Daily News related to the Foreclosure Crisis

The biggest unpunished heist in human history - Max Keiser

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

 Date

Article

Articles are added weekly 

Source

  Comment

07/31/24

Equity theft is now illegal in Massachusetts, making it possible for some who lost their homes to get money back
A new law banning cities and towns in Massachusetts from “equity theft” is now on the books. On Monday, Gov. Maura Healey signed the new law that stops municipalities from selling a foreclosed home and keeping more than what is owed in the former owner’s equity as profit as an amendment in the fiscal 2025 budget. Now, if a city or town forecloses on a home due to unpaid taxes and sells it, whatever equity remains after the tax is paid off must be returned to the former homeowner.

07/26/24

A friendly reminder … about “copies”!
I was having a conversation with one of my team into the wee hours last night about these supposed Notes that are filed with courts around the country, claiming to be certified copies and signed off on with some anonymous initials. This is what judges rely on when they grant foreclosure on someone’s home. How do they get away with it? Because no one is thinking about the Negotiable Instruments section of the Uniform Commercial Code! Section 3-501 et seq clearly talks about this. Every state has it in its codes under UCC. Scenario #1:

07/25/24

A lot of people are wondering …
Since I began my postings on CloudedTitlesBlog (way back when), I have always thought that my key objective (as a news junkie) was to get to the real truth of the matter. I wrote several versions of Clouded Titles because the first edition (254 pp.), which I gave a copy of to a U.S. Magistrate when I met with him during a settlement conference in Kansas City in 2011, just wasn’t getting to the truth enough. Nope. The news would continue to unfold as time went on as to exactly how unscrupulous these banks and their mortgage loan servicers can be. Now, the Mayday Edition is 432 pages in length, full of about as much information as I could put into it to meet the criteria for the truth at a moment in time when it seemed all of the frauds that these entities could commit were actually illegal but being ignored by the U.S. government, who swore, through contract, to protect them.

07/21/24

CFPB’s New Mortgage Servicing Rule: A Post-Pandemic Overhaul
On July 10, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued its long-awaited Mortgage Servicing Proposed Rule to amend Regulation X. While mortgage servicers have operated under the current framework for more than 10 years – an approach that was refined following the Great Recession – the CFPB has telegraphed a desire post-pandemic to make modernizations to the Regulation X rules around default-servicing following the impact of the pandemic-era relief options.

07/19/24

Top 10 States with the Largest Number of Commercial Foreclosures in June 2024
According to ATTOM’s newly released U.S. Commercial Foreclosure Report, there has been a steady rise in commercial foreclosures over the years, climbing from a low of 141 in May 2020 to 647 in June 2024. This trend showcases a consistent increase throughout the period.

07/18/24

U.S. Commercial Foreclosures Decrease in June 2024
IRVINE, Calif. — July 18, 2024 — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released an updated monthly report on U.S. Commercial Foreclosures. The report reveals a continued increase in commercial foreclosures over the years, from a low of 141 in May 2020, to the current figure of 647 in June 2024. This represents the continuation of a steady increase throughout the period.

07/12/24

CFPB Proposes Revamped RESPA Mortgage Servicing Rules
On July 10, the CFPB announced proposed rules for mortgage servicers, aimed at helping homeowners avoid foreclosures. The new rules, which would modify RESPA and Regulation X’s existing mortgage servicing framework, are designed to streamline the process for obtaining mortgage assistance, and incentivize servicers to prioritize borrower aid over foreclosure.

07/11/24

Housing industry backs CFPB's mortgage servicing rule changes
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has proposed overhauling how mortgage servicers handle struggling borrowers to make it easier for homeowners to receive assistance and avoid foreclosure. If implemented, the proposed changes would require mortgage servicers to prioritize helping borrowers rather than rushing to foreclose. The new rules will not apply to small servicers.

07/10/24

Streamlining Mortgage Servicing for Borrowers Experiencing Payment Difficulties (Regulation X)
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau or CFPB) is proposing a rule that would amend regulations originally issued in 2013 regarding the responsibilities of mortgage servicers. The proposed amendments would streamline existing requirements when borrowers seek payment assistance in times of distress, add safeguards when borrowers seek help, and revise existing requirements with respect to borrower assistance. The proposed rule would also require servicers to provide certain communications in languages other than English, such as when a borrower is seeking payment assistance with their mortgage. The proposed rule, if finalized, would increase the likelihood that investors and borrowers can avert the costs of avoidable foreclosure.

07/10/24

CFPB Proposes Rules to Help Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today proposed new rules to make it easier for homeowners to get help when they are struggling to pay their mortgage. The proposal, if finalized, would require mortgage servicers to focus on helping borrowers, not foreclosing, when a homeowner asks for help. The proposed changes would also make it simpler for servicers to offer assistance by reducing paperwork requirements, improve communication with borrowers, and ensure critical information is provided in languages borrowers understand. The CFPB is requesting comment about several other topics,

07/10/24

HUD Releases Revised Servicing Defect Taxonomy Proposal for Stakeholder Feedback
WASHINGTON - Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), is posting for stakeholder feedback a revised version of its proposed FHA Defect Taxonomy for Servicing Loan Reviews (the “Servicing Defect Taxonomy”). When final, the Servicing Defect Taxonomy will provide clear guidance to mortgage servicers regarding FHA’s servicing loan review process, FHA’s assessment of the severity of errors or non-compliance with its mortgage servicing policies, and the actions FHA may take in instances of servicer error or non-compliance.

07/10/24

Foreclosure Activity in First Half of 2024 Down from Previous Year
IRVINE, Calif. — July 11, 2024 — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property and real estate data, today released its Midyear 2024 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 177,431 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — in the first six months of 2024. That figure is down 4.4 percent from the same time period a year ago but up 7.8 percent from the same time period two years ago.

07/09/24

The Fund Created to Unwind a Failing Megabank Has a Problem: There’s No Money in It
Last week the American Banker published an opinion article by Arthur E. Wilmarth, Jr., the Professor Emeritus of Law at George Washington University. Wilmarth is the man who wrote the seminal book on the continuing threat to financial stability posed by U.S. megabanks – the same ones that blew up Wall Street and the U.S. economy in 2008. The title of Wilmarth’s article (paywall) is: “The FDIC’s resolution plan for failed megabanks is an empty promise.” The thrust of the article is this:

07/07/24

CFPB: Ineffective Loan Servicing is an Abusive Act or Practice
In a consent order with a reverse mortgage servicer on June 18, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) made the argument that failing to effectively service loans is abusive. The groundwork for this line of thinking was laid out by the current CFPB administration through various statements and guidance documents, but the public order represents the first time it was formally put in action against a loan servicer. While the consent order involves a reverse mortgage servicer, the implications of this theory of liability are far reaching, and certainly not limited to just reverse mortgages.
The “Abusive” Standard As background, the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 (CFPA) prohibits covered persons — like loan servicers — from either (1) materially interfering with the ability of a consumer to understand a term or condition of a consumer financial product or service, or (2) taking unreasonable advantage of:
A lack of understanding on the part of the consumer of the material risks, costs, or conditions of the product or service; The inability of the consumer to protect the interests of the consumer in selecting or using a consumer financial product or service; or The reasonable reliance by the consumer on a covered person to act in the interests of the consumer. In its Policy Statement on Abusive Acts or Practices, released on April 3, 2023, the CFPB focused on how a borrower is not able to choose their loan servicer, laying the groundwork for how third-party servicing could lend itself to abusive acts or practices. The policy statement explains that a consumer’s inability to select their loan servicer at any point during the life of a loan means that the consumer is unable to protect their interests

07/02/24

The Supreme Court Crowns a King, Immunizing Future Criminal Acts Under Project 2025 – a Right Wing Manifesto
In the span of two business days, six of the nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court have radically altered American democracy. On Friday, those six right-wing justices gutted the ability of federal government agencies to protect the waters Americans drink, the air they breathe, their ability to impose food and drug safety rules and worker protections. On Monday, the same six effectively crowned the President of the United States a king by immunizing the President from criminal prosecution for any conduct that can be construed as official acts.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a scathing dissent. (Scroll down to her dissent at this link.) To drive home the hubris of the majority’s decision, she read her dissent aloud in the courtroom, boldly enunciating her weightiest words. In her dissent, which was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson (who also wrote her own dissent), Sotomayor wrote:
“Today’s decision to grant former Presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institution of the Presidency. It makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law. Relying on little more than its own misguided wisdom about the need for ‘bold and unhesitating action’ by the President, ante, at 3, 13, the Court gives former President Trump all the immunity he asked for and more. Because our Constitution does not shield a former President from answering for criminal and treasonous acts, I dissent.”
Sotomayor adds that “There is a twisted irony in saying, as the majority does, that the person charged with ‘tak[ing] Care that the Laws be faithfully executed’ can break them with impunity.” She underscores her point with this: “The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.”

copyright MSFraud.org