Banks, fraud, robosigning, illegal forclosures

[Riot]

It's a start. Kudos to the States Attorneys General, because it sure wasn't instigated at the federal level. Best part: no legal release from additional claims.

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration, state attorneys general, and, perhaps, the nation's largest banks are close to a final settlement on the years-long struggle over allegations of massive foreclosure fraud, according to several sources familiar with the talks. And the final details of the arrangement, according to the source who revealed them, will apparently not preclude prosecutors and regulators from taking legal action against many of the common abuses during the house bubble. It remains to be seen whether all parties will ultimately sign off on the language.

The settlement is worth $25 billion, a sum which will be distributed to homeowners who were wrongfully foreclosed on as well as those who remain underwater. In addition, banks could still face future legal action over 12 specific violations.

According to someone intimate with the negotiations, there will be no legal release of the banks with respect to:

1. Criminal liability.
2. Tax liability
3. Fair lending, fair housing, or any other civil rights claim.
4. Federal Housing Finance Agency or the GSEs [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac]
5. CFPB claims for the period after they came into existence in July 2011
6. SEC claims
7. National Credit Union Association Claims
8. FDIC claims
9. Federal Reserve Board claims
10. MERS claims

In addition, the source said, there will be preservation of the vast majority of securitization claims including all claims regarding state pension funds as well as the vast majority of the origination fraud claims from HUD, the VA and the USDA.

According to Mike Lux, who originally reported the settlement for The Huffington Post, the release will be "almost entirely confined to robosigning cases" -- meaning that banks will likely not see further punishment from the states for foreclosure fraud. Robosigning fraud is perhaps the easiest type of misconduct for prosecutors to target.

That said, their legal liabilities on the federal level remain vast, even after handing over $25 billion for homeowner relief.

Etc. more article and detail here www.huffingtonpost.com

[jms62]

Originally Posted by Riot

It's a start. Kudos to the States Attorneys General, because it sure wasn't instigated at the federal level. Best part: no legal release from additional claims.

Really need to go after these scum bags and MORTGAGE BROKERS who put people in mortgages that they couldnt possibly pay if Interest rates moved up.

[Clip-Clop]

'Caveat Emptor' No More.

Why on earth would anyone read the contracts they are signing.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Clip-Clop

'Caveat Emptor' No More.

Why on earth would anyone read the contracts they are signing.

This isn't about that. It's about banks foreclosing on people whose houses they do not own, who are not behind in payments, illegal robosigning of documents, etc. Let's keep the focus on the fraud. People have lost their homes, their savings, are homeless, because of casual, irresponsible fraud - illegal activity according to those very contracts - perpetrated by the banks.

Yes, some people agreed to mortgages they couldn't possibly pay off, sometimes pushed on them by bankers who said they could met the financial requirements - but that's different than what's in this thread. A good subject, but different.

[Clip-Clop]

Originally Posted by Riot

This isn't about that. It's about banks foreclosing on people whose houses they do not own, who are not behind in payments, illegal robosigning of documents, etc. Let's keep the focus on the fraud. People have lost their homes, their savings, are homeless, because of casual, irresponsible fraud - illegal activity according to those very contracts - perpetrated by the banks.

Yes, some people agreed to mortgages they couldn't possibly pay off, sometimes pushed on them by bankers who said they could met the financial requirements - but that's different than what's in this thread. A good subject, but different.

Wrongful foreclosure seems to be a very isolated occurrence based on my limited research and is taking place in the most hard hit areas of the burst. Regarding fraudulent practices by the banks, go after them, I am behind that 100%. Do not however permit them to use taxpayer $ to pay off their fines/penalties. Which is sadly what will happen.

[dellinger63]

The settlement is worth $25 billion, a sum which will be distributed to homeowners who were wrongfully foreclosed on as well as those who remain underwater. In addition, banks could still face future legal action over 12 specific violations.

I trust this was a misprint. Why would people who are simply underwater receive anything? I understand those who were wrongfully foreclosed on. Surely they meant those underwater who ALSO were somehow wronged by their lender.

[Danzig]

i can't believe people who are underwater somehow are deserving of help. how many of those in that situation are there because they had a HELOC, and that line dried up because the house value went down? add the money they owe on that line, and they woud be underwater. and a lot of people found themselves in this predicament-using equity as their own personal credit line, writing checks they now can't pay on. the feds (meaning us, the taxpayers) should pick up a tab for that?
on the other hand, so many are paying a price because of crooked bankers and investors....a huge, horrible series of mistakes-brought to us by our elected congressmen and women. some of whom will be voted into office yet again, because they 'do such a good job'. lol no, they don't. they build up their own little fiefdoms at the taxpayers expense. they just turn into petty tyrants.

[Riot]

How about the people who are underwater and lost their homes because they entered the homeowners loan modification program with the banks, the banks took their modified lesser payments, yet then suddenly foreclosed upon them anyway? Yes, those underwater or foreclosed homeowners are deserving of help, if they have been defrauded or misled by the banks during the foreclosure process.

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by Riot

How about the people who are underwater and lost their homes because they entered the homeowners loan modification program with the banks, the banks took their modified lesser payments, yet then suddenly foreclosed upon them anyway? Yes, those underwater or foreclosed homeowners are deserving of help, if they have been defrauded or misled by the banks during the foreclosure process.

Name one person dead or alive who was making their mortgage payments yet was still foreclosed upon because they were upside down?

[Riot]

Originally Posted by dellinger63

Name one person dead or alive who was making their mortgage payments yet was still foreclosed upon because they were upside down?

What I said, was:
How about the people who are underwater and lost their homes because they entered the homeowners loan modification program with the banks, the banks took their modified lesser payments, yet then suddenly foreclosed upon them anyway? Yes, those underwater or foreclosed homeowners are deserving of help, if they have been defrauded or misled by the banks during the foreclosure process.

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by Riot

, if they have been defrauded or misled by the banks during the foreclosure process.

I agree with that.

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by Riot

It's a start. Kudos to the States Attorneys General, because it sure wasn't instigated at the federal level. Best part: no legal release from additional claims.

Perhaps it wasn't instigated at the Federal level because it would have been hypocritical?

Obama got elected on promises of hope and change, of transparency and look what the country got.

Backroom loans, for hundreds of billions, perhaps trillions, to financial institutions, kept secret from the taxpayer/bondsman because it may have adversely affected the banks/corps being bailed out. Imagine if those same banks kept the taxpayers’ account information a secret from the government.

Now, suddenly late in the fourth quarter we’re going to settle a lawsuit with those same banks? This on the heels of wanting a smaller smarter government complete with plans of consolidation that will save a pittance (one ten thousandth of one percent of the budget ) and not terminate or layoff a single employee, hypocrisy to the core. Just think if we allow him to go through with his plan he’ll save us the equivalent of this years budget over the next 100,000 years. Next he’ll be telling us he’ll pass an insider trading law against congress as soon as congress makes up the law.

The attack on the top 1% as not doing enough is nothing but a smokescreen meant to keep focus off the fact we are spending with total abandonment while holding onto the unfeasible assurances of the top 1% somehow paying for it in the form of future/higher taxes.

To expose the true colors of the scheme one must simply run the numbers. Using 2009 IRS stats, the top 1% (Those making 380K or more) 1.4 million of them, paid $392 Billion in taxes on $1.68 trillion in income for an effective tax rate of 23.27%. Raising that up to Obama’s 30% target would result in $113.4 Billion of added tax revenue, less than 3% of his yearly budget but 378 years worth of a smaller, smarter, consolidated government. .

Obama gave Fannie & Freddie that and more over the last three years. All they need now is more money.

We are leaking far, far more than we are bailing and without plugging the holes we will drown. Raising taxes with no plan much less ability to cut spending is like buying and installing a new power plant on a sinking ship.

Until a plan to balance the budget is in effect and not just promised, raising taxes is the equivalent of burning money. However once a balanced budget plan is in practice with a couple quarters of spending sobriety behind us, taxes should be raised with the stipulation ALL new tax revenue goes to paying down the debt with the Social Security Trust being the first creditor paid.

Should one need further proof, taxing without balancing is doomed, look no further than the State of Illinois who after the largest single income tax rate increase in its history find themselves deeper than ever in debt with $9 billion currently owed and predictions that will balloon to $30 billion in 5 years.

The fact some consider the call for a balanced budget first and the pay down of the debt second as ‘radical conservatism’ illustrates how out of touch with reality they truly are and I suppose why some are happy living and protesting in a public park. The creativity they have shown thru their signs, chants and housing is remarkable. I mean creating the human microphone and voting via hand signals is ‘one small step for man, one giant step for mankind’ kind of stuff.