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  • 8/8/2019 t r u t h o u t - Foreclosure Gate Explained- Big Banks on the Brink

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    S U N D AY 3 1 O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0

    (Im age: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t ; Adapted: Stev e Hoang, Kev in Anderson,

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    Foreclosuregate Explained: BigBanks on the Brink Thursday 28 October 2 010by: Peter White, t r u t h o u t | Report

    Scandal is spreading across WallSt. like a very bad case of poisoniv y. A rash of fraudulent homeforeclosures has exposed some of the nation's biggest banks to aneven worse condition ... ba nkruptcy.

    Until late 2007, th e money b oyson Wall St. made a bundle in thehousing market. A fter the bubble burst, they were j ust itching toca sh in on the dow n side, calling inall those bad loan s they made andselling off millions of repossessed

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    E Dina)homes. According to RealtyTrac,Inc., which compiles such data,lenders foreclosed on 3.2 million properties in the last three years,288,000 in the last quarter, the highest number on record.

    But evidence came to light, first in New York, then Florida, Maine, Ohio,and other states that lenders were taking shortcuts to speed upforeclosures. Law firms hired so-called "robo-signers," some of whomhave admitted in depositions that they routinely signed off on thousandsof foreclosure papers they had never read and sometimes forgedsignatures of notary publics who were not present.

    "Why don't we have Mickey Mouse sign the thing, instead of having ahuman being sign it? I mean it becomes meaningless," New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Schack told PBS "Newshour."

    Legally meaningless maybe, but not without consequence for hundreds of thousands of Americans who have been evicted from their homes, many of whom have no jobs, and who were snookered into sub-primemortgages in the first place.

    In the wake of mounting public outrage, attorneys general of 50 statesand the District of Columbia have launched a joint investigation into what financial writers are calling "Foreclosuregate." Industry spokespersons have downplayed the controversy surrounding foreclosuremills and "robo-signers." Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase areconducting internal reviews of thousands of foreclosures, but say they believe all the underlying facts in their foreclosures are true and that any potential issues will be quickly addressed.

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    However, Bank of America and GMAC stopped foreclosures in all 50states and Chase stopped them in the 23 states where a judge mustapprove foreclosures. Other lenders like PNC Financial and Litton LoanSavings followed suit in what amounted to a national moratorium onforeclosures. But it only lasted a couple of weeks. Bank of America andGMAC have since started up foreclosure suits again despite the bad press,

    pressure from bondholders and even the Federal Reserve, which wants big lenders to start buying back the bad mortgages on which they aretrying to foreclose.

    "The bottom line is not that those properties won't be repossessed. They simply won't be repossessed as quickly," said Rick Sharge, vice presidentof RealtyTrac. But others predict that if GMAC and Bank of America stick to their guns, they just might go down in smoke.

    "This is not simply a glitch in paperwork," wrote Iowa Attorney GeneralTom Miller, who is heading up the states' joint investigation into themortgage paper fraud mess.

    "This was an industry wide scheme designed to defraud homeowners,"Florida attorney Peter Ticktin told The Associated Press.

    Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray filed a lawsuit against lenderGMAC in October that aims to stop sales of all repossessed homesforeclosed with robo-signed documents and to reverse judgments on thoseforeclosed homes that have not yet been sold. In addition, the suit seeksdamages for homeowners and a $25,000 fine for every fraudulently filedcourt document.

    In Kentucky, Heather McKeever filed a class action lawsuit against

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    between investors daily.

    To collect fees from those trades, Wall Street relies on the MortgageElectronic Registry System (MERS), which had three million loans listedin its database in early 2001. Today, it has more than 62 million and virtually all of the home loans made in the US since 2005. But sinceMERS is essentially Excel spreadsheets shared between bankers and brokers, it is really just a bunch of numbers. MERS was designed to makemoney out of the mortgage market, not parse exactly who owes what to whom.

    One foreclosure expert estimates that just 6 to 7 percent of the loansmade in the last three years can produce properly recorded title transfersfrom borrower to final lender. Legally assigning, or recording titletransfers was much too slow and cumbersome for the fast-paced trade inMBS, so most banks just ignored those requirements, according totestimony, analysts and consumer advocates like Hackett. On many mortgages, the loan owner's name was routinely left blank, the titlesnever recorded and title transfer fees not paid.

    Banks invented an investment vehicle in 1987 called REMICs (RealEstate Mortgage Investment Conduits) to allow them to profit from MBStrading. A Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit is what the nameimplies - an empty pipe that allows banks to collect fees as trustees of MBS' without owning any of the assets that back them. It also allowsthem to avoid taxes and title transfer fees since they only pass throughtitles to property held as collateral for the MBS' they sell.

    But this is clearly a convenient fiction for huge consumer lenders likeBank of America and GMAC, which are trying to have things both ways.

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    REMICs were a real sweet deal for banks until the bottom fell out of thehousing market in 2007, triggering the worse recession in 75 years. Bankssoon found themselves going to court to repossess property they had beenclaiming for years they never owned.

    They hired foreclosure mills to retroactively produce documents showingthe chain of ownership ended with them. In many cases, foreclosure millsprovided affidavits of lost mortgage notes attempting to prove banks'control of mortgages in hopes of winning a favorable judgment.

    Banks are in a big pickle. If they can prove they own the title to propertiesthey want to foreclose on, they are liable to the IRS for unpaid taxes andpenalties. If they don't, the are liable to be sued by bond holders for lack of due diligence in the bundled mortgages they sold to investors.

    This is good news for homeowners facing eviction, and there has been anincrease in the number of contested foreclosures in Florida, ground zeroof the foreclosure scandal.

    Both Bank of America and GMAC got billions in federal bailouts, soplaying hardball with borrowers when the Obama administration put upan additional $75 billion to persuade banks to refinance troubled loansmay jeopardize their "too big to fail" status in Washington.

    Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan told reporters in Washington last Wednesday that the federal government would act soon to force banks tooffer loan modifications for mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration. (How many?)

    Meanwhile, investigations are underway not only by the states' attorneys

    . ,Op-Ed

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    Peter White is an independent reporter for print, television and radio.

    C O M M E N T S

    This foru m is moderated by softwa re. Please allow up to 1 5 min ut es for y ourcomm ents to go liv e and av oid posting the sam e comm ent m ultiple times.

    Gee thx, Ayn Rand & Co. ThatThu, 10/28/2010 - 20:26 Anony mo us (not verified)

    Gee thx, A y n Rand & Co. Tha t super-efficient free mar ket is really doing a

    swell job at self-regulation. They really get the job done right, don't they ?

    Don't they ?

    Don't blame a few bad applesThu, 10/28/2010 - 20:46 Anony mo us (not verified)

    Don't blam e a few ba d apples for a sound sy stem ba sed on conflict, gr eed

    and self-interest!

    You can't blame the freeThu, 10/28/2010 - 20:47 hiding (not verified)

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    You ca n' t blame t he free m arket . Just the people who took adv antag e of it .

    It 's l ike giv ing firew orks to children a nd blam ing the ch ildren for blowing

    up their f ingers. Gee i t was the f ireworks fault . . .n o it wa s the f ingers fault .

    How about the ha nd tha t ha d al l of the f ingers. . .may be 10 is just too

    many fingers?

    De-regulation only works in a perfect world. Ours seems to be imperfect.

    The free ma rket only works if ev ery one start s out w ith th e same nu m berof tokens. When de-regula tion hits an d y ou aint got no m oney . . .well h ow

    ar e do y ou th ink y ou w ill surv iv e??? I hope the dopes in tr ailer s wh o hav e

    promoted their own dem ise get i t soon. Darw in w as r ight in so m any

    way s...h e just didn't accoun t for the poor folks wh o get sucked in by th e

    lesser m inded when th ey star t to drown.

    20:26 Anonymous -- youThu, 10/28/2010 - 20:47 Anonym ous (not verified)

    20 :26 An ony m ous -- y ou hit on th e problem. T hey wer e too self-

    regulated, they didn' t t rust the market enough.

    I wonder how many Thu, 10/28/2010 - 20:49 Anony mo us (not verified)

    I wonder h ow m any Republicans know someone, or f ind th emselv es in thecrossha irs of Foreclosur egat e? Would th ey still believ e in "too mu ch

    gov ernm ent regula tion" f i ts in with not taxing t he r ich?

    What goes around, comesThu, 10/28/2010 - 21:02 Anonym ous DV (not verified)

    What goes around, comes around! Condo associations are getting tired of

    See more truth-out.org stories on Digg.com

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    wait ing for ban ks to foreclose on freeloaders w ho, by not pay ing

    association due, are pu tt ing their bu rdens on th e backs of their neigh bors.

    Rev erse foreclosure is th e only effectiv e remedy . I wonder h ow th at pr ocess

    is being effected by foreclosuregate?

    Isn't it the Right thatThu, 10/28/2010 - 21:17 Dr. Bill Bushing (not verified)

    Isn 't i t t he Right tha t w ants to build m ore prisons? They should. . . to house

    all their fr iends wh en they get sentenced.

    White collar cr ime should be treat ed ev en w orse tha n th e person w ho, out

    of destitut ion, robs grocery stores of food for t heir fam ily . Of cour se v iolent

    acts of robbery deserv e harsh tr eatm ent, bu t not th ose driv en to non-

    v iolent crim e by t he economic conditions we face today ... ca used by g reed

    in bankers, mortgage firms and consumers.

    Let those "too big to fail" go the w ay of th e dinosau rs an d let's retur n to

    som e sanity wh ere mortgag e origina tors actu ally hold onto the paper and

    ar e th erefore responsible for th e risks inv olv ed.

    I'm tired of th ose receiv ing ex cessiv e incom es or pr ofits from doing noth ing

    but m ov ing paper around. Let th em WORK for a l iv ing!

    The free market system asThu, 10/28/2010 - 21:20 farmertx (not verified)

    Th e free m ar ket sy stem a s env isioned by th e Shru b's handler s could nev er

    work in this ag e of un bridled greed.

    Ev en he ha d to face that w hen h e admitt ed that h e was ha v ing to aban don

    free mar ket principles to sav e the free m arket sy stem.

    A free mar ket can work in this Count ry only if there are some regulat ory

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    ov ersight to prev ent such abuses.

    We can' t t rust th e cultur e of greed that th e Republican Party seems all too

    ready t o embr ace to operate in any other man ner tha n wh at i t did after

    'deregulation'.

    The RICO statutes do apply Thu, 10/28/2010 - 21:50 fredboy (not verified)

    The RICO statutes do apply to many such schemes.

    It is t ime th e gov ernm ent pur sue corporate crim e--the m ost tr uly

    "organized" crime out there.

    what is true for statesThu, 10/28/2010 - 21:52 NIZZZZEE (not verified)

    what is true for states ( l ike California) in w hich deeds of trust a nd

    assignm ents th ereof nev er g ot recorded. . .

    How can MERS be th e beneficiary of a loan?

    And the principal bala nces of ALL loans issued in 2 002 -20 08 a re gr eater

    tha n th e fair m arket v alues of the propert ies which are supposed to be the

    security for those loans......

    ALL PRINCIPAL BALANCES MUST BE DROPPED TO THE FAIR MARKET

    VALUE - and it must be done now to stop the foreclosures.... that is what

    the ban ks will get an y wa y . . so the fed should step in an d force th e banks

    to recognize that w hich they say is an asset on th eir balance sheet is NOT.

    Just drop the principal bala nce an d let the original tr ustor, borrower stay

    in the property and start pay ing based on th at bala nce. . . This would stop

    the foreclosures..

    Educate me please, Author,

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    Thu, 10/28/2010 - 23:23 Peter White, not autho r of th is article, Albion California (n ot verified)

    Educate m e please, Au thor, or other: Is i t correct th at 1 ) Th e "too big to

    fail" banks got tr i l l ions of tax pay er dollars in late 2 007 and 2 008? 2 ) Tha t

    the sam e banks are r efusing w orkouts w ith debtors/homeowners at

    reasonable, now, today m arket v alue t erm s? 3) Upon foreclosing at below-

    note, less-tha n original debt, or the originally lent am ounts, that th e

    banks ar e being reim bursed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (a re th esetaxpay er dollars or federal g ov ernm ent g uar ant ees?) up to the origina l

    v alues or amounts of their now "bad" loans? 4) Is it correct that countless

    tran sfers, assignm ents, recordings and r ecording fees hav e not been

    actu ally been ma de in the counties of the debtors ' origins and the ban ks

    ha v e eluded sign ifican t costs paid to th ose regional cit y , count y or oth er

    gov ernm ents to properly complete lega l "cha in of title"? Ag ain , please

    educa te m e. And tha nk y ou .

    To paraphrase Sarah Palin -Thu, 10/28/2010 - 23:32 goob ago oba (no t ve rified)

    To paraphr ase Sarah Palin - I nev er th ought I'd use her w ords for a ny thing

    - as far as Prop 13 in CA is concer ned, "How's tha t w orkin' for y a?"

    Tim e to get r id of i t , air-pocket th at i t is , and get ba ck to people taking

    responsibility for what they bought. The ONLY people who profited from

    tha t boondoggle were comm ercial landowners, and they pu t i t out th ere asa t axpay er 's rebellion. Bunch a h ucksters.

    But th ey 're al l about th e bottom line r igh t now. No though t to the futur e,

    except how m uch m ore they can accum ula te of what they a l ready ha v e .

    And no though t about how it affects any one outside the club.

    Rem inds me of a f loor man ager a t a Ralph's superma rket in m y

    ne ighborhood. Af ter the recent b rouhaha they went th rough, wh ere the

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    unions took the lower path and down-graded new h ires, she w as asked

    wha t she thoug ht of the ag reem ent. "I don't car e. It doesn't affect m e," she

    said. "I'll be out of here in t hr ee y ears w ith wh at I hav e. Not m y problem. "

    So mu ch for u nion solidari ty .

    Lots of wishful thinkingThu, 10/28/2010 - 23:33 Mike Joh nsto n (n ot v erified)

    Lots of wishfu l thin king her e. "Too big to fail" is a nice w ay to say "too big to

    prosecut e". These guy s alr eady own th e gov ernm ent, I real ly don't th ink

    there w ill ev er be any m eaning ful prosecutions. Just a few corporate f ines

    and m ay be som e more gov ernm ent m oney to help the banks pay those

    fines so th e execu tiv es don't lose their bonuses...

    Look for other websites -Thu, 10/28/2010 - 23:58 Foreclos e o n Geithner (no t ve rified)

    Look for other websites - and g et educated, th ey ha v e familiar nam es: Yv es

    Smith gets naked. A s Will iam K Black sugg ests: the FDIC should put Bank

    Of Am erica Into receiv ership, a nd ev ery exec should be axed. Look on

    HuffPo

    A Major problem is Obumm er, wh ose Wall Street bough t adm inistrat ion

    hasn' t considered cram down or a m oratrorium on foreclosures, ev en w ith

    th e explosiv e ev idence of frau d.

    @Hiding 20:47. Huh ? You Fri, 10/29/2010 - 00:21 mysterioso (not verified)

    @Hiding 20:4 7 . Huh ? You m ean w e shouldn' t hav e law s because most

    people don't break th e law s? WOW ! We shouldn't ha v e stopligh ts at

    corners for ev ery one ju st becau se a few "bad apples" wa nt t o speed throu gh

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    the intersection? We shouldn't hav e life jackets on ships just because a few

    people don't know h ow to swim ? We shouldn't hav e seat belts in ca rs

    because m ost people don't get in a ccidents? Just w hen y ou th ink y ou'v e

    heard ev ery thing from the r ig ht w ingn ut a pologists , another in sane idea

    craw ls out of the sl ime.

    I warned for years about Fri, 10/29/2010 - 00:54 Cathy (not verified)

    I wa rned for y ears about W all St . I war ned about the h ousing bu bble. I wa s

    told I wa s F$#@en insane. Wall St . comm its no crime, n either does the RE

    m arket! A s someone w ho had a R.E. l icense in the la te '7 0 's I knew tha t

    properties don't appreciate like they were doing. There was NO good

    pay ing jobs boom, lik e after W WII. In fact w ag es hav e been & ar e being

    pushed down as I ty pe th is.

    I knew that when our gov ernment deregulated the banks & Wall St . i t was

    just a ma tter of t im e. By the wa y I wa rned about Wall St . more than 1 0

    y ears before t he collapse!

    Unless these fraudsters are Fri, 10/29/2010 - 01:15 Robert Walters (not verified)

    Unless these frau dsters are duly prosecuted, the Un ited States can n o

    longer hold itself out to be a "nation of laws." What seems particularly

    incredible is that the ov ert control frauds hav e been exposed, the

    mortgages/real estate titles are all clouded, forgeries hav e been

    uncov ered, etc., etc., and y et NONE of the perpetrators has been arrested,

    let alone prosecuted. An d the banksters are pooh-poohing t he n otion tha t

    there is an y thing but m inor "paperwork gli tch es" inv olv ed! Wonder h ow it

    would fly with a DA for a check-kiter to cha racter ize his/her a ctions as

    "m ere paperw ork glitch es?" It will take y ears to clarify th e cha ins of title to

    so m uch real estate across the countr y , an d ev en th en, i t m ay NEVER be

    l d Bl k d W tt t t h t i d d F l

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    cleared up. Black and Wy att are correct as to what is needed. Foreclose on

    th e foreclosers.

    When the revolution comes, Fri, 10/29/2010 - 01:22 Juan Zapatista (not verified)

    When t he r ev olution com es, the blood of the opressors will flow on t he fine

    marble floors of their banks.

    The federal reserve is the Fri, 10/29/2010 - 01:26 Anonymous (not verified)

    Th e federa l reserv e is the root ca use of th is problem . Th ey set interest

    rates based on the idea that t hey could "ru n" the econom y rat her th an

    letting rates be set by the credit-worthiness of the borrower. Real estate

    and th e f inancial sector ar e two of the m ost heav i ly regu lated areas inexistence. How th is could be m istaken for th e free ma rket is bey ond me,

    CAN'T WAIT HOPE THEY ALL GO Fri, 10/29/2010 - 03:40 Anony mo us (not ve rified)

    CAN'T WA IT H OPE THEY A LL GO DOWN.EVERY LAST BIG BANK,AND

    THEY CAN TAKE THE ILLEGAL FEDERAL RESERVE WITH THEM.THE

    BIGGEST SCA M IN HISTORY.

    For a whopping good listen, Fri, 10/29/2010 - 04:54 Floresta (not verified)

    For a w hopping g ood listen, ch eck out NPR's Fresh A ir broadca st from 27

    October. Gret chen Morg ensen of th e NY Times really 'splains it for y a. I

    had an honest-to -god 'driv eway moment.

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    The well suited criminal class just might get taken down this t ime.

    the federal reserve is Fri, 10/29/2010 - 04:56 kris (not verified)

    the federal r eserv e is i llegal . a ba nk m ortgage is a promissory note and is

    m ade up out of the thin a ir, just a key board entry into a com puter.

    y outu be "moeny as debt" and "crea tion of m oney " and "federal reserv e".

    This was the biggest heist Fri, 10/29/2010 - 05:04 Seattle Mike (not verified)

    This was th e biggest heist in the h istory of the w orld.

    It w as wh ite collar cr ime on a lev el that m akes the m afia look l ike a

    preschool cla ss.

    It wa s a sy stematic pil laging of the bottom 98 % of Am erica. An d all the

    m oney w ent to a few rich people at the top.

    And these few rich people start ed the Tea Party wh ole cloth out of thin air,

    and now t hey are tr y ing to conv ince people to elect the crim inals once

    aga in and finish off the rape they started.

    I'm repeating and seconding Fri, 10/29/2010 - 09:31 racetoinfinity (not verified)

    I'm r epeating and seconding th is importan t comm ent:

    Thu , 1 0/28/201 0 - 21 :50 fredboy (not v erif ied)

    The RICO statutes do apply to many such schemes.

    It is t ime th e gov ernm ent pur sue corporate crim e--the m ost tr uly

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    It is t ime th e gov ernm ent pur sue corporate crim e--the m ost tr uly

    "organized" crime out there.

    I think it's quaint how some Fri, 10/29/2010 - 11:04 Ano nym ous (not ve rified)

    I think i t 's quain t h ow som e people imag ine there w ill be any kind of

    just ice serv ed to these wh ite collar cr imin als.

    In case any one ha sn't really been pay ing a t tention, Am erica is an Empire

    of Crim e run by SPECTRE.

    I've had it with morons who Fri, 10/29/2010 - 13:16 Anonymous (not verified)

    I'v e had i t with m orons wh o blame th e "free mar ket" for th is . Dum bshits . . .

    free mar ket is NOT sy nony m ous with la wless. Wh at y ou peckerheads just

    can' t seem to understand is that gov ernm ent in collusion w ith

    corporations write a nd pass "regula tions" so tha t th ey can skirt a round th e

    law. The law being "Thou shalt not steal".

    "free market is NOT Fri, 10/29/2010 - 14:07 Anonym ous (not ve rified)

    "free ma rket is NOT sy nony mous wit h la wless"

    HAHA HA! You're funn y !

    The free m arket is sy nony m ous with property , and property is theft of the

    comm ons for the benefi t of the few.

    Dumbshit .

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    Banks = "Too big to Fri, 10/29/2010 - 14:19 Anony mo us (not ve rified)

    Banks = "Too big to fail"

    People = "Too sm all t o ma tter "

    Law m aker s = "Too easy to bribe"

    Hope the Corporations that are, according to SCOTUS, 'people' are as upsetas I am .

    Foreclosure Frauds, Wells Fri, 10/29/2010 - 15:31 Barbara Ann Jackson (not verified)

    Foreclosure Frau ds, Wells Fargo-the Fox in Char ge, an d Victim ization

    Wells Farg os announ cement about refi l ing 5 5 k foreclosures is probably

    because cov ering up wrongful foreclosures is no longer effectiv e. Wells

    Fargo cant t rusted to f ix i ts foreclosure w rongdoings, no m ore than an

    addict can be trusted to self-reform. . .

    Mortgage lenders are not required to know la ws - at torney s are! The

    att orney s ma de sev ere errors - sometim es intentiona lly , since errors help

    keep the bil lable tab g oing, a nd comm it th e v ery frauds tha t prov ide

    basis, defenses, an d reasons to at tem pt negotiat ing m ortgage . .

    ht tp:/ /newsblaze.com/story /20101028181052lawg.nb/topstory .html/

    And the REpugs want to take Fri, 10/29/2010 - 15:33 granny (not verified)

    And the REpugs wan t to take ov er aga in, so they can continu e l ining th eir

    own pockets and th ose of the r ichest of the r ich a nd th e m ost corru pt of the

    corrupt.

    Tha nk y ou, Ronald Reagan and ev ery one w ho ha s followed in his

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    y , g y

    cheating, ly ing footsteps.

    For the last 30 years, we Fri, 10/29/2010 - 16:21 Jim Po plin (no t v erified)

    For th e last 30 y ears, w e hav e set th e stage for th is f inan cial disaster by

    relentless deregulation. The belief that unregulated free markets regulateth em selv es is false. The proof is star ing us in th e face. Ov er th is sam e

    period we saw the collapse of one industry after another and n ow a

    financial crisis with hu ndreds of bank fai lures and a m ortgage industry

    tha t is so ha pless i t can' t prov e i t is the own er of a simple mortg age.

    Our n ation ha s nev er seen such a succession of man m ade catastrophic

    ev ents since th e Great Depression. One a uth or recently docum ented tha t

    the inv estment ban ks actions since 2000 a re basically th e sam e taken by

    banks in th e 19 20 s. Will we tu rn our ba cks on th e lessons of history aga in?

    Congr ess mu st get back to work to produce legislat ion to force the f inancia l

    sy stem t o do due diligen ce in m akin g loans. Som ehow losses of defau lted

    loans m ust be assigned to the originators, banks, and inv estm ent f irm s

    tha t creat ed these fraudu lent securi t ies. If m ortgages can be sav ed, the

    borrower should be allowed to re-negotiate terms (with court superv ision)

    tha t permit th e loan r epay m ent. With out legislat iv e regulatory

    language, the banks and the Federal Agencies wil l just return to their bad

    behav ior once a new adm inistrat ion is in power.

    Just hold the attorneys Fri, 10/29/2010 - 16:28 Anonymous (not verified)

    Just hold the attorney s accountable,and y ou'll see how fast this is fixed.

    Interesting how the Title

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    Interesting how the Title Fri, 10/29/2010 - 18:25 Anonymous (not verified)

    Interest ing h ow the Tit le compan ies are escaping th e spotl igh ts shinin g

    down on all th e other l iars an d thiev es wh o'v e profi ted greatly from their

    c r imina l f raud .

    Barbara Ann Jackson Fri, 10/29/2010 - 22:06 GT66 (no t v erified)

    Barbar a A nn Jackson "Mortgage lenders are n ot required to know la ws -

    at torney s are! "

    As so m any bureau crats l ike to adm onish, ign orance of the law is no

    excuse.

    Obama is clearly working for Sat, 10/30/2010 - 03:18 Anonym ous (not v erified)

    Obam a is clearly working for th e corporations, not the electorate, so he

    cann ot be tru sted with this m ess.

    The electorate mu st push for r epeal of the Gram m -Leach-Bliley A ct, re-

    enactm ent of the Glass-Steagall A ct, an d for a m odern-day Pecora

    Com m ission, th is t ime headed by Bil l Black, w ho put 1 000+ banksters in

    jai l durin g th e S&L scandal.

    Let's see, I've paid my Sat, 10/30/2010 - 14:42 POC376 (not verified)

    Let's see, I'v e paid m y m ortga ge for quit e a few y ear s now an d the lender

    can n ot giv e me a free and clear t i t le in t he end! It sounds l ike fraud to me.

    I should f i le a law suit m aking them giv e back ev ery dime I 'v e paid them .

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    Fraud is fraud.

    With the continued loss of Sat, 10/30/2010 - 19:27 sierra (not verified)

    With t he c ontinu ed loss of good pay ing jobs ev ery thin g else is

    irrelev ant . . including refinancing or exit ing foreclosures, or r ev am ping of loans. . . . . . .

    You people are Sun, 10/31/2010 - 04:02 Anonym ous (not verified)

    You people are retarded.

    VIRTUALLY EVERY ONE of th e act ions these ban ks took w as com pletely

    an d totally ILLEGA L under US law . A gr eat deal of th ose actions WERE

    MANDATED BY VA RIOUS FO RMS OF GOV T INTERFERENCE.

    Any one who ev er read Atla s Shrug ged would know tha t the centr al point

    of th e book is th at m ost corru ption comes from g ov t fav oring one com pany

    ov er an other, m uch l ike how w e hav e giant banks w hose sole purpose is to

    rip off v ir tu ally ev ery one they come into contact with .

    If Ay n Rand's dream cam e tru e -these scum bags and th e sh*thead

    poli t icians who let them operat e without fear (Barn ey Fra nk & Chuck Sh*thead Sch um er being prim e exam ples) would nev er ev en exist .

    Wise up. Y our w orld is collapsing all a roun d y ou an d all y ou can say is 'it 's

    those other guy s fault'.

    Read this about how the Sun, 10/31/2010 - 18:20 Anony mo us (not v erified)

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