Seeking Settlements for their Big Bank 'clients' WITH those former disgruntled Home-owners, seeking to sue them.
Several State AGs would prefer actual Justice for those Foreclosure Victims of their States, instead of DOJ's Monty Hall Deal -- behind Door Number Three!
Instead of taking the Drew Carey offer -- of a Spin at "The Big Wheel!"
Foreclosure Fraud Price Tag: $20 Billion
by Shahien Nasiripour, huffingtonpost -- 06/06/2011
The banks seek a quick resolution, according to sources who have participated in settlement talks, as falling home prices, a continuing high rate of delinquent borrowers, stagnant home sales, rising unemployment and slower economic growth batters bank stocks. Shares of Bank of America, the largest mortgage servicer, hit a two-year low Monday. Citigroup fell more than four percent. The 24-company KBW Bank Index has fallen nearly 11 percent over the past three months.
Top officials in the Obama administration, like Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, have said they want a quick settlement, too. Bank regulator Sheila Bair, the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [FDIC], told a Senate panel last month that a settlement must be reached due to "significant" damages the banks face from "flawed mortgage banking processes [that] have potentially infected millions of foreclosures."
The industry could be reeling for years, Bair warned. Many of the states, though, aren't in such a hurry. New York’s top law enforcer, Eric Schneiderman, wants to conduct a complete investigation into all facets of mortgage banking, from fraudulent lending to defective securitization practices to faulty foreclosure documents and illegal home seizures. Delaware recently sent Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. [MERS] , which runs an electronic registry of mortgages, a subpoena demanding answers to 75 questions.
[...]
The reports accuse Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial of defrauding taxpayers in their handling of foreclosures on homes purchased with government-backed loans, The Huffington Post first reported last month.
$20 Billion should cover it. Oh Really?
$20,000,000,000 Settlement
$200,000 assumed average Home Value
100,000 Number of Homeowners reimbursed
Really 100 thousand homes? No wonder State Attorneys General -- would rather go to trial ... than take a chance, at the Big Bank's Big Settlement Wheel ...
Question is: Why is DOJ chanting, Take the Deal, Take the Deal?
Massachusetts AG is standing for Real Justice; and taking a pass on the Deal.
Department of Justice Pressuring State AGs to Sign Bank Settlement
by Carole VanSickle, realestate.bryanellis.com -- Aug 2,2011
The Department of Justice believes that it has worked out a good settlement with the nation’s biggest lenders to resolve allegations of foreclosure fraud and the robo-signer fiasco, and both parties are preparing to sign the agreement. Not, however, with the blessing of all 50 state attorneys general, which could create a major roadblock for the deal. Part of the $20 billion mortgage settlement deal requires the AGs to “release banks from legal claims in state investigations and law suits.” So far, multiple AGs, led by Massachusetts AG Martha Coakley, have announced that they will “oppose the inclusion of the issues surrounding MERS in any deal”[1].
Banks were holding out for even a smaller settlement, and some AGs are ready to "Make a Deal".
Question is -- will they get the New Car? or will they get the Goat?
State AGs Offer New Settlement Terms to Mortgage Servicers
by Cheyenne Hopkins, americanbanker.com -- May 10, 2011
WASHINGTON — After months of stalemate, the state attorneys general have proposed new terms to the top five mortgage servicers that drop some controversial provisions of their first attempt at a settlement, including a push to force banks to reduce principal on thousands of mortgages.
[...]
Banks have privately said that they will not agree to a fine above $10 billion -- far below a discredited $20 billion figure floated in the press two months ago -- arguing that regulators have not provided evidence that servicing problems led to wrongful foreclosures.
The AGs are considering using whatever money they receive from banks to start a "cash for keys" program to help troubled borrowers move out of their homes and speed the foreclosure process by providing them cash incentives to leave. The funds are also expected to be used to promote mortgage counseling and offer some forebearance to troubled homeowners.
"Cash for a dash" -- out of here -- now that's a switch.
Elizabeth Warren weighs in on the side of Consumers, and the need for real Consumer Justice. Somehow, that is not too surprising.
Mass AG Martha Coakley will not Join in Giving MERS and Banks a Deal
Richard Zombeck, HomePreservationNetwork.com Founder, Huffingtonpost -- 7/28/11
Homeowner advocates and activists have long argued that mortgages transferred via the MERS system but not recorded with local registries of deeds are invalid and that land titles on thousands of homes are "clouded". Homeowners with clouded titles could find it impossible to sell or refinance their properties without going to court to clean up problems.
[...]
Elizabeth Warren, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama agrees. She recently told a congressional panel that government agencies may not have fully investigated claims that borrowers' homes were illegally seized by banks.
"I think there's a real question about whether there's been adequate investigation," said Warren, also the temporary custodian of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection at the time -- a new federal agency created to protect borrowers from abusive lenders.
Delaware AG Beau Biden, is standing for Real Justice. New York's AG Eric Schneiderman, too. Maybe they can Do the {quick-settlement} Math, too.
Beau Biden, Delaware AG, Moves To Join Bank Of America Mortgage Deal, Signaling Concerns
HomePreservationNetwork.com -- August 06, 2011
WASHINGTON -- Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden signaled his intent Friday to intervene in a proposed $8.5 billion settlement over troubled mortgage securities between Bank of America and a group of investors, uniting with his New York counterpart Eric Schneiderman, who argued a day earlier that the deal is unfair and its participants committed fraud. Ian McConnell, director of Biden’s consumer protection unit, told a New York state judge that the state of Delaware intends to file paperwork early next week asking to become a full party in the suit.
If granted, that status would allow the state to comment on and question virtually every move "from start to finish" as Bank of America and the investors attempt to end their multi-billion dollar spat. It would also give Delaware the right to investigate the claims the deal strives to settle, like whether the lender and the other bank involved in the case, Bank of New York Mellon, followed state law when creating these mortgage securities, and when they moved to foreclose on homeowners who defaulted on their obligations.
Finally someone is saying Not so Fast Banks; Not so Fast DOJ ...
So what is the Real Damage suffered by American Home-owner in this Greed-fueled Housing Crisis? ... were just asking.
Supply of Foreclosed Homes on the Rise Again
by James R. Hagerty, online.wsj.com -- Mar 19, 2010
Mortgage analysts at Barclays Capital in New York estimated that banks and mortgage investors held a total of 645,800 foreclosed homes in January, up 4.6% from 617,286 a month earlier.
According to Barclays, the supply peaked at around 845,000 in November 2008 and then declined through 2009.
[...]
Barclays projects that the supply of foreclosed homes will rise to about 733,000 in April, then begin to decline again gradually. Foreclosed properties now account for roughly a fifth of all homes listed for sale nationally.
How many Homes, in total, were separated from their once happy Home-owners?
Banks repossessed 1 million homes last year — and 2011 will be worse
First quarter of the year will likely show a rebound in foreclosure activity
by Janna Herron AP, msnbc.msn.com -- 1/13/2011
[...]
The outlook comes after banks repossessed more than 1 million homes in 2010, RealtyTrac said Thursday. That marked the highest annual tally of properties lost to foreclosure on records dating back to 2005.
One in 45 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last year, or a record high of 2.9 million homes. That's up 1.67 percent from 2009.
So about 3 Million Homes in the midst of Foreclosure ...
and the DOJ is push for $20 Billion Settlement from the Banks?
$20,000,000,000 Settlement
3,000,000 Homes in Foreclosure
$6,666 Possible Settlement per Home (in one year)
NO Wonder the DOJ is so "Desperately Seeking Settlements" --
They must be afraid someone -- like the rest of America -- will finally wake up and do the Math, too (and not like the disturbing result)
-- And then DEMAND the Casino Bankers actually have to face some Justice too, even if it's on the State's turf.
Justice no doubt many of these law-shirking Banks actually deserve.
That's assuming of course, we still lived in a Country where there still was
Equal Justice for All, accepted as the norm.
A country were workers and ex-homeowners still mattered, in the eyes of the law,
those Bargain Basement Settlements notwithstanding.
No worries though -- Green DOES come up, every once in a Blue Moon.
SO Take the Deal! Take the Deal! Give the Banks a break.
(The DOJ urgently implores you. Take the Deal, AGs ... Bet on the Green.)