving any scheduled periodic payments from a borrower pursuant to the terms of any federally related mortgage loan, including amounts for escrow accounts under section 10 of RESPA (12 U.S.C. 2609), and making the payments to the owner of the loan or other third parties of principal and interest and such other payments with respect to the amounts received from the borrower as may be required pursuant to the terms of the mortgage servicing loan documents or servicing contract. In the case of a home equity conversion mortgage or reverse mortgage as referenced in this section, servicing includes making payments to the borrower. 12 USC 1024.2

04/13/23

Just How Much is a Mortgage Lien Enforceable After Bankruptcy Discharge Living Lies

Just How Much is a Mortgage Lien Enforceable After Bankruptcy Discharge

The basic premise is that the debt is NEVER discharged. It is only the ability of the owner of the underlying debt to enforce that debt that is discharged. Thus the owner of a lien may still enforce the lien after BKR discharge. The only exception would be a finding in Bankruptcy court that the claim is not secured by the claimed lien in favor of a particular creditor.

04/12/23

Why Courts Enter Judgments Based upon False Facts Living Lies

Why Courts Enter Judgments Based upon False Facts

I frequently get provocative letters explaining to me that the entire system is corrupt and that it is futile to contest actions undertaken by the mega banks or their intermediaries. In turn, these letters frequently go out to others and become the norm in exchanges of information between uninformed people. These letters are getting increasingly frequent as I zero in on the real cracks in the illusion of armor presented by those banks (through intermediaries and regional law firms who are clients of the foreclosure enforcement law firms). Yes, that is right. The law firm presenting the claim against you is presenting another law firm, not the designated creditor. Homeowners get particularly incensed when the opposing attorney supposedly writes a letter containing bald-faced lies.

04/12/23

First Republic Bank’s “Rescuers” Had Underwritten $3.6 Billion of its Preferred Shares, Which Have Lost 65 to 70 Percent of their Value Year-to-Date Wall Street On Parade

First Republic Bank’s “Rescuers” Had Underwritten $3.6 Billion of its Preferred Shares, Which Have Lost 65 to 70 Percent of their Value Year-to-Date

Four of the eleven big banks that announced on March 16 that they were going to dump a combined $30 billion of their own money as uninsured deposits into the plunging coffers of First Republic Bank were also the underwriters of $3.6 billion in preferred stock for First Republic Bank. Units of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo were underwriters of the majority of the preferred stock outstanding at First Republic Bank. UBS, which did not contribute to the $30 billion deposit infusion, was also one of the primary underwriters. UBS was otherwise occupied last month by having a gun put to its head by the Swiss government to “rescue” the tanking Credit Suisse. The Swiss government also denied shareholders on both sides of the deal the ability to vote on the matter.

04/11/23

How Wall Street Banks Use SEC.GOV as a Billboard for Faking MBS Living Lies

How Wall Street Banks Use SEC.GOV as a Billboard for Faking MBS

Digging Into a $344 Billion Investing Mystery Preposterous claims in private investment offerings illustrate an important point about red-hot ‘Reg D’ securities: No one is checking to see if the details in these filings are even remotely true

04/11/23

Fed Report: Largest 25 U.S. Banks Have Shed $700 Billion in Deposits Over Past Year Wall Street On Parade

Fed Report: Largest 25 U.S. Banks Have Shed $700 Billion in Deposits Over Past Year

To read the headlines in the major business press, one would think that since the upheaval began in the U.S. banking system, the largest U.S. commercial banks have been the beneficiaries in terms of deposit inflows. For example, on March 13 the Financial Times ran this headline: “Large US banks inundated with new depositors as smaller lenders face turmoil.” The subhead was even more questionable, reading: “Failure of Silicon Valley Bank prompts flight to likes of JPMorgan and Citi.”

04/10/23

Collateral lawsuits and Adversary lawsuits in bankruptcy actions Living Lies

Collateral lawsuits and Adversary lawsuits in bankruptcy actions

If the party named as claimant or Plaintiff or Beneficiary did not own any unpaid debt and said party, therefore, suffered no economic injury by and through any action or inaction of the defendant or homeowner, then despite the appearance of default, no legal default has occurred even upon declaration of such by a disinterested third party. 1916 article on collateral attacks.

04/09/23

Lawyer accused of scamming homeowners skips court appearance The Real DEal

Lawyer accused of scamming homeowners skips court appearance

A North Carolina attorney facing felony charges for her alleged role in scamming poor homeowners failed to appear at a hearing related to her criminal case scheduled last week. Ilesanmi “Ile” Adaramola is accused of finding properties facing foreclosure and forcing them into auction by falsifying documents, among other things, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.

04/06/23

Ocwen is seen as potential trouble! Living Lies

Ocwen is seen as potential trouble!

Ocwen Related Matters
During the year ended December 31, 2022, Ocwen was our largest customer, accounting for 41% of our total revenue. Additionally, 6% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2022 was earned on the loan portfolios serviced by Ocwen, when a party other than Ocwen or the MSR owner selected Altisource as the service provider.
Ocwen has disclosed that it is subject to a number of ongoing federal and state regulatory examinations, consent orders, inquiries, subpoenas, civil investigative demands, requests for information and other actions and is subject to pending and threatened legal proceedings, some of which include claims against Ocwen for substantial monetary damages. Previous regulatory actions against Ocwen have subjected Ocwen to independent oversight of its operations and placed certain restrictions on its ability to acquire servicing rights. Existing or future similar matters could result in adverse regulatory or other actions against Ocwen. In addition to the above, Ocwen may become subject to future adverse regulatory or other actions.

04/05/23

Government program helps Wisconsinites avoid foreclosure Spectrum News

Government program helps Wisconsinites avoid foreclosure

Thousands of Wisconsinites have received assistance from the state’s Help for Homeowners program, but more help is still available, Gov. Tony Evers said Thursday. WHH launched in March 2022, and thus far, more than 5,400 Wisconsin homeowners have received assistance through the program. WHH, which is federally funded, provides up to $40,000 for Wisconsin homeowners, ensuring people can stay in their homes and avoid facing foreclosure because of “pandemic-related financial burdens.”

04/05/23

15 USC§1635 triggers an event, not a claim Living Lies

15 USC§1635 triggers an event, not a claim

The basic thrust of argument on TILA rescission is that rescission is an event, not a claim. After sending (mailing USPS) the notice of rescission, there is nothing else required on the part of the homeowner. It was passsed in the 1960s to force compliance with lending laws. 15 USC §1635 is effective upon mailing, even if the judge or anyone else thinks it was not sent in good faith, as long as it is within 3 years of consummation of the alleged transction. See Jesinoski v Countrywide (2015 unaimous US Supreme Court decision). Virtually all foreclosures of the note and mortgage after rescission are and will always be void. Title remains vested in the homeowner. Both title and the right to possession can be enforced by such homeowners by injunction and eviction proceedings. The only limit to such enforcement is an action by the pretender lender to obtain title by advserse possession which generally carries a minimum of 20 years for the adverse possession of the dispute property. No such action is allowed to be filed in less than 20 years since the the commencement of the “adverse possession” as if the possessor had title.

04/05/23

A Growing Lack of Confidence in the Fed Is Spilling Over into a Lack of Confidence in U.S. Banks Wall Street On Parade

A Growing Lack of Confidence in the Fed Is Spilling Over into a Lack of Confidence in U.S. Banks

Millions of Americans are beginning to ask themselves this question: Is the Federal Reserve (the “Fed”) a competent central bank or a terminally compromised regulator that simply does the bidding of Wall Street’s mega banks to the peril of average Americans and the U.S. economy? Millions of other Americans have already made up their minds on this point.

04/04/23

After Pushing the Wall Street Scheme to Repeal Glass-Steagall, the New York Times Returns to Puff Pieces on Rodge Cohen and Jamie Dimon Wall Street On Parade

After Pushing the Wall Street Scheme to Repeal Glass-Steagall, the New York Times Returns to Puff Pieces on Rodge Cohen and Jamie Dimon

The New York Times has been able to fly below the radar in terms of its insufferable ability to muck up the financial system of the United States and then canonize its aiders and abettors with puff pieces. It was none other than the New York Times that repeatedly used its editorial page to advocate for the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which had protected the U.S. financial system from crisis for 66 years until its repeal under the Wall Street friendly Bill Clinton administration in 1999. It took only nine years after its repeal for the U.S. financial system to crash in 2008, requiring the largest public bailout in U.S. history. We’re now in banking crisis and bailout 3.0.

04/04/23

Jamie Dimon says the banking crisis is not over and will cause ‘repercussions for years to come’ CNBC

Jamie Dimon says the banking crisis is not over and will cause ‘repercussions for years to come’

The stress on the financial sector caused by two bank failures in the United States last month is still a threat and should be addressed by a reimagining of the regulatory process, according to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.

03/31/23

Friends and Foreclosure Fighters! MAAPL.org

Friends and Foreclosure Fighters!

I have been blessed with what feels like kind of a sacred charge. I cannot accomplish this without as many people’s help as possible. (we need you to at least call in on Tuesday, 4/4/23 at 9am.)
This could be a milestone in the anti-foreclosure fight against what we now know is 160 years of predatory and prejudiced lending (one historic researcher holds that this is the primary reason for the continuing racial divide in wealth in the United States). The key Massachusetts courts, the Housing Courts, where the fight to end, reverse and redress predatory lending violations have begun a new practice of stripping not only the property rights and equal protection rights, but, in fact, First Amendment rights from those who fight illegal foreclosures and evictions.
I will be the first to address this fundamental stripping of First Amendment rights in oral argument. The universe has placed that hearing on, of all days, the 55th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. I had already planned to rely on his incisive and elegant formulation of the necessity of access to persuading others (freedom of speech).
What we need is an unprecedented magnitude of witnesses to this hearing. It is scheduled for Tuesday, 4/4/23 at 9AM ET. You can call in and listen to the proceeding: as the case is being heard in Session II, the phone number is 877-730-2624; passcode is 2530102#. Further, if you will contact me, please, and let me know if you can be there, there are further (and maybe better) ways to access the hearing. Please recruit friends and family – this matters.
Please, this is a potential watershed moment for this movement to make it clear that even if these illegal, immoral, and, in fact, criminal practices have been overwhelmingly ignored by our courts, it does not mean that we will put up with this injustice any longer.
In peace and power, love, Grace Ross MAAPL.org 617-291-5591

03/31/23

SEC does NOT regulate trusts or the issuance of certificates Living Lies

SEC does NOT regulate trusts or the issuance of certificates

No trust is regulated by the SEC. No reporting is required of any trust.
But by filing a prospectus, the investment bank gains access to the SEC.gov site. So they upload documents and then download the same documents so they can display the sec.gov in the header. They then falsely argue for judicial notice of a government document.
No document is a government document unless it is created by the government. Since the SEC did not issue the document and never reviewed or exercised any regulatory action, this is not a government document. It is a private document that the lawyers have dressed up to look like a government document. Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Clinton, 880 F. Supp. 1, 11 (D.D.C. 1995) (“documents are typically not agency records under the Act unless and until they are included within material controlled, created, approved and utilized by the agency itself. ”)
Ultimately all filings by the investment bank in relation to the fictitious trusts are followed by a filing that says, “we don’t need to report anything.” In 1998 the regulations were rolled back on the certificates sold to investors in which, by law, the certificates were categorized as private contracts and expressly asserted to be excluded from the category of securities and issuers that were regulated.
In short, there are no securities, trusts, or government documents in any securitization infrastructure.

03/30/23

Lender refused to accept payments from the legal heir, who was being helped by Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates NonProfit Alliance of Consumer Advocates

Lender refused to accept payments from the legal heir, who was being helped by Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates

CAMBRIA, CA, UNITED STATES, March 30, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- When Glenn Grego's father passed away, he found himself facing foreclosure because the lender was not accepting his mortgage payments. Despite being rejected six times for a loan modification, Glenn was left with an unpaid balance of $754,698.22, making him 38 months delinquent with a balance of $100,230.18 and a monthly payment of $2,578.78. Despite receiving solicitation for eviction protection services and surplus fund retrieval from various law firms and non-attorneys, the bank found it more beneficial to sell Glenn's property instead of accepting his payments.

03/30/23

Share of Delinquent Mortgages Drops, But Foreclosure Rate Creeps Upward DS News

Share of Delinquent Mortgages Drops, But Foreclosure Rate Creeps Upward

CoreLogic has released its monthly Loan Performance Insights Report for January 2023, which found that 2.8% of all mortgages in the U.S. were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure), representing a 0.5 percentage point decrease compared with 3.3% in January 2022, and a 0.2 percentage point decrease compared with December 2022.

03/30/23

MaineHousing, real estate agents offer help for people facing foreclosure News Center Maine

MaineHousing, real estate agents offer help for people facing foreclosure

PORTLAND, Maine — People facing foreclosure in Maine have options that housing experts say most might not know about. On March 7, MaineHousing relaunched the Homeowner Assistance Fund. The program uses federal COVID-19 pandemic relief dollars to help those who fell behind on payments during the pandemic. It is meant to help low- and moderate-income families who suffered financial hardships since January of 2021. Homeowners can receive up to $50,000 depending on their eligibility. Homeowners can check eligibility and begin the application process online at MaineHomeownerHelp.org.

03/30/23

Federal Reserve Board fines Wells Fargo $67.8 million for inadequate oversight of sanctions risk at its subsidiary bank Federal Reserve

Federal Reserve Board fines Wells Fargo $67.8 million for inadequate oversight of sanctions risk at its subsidiary bank

The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced that it has fined Wells Fargo & Co., of San Francisco, California, $67.8 million for the firm's unsafe or unsound practices relating to historical inadequate oversight of sanctions compliance risks at its subsidiary bank, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Wells Fargo & Co.'s deficient oversight enabled the bank to violate U.S. sanctions regulations by providing a trade finance platform to a foreign bank that used the platform to process approximately $532 million in prohibited transactions between 2010 and 2015.

03/30/23

Chopra: Nonbanks, Mortgage Servicers May Also Pose Systemic Risk National Mortgage Professional

Chopra: Nonbanks, Mortgage Servicers May Also Pose Systemic Risk

CFPB director tells Consumer Bankers Association conference such a failure could lead to 'chaos.' What happens if a nonbank lender or large mortgage servicer fails? That’s a question that recently has been keeping Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra awake at night. "A major disruption or failure of a large mortgage servicer really gives me a nightmare," Chopra said Tuesday during CBA Live 2023, a conference in Las Vegas hosted by the Consumer Bankers Association.

03/30/23

Biden asks banking regulators to toughen some rules after recent bank failures NPR

Biden asks banking regulators to toughen some rules after recent bank failures

President Biden on Thursday urged banking regulators to take additional steps to reduce the risk of more mid-sized bank failures like Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. "We think things have stabilized significantly," a White House official told reporters on a conference call. "We also think it's important that regulators take steps to make sure future banking crises don't happen."

03/30/23

Are the courts really misbehaving in foreclosure cases — probably not. Living Lies

Are the courts really misbehaving in foreclosure cases — probably not.

Don’t shoot the messenger. * If we assume that the court is only allowed to rule on allegations that bring the claim it is probably true that homeowner complaints and motions should be denied because mostly they have not attacked the existence, ownership and authority over the implied (but never stated) underlying debt that can only be found in the receivables of the designated creditor.

03/29/23

How to attack title to a mortgage lien Living Lies

When to act on your “mortgage transaction”

Several steps should be taken to attack any document that does not include a warranty of title to the lien and authority to enforce. You attack the title to the lien under the premise that no transfer of a lien is legally valid or even recognizable unless there is a concurrent transfer of the underlying debt. Transfer of the note is only evidence of the transfer of the underlying alleged debt. My premise is that there is no underlying debt.

03/28/23

Judge green lights amended predatory lending suit against Wells Fargo Housing Wire

Judge green lights amended predatory lending suit against Wells Fargo

A federal judge in Georgia has given the green light for an amended “predatory lending” lawsuit to proceed against Wells Fargo. The lawsuit was filed under the Fair Housing Act by three counties in Georgia.
The counties initially filed the lawsuit in April 2021, claiming that Wells Fargo and some of its related entities engaged in a broad predatory lending scheme that targeted minority residents in Cobb, DeKalb and Fulton counties.
According to the complaint, Wells Fargo allegedly engaged in an “equity stripping” scheme that was “a combination of predatory and discriminatory lending, servicing, and foreclosure practices over the life of a mortgage.”
The lawsuit also alleges that Wells Fargo originated high-cost loans to minorities at a rate of 2.3 times higher than for non-minorities.
The complaint was initially dismissed last March by U.S. District Judge Michael L. Brown, who ruled that the counties failed to allege Wells Fargo engaged in any discriminatory acts within the two-year period covered under the Fair Housing Act.
However, the judge allowed the counties to amend and resubmit the lawsuit, ruling last week that the new complaint can move forward.
The amended complaint cites 30 different loans originated, serviced and/or foreclosed on by Wells Fargo. The lender asked the court to dismiss the amended suit, citing that the statute of limitations had expired, but Judge Brown ruled that the 10 loans identified by the counties fell within the correct time frame.
The counties allege in the lawsuit that Wells Fargo and its related entities began the purported “discriminatory scheme” at the point of loan origination by forcing “borrowers to pay higher costs and improper fees.”
Per the lawsuit, this “continued throughout the life of the loans as borrowers paid inflated interest rates, manifested through the imposition of prepayment penalties when borrowers refinanced or paid off loans, progressed into default when [Wells Fargo] subjected borrowers to fees and costs, and culminated in foreclosure.”
The counties state in the lawsuit that the borrowers’ names on each of the loans reflect that the borrower is likely “African American, Latino/Hispanic, or [another] minority,” and that census data shows each property was located within a mostly minority neighborhood, according to the ruling.
The counties also provided the court with three “heat maps,” which they say show a difference in foreclosure rates between neighborhoods with mostly minority residents compared to neighborhoods with mostly white residents.
The heat maps allegedly show the foreclosure rate in Fulton County was 3.5 times higher in neighborhoods with large percentages of minority residents compared to mostly white neighborhoods. That rate was five times higher in DeKalb County and 18% higher in Cobb County, according to the lawsuit.
The amended allegations are enough, at least at the pleading stage, to establish the 10 loans were part of the three counties’ “purported discriminatory scheme” — and that they undertook a discrete action in furtherance of that scheme within the limitations period, Brown said.
“To move past summary judgment on the merits, Plaintiffs will have to present evidence of this overarching scheme, and alleged discrimination in origination may not be enough to establish conduct within the statutory period,” Judge Brown said.
A hearing is scheduled for April 18 to discuss how discovery should proceed.
“As part of this, the Court is considering whether discovery should begin with the 10 loans discussed above or some other subset of loans so as to focus initially on whether Defendants’ alleged discriminatory scheme continued beyond April 30, 2019,” the ruling states.
According to Wells Fargo, the claims outlined in the lawsuit are unfounded.
“While we are disappointed in the rulings, Wells Fargo continues to believe that the counties’ claims regarding our lending practices are unfounded and will continue to defend this case,” Wells Fargo’s spokesperson said in an e-mailed response.
Wells Fargo has been under fire numerous times in the past over discriminatory lending allegations.
In late 2022, Wells Fargo agreed to pay a civil penalty of $1.7 billion in order to settle multiple consent orders related to automobile lending, consumer deposit accounts and mortgage lending with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
According to the CFPB, Wells Fargo repeatedly misapplied loan payments, wrongfully foreclosed on homes, illegally repossessed vehicles and charged surprise overdraft fees, which affected 16 million customers’ accounts.
In April 2022, the bank was sued for allegedly approving more white borrowers for mortgage loans compared to Black applicants following the creation of the federal CARES Act, which helped to drop interest rates down to historic lows.
In 2012, the bank agreed to pay at least $175 million to settle accusations that it unfairly steered Black and Hispanic homeowners into subprime mortgages and charged them higher fees and interest rates. Wells Fargo said at the time that it treated all customers fairly regardless of race.

03/24/23

As Senate Banking Committee Convenes Hearing on Exploding Banks, an FDIC Chart Shows the Banking Crisis Is Far from Over Wall Street On Parade

As Senate Banking Committee Convenes Hearing on Exploding Banks, an FDIC Chart Shows the Banking Crisis Is Far from Over

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), the Chair of the Senate Banking Committee, will convene a hearing this morning at 10 a.m. to take testimony from federal bank regulators on why the second and third largest bank failures in U.S. history occurred within two days of each other this month. (A number of other regional banks have seen their share prices plunge this month.)

03/28/23

When to act on your “mortgage transaction” Living Lies

When to act on your “mortgage transaction”

Why is “mortgage transaction” bracketed in quotes? Because the transaction is really a draft of homeowners into becoming issuers in a concealed securities scheme. The loan account, part of every traditional loan, is neither created nor transferred. All players are paid off through the sales of certificates that by law are not classified as securities and are not backed by any liens or collateral. So both the “mortgage transaction” and the “Mortgage-backed securities” carry a moniker that denotes the exact opposite of their true intention.

03/27/23

Emergency: Why the New Article 12 of the Uniform Commercial Code Should Be Rejected Living Lies

Emergency: Why the New Article 12 of the Uniform Commercial Code Should Be Rejected

2460 FIFE 8-25-2016 BENEFICIARY DECLARATION QUALITY LOAN SERVICE CORP OF WA
The UCC is a uniform authority on laws governing all transactions. It is adopted by law in all U.S jurisdictions. Transactions with homeowners are governed by Article 3 (Negotiable Instruments) and Article 9 (Secured Transactions).
My attacks on the weakness of the argument for business records of the “servicer” have resulted in the proposed new Article 12, which appears to have been adopted in other states (other than Florida). The new article proposes a new classification that will supersede all common law and statutory law regarding business records.

03/26/23

Lawyer once helped debt-ridden owners hang on to homes. Now he helps cities take them away. Tampa Bay Times

Lawyer once helped debt-ridden owners hang on to homes. Now he helps cities take them away.

Matt Weidner worked to help cities deal with the blight caused by poorly maintained properties, but it also meant that a lawyer once known for helping people keep homes was now helping cities take them away.

03/24/23

Bill Black on SVB: A Bipartisan Clown Car Crash The Analysis.news

Bill Black on SVB: A Bipartisan Clown Car Crash

The legendary regulator and white-collar criminologist William K. Black explains why, contrary to corporate media coverage, the bank failures set off by the Silicon Valley Bank crash were absolutely not sudden, unexpected, or unforeseeable, and why none of the regulations Democrats or Republicans are talking about would have stopped them.

03/24/23

Florida cities ramped up foreclosures to hurt speculators. Instead they helped them Miami Herald

Florida cities ramped up foreclosures to hurt speculators. Instead they helped them

In 2015, then-St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman championed a plan to crack down on the city’s so-called “zombie properties” by aggressively foreclosing on them. The city would target poorly maintained properties that had racked up big fines and code enforcement liens with the hope that new ownership would lead to community redevelopment. City leaders believed the plan was the first of its kind in the state and signed a contract with a local private attorney named Matt Weidner to bring the city’s cases to court. Weidner had been a donor to Kriseman, a Democrat who was elected in 2013 after previously serving in the Florida House of Representatives. But Weidner brushed aside any concerns about impropriety.
“This is not a plum deal, which is going on forever or one that involves much money at all,” he said at the time. Weidner’s predictions, however, haven’t come to pass. Eight years later, he continues to bring foreclosure cases on behalf of St. Petersburg. To date, he’s been paid nearly $1.5 million by the city for his work.
And he’s signed contracts with eight other jurisdictions across Florida to do similar work since then, bringing in an additional $1.4 million in fees and expenses. Weidner has sold cities on the idea that they can transform code enforcement rules that used to be intended to achieve compliance into money-makers, by aggressively collecting money cities were owed from fines — or, in the alternative, taking the homes of owners who can’t pay.
The lawsuits have undoubtedly brought about improvements to many of the properties targeted, either through new, more active ownership or by forcing existing owners to improve their practices. But a Miami Herald investigation based on a review of thousands of pages of court records from more than 775 lawsuits and interviews with numerous property owners targeted by Weidner and his client-cities shows that they have also caused harm.

03/24/23

Powell and Yellen Say the Banking System Is Sound as Another Global Bank Teeters Wall Street On Parade

Powell and Yellen Say the Banking System Is Sound as Another Global Bank Teeters

The reassurances of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that the U.S. banking system is sound, stand in sharp contrast to what is happening in markets. This week, the shorts have found another easy new global bank target to try to take down after making a bundle of money betting against Credit Suisse, which was taken over for 82 cents a share on Sunday by its Swiss competitor, UBS.

03/24/23

Fannie Mae Just Created a New Real Estate Career with their New Appraisal Waiver Program Skyline School

Fannie Mae Just Created a New Real Estate Career with their New Appraisal Waiver Program

Fannie Mae's Value Acceptance + Property Data program, set to launch on April 15, 2023, has cast a shadow over the appraisal industry's future, potentially marking the beginning of the end for licensed appraisers.
The program aims to transform mortgage loans by replacing traditional appraisals with assessments conducted by unlicensed "Property Data Collectors," and many are questioning whether this is the first step in eliminating appraisers altogether.

03/24/23

Analysis of Fake Beneficiary Declaration Living Lies

Analysis of Fake Beneficiary Declaration

2460 FIFE 8-25-2016 BENEFICIARY DECLARATION QUALITY LOAN SERVICE CORP OF WA
Toon Hobbs does not say he is an officer of Deutsch Bank.
He also does not say that Deutsche Bank warrants ownership over the alleged or implied unpaid loan account.
As Document Control Officer, he is also NOT a records custodian and decidedly not a TRUST OFFICER.
He does not describe the scope of his duties.
He does not say that Deutsch Bank maintains a trust account on behalf of the obliquely named trust or on behalf of the unspecified holders of the unspecified certificates.
More importantly he makes no reference to a trust agreement, much less attach it.
More importantly he makes no reference to a servicing agreement, much less attach it.

03/23/23

PennyMac Financial Services: Dubious Accounting Games Won’t Solve Its Crisis Living Lies

PennyMac Financial Services: Dubious Accounting Games Won’t Solve Its Crisis

*at the heart of claims of securitization is a data point that cannot be confirmed or corroborated, to wit: an unpaid loan account owed to as specifically identified creditor who makes decisions regarding collection, enforcement, and workouts. That account and that creditor does not exist in anyone’s world unless they are admitted in a court action.

03/23/23

Scheme Targets Homeowners Saporta Report

Scheme Targets Homeowners

A Florida-based firm’s wealth-stripping scheme is the latest threat to some of the country’s most vulnerable homeowners

03/22/23

Courts May Not Use Discredited Document as Basis for Judgment Living Lies

Courts May Not Use Discredited Document as Basis for Judgment

There is no appellate case in which the following proposition has been ruled upon according to my research: can the court continue reliance on legal presumptions arising from facially valid documents from a litigant who fails or refuses to provide reasonable corroboration of the truth of the matters asserted in said documents?

03/22/23

Citigroup’s Citibank Took the Largest Amount of Loans from the FHLB of NY in 2022, Reminiscent of FHLB Loans Taken by Silvergate, SVB, Signature, and First Republic Bank Wall Street On Parade

Citigroup’s Citibank Took the Largest Amount of Loans from the FHLB of NY in 2022, Reminiscent of FHLB Loans Taken by Silvergate, SVB, Signature, and First Republic Bank

On March 13 we published the chart below, showing the ten financial institutions that had taken the largest loan advances from the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco as of year-end 2022. It’s a very ominous sign that the bank at the top of the list, Silicon Valley Bank, collapsed and is now under the control of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Silicon Valley Bank had $212 billion in assets as of year-end 2022, making it the second largest bank failure in U.S. history. The largest failure was Washington Mutual in 2008, with approximately $300 billion in assets.

03/22/23

Murphy’s measure aims to seal wrongful pandemic foreclosures Illinois Senate Democrats

Murphy’s measure aims to seal wrongful pandemic foreclosures

SPRINGFIELD – In order to protect victims of wrongful foreclosures that occurred during the COVID pandemic, State Senator Laura Murphy has introduced a bill that would seal foreclosure records that were initiated during the foreclosure moratoria.

03/22/23

New Yorkers rally in Albany for funding to protect homeowners Spectrum News1

New Yorkers rally in Albany for funding to protect homeowners

As the state budget is negotiated in Albany, New Yorkers are rallying for what they call a critical program left out of Gov. Kathy Hochul's $227 billion budget plan. It’s called the Homeowners Protection Program (HOPP), and it assists more than 15,000 homeowners that find themselves in distress every year. “The HOPP program helped me save my family’s home from foreclosure,” said Melessa Anderson, a HOPP beneficiary.

03/21/23

Everyone lies Living Lies

Everyone lies

The basis for most big business plans is to give the consumer the worst possible product or service while convincing the same consumer that the cost is inevitable and the product or service is excellent. This produces something that Alejandro Reyes of Deutsch Bank called a “counter-intuitive” system. * Let me give you a few examples:

03/21/23

ATTOM cites housing markets most vulnerable to decline The Title Report

ATTOM cites housing markets most vulnerable to decline

ATTOM released its Special Housing Risk Report spotlighting county-level housing markets that are more or less vulnerable to declines, based on home affordability, foreclosures and other measures in the fourth quarter of 2022. The report shows that inland California, Illinois, New Jersey, and Delaware continued to have some of the highest concentrations of the most-at-risk markets in the country, with the biggest clusters in the New York City and Chicago metro areas. Southern and Midwestern states remained less exposed.

03/20/23

Don’t use your own wording simply because it sounds good to you Living Lies

Don’t use your own wording simply because it sounds good to you

What you are looking for is corroboration that the account exists and corroboration documents showing that consideration was paid and not just recited on the transfer document on paper.

03/19/23

Mass. property tax foreclosure laws harmful, inequitable Worcester Telegram and Gazette

Mass. property tax foreclosure laws harmful, inequitable

Last year, Deborah Foss was forced to live in her car during the coldest months of the year after New Bedford officials placed a tax lien on her home and sold it to a private company called Tallage for $9,626 — the total amount she owed, including interest. The tax lien gave the investor authority under Massachusetts law to take her home, sell it for $241,600 and keep all the profits. Deborah lost her home and her value in it over a debt that was worth just a fraction of the value of her home.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. From 2014 through 2021, Massachusetts homeowners subjected to tax foreclosure lost 82% of their home equity on average — $172,000 per home. Massachusetts is one of 12 states, plus the District of Columbia, regularly using these abusive and unconstitutional “tax and take” seizures. A recent study by my firm, Pacific Legal Foundation, details how these predatory home equity theft laws work, and the windfall government and private investors have taken at the expense of people like Deborah.

03/17/23

JPMorgan’s High Risk Footprint; Bloomberg News as PR Agent for Jamie Dimon; and the Untold Story of the Failed “Rescue” of First Republic by the Mega Banks Wall Street On Parade

JPMorgan’s High Risk Footprint; Bloomberg News as PR Agent for Jamie Dimon; and the Untold Story of the Failed “Rescue” of First Republic by the Mega Banks

At 6:33 a.m. this morning, this big, bold headline appeared at the very top of Bloomberg News web page: “How Dimon and Yellen Helped Secure $30 Billion Lifeline for First Republic.” This headline is part of a very long, highly questionable promotion of Jamie Dimon by Bloomberg News as the wunderkind of Wall Street banking.

03/17/23

Foreclosure Defense: What is in a word? EVERYTHING Living Lies

Foreclosure Defense: What is in a word? EVERYTHING

The abuse of words is an essential ingredient in any scam. The reason is that the listener or reader has a complex idea of a specific word.
By knowing that idea is in the head of the victim, the scammer can extract money and services, and even products from him or her.

  • Madoff used the word “investment” and people assumed he was investing.
  • Wells Fargo used the word “account” when the customer neither knew nor requested it. Everyone assumed that it was opening accounts at customers’ request and charging them fees.
  • Goldman Sachs used the word “loan” when they were actually using homeowner transactions as an event starting the issuance of securities – not the establishment of a loan account.

03/16/23

Errors in Court (foreclosure cases): Foundation and Business Records Living Lies

Errors in Court (foreclosure cases): Foundation and Business Records

Ultimately, the claim made against the homeowner must make commmon sense. But getting there requires litigation skills. But it is true that ANY lawyer that simply follows standard defense strategies can win these cases for homeowners. The key is always lack of foundation and hearsay objections. But the standard error being made in court consists of (1) overlooking the requirement of foundation testimony and (2) acceptance of printed reports as business records.

03/16/23

Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates helps Foreclosed Homeowner with Successful Surplus Trustee Sale Reversal NonProfit Alliance of Consumer Advocates

Nonprofit Alliance of Consumer Advocates helps Foreclosed Homeowner with Successful Surplus Trustee Sale Reversal

Melissa Rivera purchased her home in Pittsburg, CA with an FHA loan through Quicken Loans, Inc. on August 19, 2016. Still, she fell behind on her mortgage payments due to financial difficulties, her mortgage was modified on March 4, 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused her to fall behind on payments again, leading to a Notice of Default, then a Notice of Trustee Sale.

03/16/23

The Next Bomb to Go Off in the Banking Crisis Will Be Derivatives Wall Street On Parade

The Next Bomb to Go Off in the Banking Crisis Will Be Derivatives

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen finds herself in a very dubious position. Under the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010, the U.S. Treasury Secretary was given increased powers to oversee financial stability in the U.S. banking system. This increase in power came in response to the 2008 financial crisis – the worst financial collapse since the Great Depression. The legislation made the Treasury Secretary the Chair of the newly created Financial Stability Oversight Council (F-SOC), whose meetings include

03/15/23

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO NEW JERSEY SUPREME COURT RESURFACES AFTER SUBMISSION IN 2010: WHY ARE STATE SUPREME COURT IGNORING THE OBVIOUS IMPLICATIONS? Living Lies

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO NEW JERSEY SUPREME COURT RESURFACES AFTER SUBMISSION IN 2010: WHY ARE STATE SUPREME COURT IGNORING THE OBVIOUS IMPLICATIONS?

In 2005, reports started surfacing about fabricated documents, forged documents, and back-dated documents being used to promote “foreclosure” remedies. This one w as issued and submitted to the Supreme Court of New Jersey in 2010. Like Florida and dozens of other states, the Supreme Court and lower appellate courts continued to ignore the most obvious conclusion: presumptions arising from such documents must be scrutinized and rejected if tested by the homeowner.

03/15/23

Moody’s Downgrades Entire U.S. Banking System; Credit Suisse Plummets. Welcome to Banking Crisis 3.0 Wall Street On Parade

Moody’s Downgrades Entire U.S. Banking System; Credit Suisse Plummets. Welcome to Banking Crisis 3.0

The “Related Articles” linked below (a tiny sampling of relevant articles) will remind our readers just how long and in how many different ways we have been attempting to warn that the U.S. banking system was incompetently structured and at risk of systemic contagion. We have also repeatedly warned

03/14/23

New York State is approaching critical mass in eliminating illegal foreclosures Living Lies

New York State is approaching critical mass in eliminating illegal foreclosures

the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act (A7737B), recently signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul, is transformative legislation which may cause the dismissal of thousands of pending foreclosures with prejudice To the delight of court administrators, the changes will cause the permanent dismissal of thousands of foreclosures which have congested the civil docket over the past decade.

03/13/23

Why Homeowners Are Blocked From Access to the Courts Through Effective Counsel Living Lies

Why Homeowners Are Blocked From Access to the Courts Through Effective Counsel

Good trial lawyers will easily understand that they don’t need to prove fraud because it is not their client who is making a claim. They only need to test the evidence to show that there is insufficient evidence to support the inferences and presumptions raised by the current mountain of fabricated, forged, backdated, and robosigned documents (mostly by computers and machines).

03/10/23

How Bullshit Becomes Law: Circular logic in the courtroom snags homeowners almost every time. Living Lies

How Bullshit Becomes Law: Circular logic in the courtroom snags homeowners almost every time.

If you don’t know the rules, you can’t win the game. And remember, to the foreclosure mills and faux servicers and faux trustees”, this is all a game for which we pay every day as owners, taxpayers and consumers.
One of the interesting things about this is how much they get away with by NOT saying something. The affiant says something got mailed, but he doesn’t say that it was mailed by his employer, and therefore, he could not be relying upon ‘business records.”
But he MUST be relying on business records if the testimony for affidavit is to be accepted under the rules (laws) of evidence. Bank of N.Y. v. Morga, 2017 N.Y. Slip Op. 27107 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2017). So is he testifying about something he knows or suspects, or just reading from a piece of paper, the origin of which is a complete mystery to him? The inquiry leads to victory. Silence leads to defeat.
In addition, this underscores the problem with the way people and lawyers contest these false claims. By failing to contest the issues that rely on implied facts, homeowners admit them and make real (for legal purposes) that which is unreal. The goal is to stop the foreclosure — not put the opposition in prison.
This is why the QWR, DVL, and Complaint to the CFPB are so very important before filing anything in a legal proceeding.

03/10/23

What COVID Home Equity Repayment Plan Means For Lenders | Insights & Events JD Supra

What COVID Home Equity Repayment Plan Means For Lenders | Insights & Events

The Federal Housing Administration recently issued Mortgagee Letter 2022-23, establishing a new COVID-19 Home Equity Conversion Mortgage Property Charge Repayment Plan.[1]

03/09/23

Homeowners’ Rules of Engagement by Garfield Living Lies

Homeowners’ Rules of Engagement by Garfield

Just to reiterate the strategy I wish to promote (because it has been 65%-80% successful), the rules of engagement are as follows:

03/09/23

Homeowners Lose Millions to 'We Buy Houses' Investors Governing

Homeowners Lose Millions to 'We Buy Houses' Investors

A new report from the Nowak Metro Finance Lab at Drexel University examines the phenomenon of wholesale real estate investors targeting vulnerable homeowners in poor neighborhoods in Philadelphia.

03/09/23

HUD Issues Final Rule to Offer 40-Year FHA Loan Mods DS News

HUD Issues Final Rule to Offer 40-Year FHA Loan Mods

The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) has published a Final Rule in the Federal Register its intent to increase the maximum allowable term for Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loan modifications from 360 months to 480 months (40 months). The new rule will become effective Monday, May 8, 2023.

03/09/23

Housing Markets In California, Illinois, And East Coast Still Top List Of Areas Around U.S. More Vulnerable To Declines Attom Data

Housing Markets In California, Illinois, And East Coast Still Top List Of Areas Around U.S. More Vulnerable To Declines

IRVINE, Calif. — Mar. 9, 2023 — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released a Special Housing Risk Report spotlighting county-level housing markets around the United States that are more or less vulnerable to declines, based on home affordability, foreclosures and other measures in the fourth quarter of 2022. The report shows that inland California, Illinois, New Jersey, and Delaware continued to have some of the highest concentrations of the most-at-risk markets in the country, with the biggest clusters in the New York City and Chicago metropolitan areas. Southern and midwestern states remained less exposed.

03/08/23

U.S. Foreclosure Activity Declines Monthly In February 2023 But Continues To Increase Annually Attom Data

U.S. Foreclosure Activity Declines Monthly In February 2023 But Continues To Increase Annually

IRVINE, Calif. — March 8, 2023 — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its February 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 30,528 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — down 3 percent from a month ago and up 18 percent from a year ago.

03/08/23

Anonymous Tipster Points Out Resource Info in Support of My Articles Living Lies

Anonymous Tipster Points Out Resource Info in Support of My Articles

Without compromising my journalist credentials, I will simply say that the source is 100% reliable and the information is 100% confirmable. The person is well versed in the accounting and auditing of securitization transactions — and as far back as January 2006, the accounting profession was deeply aware of the inherent problems in the way that securitization was claimed to occur. BUT the accounting profession also saw the opportunity to collect exorbitant fees.

03/07/23

UNGUARDED: The Guardianship Program of Dade sells properties of ‘incapacitated’ people to a Miami realtor, who reaps big gains WLRN

UNGUARDED: The Guardianship Program of Dade sells properties of ‘incapacitated’ people to a Miami realtor, who reaps big gains

When Carlos and Racquel Rodriguez could no longer take care of themselves, the elderly couple from Hialeah came under the supervision of the Guardianship Program of Dade County.

03/07/23

The Reason Why Wall Street Opposes Cram-downs for Personal Bankruptcies Might Surprise You Living Lies

The Reason Why Wall Street Opposes Cram-downs for Personal Bankruptcies Might Surprise You

Recently Forbes published an article by John Wake entitled “Congress Could Have Prevented 500,000 Foreclosures During The Great Recession But Chickened Out.” Echoing what Elizabeth Warren and Katie Porter have been advocating for years, it points out that cramdowns best preserve real loans in which both sides take a hit, but neither side gets a windfall.

03/06/23

“Declarations:” that say nothing: Failure to challenge surrenders all of your rights to defend. Living Lies

“Declarations:” that say nothing: Failure to challenge surrenders all of your rights to defend.

In many cases, some “declaration” or “certification” is issued to support the attempt to achieve a successful result in foreclosure remedies. In none of those cases do the documents actually say anything, but if they are unchallenged, they will be accepted by the courts, admitted in evidence, and the case is effectively over.

03/03/23

Bank of America fights claims of discriminatory foreclosures Homeowners in Hawaii and Florida accuse the bank of scheming to foreclose on their properties, but the bank says they haven't offered clear evidence it had anything to do with the foreclosures. Courthouse News

Bank of America fights claims of discriminatory foreclosures Homeowners in Hawaii and Florida accuse the bank of scheming to foreclose on their properties, but the bank says they haven't offered clear evidence it had anything to do with the foreclosures.

HONOLULU (CN) — Bank of America defended itself Friday at a motion to dismiss hearing on claims the bank deliberately foreclosed on mortgage loans as part of an extensive conspiracy to maximize profits at the expense of people of color in Hawaii and Florida.
The eight lead plaintiffs in the class action, a majority of whom are people of color, say they have been or are currently being foreclosed on, some for nearly two decades. They first leveled racketeering and Fair Housing Act claims against Bank of America and The Bank of New York Mellon in a July 2022 complaint. Although a majority of the plaintiffs’ foreclosure actions occurred in Hawaii, the suit also includes several plaintiffs who went through foreclosures in Florida. Three of the five Hawaii plaintiffs are of Native Hawaiian descent and the three Florida plaintiffs are women of color.

03/03/23

New York lawmakers want to strengthen foreclosure protections Spectrum News

New York lawmakers want to strengthen foreclosure protections

New York lawmakers want to strengthen foreclosure protections for homeowners in parts of the state who are facing displacement due to tax liens on their properties. The lawmakers, state Sen. Kevin Thomas and Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein, have introduced a bill that would provide homeowners at risk of foreclosure due to tax liens the same protections as borrowers who are in residential mortgage foreclosure.

03/03/23

New Law, New Doctrine and Voir Dire of Judges in Bench Trials Living Lies

Are they really mortgage loans? Are they still mortgage loans?

It all comes down to this: ASSUME NOTHING, CHALLENGE EVERYTHING. THE TRUTH IS THAT YOU DON’T KNOW ALL THE ASPECTS OF THE TRANSACTION IN WHICH YOU EXECUTED “LOAN DOCUMENTS” AND YOU DON’T KNOW IF THEY WERE “LOAN DOCUMENTS”. YOU ONLY KNOW THEY HAD A LABEL ON THEM AND YOU WERE EXPECTING A LOAN. THEY WERE LYING THEN AND THEY ARE LYING NOW.

03/02/23

Are they really mortgage loans? Are they still mortgage loans? Living Lies

Are they really mortgage loans? Are they still mortgage loans?

Most of the long-standing transactions with homeowners were falsely dubbed as “mortgage loans.” And most of the false premises are compounded by additional false premises in the form of forbearance, modification, and other agreements that effectively change the name of the designated “lender” and conceal the absence of an unpaid loan account by many layers of “documents” that are fabricated, forged, backdated and robosigned.

03/02/23

Family shot in murder-suicide minutes before being evicted from foreclosed home, sheriff says Fox19

Family shot in murder-suicide minutes before being evicted from foreclosed home, sheriff says

CLERMONT COUNTY, Ohio (WXIX) - Investigators believe Theresa Cain shot her family members, killing three of them, just minutes before deputies arrived to serve them with eviction papers as they were removed from their foreclosed home, Sheriff Steve Leahy said Thursday.

03/02/23

Praying for a miracle: Non-profit sanctuary for farm animals faces foreclosure WLOS

Praying for a miracle: Non-profit sanctuary for farm animals faces foreclosure

YANCEY COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — A Western North Carolina animal sanctuary is on the verge of closing. 'Praying for a miracle:' Non-profit sanctuary for farm animals faces foreclosure The Blue Heart Sanctuary in Green Mountain has been in the business of saving animals for more than two decades.

03/01/23

In ‘Year Of Housing,’ Hochul’s Budget Leaves Out Anti-Foreclosure Program NY Senate

In ‘Year Of Housing,’ Hochul’s Budget Leaves Out Anti-Foreclosure Program

The governor’s proposed budget did not include funding for the state-run Homeowner Protection Program, or HOPP, a network of legal service providers and counselors aimed at preventing foreclosures. Program supporters say the omission ‘makes no sense’ as New York grapples with a housing crisis, which Hochul’s administration has centered as a policy focus this year.

03/01/23

Home foreclosures are ticking back up Axios

Home foreclosures are ticking back up

Home foreclosures have ticked back up over the past four months, according to data provider Black Knight. But don't be alarmed — they're still well below pre-2020 levels, and nowhere in the vicinity of the foreclosure crisis of 2008.

03/01/23

The COVID-19 National Emergency is Ending: Are mortgage servicers ready? JD Supra

The COVID-19 National Emergency is Ending: Are mortgage servicers ready?

On January 30, 2023, President Biden informed Congress that the COVID-19 National Emergency (the “COVID Emergency”) will be extended beyond March 1, 2023, but that he anticipates terminating the national emergency on May 11, 2023. The White House

03/01/23

How do you challenge illegal claims to administer, collect or enforce claims arising from transactions with homeowners? Nip It In the Bud! Living Lies

How do you challenge illegal claims to administer, collect or enforce claims arising from transactions with homeowners? Nip It In the Bud!

The basic idea is not to give a single inch. If you do, you lose. Don’t accept a single assumption or presumption as though it was really true. It isn’t. Always focus on what is missing.

02/28/23

How did Wells Fargo, Chase or BofA Get Involved in Your Transaction? It’s a secret! Living Lies

How did Wells Fargo, Chase or BofA Get Involved in Your Transaction? It’s a secret!

So I recently received an inquiry from a homeowner who is a long-term contributor to this blog asking how and why Wells Fargo got involved in her case. From the information that had been disclosed and recorded, Wells Fargo had nothing to do with it. But here were reports from Wells Fargo to investors, including information about her transaction.

02/27/23

TRAPDOOR FOR HOMEOWNERS AND CONSUMERS: lay people and lawyers are not comfortable unless they are trying to prove something Living Lies

TRAPDOOR FOR HOMEOWNERS AND CONSUMERS: lay people and lawyers are not comfortable unless they are trying to prove something

I think that both lay people and lawyers are not comfortable unless they are trying to prove something. But the way to win these cases is the reverse — by not proving anything or saying anything you need to prove. The only thing you want to say when you get the chance is,

02/27/23

CFPB Shuts Down Mortgage Loan Business of RMK Financial for Repeat Offenses Against Military Families CFPB

CFPB Shuts Down Mortgage Loan Business of RMK Financial for Repeat Offenses Against Military Families

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) permanently banned RMK Financial Corporation, which does business as Majestic Home Loans, from the mortgage lending industry by prohibiting RMK from engaging in any mortgage lending activities or receiving remuneration from mortgage lending.

02/24/23

CFPB finalizes update to administrative enforcement proceedings CFPB

CFPB finalizes update to administrative enforcement proceedings

Congress directed the CFPB to enforce a specific set of laws related to consumer financial protection. The CFPB brings the large majority of its contested enforcement matters in federal district court, and it will continue to do so. However, Congress also envisioned that administrative adjudication would play a role at the CFPB, as it had at the CFPB’s predecessor agencies.

02/23/23

CFPB Orders TitleMax to Pay a $10 Million Penalty for Unlawful Title Loans and Overcharging Military Families CFPB

CFPB Orders TitleMax to Pay a $10 Million Penalty for Unlawful Title Loans and Overcharging Military Families

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) took action against a web of corporate entities operating under TMX Finance, broadly known as TitleMax, for violating the financial rights of military families and other consumers in providing auto title loans. The CFPB found that TitleMax violated the Military Lending Act by

02/24/23

How to look and see the documents in mortgage and foreclosure cases Living Lies

How to look and see the documents in mortgage and foreclosure cases

Here is my updated report to a client redacted as to particular facts and dates. I offer it as a model for how I look at these cases and how you can look at documents and arrive at conclusions that differ from what the documents say has occurred.
Keep in mind that all documents are hearsay and are not admissible as evidence without foundation testimony from a human being. That human being must have personal knowledge. The courts unfortunately have allowed testimony of “familiarity” instead of actual knowledge. That seemingly innocuous ruling has facilitated the greatest economic crime in human history.

02/23/23

Discovery and Motion Practice to Defeat False claims for Administration, Collection and Enforcement in Mortgage and Foreclosure Cases. Living Lies

Discovery and Motion Practice to Defeat False claims for Administration, Collection and Enforcement in Mortgage and Foreclosure Cases.

The goal for homeowners should be to win the case, not to delay it or get a settlement. No meaningful settlement will be offered until you have demonstrated that you are in it to win it, which means that you are truly ready to go to trial. Until then, you present no risk to the securitization infrastructure and the case has no meaning or relevance to the opposition.

02/23/23

Bill would move foreclosure notices off print and online Claiborne Progress

Bill would move foreclosure notices off print and online

A bill that would move foreclosure notices from newspapers to a Tennessee Secretary of State website was pushed back two weeks in the Senate State and Local Government Committee. Currently, homes in foreclosure in Tennessee are required to be advertised in a local newspaper. Those notices also appear on the statewide tnpublicnotice.com website. Read more at: https://www.claiborneprogress.net/2023/02/23/bill-would-move-foreclosure-notices-off-print-and-online/

02/23/23

Illinois AG Kwame Raoul, asked to investigate continuing foreclosure fraud by Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. in Kane County, IL STERLING COOPER, INC. - PR DIVISION

Illinois AG Kwame Raoul, asked to investigate continuing foreclosure fraud by Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. in Kane County, IL

llinois Leads the nation in Foreclosures for the fifth month in a row, Kane County Foreclosures are up 525% over the previous year CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES, February 23, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Chicago, IL- Geneva, IL Kwame Raoul, the Illinois Attorney General, received a petition/request to stop and investigate continuing violations of the National Mortgage Settlement by Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., and its Trustee business in Kane County as well as Illinois titled: CONTINUED DOCUMENT FALSIFICATION AND FABRICATION RELATING TO MORTGAGE FORECLOSURES BY WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A. IN SPITE OF BILLIONS PAID IN SETTLEMENTS AND AGREEMENTS TO STOP FORECLOSURE FRAUD.

02/22/23

Looking for a lawyer? Ask the right questions and give the right direction. Living Lies

Looking for a lawyer? Ask the right questions and give the right direction.

Foreclosure mills CAN win because they make a claim, and the system gives them relief unless there is a legally recognized defense alleged, presented and pursued. Homeowners are not required to prove anything. They only need to stop their opposition from proving a claim. Homeowners CAN win even if they did breach a loan agreement if the evidence against them is insufficient. In foreclosures today, the evidence is ALWAYS insufficient. Thus homeowners can win every case depite a biased bench.

02/21/23

The Motion to dismiss might be admitting your allegations and you might have missed it. Living Lies

The Motion to dismiss might be admitting your allegations and you might have missed it.

What you need to realize is that this is all about technical law. It is not an argument. It doesn’t matter whether the act was ministerial or could be labeled as anything else. The question is simply whether they did it. Don’t get lost in the weeds. If they did it, then the company that was designated as the “servicer” did not do it. And even if they were working for the company that was designated as the “servicer,” that “servicer” still did not do it.

02/20/23

Two Kinds of Court Orders: We Wrote it and We Mean It. In foreclosure cases they never mean it. Living Lies

Two Kinds of Court Orders: We Wrote it and We Mean It. In foreclosure cases they never mean it.

In one case that I eventually won in 2016, I actually Titled a pleading, “At what point do this Court’s orders mean anything?” After reviewing approximately 10,000 cases starting in 2006, I have arrived at the conclusion that judges are unintentionally or unwittingly being drafted into an illegal scheme. Take some examples:

02/17/23

Talking to a prospective lawyer when neither you nor he or she knows anything about securitization by Wall Street players, double-entry bookkeeping or accounting Living Lies

Talking to a prospective lawyer when neither you nor he or she knows anything about securitization by Wall Street players, double-entry bookkeeping or accounting

Law students are taught only two forms of securitization: (1) divide an asset to sell to multiple investors or (2) divide ownership of the whole asset into multiple shares between investors. They are never taught anything about the dozens of other forms of securitization, most of which form the foundation of current practices. The main applicable form of securitization as it relates to transactions with homeowners neither splits the “asset” (i.e., the unpaid loan account on the ledger of a creditor), nor divides ownership of the entire “asset” into shares for multiple investors. This one fact accounts for nearly all the confusion on the part of lawyers and judges.

02/16/23

Congress Had The Opportunity To Prevent 500,000 Foreclosures In 2009, But Didn’t, A New Report Reveals Forbes

Congress Had The Opportunity To Prevent 500,000 Foreclosures In 2009, But Didn’t, A New Report Reveals

Language to allow bankruptcy judges to reduce mortgage debt on underwater principal residences was included in the version of the “Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009” that passed the House but it was not in the version that the Senate passed and was not in the final version that was signed by President Obama and went into law in May 2009.
A new study, ”How Principal Reduction Through Mortgage ‘Cramdown’ Affects Household Distress,” estimates that roughly 500,000 fewer U.S. homes would have been foreclosed on during the Great Recession if such mortgage “cramdowns” had been allowed in bankruptcy courts from 2008 to 2013.

02/16/23

Failure to Challenge the Identity and Citizenship of the “trust” can be a fatal defect in foreclosure defense narratives Living Lies

Failure to Challenge the Identity and Citizenship of the “trust” can be a fatal defect in foreclosure defense narratives

Who or what is the real party in interest on Plaintiff’s side of the “v.” and what citizenship does that party hold. Despite its best efforts, the Court has not had those simple questions answered, questions that must be answered before any further proceedings or decisions are proper.”)

02/15/23

HEARSAY OBJECTION AND LACK OF FOUNDATION: How Lockbox and Separate Processing Agreements Divert Money and “Servicing” Functions to Undisclosed Third Parties Acting on Behalf of the Investment Bank Who Originated the Transaction with the Homeowner. Living Lies

HEARSAY OBJECTION AND LACK OF FOUNDATION: How Lockbox and Separate Processing Agreements Divert Money and “Servicing” Functions to Undisclosed Third Parties Acting on Behalf of the Investment Bank Who Originated the Transaction with the Homeowner.

From LoanDepot quarterly report, 2022: The Company derives income primarily from gains on the origination and sale of loans to investors, income from loan servicing, and fees charged for settlement services related to the origination and sale of loans. Not one word about revenues or profits arising from the receipt of principal and interest from borrowers. But people who have done business with Loan Depot (and there are thousands of them) all think they borrowed money from Loan Depot. So when they see a document purpotedly endorsed or assigned from Loan Depot, it make sense. But it is a lie.

02/14/23

Attorney suspended for 18 months over rule violations in foreclosure, bankruptcy cases Salem News

Attorney suspended for 18 months over rule violations in foreclosure, bankruptcy cases
LAWRENCE — A Lawrence-based attorney who specialized in representing clients facing foreclosure has been suspended from practicing law for 18 months. Michael M. McArdle was found to have violated multiple professional conduct rules involving client funds, fees and an unusual fee arrangement that did not align with standard approved forms, according to a summary provided by the state’s Board of Bar Overseers.

02/14/23

The physical location of that address is probably a vacant lot or storage unit Living Lies

The physical location of that address is probably a vacant lot or storage unit
You think you sent it to XYZ, that it was received and processed by XYZ and XYZ issued that response. This is virtually NEVER true. In May 2022 the CFPB categorized FINTECH companies as servicers precisely because of what I described above. Did anyone take notice? No. “Defendants’ deceptive business practices caused many of these Nevada foreclosures to proceed under false pretenses.”

02/13/23

FNMA Retention Agreement, FNMA ID Concealed Rorie Woods

FNMA Retention Agreement, FNMA ID Concealed
I claim no credit here, I did not write the letter nor analysis; research done by others and posted by me as a public service.

02/13/23

Another Example of LSF9 and McCarthy and Holthus going down in flames Living Lies

Another Example of LSF9 and McCarthy and Holthus going down in flames
Standing is established when the party pursuing foreclosure can “demonstrate that it had the right to enforce the note and the right to foreclose the mortgage at the time the foreclosure suit was filed.”

02/10/23

How Foreclosure Mills Win by Misusing “Judicial Notice” Living Lies

How Foreclosure Mills Win by Misusing “Judicial Notice”
Judicial Notice is a rule of evidence in which the court receives a written request to accept a document into evidence as proof of the truth of the matter asserted. In Foreclosures, the truth of the matter asserted is that there is an unpaid loan account, and the named plaintiff or beneficiary has the right to administer, collect and enforce it. If that is alleged in a form that is allowed by law, and proven in the manner allowed by law, the foreclosure will be granted. I might add, that it should be granted to the extent that there is still an unpaid balance due to the named Plaintiff or beneficiary. But in nearly all foreclosure cases, this is NOT the true fact scenario. There are circumstances where the trial court either MUST accept a document as evidence or in which the court can accept the document as evidence as to its existence. But unless there is an objection, the court will also presume that what is contained in the document is also true.

02/10/23

Successfully Fighting Foreclosures Requires The Strategies Most Foreclosure Defense Attorneys Get Wrong Or Don’t Even Bother Pursuing MFI-Miami

Successfully Fighting Foreclosures Requires The Strategies Most Foreclosure Defense Attorneys Get Wrong Or Don’t Even Bother Pursuing
Homeowners are successfully fighting foreclosures in record numbers since the housing collapse in 2008. Why? Homeowners are realizing they can successfully fight foreclosure actions brought on by unscrupulous mortgage servicers. Or in a worse case, fight the lender to a standstill and negotiate great deals. Why?
MFI-Miami and our law firms have busted mortgage servicers doing shady business time and time again. We have busted them for predatory lending practices and mortgage loan fraud. In addition, we have also busted them for unfair and deceptive lending practices. This also includes modifications. As a result, homeowners have endure months and years of emotionally draining foreclosure litigation.
There is nothing more shocking than learning that you are losing your home through no fault of your own. Unfortunately, most foreclosure defense lawyers and their so-called experts fail understand the tools at their disposal.
Fighting Foreclosures Takes A Team Of Mortgage Experts And The Right Attorneys MFI-Miami and our network of attorneys may be able to help. The MFI-Miami team has over 75 year combined experience in mortgage lending. As a result, attorneys use our investigations and our experience to determine whether your lender violated any of the state or federal regulations.

02/10/23

Mortgages — Compound interest — Course of dealing Michigan Lawyers Weekly

Mortgages — Compound interest — Course of dealing
Where a judge concluded that a 12% mortgage interest rate was compound rather than simple, that conclusion should be upheld because the parties implicitly agreed to compound interest through their established course of dealing.

02/09/23

American Dream For Rent: Crisis opened door to corporate buying spree Atlanta Journal-Constitution

American Dream For Rent: Crisis opened door to corporate buying spree
Investment firms elbow out individual buyers for single-family homes in metro Atlanta. The housing crisis set the stage for the modern single-family rental industry. More than six million Americans lost their homes to foreclosure during the Great Recession, and Atlanta was hit especially hard. More than 100,000 metro Atlanta homes entered foreclosure each year from 2009 through 2012.

02/09/23

U.S. Foreclosure Activity In January 2023 Continues To Increase Annually For 21 Consecutive Months Attom Data

U.S. Foreclosure Activity In January 2023 Continues To Increase Annually For 21 Consecutive Months
IRVINE, Calif. — February 9, 2023 — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its January 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 31,557 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions – up 36 percent from a year ago, and up 2 percent from the prior month.

02/09/23

VT Supreme Court Asserts Value Must be Given and No Security Interest Attached to the Presumed Account Living Lies

VT Supreme Court Asserts Value Must be Given and No Security Interest Attached to the Presumed Account
This dispute is governed by Article 9 of the Vermont UCC, which covers secured transactions. Article 9 provides that a creditor has a secured interest in collateral when the interest attaches, meaning “when it becomes enforceable against the debtor with respect to the collateral.” 9A V.S.A. § 9-203(a). In general, a security interest becomes enforceable against the debtor when “value has been given,”

02/08/23

PA Supremes Hold that Aiding and Abetting a Fraud is a Separate Recognizable Tort Claim Living Lies

PA Supremes Hold that Aiding and Abetting a Fraud is a Separate Recognizable Tort Claim
we hold Pennsylvania law recognizes the tort of aiding and abetting fraud, and the scienter requirement for this cause of action is actual knowledge of the underlying fraud. Consequently, the decision of the Superior Court is affirmed in part and reversed in part. The case is remanded to the trial court for a new trial consistent with this opinion. Jurisdiction is relinquished. Marion v. Bryn Mawr Tr. Co., 72 MAP 2021, at *28 (Pa. Jan. 19, 2023)

02/08/23

HUD Secretary Announces Major Milestone of Assisting Nearly 2 Million Homeowners Stay in their Homes FHA foreclosure avoidance options have been expanded and extended HUD

HUD Secretary Announces Major Milestone of Assisting Nearly 2 Million Homeowners Stay in their Homes FHA foreclosure avoidance options have been expanded and extended
WASHINGTON - Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia L. Fudge announced that, thanks to Federal Housing Administration (FHA) programs, approximately 2 million homeowners with FHA mortgages were able to stay in their homes from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 through December 2022 – when doing so was often a matter of life and death.

02/7/23

Sjc 16 l 1675812434654 Debra Brown on FNMA Rorie Woods

Sjc 16 l 1675812434654 Debra Brown on FNMA
request for referral to BBO Attorneys representing FNMA who fail to disclose same, filing claims for possession in the names of loan servicers, must be disbarred. A true party in interest may not be concealed. Only real parties in interest can sue or be sued. Attorneys have a duty for candor to the tribunal. Property cannot be taken without due process of law. See FNMA engagement letter, p. 52.

02/07/23

NCLC reverse mortgage report highlights servicing issues Reverse Mortgage Daily

NCLC reverse mortgage report highlights servicing issues
RMD spoke with chief author of the report, Sarah Bolling Mancini, to learn its findings and policy recommendations It’s important for seniors to have access to liquidity in retirement. However, issues stemming from servicing and a lack of loss mitigation options have prevented the reverse mortgage product from fulfilling its potential — and have led to reverse mortgages ending in foreclosure more often than they should, according to a report published by the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC).

02/07/23

Helping homeowners: California expands mortgage relief Calmatters

Helping homeowners: California expands mortgage relief
The state is expanding mortgage relief to more California homeowners who are struggling through the pandemic. The program now covers second mortgages and loan deferrals, with a maximum total grant of $80,000.

02/07/23

How the FHA's changes will transform foreclosure alternatives National Mortgage News

How the FHA's changes will transform foreclosure alternatives
The upcoming changes to the Federal Housing Administration's options for distressed mortgage borrowers reveal how the pandemic has permanently reshaped the way loss mitigation is handled. The changes at the FHA, which go into effect April 30, incorporate consumer and servicer feedback related to how pandemic foreclosure alternatives worked in practice. A continued review of their effectiveness will take place for the next 18 months.

02/07/23

CT Supremes Slam Bank of New York Mellon and Clarify Law in Favor of Homeowners Living Lies

CT Supremes Slam Bank of New York Mellon and Clarify Law in Favor of Homeowners
The named defendant’s petition for certification to appeal from the Appellate Court, 202 Conn. App. 540, 246 A.3d 4 (AC 40959), is granted, limited to the following issues:

02/06/23

Lawyers Are Starting to take Foreclosure Defense Cases Living Lies

Lawyers Are Starting to take Foreclosure Defense Cases
I have a limited roster of lawyers willing to consider engagement to defend foreclosure cases to win them, not just settle or modify then “loan.” I have agreed to triage the cases before referring them. Submit your complete and accurate information by submitting our registration form without any cost or obligation. The information will only be shared with a prospective referral attorney.

02/03/23

What are MSRs and why are they valued at $20 Billion? Living Lies

What are MSRs and why are they valued at $20 Billion?
MSRs are an abbrevation for a false label: Mortgage Servicing Rights. These rights are claimed by companies who perform no servicing functions and receive no paymetns from homeowners nor do they make any distributions to creditors. They are in it for the foreclosure, not the accounting and administration.

02/03/23

Foreclosure settlement program serves New Mexico ABQ Journal

Foreclosure settlement program serves New Mexico
The Second Judicial District Court serves the community in many ways including connecting citizens to resources to assist keeping them in their homes where they can stay, remain united as a family and continue to be productive members of society. Simply put, the courts want to help, not disrupt, the lives of everyone.

02/03/23

Is the housing market about to crash? Here’s what experts say Yahoo Finance

Is the housing market about to crash? Here’s what experts say
After a record-breaking run that saw mortgage rates plunge to all-time lows and home prices soar to new highs, the U.S. housing market is finally slowing. Home sales had declined for 11 consecutive months as of December 2022, and home values seem to have peaked.

02/03/23

Home Title Theft: How To Protect Yourself NASDAQ

Home Title Theft: How To Protect Yourself
When most people think of home theft, they picture a burglar breaking into a house through a window or door. However, there’s another form of home theft that is on the rise and often goes undetected: title theft.
What Is Home Title Theft? Home title theft is a type of real estate fraud

02/02/23

The irrefutable logic at the foundation of all successful foreclosure defense narratives Living Lies

The irrefutable logic at the foundation of all successful foreclosure defense narratives
The mortgage lien is designed to protect against financial loss — not to promote financial gain. If Wall Street wants to protect the financial gains it created from its crazy scheme using weapons of mass financial destruction, then the least it should do is share a little of that with homeowners, consumers, the government, and investors.

02/02/23

Home Equity Flattens Out Across U.S. In Fourth Quarter Of 2022 Attom Data

Home Equity Flattens Out Across U.S. In Fourth Quarter Of 2022
IRVINE, Calif. — Feb. 2, 2023 — ATTOM, a leading curator of real estate data nationwide for land and property data, today released its fourth-quarter 2022 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report, which shows that 48 percent of mortgaged residential properties in the United States were considered equity-rich in the fourth quarter, meaning that the combined estimated amount of loan balances secured by those properties was no more than 50 percent of their estimated market values.

02/02/23

CFPB Updates Mortgage Servicing Exam Procedures National Law Review

CFPB Updates Mortgage Servicing Exam Procedures
On January 18, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released an updated version of its Mortgage Servicing Examination Manual. As the CFPB described in a corresponding blog post, the manual outlines

02/01/23

MLK: Can democracy work without knowledge and competency? Living Lies

MLK: Can democracy work without knowledge and competency?
public officials are the only professionals in our society who (a) don’t need to be certified for knowledge, competence and character and (b) don’t need to maintain their education about legislation and law enforcement.

01/27/23

The tangled web to deceive Living Lies

The tangled web to deceive

  • The cancer that keeps eating away at the foundation of our economy is the current culture on Wall Street. It involves fake accounts, fake documents, and nonexistent transactions.
  • It involves lawyers who are protected by litigation immunity and who promote false claims on behalf of claimants that have not hired them or even know they exist. We have seen such nonsense multiple times in history. It always ends the same —- with a crash. And apparently, the 2008 crash wasn’t enough because they are still doing it.
  • With a hit tip to summer chic, here is an edited version of what she recently wrote to me.
  • Lone Star reincarnated Countrywide into Caliber and BlackRock – into PennyMac
  • There are at least 10-12 companies preying on each of us at any given time.
  • Elle correctly said – investment banks are not involved in extortion from homeowners – directly. This is probably why Wells is “leaving housing market”
  • They act via numerous intermediaries- hedge funds and fintech who in turn act via fake servicers and fake lenders.
  • That is what Wall Street does – they establish the Scheme to sell securities.
  • Then they destroy all documents about their transactions – after it was imaged and stored in Foley’s database ; and declare it “defaulted”
  • Each prior transaction is stored in this database as defaulted.
  • As many times as the property was sold, refinanced or modified , each time it creates a new string of securities- and this new transaction is named as “defaulted” right away and assigned to so-called “debt buyers” who of course did not buy anything and do not own anyone’s debt.
  • The largest “debt buyer” is BlackRock, who merely is given access to Black Knight’s database and permission to steal as much as they can from homeowners under cover up of “servicers” who merely rent their names for correspondence and “billing statements “
  • Hedge funds also don’t have access to money flow since it’s all done via BL, Fiserv and Exela.
  • Each hedge fund has its own cohort of smaller fintech companies who receive passwords and instructions from main Fintech such as Bkack Knight and Fiserv.
  • The players get paid by Wall Street banks after money is transferred offshore.
  • All details should be investigated by DOJ who of course knows about it.

01/26/23

Script for Tongue-tied pro se litigants and lawyers Living Lies

Script for Tongue-tied pro se litigants and lawyers
A simple truth always applies: Only an experienced trial lawyer can walk into a courtroom and feel comfortable. Everyone else is angry, confused, or terrified, even if they are a lawyer. The consequence is that they either say nothing at all or say nothing that is relevant or persuasive, or both.

01/25/23

CFPB Takes Action to Halt Debt Collection Mill From Bombarding Consumers with Junk Lawsuits Living Lies

CFPB Takes Action to Halt Debt Collection Mill From Bombarding Consumers with Junk Lawsuits
CFPB Takes Action to Halt Debt Collection Mill From Bombarding Consumers with Junk Lawsuits Forster & Garbus illegally sued borrowers on behalf of Citibank and Discover, among others

01/24/23

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Announce Major Changes to Mortgage Financing Huntsville Business Journal

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Announce Major Changes to Mortgage Financing
New mortgage financing policies from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are poised to shake up the housing market for 2023. Loan Level Price Adjustments (LLPAs) are determined by a number of factors, most prominently the borrower’s credit score and debt-to-income ratio (DTI), among others. The new policies concerning LLPAs will reduce the cost incurred for having a lower credit score. There will still be a discrepancy between lower credit and higher credit scores, just not quite so punishing of one. These changes will come into effect for loans guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, starting on May 1, 2023. While these changes will apply to the majority of loans within the United States, there are some, such as VA loans or “jumbo loans” from credit unions, that will be exempt from these changes.

01/24/23

I’m fighting against homeowners who think they know Living Lies

I’m fighting against homeowners who think they know
Here is an example from one of my more savvy readers who still makes the key error: This person refers to the “Depositor” in the chain of “Securitization” references contained in various documents. None of those entries are legally significant in any way unless they (refer to real-world transactions ) and (b) are contested by homeowners.

01/23/23

How to Speak to the Judge Living Lies

How to Speak to the Judge
I obviously cannot compact 47 years of courtroom experience into a single article or, for that matter, any less time than I spent in courtrooms, conducting thousands of hearings and trials. But I can distill what I think made me successful (most of the time). So I have decided to start suggesting things that pro se homeowners and/or their lawyers should start saying in court — using their own styles and their own feel (“the vibes”) of the judge and the courtroom.

01/20/23

Don’t get lost in the weeds! Living Lies

Don’t get lost in the weeds!
Anyone who watches the Madoff Ponzi documentaries knows that people deluded themselves out of greed. The basis of the Madoff scheme was a huge pile of documentation that was all fake. The “business” was taking money from investors and investing it. Madoff never made a single transction. There was no such business. This is what happened and what is still happening with “loans” that are originated by investment banks though multiple layers of intermediaries. There is no loan business. There is only the business of selling securities. And in doing that, there is no balance due. Millions of homeowners and thousands of lawyers have become lost in the weeds as they overlook the most obvious question: did this transction ever produce an unpaid obligation from the homeowner? Was that obligation ever purchased and sold in a transction between any assignor and assignee or endorser and endorsee? The answer is simply NO! So why do homeowners and their lawyers inisist on paying it?

01/20/23

Were You a Wells Fargo Customer Over Last Decade? You Could Be Entitled to Thousands in Damages Yahoo Finance

Were You a Wells Fargo Customer Over Last Decade? You Could Be Entitled to Thousands in Damages
More than 16 million people are owed some serious cash from Wells Fargo. If you happened to be a customer of the banking institution during the period of 2011 to 2022, this could apply to you, according to CNBC.

01/19/23

What You Need to Know About Foreclosure Rates US News

What You Need to Know About Foreclosure Rates
As a homeowner, homebuyer or aspiring real estate investor, you want to understand the housing market more. Median home prices, mortgage interest rates and average days on market are all valuable metrics to grasping current activity on the market. But how homeowners are able to hold onto their existing properties is just as important.

01/19/23

Wells Fargo might owe you money—here’s how to get it CNBC

Wells Fargo might owe you money—here’s how to get it
If you had a Wells Fargo account between 2011 and 2022, you might be one of the 16 million customers who qualify for damages, says the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). As part of a $3.7 billion settlement, Wells Fargo has agreed to pay more than $2 billion directly to customers harmed by “illegal activity,” ranging from incorrect overdraft fees to wrongful foreclosures, according to the CFPB.

01/19/23

Did You Ever Wonder What It Takes to Enjoin a Foreclosure Sale? DSNews

Did You Ever Wonder What It Takes to Enjoin a Foreclosure Sale?
With inflation on the rise and the economy slowing, foreclosures are unfortunately likely to increase. With more foreclosures, there will likely be a rise in borrowers’ suing at the last minute to stop the foreclosure. In fact, our firm has already started to see a substantial uptick in requests for the court to issue a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to stop an impending foreclosure sale. Since the requirements to obtain a TRO differ in every state, this article will help loan servicers and investors (collectively, “lenders”) understand the varying TRO processes.

01/19/23

EVERYONE LIES IN THE MARKETPLACE — THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT DOING ITS JOB Living Lies

EVERYONE LIES IN THE MARKETPLACE — THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT DOING ITS JOB
The basis for most big business plans is to give the consumer the worst possible product or service while convincing the same consumer that the cost is inevitable and the product or service is excellent. This produces something that Alejandro Reyes of Deutsch Bank called a “counter-intuitive” system. This term has been widely adopted, even if not accurate. It basically another word for lying.

01/19/23

In 16 Years, the Fed Has Approved 4,506 Bank Mergers and Denied One Wall Street On Parade

In 16 Years, the Fed Has Approved 4,506 Bank Mergers and Denied One
On Tuesday, Jerome Powell’s Federal Reserve once again thumbed its nose at President Biden’s antitrust directive regarding the creation of more mega banks through merger. This time around, the Fed allowed the Bank of Montreal, with assets of $834 billion, and its subsidiary, BMO Financial, to gobble up Bank of the West, based in San Francisco. Following the merger, Bank of the West is to be merged into Bank of Montreal’s subsidiary bank, BMO Harris Bank.

01/18/23

CFPB says servicers should offer loss mitigation beyond COVID hardships American Banker

CFPB says servicers should offer loss mitigation beyond COVID hardships
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it expects mortgage servicers to continue offering forbearances, deferrals and loan modifications to consumers experiencing financial hardships unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic.

01/18/23

Four Crypto-Friendly Banks Are Being Bailed Out with Billions from a Federal Housing Program Wall Street On Parade

Four Crypto-Friendly Banks Are Being Bailed Out with Billions from a Federal Housing Program
Remember those Fed bailouts of the mega banks on Wall Street during and after the 2008 financial crisis that the Federal Reserve battled in court for years to keep secret from the American people? Those bailouts went to the same Wall Street mega banks that collapsed the U.S. economy with their unbridled greed and unchecked corruption. The banks were even allowed to pay big bonuses to their execs with the bailout funds. When Senator Bernie Sanders forced the bailout details into the sunlight with a mandated government audit, the findings were so revolting that Senator Sanders had this to say:

01/18/23

FIRST DEFINE YOUR TERMS Living Lies

FIRST DEFINE YOUR TERMS
Plato said (maybe it was Aristotle), first, define your terms. Unless you use the terms correctly- and not just the way you want to use them- you will not make sense in any court. As soon as you open your mouth, you will be revealing that you either don’t know or don’t care about the rule of law. And as soon as you do that, you are inviting the judge to give no weight to your argument or evidence. It’s not up to the judge to clarify what you are trying to say.

01/17/23

FOIA Requests Reveal the Truth About JPMC-WAMU “Purchase” Living Lies

FOIA Requests Reveal the Truth About JPMC-WAMU “Purchase”
The bottom line is that JPM Chase did not actual purchase or pay for anything. The net “price” was negative including an IRS refund due to WAMU but transferred to JPMC.JPMC did acquire the book value assets and liabilities of WAMU and subsidiaries, but there was was litttle in the way of book value for assets which would have included loans — if there were any “loans” (debts+notes + mortgage liens) that were owned by WAMU at the time of its collapse..

01/16/23

A Perfectly Good Deed Can Result in a Perfectly Bad Title Living Lies

A Perfectly Good Deed Can Result in a Perfectly Bad Title
In an article by New Jersey attorney Dennis M. Gonski | Updated on March 18, 2009, the qualities of “real title” are clearly specified. His “wild deed” commentary applies equally well to promises of title or implied promises of title to liens. My point in directing your attention to this article is that Gonski takes on the most popular misconception: that the paper instrument is the event. If that were true, the Brooklyn Bridge would belong to thousands of people.

01/13/23

Wells Fargo suffered 50% profit loss during the fourth quarter FOX Business

Wells Fargo suffered 50% profit loss during the fourth quarter
Following Wells Fargo's $3 billion penalty over a financial scandal, the bank reported a 50% loss in profit for the fourth quarter. News of the profit drop affected Wells Fargo's remarket stock, which fell by 4% Friday morning. The bank's quarterly earnings report indicated a 67-cent per-share profit for Dec. 31, which is significantly behind the $1.38 per share from the same period last year.

01/13/23

MD Adopts Changes to Residential Foreclosure Procedures JDSUPRA

MD Adopts Changes to Residential Foreclosure Procedures
Maryland recently adopted what it characterizes as nonsubstantive changes to clarify previous regulatory amendments (adopted July 22, 2022) regarding foreclosure procedures for residential property. The adopted regulatory amendments, including these recent changes, are effective March 1, 2023.

01/13/23

The Case for Discipline of Attorney Who Present False Claims in Support of Foreclosure Living Lies

The Case for Discipline of Attorney Who Present False Claims in Support of Foreclosure
Lawyers are not permitted to make up claims and file lawsuits or other processes to seek a remedy. They must be representing a client who is the owner of the claim. In foreclosure, this is not the case. Wall Street has weaponized the necessary standard protections for lawyers into a vehicle for promoting false claims.

01/12/23

U.S. Foreclosure Activity Doubles Annually But Still Below Pre-Pandemic Levels Atom Data

U.S. Foreclosure Activity Doubles Annually But Still Below Pre-Pandemic Levels
IRVINE, Calif. – Jan. 12, 2023 — ATTOM, a leading curator of real estate data nationwide for land and property data, today released its Year-End 2022 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows foreclosure filings— default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 324,237 U.S. properties in 2022, up 115 percent from 2021 but down 34 percent from 2019, before the pandemic shook up the market. Foreclosure filings in 2022 were also down 89 percent from a peak of nearly 2.9 million in 2010.

01/12/23

Beware Motion for Substitutions of Trustees, Plaintiffs and Credit Bidders! Living Lies

Beware Motion for Substitutions of Trustees, Plaintiffs and Credit Bidders!
By laundering the title to the recorded lien AFTER the homeowner has failed to derail the false claim, the foreclosure mills have lulled most homeowners and most lawyers and judges into a state of complacency wherein they miss the fact that the new substitution — often without permission of the court — is an admission that the homeowner’s defense narrative was correct from the beginning.

01/11/23

CFPB Proposes Rule to Establish Public Registry of Terms and Conditions in Form Contracts That Claim to Waive or Limit Consumer Rights and Protections Living Lies

CFPB Proposes Rule to Establish Public Registry of Terms and Conditions in Form Contracts That Claim to Waive or Limit Consumer Rights and Protections
CFPB Proposes Rule to Establish Public Registry of Terms and Conditions in Form Contracts That Claim to Waive or Limit Consumer Rights and Protections

01/11/23

Katherine Ann Porter, champion of homeowners and consumers, is running for Senate. If you care about foreclosure fraud you should support her bid for Senate Living Lies

Katherine Ann Porter, champion of homeowners and consumers, is running for Senate. If you care about foreclosure fraud you should support her bid for Senate
It is no exaggeration that Katie Porter is why this blog started. While at the University of Iowa, she conducted a study with startling revelations. The discovery that original promissory notes were destroyed most of the time made it possible for thousands of homeowners to defend their homes from false claims seeking foreclosure successfully.

01/10/23

Wells Fargo, once the No. 1 player in mortgages, is stepping back from the housing market CNBC

Wells Fargo, once the No. 1 player in mortgages, is stepping back from the housing market
Wells Fargo is stepping back from the multitrillion-dollar market for U.S. mortgages amid regulatory pressure and the impact of higher interest rates. Instead of its previous goal of reaching as many Americans as possible, the company will now focus on home loans for existing bank and wealth management customers and borrowers in minority communities, CNBC has learned.

01/10/23

KEEP IT SIMPLE. DON’T GET LOST IN THE WEEDS Living Lies

KEEP IT SIMPLE. DON’T GET LOST IN THE WEEDS
The practice hint for all this is NOT to trace all the layers and steps. The question in the case at bar in every foreclosure is whether there is an identified claimant with a claim based on the existence of an unpaid loan account (collateral account) on its own ledgers

01/09/23

Paatalo: If you don’t think judges will listen, think again Living Lies

Paatalo: If you don’t think judges will listen, think again
Skeptics often confront me to say that judges refuse to listen to their arguments. My response is always the same. But nobody likes the answer. Judges will listen if you have something relevant to say, and you are saying it in proper form and in a timely manner. Both homeowners and lawyers fail to present appropriate arguments because they insist on admitting to the existence of a nonexistent debt. The rest is a “yes, but” defense that rarely produces anything other than frustration.

01/09/23

Banking Lesson to Aid Homeowners in Discovery or Statutory Demand Letters Living Lies

Banking Lesson to Aid Homeowners in Discovery or Statutory Demand Letters
Homeowners and their lawyers look at a canceled check and understandably and reasonably come to an erroneous conclusion. They think the check shows who physically received the check, who deposited it into a depository account, and who owns that account.

01/09/23

What new supervised institutions need to know about working with the CFPB CFPB

What new supervised institutions need to know about working with the CFPB
While the CFPB has longstanding supervisory relationships with many institutions, we also conduct exams or other supervisory activities at companies for the first time. Here’s what newly supervised institutions can expect from a supervisory relationship with the CFPB.

01/09/23

New York Enacts Retroactive Foreclosure Legislation JDSUPRA

New York Enacts Retroactive Foreclosure Legislation
While many around the world are setting their calendars forward for the year 2023, residential mortgage loan owners and servicers may need to also look backward in time now that New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the so-called “Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act” (S5473) into law on December 30, 2022. The new law, which takes effect immediately, threatens to significantly constrain the ability of lenders, servicers and investors to efficiently prosecute foreclosure actions and potentially jeopardizes their ability to recover their mortgage debt with respect to not only foreclosures initiated after the law took effect but also foreclosure actions which were pending as of December 30.

01/08/23

Then Again: After the Revolution, debt crisis triggered extreme unrest VT Digger

Then Again: After the Revolution, debt crisis triggered extreme unrest
The end of the American Revolution brought Americans peace. But prosperity? Not so much.
Waging and winning a war with Britain had run the new nation heavily into debt. Worse yet, Britain seemed to take the whole business of losing rather poorly, and continued the conflict by inflicting economic pain on its former colonies. The British cut off American access to important markets in the West Indies, which would have helped the new country pay off its debts.
People felt the separation from Britain keenly when they tried to settle their own debts. When the British left, so did easy access to British coinage, which is what creditors demanded for repayment. They weren’t interested in bartering for goods or accepting paper money issued by the various state governments, because those notes were worth just a fraction of their face value. Therefore, many people faced debts they had no way of repaying.
Actually, courts ruled they still had one way to pay: Judges regularly intervened and foreclosed on debtors’ property.
From the creditors’ perspective, what was not to like about this arrangement? They got their money back. The people losing their farms, however, understandably felt differently.
In 1786, outrage over the debt crisis triggered some of the most extreme civil unrest the United States has seen. It also sparked uprisings in Vermont, which wasn’t actually part of the United States yet — it wouldn’t become a state for five more years.
Shays-Rebellion A debtor and a tax collector scuffle outside the courthouse in Springfield, Massachusetts. Indebtedness — and the foreclosures that sometimes followed — became a major issue in the years immediately following the American Revolution. The issue spurred a popular revolt in Massachusetts known as Shays’ Rebellion, as well as a series of physical clashes at Vermont courthouses and verbal clashes in the state Legislature. Wikimedia Commons

01/08/23

Legal clinics embody spirit of MLK Newsminer

Legal clinics embody spirit of MLK
To the editor: If the pandemic has taught us anything it is how much we need each other. Businesses need workers. Children need teachers. The sick need doctors and nurses. Most of us need a professional hairdresser.
And to confront a legal problem — you need an attorney. Regrettably, thousands of Alaskans face legal challenges every year without the resources to hire an attorney or access to limited legal aid. Filling that gap falls to attorneys willing to volunteer their time pro bono.
On Jan. 16, 2023, attorneys across the state will be spending their Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday as “A Day On, Not a Day Off” by volunteering for the fourteenth annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Legal Clinics.
At these free in-person clinics in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Bethel, Alaskans with civil legal problems can expect first come, first serve consultations with an attorney.

01/07/23

CFPB Closes 2022 with $3.7 Billion Consent Order Against National Bank JDSUPRA

CFPB Closes 2022 with $3.7 Billion Consent Order Against National Bank
Just prior to the close of 2022, the CFPB issued a Consent Order against one of the nation’s largest banks regarding the institution’s automobile loan servicing, mortgage servicing, and consumer deposit account activities dating back to 2011. The Bureau’s Order requires the bank to provide more than $2 billion to consumers harmed by various violations of the CFPA, and a $1.7 billion penalty to be paid to the Bureau’s Civil Penalty Fund. With respect to mortgage servicing specifically, the Bureau alleged that the bank harmed consumers by improperly denying mortgage loan modification applications and erroneously miscalculating mortgage-related fees and other charges.

01/06/23

Protections against foreclosure abuse in New York approved by Hochul Spectrum Local News

Protections against foreclosure abuse in New York approved by Hochul
Provisions meant to strengthen protections against abuse in the foreclosure process are set to take effect after Gov. Kathy Hochul's approval of a law addressing a top court ruling lawmakers have argued weakened safeguards for consumers.

01/06/23

How to respond to idiotic non-responses received to QWR, DVL and CFPB complaint Living Lies

How to respond to idiotic non-responses received to QWR, DVL and CFPB complaint
People often say that using the QWR and DVL is useless because you don’t get any answers. But that is exactly my point. It is like pleading the 5th. In a civil proceeding, the refusal to answer raises any inference implied by the question asked. Whoever you are out there, stop trying to prove something.

01/05/23

After 16 Months, There Are Still No Arrests in the Fed’s Trading Scandal Wall Street On Parade

After 16 Months, There Are Still No Arrests in the Fed’s Trading Scandal
This coming Saturday will mark the 16-month anniversary of former Wall Street Journal reporter Mike Derby setting off a media firestorm with his reporting that the then President of the Dallas Fed, Robert Kaplan, had “made multiple million-dollar-plus stock trades in 2020,” a year in which Kaplan was a voting member of the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) with access to inside information.

01/05/23

The case for Continuing Education mandate for public officials Living Lies

The case for Continuing Education mandate for public officials
Even judges are sent to school before they take the bench. For the last few decades, every catastrophic economic event has been the direct result of the declining use of experts and the politicization of bare-bones facts. It was not malpractice tor repeal the Glass Steagall act or to waive the normal and customary rules governing the issuance of securities when it came to “derivatives” that were so broadly defined that it is difficult to imagine how any security is subject to SEC regulation.

01/04/23

The difference between the debt and the note: the $20 trillion gift to securities brokerage firms on wall street. Living Lies

The difference between the debt and the note: the $20 trillion gift to securities brokerage firms on wall street.
Why would anyone allow the forced sale of a home to satisfy a claim for that remedy if the claimant had no right to receive any compensation or restitution from the homeowner?

01/03/23

New Consumer Law Rights Taking Effect in 2023 NCLC

New Consumer Law Rights Taking Effect in 2023
CONTENTS November 17, 2022: Student Loans; Bankruptcy
December 1, 2022: Bankruptcy
December 5, 2022: Arizona Exemptions, Medical Debt
December 15, 2022: HECM Reverse Mortgages
December 27, 2022: Bankruptcy
December 31, 2022: Student Loans; USDA Loan Modifications
January 1, 2023: TILA; FCRA; CLA; HMDA; FHA Loans; Minimum Wage and Wage Garnishment in 27 States; California Various Provisions; District of Columbia Debt Collection; Georgia Retail Crime; Michigan Loans; Nebraska Exemptions; New Mexico Loans; South Dakota Annuities; Virginia Data Privacy
February 15, 2023: Colorado Hospital Collections
March 1, 2023: VA Mortgages
March 10, 2023: Federal Credit Union Interest Rates
March 30, 2023: Reporting of Medical Debt
April 21, 2023: Colorado School Transcripts
June 9, 2023: FTC Safeguards Rule
June 30, 2023: LIBOR
July 1, 2023: Federal Student Loans; VA Mortgages; California Coerced Debt; Colorado Data Privacy; Connecticut Data Privacy; Michigan Property Taxes
July 3, 2023: Alternative Indices for Adjustable-Rate Loans
July 2023: FCC Limits on Robocalls
August 9, 2023: Colorado Homeowner Association Collections
August 29, 2023: Federal Student Loan Payment Pause??
September 1, 2023: TILA Disclosures re Index Rates; California Garnishment; Minnesota Debt Collection
December 1, 2023: Bankruptcy
December 31, 2023: Utah Data Privacy

01/03/23

If you think these pages contain theories and not facts, read the websites of the parties named as “trustees” of “securitized” trusts for “securitized” mortgages Living Lies

If you think these pages contain theories and not facts, read the websites of the parties named as “trustees” of “securitized” trusts for “securitized” mortgages
This is a zero-sum game, but not in a good way. There is nothing on the side of the grantor and there is nothing on the side of the grantee. The trust, trustee, and servicer have nothing. And the attorney has not heard from or been hired by any of them. Start with the supposition that all assertions or implications of assertions you are receiving from “servicers” or lawyers who say they present a trust or trustee are all lies.

01/02/23

Don’t allow judicial notice to be an end run around the rules of evidence Living Lies

Don’t allow judicial notice to be an end run around the rules of evidence
One of the tricks played by lawyers who work for foreclosure mills is to use a motion for the court to take judicial notice of a certain document. While it is usually technically construed only as the document exists, it is practically construed as a memorialization of true facts.

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