Daily News related to the Foreclosure Crisis

The biggest unpunished heist in human history - Max Keiser

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07/28/23

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

07/28/23

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

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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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
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.
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
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.
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

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

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

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

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

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
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.

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