Elizabeth Warren Pushes Feds For Answer On Big Bank Enforcement

Elizabeth Warren Pushes Feds For Answer On Big Bank Enforcement WASHINGTON — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) raised the stakes of her quest to find out why a single Wall Street bank has not been prosecuted in the aftermath of the financial crisis Tuesday, sending a letter to the heads of three federal agencies. Warren, a … Read more

Action Alert: Email Gov Scott – Fast Foreclosure Bill Battle Not Over Despite Success in Legislature

Fast foreclosure bill battle not over despite success in legislature Supporters and opponents are still waging a battle over Florida’s fast foreclosure bill, hoping to sway Gov. Rick Scott to sign it into law or veto it all together _ a move one group fears is a strong possibility. An urgent message was sent Monday … Read more

Renter Evicted from Half-Million Dollar Home

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player Renter Evicted from Half-Million Dollar Home FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – “I’m angry… I’m really angry. I’m so frustrated and so exhausted,” Jeff Sandler said while packing. On his moving day, while surrounded by movers, Sandler still had baggage that wouldn’t fit into any box and anger that he couldn’t keep … Read more

Servicing Management Default Underwriter: Fannie Mae Tool Streamlines Foreclosures

fanni Fannie Mae Tool Streamlines Foreclosure Prevention Efforts WASHINGTON, DC – Fannie Mae (FNMA/OTC) introduced Servicing Management Default Underwriter™ (SMDU™), a tool to help mortgage servicers work faster and more consistently with homeowners to prevent foreclosure.  This technology, a counterpart to Fannie Mae’s widely used Desktop Underwriter® for mortgage originations, breaks new ground by evaluating … Read more

Colorado: Banks’ Right to Foreclose in Dispute

Banks’ right to foreclose in dispute The bank foreclosing on an Aurora woman challenging the constitutionality of Colorado’s foreclosure laws did not formally own the right to take her house until a month after it filed its case to do so, public real-estate records reviewed by The Denver Post show. Although a lawyer representing US … Read more

Crises Before and After the Creation of the Fed

Crises Before and After the Creation of the Fed The Federal Reserve was created 100 years ago in response to the harsh recession associated with the Panic of 1907. Comparing that recession with the Great Recession of 2007–09 suggests the Fed can mitigate downturns to some extent. A statistical analysis suggests that if a central … Read more

Debt Sold by Bank Of America and Citigroup Would Be JUNK Without Government Guarantees

Government Chooses Big Banks Over the Little Guy … Year After Year by WashingtonsBlog Bloomberg reports: *** In a March 27 report, Moody’s displays a bar chart of its credit ratings for the banks in blue. In green bars, it shows Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo would be rated two grades lower if the taxpayer … Read more

Mbaku et al v. Bank of America: Second Federal Suit Challenging Colorado Foreclosure Law Emerges

Second federal suit challenging Colorado foreclosure law emerges A second federal lawsuit contesting the constitutionality of Colorado’s foreclosure laws has emerged. Unlike the case of an Aurora woman who obtained an interim federal injunction against the foreclosure auction of her house, the other involves a federal judge who decided a Denver man’s 14th Amendment guarantee … Read more

FORECLOSURE BACKLOG REDUCTION PLAN FOR THE STATE COURTS SYSTEM: Recommendations of the Foreclosure Initiative Workgroup

FORECLOSURE BACKLOG REDUCTION PLAN FOR THE STATE COURTS SYSTEM Recommendations of the Foreclosure Initiative Workgroup EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Recognizing that a significant number of mortgage foreclosure cases are pending in the trial courts (approximately 358,000 as of February 2013) and that an estimated 680,000 additional foreclosure cases will be filed between FY 2012/13 and FY 2015/16, … Read more

Fla. Foreclosure Workgroup Questioned, Called Bias

Fla. foreclosure workgroup questioned, called bias A handful of foreclosure defense attorneys are raising issues with the foreclosure reduction plan recommended by the Foreclosure Initiative Workgroup. Some said they were unaware the workgroup of judges and court administrators had even been assembled and are concerned they weren’t given a chance to have input about the … Read more

The 182 Percent Loan: How Installment Lenders Put Borrowers in a World of Hurt

The 182 Percent Loan: How Installment Lenders Put Borrowers in a World of Hurt by Paul Kiel and Krista Kjellman Schmidt, ProPublica This story was co-produced with Marketplace. Listen to their coverage. One day late last year, Katrina Sutton stood at a gas pump outside Atlanta and swiped her debit card. Insufficient funds. But that … Read more

Lender Processing Services (LPS) Agrees to $14M Securities Fraud Settlement

“Gardner said the case hit a potential challenge in November 2012, when Lorraine Brown, a former chief executive of Lender Processing’s DocX LLC subsidiary, pleaded guilty to engaging in a scheme to file fraudulent documents in foreclosures. As part of her plea, Brown admitted taking steps to conceal the actions of herself and others from, … Read more

Toxic Titles: Buyer Beware – Problems with Foreclosure Purchases Can Haunt You Years Later

Buyer beware: problem foreclosure purchase LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. – If you’ve ever owned property, you know how it’s supposed to work. You pay for it, you get the title. And you would think that property’s yours, right? Not so fast. Four In Your Corner’s Liza Fernandez introduces us to a couple who bought a lot … Read more

MERS CoV: Deadly SARS-Like Virus Spreads To France And Saudi Arabia

Deadly SARS-Like Virus Spreads To France And Saudi Arabia Looks like Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) may have some competition… The H7N9 bird flu virus in China isn’t the only scary new virus on the docket this spring. A second new virus, similar to SARS and named Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS CoV), has … Read more

Steady Stream of Lawyers Pour Out of Woodwork to Offer Help in Challenge of Colorado Foreclosure Law

Lawyers offer help in challenge of Colorado foreclosure law More than a dozen lawyers have surfaced with offers to help an Aurora woman in her constitutional challenge of Colorado’s foreclosure laws, a case she has battled on her own for about two years. After a federal judge’s temporary injunction Monday that looks to take on … Read more

PB Post Editorial on Foreclosure Bill HB 87 / SB 1666: With Friends Like Ms. Bondi in Tallahassee, Banks Hardly Need Another Gift

Editorial: Scott should veto the Legislature’s foreclosure bill The Legislature finally has passed a bill to ease Florida’s foreclosure crisis. The problem is, it’s a bad bill that Gov. Scott should veto. Rep. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, sponsor of House Bill 87, believes that giving banks the right to seek a quicker hearing would get the … Read more

Abigail Field: NYAG’s Standing to Sue BofA

NYAG’s Standing to Sue BofA NY AG Eric Schneiderman’s suit to bring meaning to the servicing standards of the National Mortgage Enforcement Fraud rises and falls on how the D.C. Circuit interprets two provisions of the Consent Judgment. In my last post, I explained that one provision–the one sentence section II–seems to require that the … Read more

The Constitutionality of Colorado Foreclosure Law: US Bank Walks Away from Foreclosure on Aurora Woman

US Bank walks away from foreclosure on Aurora woman US Bank on Friday backed down from its efforts to foreclose on an Aurora woman whose federal court battle against it has taken on the constitutionality of Colorado’s foreclosure laws. Just days after lawyers for the bank told a federal judge they’ve always had the original … Read more

Michigan AG Informs National Mortgage Settlement Monitor About Concerns with Banks’ Settlement Compliance

Schuette Informs National Mortgage Settlement Monitor About Concerns with Banks’ Settlement Compliance LANSING -Attorney General Bill Schuette today sent a letter to Joseph A. Smith, Jr. head of the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight to alert him to concerns that certain terms of the National Mortgage Settlement are not being met by the banks that … Read more

Florida HB 87 / SB 1666, Homeowners, and the Foreclosure Inferno

Florida HB 87 / SB 1666, Homeowners, and the Foreclosure Inferno By Michael Collins A bill passed last week by the Florida legislature offers efficiencies and advantages to banks that may launch a major increase in foreclosures in the state known for its volatile real estate market.  The only thing standing in the way is … Read more