So here's the deal. The banking industry spent 83 million (probably our bailout money, our tax dollars)to strong arm congress and Obama to remove the provision in the stimulus bill that would allow bankruptcy judges to restructure these predatory loans. http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/... I am writing this to put a face on the problem and to help people understand why this provision could truly stimulate the economy and would go a long way toward validating the true fraud behind these loans. And to add insult to injury NOT ONE Republican voted for the stimulus bill ANYWAY. So taking it out of the bill did absolutely nothing to bring about bi-partisanship. It just means that me and many others can keep getting screwed!
Before getting to the meat of this article let me just say that it takes courage for me to put my financial problems out there and it's hard to talk about. Some people are very kind and understanding. Many have offered help, but it feels very vulnerable to put such important information into the hands of strangers. I would argue that this crime, like rape is so personal, and can be blamed so handily on the victim that very few are speaking up about their experiences. It's embarrassing to put it out there and some people are very judgmental about it. Others are just plain blind to the corruption. But the black out just perpetuates the crime. Read my story here for the details of the law breaking. How would you feel if this was happening to you? Did you even know this could happen in the United States? It's like legalized theft. Here's my story: http://www.dailykos.com/...
My question is why are these companies (GMAC)fighting so hard to keep so many of us stuck in a financial bind that cannot be solved? It's not like these very high fees are actually getting paid. That's not where the money is. That's not what is happening. The result has been two fold in our economy. One it has contributed to a huge glut of houses on the market. These loans are not meant to be paid, they are meant to force you to put your home on the market. And yet if paid off and homes were kept off the market, that is what would stimulate the economy. The second result of these high bogus fees, is that it destroys the credit of many Americans. That means that for those of us affected by one of these loans, our credit has been destroyed by bogus fees, RESPA and TILA violations. We can't take out a loan to stimulate the economy. We won't qualify. Not because we can't pay our bills but we can't pay double our bills, double fees, triple fees, and we can't fix the fact that these companies have literally lied saying we haven't made payments when we are current. I will discuss this point further on in the article, however.
I have read articles that argue that bankruptcy judges don't know about housing values and that this will jack up the market. This republican backed argument is that these mortgage companies will begin to restructure these loans on their own?? It ain't happening at Homecoming Financial yet??
Here's the article: Bookmarks Toolbar
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/...
This is ridiculous. All I want my judge to be able to do is to get rid of the fees. What some folks don't realize is that these fees are unregulated. It has nothing to do with the mortgage values. Other than, it forces people to try to value their home higher than it is in hopes of paying off loans that are upside down. Yes, these loans contributed to the real estate crash!! Yes, a judge could lower your interest rate, for some folks with variable rate loans that might apply. But my experience and my research on mortgage fraud (just google the term and then read story after story just like mine) has to do with illegal behaviors, misapplied payments, unpaid taxes by the servicer, messed up escrow accounts, completely fraudulent payment histories. It's CRIME! I feel sorry for those in a variable rate loan. I want them to be helped but this is usually represented as the bulk of the problem and is far from what happened to me and many others. I could have made that mistake, but I took pains to get a 30 year fixed mortgage. I could not control the FRAUD. The lawbreaking.
Read what they have done to me, follow the links and see that millions of others have been forced in to foreclosure because of these horrendous bogus fees and by practices that violate RESPA and TILA laws. They don't want these loans to be paid. They want to keep these huge values on their books, they want to buy up property. Foreign entities are buying real estate assets in the U.S at a very low cost.
"But 10 groups representing the lending industry and other businesses are fighting back fiercely. Several have engaged portions of their lobbying machines to stop the legislation. The groups spent $83 million in lobbying on multiple issues in 2008, a figure that shows the power of the banking and investing industry and their business supporters.
One Democratic backer of the bankruptcy proposal, Rep. Maxine Waters of California, said the banking industry "has owned this Congress far too long.'" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Furthermore, many analysts, including Greenspan note that the level of fraud is high. Anywhere from 10% to 40%. See this post: http://www.dailykos.com/... But where are the stories about this?? This testimony has been given in congress, but there has been a black out on reporting about it, and what these fraudulent behaviors entail. Hello??? literally lying about what I owe!! Not accurately accounting for my payments. Not paying my taxes properly and assessing more bogus fees?? Did you know they could get away with this???
That's a lot of crime. That doesn't tell you the millions of real faces, real families who have lost their credit and been put on the street because of these crimes. Most of the people who have been affected don't even realize what has happened. They feel shame because they missed a payment, they have no idea that the fees that jack them up, and ruin their credit would never have been considered legal in another time and place. And what a great trap. The bankruptcy judges can't investigate it, they can't fix it.
I was hauled into court twice by my lender saying I hadn't paid my payments. I proved them wrong each time. The judge told them to remove the 6000.00$ in fees that resulted from my supposed "late and non existent payments". My lawyer warned me that they would just add these fees to the back of my loan. This is what they did. It's why I am going backwards in my chapter 13 bankruptcy, despite the fact that I pay an extra 50.00$ a month AND have never missed a payment through the courts to go toward the arrears (that was bogus to begin with). Can you imagine how hopeless it feels when you open a statement and it says you own MORE now than you did then and you can't change it???? My lawyer has asked for a payment history twice, sent me copies of the request. No response. Twice. That's a RESPA violation. I may have recourse but my lawyer is not thrilled about having to sue these powerful companies who were just recently revived and reassured with tax payer money that they have the support of the American people, congress and senate to continue these illegal behaviors. It's still going on!! It's is very labor intensive to sue these huge legal teams. And many times they win on loopholes in the law set up by Bushco.
So how does this affect the economy? How does this affect you as a tax payer? Well, my credit has been destroyed. I went into the loan with a 750 average. My credit is gone. Do you know how many Americans have lost their only major investment (their home) AND their credit at the same time? We can't take out loans. I can't get refinanced. I can't buy a car, I can't buy anything. NO one will touch me. I am frozen. My principle loan amount has decreased. I now owe $116,000.00 on a $124,000.00 loan. But I have 10,000.00$ in miscellaneous fees that will become due at the end of my bankruptcy and will put me back into foreclosure where I will lose my home. If I pay the fees or even part of them as many did before they finally lost their homes, that means I am spending my income on this instead of goods and services. This is not just some strange case. There are millions of stories like mine! But you have to be able to read the fine print to do this story. And we don't read fine print anymore!! So now my credit is bad. When I get out of the protection of the bankruptcy they will not restructure my loan. Read about how Homecomings financial refused to work with HOPE and other entities in restructuring loans. They don't want them to be restructured and paid off. They need you and I blind to the corruption. Posts below:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/...
http://www.complaintsboard.com/...
These bad loans keep our economy frozen. They keep our home and property values low as homes are being added to the already glutted market day after day. They have reasons for fighting so hard to prevent good people like me and my family, and many others from getting rid of those fees and simply paying the mortgage. I could do that. Easily. But not without the help of a judge who can see the whole picture and the toll this has taken on me and my credit.
One last insult. There was a class action lawsuit against homecomings financial in the works. However, because GMAC is receiving a bail out and owes so many others, the lawsuit will never be paid. I will never be able to receive retribution from this company because they are supposedly broke. Read the law suit here.
http://www.homecomingsfinancialclass...
So not only did congress remove the provision that would have saved me and you (in that it would truly stimulate and unlock at least a large portion of the economy ice block) but not one republican voted for the package anyway!!
Do you understand why I am furious. For God's sake is anybody going to help us??