I came up with a 4 point economic proposal that would have helped main street fairly and squarely, would have required no bailout, and a president who was not beholden to the banks would have proposed himself.

http://wallstreetchange.blogspot.com/2010/11/2010-after-election-4-point-economic.html

Barack Obama has managed to create main street class warfare amongst itself by getting main streeters to think they are being victimized by other main streeters who bought too big of a home.

Perhaps this enlightening post by Capt. Jack can help Dean make his point… that homeowners who fall behind on their mortgages are solely responsible for this mess, so now they must pay the price. It’s only fair, right?

How Main Street has Destroyed Wall Street
Posted by Capt. Jack

http://4closurefraud.org/2010/05/16/how-main-street-has-destroyed-wall-street/

I guess now would be a good time to shoot the greedy homeowners.

It’s crystal clear. From the very beginning the homeowners have gamed the system. They started by tricking the property appraiser (lender’s agent) into submitting an outcome-based appraisal.

Then, millions of homeowners shrewdly conned the “lenders” into dismissing all agency and fiduciary responsibility in the underwriting process….going so far as to force the “lenders” into forging documents.

Then, the greedy homeowners forced the “lenders” to securitize the loan in such a fashion as to bifurcate the mortgage from the note.

On top of that, the homeowners secretly cooked up the concept of “Credit Default Swaps” and forced the “lenders” to insure the collateral at the full (outcome based) value 30X over.

Having successfully pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes – these irresponsible homeowners showered themselves with well deserved bonuses.

Realizing they were too big to fail, these irresponsible, reckless homeowners lined the pockets of legislators and received enormous sums of taxpayer bailouts.

The result of these cunning maneuvers by the fraudulent homeowner scheme has them sitting fat and happy in the cat birds seat. Yup, that’s how they did it. And they’re getting away with it.

Savings drained – check, 401ks all gone – check. Kicked out of their homes – check. “Lenders” made whole many times over via Credit Default Swaps – check. Homeowners foreclosed and “lender” buys back property for pennies on the dollar – check.
Follow the money and you’ll find the culprit. It’s about time we hold these homeowners accountable.

Good call. The websites below are sponsored by a well-healed, politically connected, PR machine of greedy volunteers… and contain detailed information on how the collusion on Main Street has ripped off Wall Street.

Don’t look though… it’s just spam.

http://www.4closurefraud.org
http://www.foreclosurehamlet.org

———————————————————————————-
...and I’d like to add that these greedy homeowners created a fraudulent HAMP program so they could ruin their credit, spend their idle hours bothering the banks with their requests, send their paperwork over and over to the banks, and force the banks to proceed with foreclosures while they made reduced trial payments.  Some of these damn homeowner’s have even had the audacity to ask the banks to prove that they owned the underlying mortgages and could demonstrate proper assignments! UNBELIEVABLE!  In my own case I must confess that I had the nerve to be ALIVE, despite a written,  specific, threat from CHASE bank to drop me from my trial mod. if I failed to provide my DEATH CERTIFICATE and PROOF OF Social Security DEATH BENEFITS.  (Yes, REALLY!) 

I would like to take this moment to personally apologize to CHASE for filing a loan modification request while I am dead.  (Thanks Dean for helping me see the error of my ways!)

Paul and Olga,

GREAT story!  Thank You!

I would like to address one point. You wrote:

“Crafted in late 2008, the industry plan gave banks almost complete freedom in deciding which mortgages to modify and how.”

The HAMP program is even worse. It MANDATES on page 3 of the FDIC HAMP guidelines that modifications must be less costly for mortgage investors than foreclosure. [That’s less costly for INVESTORS not HOMEOWNERS.] This effectively excluded any homeowner with substantial equity. So, if the homeowner was underwater the banks rejected them because they didn’t want to take the mortgage write-down, and if the homeowner had equity, the banks were mandated by the FDIC to reject them because the banks/mortgage investors could make more money by pushing the homeowner to foreclosure and tapping into their equity. 

HAMP is a fraud that was INTENDED to fail, while attempting to look like a valiant effort by the Administration to help struggling homeowners.

Geithner was certainly aware of this.  The President, well that’s anybody’s guess… was he fooled by guys like Geithner? Scared of guys like Geithner? Or did he simply turn his back on America’s struggling homeowners?

Considering his new Chief of Staff was plucked right from CHASE bank, one of the worst offenders in this mess, one would have to think that President Obama has decided to turn his back on homeowners, yielding to the allure of the banks big money and big influence.

Paul and Olga,

GREAT story!  Thank You!

I would like to address one point. You wrote:

“Crafted in late 2008, the industry plan gave banks almost complete freedom in deciding which mortgages to modify and how.”

The HAMP program is even worse. It MANDATES on page 3 of the FDIC HAMP guidelines that modifications must be less costly for mortgage investors than foreclosure. [That’s less costly for INVESTORS not HOMEOWNERS.] This effectively excluded any homeowner with substantial equity. So, if the homeowner was underwater the banks rejected them because they didn’t want to take the mortgage write-down, and if the homeowner had equity, the banks were mandated by the FDIC to reject them because the banks/mortgage investors could make more money by pushing the homeowner to foreclosure and tapping into their equity. 

HAMP is a fraud that was INTENDED to fail, while attempting to look like a valiant effort by the Administration to help struggling homeowners.

Geithner was certainly aware of this.  The President, well that’s anybody’s guess… was he fooled by guys like Geithner? Scared of guys like Geithner? Or did he simply turn his back on America’s struggling homeowners?

Considering his new Chief of Staff was plucked right from CHASE bank, one of the worst offenders in this mess, one would have to think that President Obama has decided to turn his back on homeowners, yielding to the allure of the bank’s big money and big influence.

Paul and Olga,

GREAT story!  Thank You!

I would like to address one point. You wrote:

“Crafted in late 2008, the industry plan gave banks almost complete freedom in deciding which mortgages to modify and how.”

The HAMP program is even worse. It MANDATES on page 3 of the FDIC HAMP guidelines that modifications must be less costly for mortgage investors than foreclosure. [That’s less costly for INVESTORS not HOMEOWNERS.] This effectively excluded any homeowner with substantial equity. So, if the homeowner was underwater the banks rejected them because they didn’t want to take the mortgage write-down, and if the homeowner had equity, the banks were mandated by the FDIC to reject them because the banks/mortgage investors could make more money by pushing the homeowner to foreclosure and tapping into their equity. 

HAMP is a fraud that was INTENDED to fail, while attempting to look like a valiant effort by the Administration to help struggling homeowners.

Geithner was certainly aware of this.  The President, well that’s anybody’s guess… was he fooled by guys like Geithner? Scared of guys like Geithner? Or did he simply turn his back on America’s struggling homeowners?

Considering his new Chief of Staff was plucked right from CHASE bank, one of the worst offenders in this mess, one would have to think that President Obama has decided to turn his back on homeowners, yielding to the allure of the banks’ big money and big influence.

Thank you ProPublica for keeping this in the news.

Yes I would agree Obama blew it. Perhaps he should have just left it alone and we would all be foreclosed on now and happily living in rentals.

But he didn’t, and he gave the banks too much leeway.

Now the banks play with you. Since the carrot of modification is out there, homeowners call hoping for help. The banks tell you they won’t help unless you are delinquent. So, against your better judgement, you stop paying the mortgage. Then you call back for help. They run you around for months and months with losing documents, lying and lying and lying, causing never-ending stress. Then maybe they put you in a trial modification. You pay faithfully, sometimes for a year or more.

And then the banks pull the rug out from under you. They have collected their year of incentives from the government, and collected your trial payments. But now you owe them tens of thousands in arrearages or they will foreclose. No permanent mod. Foreclosure.

And now we know how much fraud has been happening regarding these loans, and not one person has gone to jail.

Shame on this whole system.

@Mr. Bruce you been talking about redistribution of wealth that the middle class wants the millionaires and billionaires to pay for others, well you are right ! the middle class just wants some fairness and redistribution of the following:

AIG $70 Billion
Asset Guarantee Program $12.5 Billion
Bear Stearns $29 Billion
Capital Purchase Program $218 Billion
Commercial Paper Facility $1.8 Trillion
Fannie/Freddie bailout $400 Billion
FHA rescue $320 BIllion
GSE debt purchases $200 Billion
GSE Mtg Backed purchases $1.25 Trillion
Making Home Affordable $50 Billion
PPIP $100 Billion
TALF $70 Billion
TARP $70 Billion
TIP $40 Billion

*owning Congress…. “priceless”ng:

What did you expect from an arrogant, inexperienced, narcissist president?

I was ready to use my last Money and buy A used
pontoon and Go Live on Swamp Gumbo !!!
  Then I met a very nice Bankruptcy Atty. That Glanced at My Paperwork and told me it was not
his specialty and I should Continue to Try to Find an Atty. to Glance Through !!! Call him back and let Him Know how it Goes !! 
  Took the lady Atty.  20 Min. or Less to Glance through and Pick Out The Blatant Discrepencies !
  Now why Can’t our Judges Have Taken at least 20
Minutes Knowing what To Look for Before Passing This Crap On for The Fraudclosing Or Inept Esquires.  Still Scratching My Head !!!
  Was like Pulling teeth To Have an Atty. Go at it From the Citizens Side ???  What is That ???
  My Mortgage also Got Processed By MERS !!!
  LoL !!!  Will Keep My Neighbors Posted and Share
  My Information ! Hopefully Without A Bad Attitude !
” Try Not To Let The Bastards Get You Down ”

J.S., I wrote an article about how the use of the word “investor” is a scam as well. http://www.parallelforeclosure.blogspot.com/2011/01/term-investors-is-fraudulent-term-when.html

Investors are actually REinvestors who should have no standing over a homeowner in any way.

The REAL investor was the entity that purchased land and constructed a home. That home is then sold through a bank and a realtor. The INVESTOR is paid off.

Then came securitization and REinvestors.  REinvestors should have no standing over a property agreement that is already in place.

The above is just my opinion, based on what I believe to be common sense.

MZ Hardt I agree with your use of the word narcissist when describing our president.  Might I add “Munchausen’s disease by proxy”.

If a problem is to be fixed, the money must first flow through the hands of our president so he can be credited for fixing the problem, even if this method just prolongs the problem.

Hillary Clinton would have handled the home foreclosure issue head on if she had been elected.  People don’t seem to realize that the democratic party was sabotaged by progressives in 2008 in much the same way that ultra conservatives sabotage the conservative movement from time to time.

Thank you so much for your excellent reporting on this issue.

HEY, ANY LAWYERS OUT THERE? 

CAN WE (VICTIMS OF HAMP FRAUD),
SUE SOMEBODY FOR PROMISSORY ESTOPPEL?

Just wondering…thanks.

Parallel Foreclosure:

Yes, thanks for adding that important detail. 

In my case, I am being foreclosed by CHASE on behalf of Deutsche Bank, Trustee, while Deutsche Bank filed suit this past September to put the mortgages in this trust back to CHASE because of false representations and grossly sub-standard underwriting, with the bulk of their evidence coming directly from U.S. Senate testimony.  And yes, of course my foreclosure package included a fraudulent assignment of my mortgage to the trust in Feb 2010, years after the strict trust guidelines required all assignments to be complete. And yes, it was signed by one of the robo-signers, Barbara Hindeman, as VP of Chase, which she is not, and I suspect fraudulently notarized as well!

And yes, I worked for the same company for 31 years before being dismissed without cause under the guise of a larger unrelated management restructure.

But no matter. I am behind on my mortgage. I am now a deadbeat. I deserve to be kicked to the curb. I certainly wouldn’t want my personal misfortune and poor planning to get in the way of Jamie Dimon’s bonus, or President Obama’s political aspirations.

I’ll be fine. I can rent a 1-bedroom furnished apartment in Chengdu China for over 2 years for just one of those crazy CHASE mortgage payments! My kids can visit during school breaks once or twice a year!

I only ask about the “promissory estoppel” aspect because it seems to directly relate to the title of this article…hmmmmm…..!

Yes Karen. There are various decisions in the past six months which provide that a debtor who enters into good faith loan modification negotiations and has been told by the lender that the lender will forebear foreclosure to enable a loan modification to be undertaken has an enforceable commitment. The term promissory estoppel has not been used probably because there is no written forebearance agreement. However, the notion that equity will not sanction bad faith and deceit provides a better rationale.

Thank you Richard!

After 11 months of doing everything I’m supposedly “supposed to do” (over and over ), I am in foreclosure…and not sure when OneWest/Indymac (Deutsche Bank) will decide to sell my house and kick me, my husband, and my 2 small children onto the street.

We have proven with our paperwork that we can afford $1,600 a month for our $390,000 loan on our modest 1300 square foot home that we have lived in for 10 years.

But that’s not good enough for the Deutsche investors, according to the “mysterious”, all knowing NPV figures…which are manipulated to their advantage.

I have emails saying that they will “assist you in doing what we can to keep you in your home”—-but yet they keep denying me.

I’m just trying to do whatever it takes to keep this roof over our heads, and my kids in their school.

I don’t know if Egypt would want a Democracy if they really knew what is happening in our “fake” one.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/12/a...

NOT ONLY DID HE BREAK HIS PROMISE TO HELP, he is actually encouraging that the foreclosures go full speed ahead.

What a #ucking coward/traitor/liar

I AM PLANNING A HUGE PUBLIC PROTEST

WITH FULL MEDIA COVERAGE

IN FRONT OF ONEWEST BANK IN PASADENA

CALIFORNIA.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN ME

LET ME KNOW…

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Obama is the biggest liar to ever hit the tarmac..he doesn’t want to stop the foreclosures, he’s WORRIED ABOUT PUNISHING “the industry” of selling houses.

He should be _____ (you fill in the blank)

“As Fraud Scandal Grows, White House Opposes National Moratorium on Foreclosures

A coalition of as many as forty state attorneys general is expected to announce Wednesday a joint investigation into the recent revelations that major lenders may have committed fraud while forcing thousands of people out of their homes. While senior congressional Democrats have joined the calls for a national moratorium on foreclosures, the White House is arguing against punishing the industry.”

DemocracyNow

Fraudulent foreclosures my ars…. come on people we haven’t seen thousands of former homeowners on TV with their freaking sob stories.  That is because of bank ineptitude these free loaders have lived in their homes with zero payments for an average of 17 months which is a Dept of Justice statistic.

These people have had 17 months free ride and I for one hope they saved some money.  I again say if the atty generals want to play that game then it will come back around on all of the individuals who committed mortgage fraud to get their loans in the first place.  Be careful what you ask for….. again if all this fraud were really fraud we would see sobbing families every freaking day on PMSNBC and the other regime news networks.

J.S., the other problem is some homeowners are losing the built up home equity in their home AND the down payment when they are foreclosed upon. 

The more home equity a home has, the more motivation there may be to foreclose on that home so that the homeowner walks away with nothing, especially if there is a short sale on the home.

We hear a lot of talk of upside down mortgagers needing relief, but we also need to hear about people who have lived in their home for 10, or 20 years, and have a huge bankroll of home equity that they might not be able to access because they are out of work.

Don’t be fooled by Barack Obama.  Hillary Clinton much more represents moderate democratic values than Barack Obama ever will. Barack Obama is about both extremes and leaving the middle class to suffocate itself.

Obama figures the middle class are nicest, easiest to manipulate, loyal group out there so he is has stomped their heart out in the past two years, and he will probably continue to do so.

Look at who he is siding with in Egypt, the younger protestors who simply expect their president to leave overnight, even after the president has already promised to leave in September, and that this son will not run, that’s still not good enough.

Karen, Get a Rest report, Google it is the same as the NVP test and this way they can not lie to you and tell you that you didn’t pass the NVP test, I have find out myself that 90% of the time when they tell you that you did not pass it is a lie, Challenge it request their NVP calculations in written I bet you are going to find out they are all wrong either the Income or the value of the house or the debt, or other factors
Don’t trust what they tell you and request in writing, QWR (qualify written request) don’t let them fool you

Mr Bruce, either you missed my previous comment or you are one those one minded ignorant,  The only side committing fraud here are your Banksters friends, here is my comment again if this time you don’t get it you are a lost cause
I’m going to recommend you some books, websites, programs, and documentaries for you to educate and get inform:
Books: The Great American Stick up,13 Bankers, All The Devils Are Here, The Big Short, Websites: propublica which has documented on their articles the incredible fraud perpetrated by banks, also 4closurefraud.org, paralllelforeclosure.com beingmiddleclass.org, foreclosurehamlet.org,
Movies: Inside Job
Then let me pleaase tell you Mr Bruce, That you are using the consumer borrowers as scapegoated for the crash and fraud. and is the same logic as blaming the passengers of a discount airline for their deaths if it turned out to be that the plane had been flown by monkeys, Shouldn’t they have known they should pay more? The truth is the Banksters would do anything to entreat consumers to borrow far beyond their means, reasuring them that in a booming economy they’d be suckers not to buy buy buy, Think for a moment, the Lenders had no motive to vet the the recipients, So knowing all of this the Banksters bought insurance against foreclosure (AIG. If they foreclose they collect insurance ) If the bankster wouldn’t get the 700 Billion AIG BAIL OUT THEY WOULD BE BEGIN THE BORROWERS TO STAY IN THEIR HOME WILLING TO NEGOTIATE AT ANY COST BECAUSE THEY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO COLLECT THE AIG INSURANCE WHEN THEY FORECLOSE
That is why now we are finding the Banksters willing to do FRAUDCLOSURES just to collect that insurance I m sure you guys have heard of the Banksters doing the following in order to foreclose on a homeowner, you need to get educated and inform, many banks cannot even prove they hold the mortgage The Banks are well known of doing Forged notes, lost notes, intentional destruction of notes, unauthorized people signing mortgage assignments or endorsing notes, missing documentation, fraudulently fabricated documents, different plaintiffs foreclosing on the same property, plaintiffs who do not exist, illegally breaking in to homes and the inability or refusal to provide proof of purchase and/or ownership of the promissory notes.FORGERY, FILING FALSE DOCUMENTS INTO GOVERNMENT RECORDS, EXTORTION, ABUSE OF PROCESS, FRAUD ON THE COURTS, and countless others of CRIMINAL VIOLATIONS
Bruce, after all of this do you still blame the homeowners? if you are you blind

This is ridiculous that you put sole blame on Obama when 12 (twelve) Democratic Senators voted NO on cramdown.  He got it thru the House & into the Senate where it didn’t pass.  HE DID TRY!  It wouldn’t have made it that far if he were against it!  When 12 allies turn on the prez, it’s his fault????  Durbin said on TV that the banks owned part of the Senate.  There would be your problem.  Idiots

Unfortunately, the ultra-liberal responses choose to ignore that it was 19 mega banks that caused the crisis and proposing cram downs that would destroy the capital base of hundreds if not thousands of smaller banks.

Those smaller banks are in no position to accept cram downs.  You also ignore the fact that insured loans held by these smaller banks could walk away from their obligation to pay off the bank in full once the loan goes into default and in time foreclosure.

Those banks cannot afford to do cram downs and give up their right to mortgage insurance.

But none of you libs understand that because you have zero understanding of how businesses work or the need to have working capital or the need to meet payrolls.

You all live in your angry world where you lash out at what you see (mega banks) with only a smattering of an understanding of the impact on the smaller banks that were not part of the problem. 

Smaller banks did not sell off all their mortgages to the Wall Street blind pools that were the primary cause of the collapse.  The smaller banks held those mortgages.

Do not lecture me about what you think I know.  Obama and his cohorts thought they could lecture America and forever alter America to his socialist vision.  He didn’t have one person around him that had ever run a business.  The American people have sent a clear message that we shall remain a society with opportunity in it.  We will not accept becoming a socialist collective as Obama, Reid, and Pelosi have always dreamed of becoming.

So why don’t you silly little people stop railing at 19 mega-banks and take a few minutes to think about the impact of cram down on your local community banks, small savings and loans, and credit unions.  They all have billions of underwater mortgages and the record will show the smaller banks are making greater efforts to work with borrowers because the nature of these banks is to be more communiity oriented than the mega-banks.

You libs should listen to George McGovern.  After his 1972 presidential bid failed he opened up a bed and breakfast.  For the first time he came up against nonstop government regulations, fees, etc. and realized then the impact government has on small businesses.

What I am trying to say to all of you is take the time to stop flailing at the clear enemy which was the mega banks and recognize the huge amount of collateral damage that would have been done to the smaller community-oriented banks if the mortgage cramdown bill had passed

acmodspecialists brings up an important point in the comments section at the bottom of page of one.

ALL Banks conform to a look and style UNLIKE any other industry, and in exchange for that uniformity, they are backed by the government and are supposed to conform to ethical standards.

cat48,  It sounds like the president didn’t really have the senatorial experience and background that he was hyped to have had.

You seem to ignore that Barack Obama’s inner circle includes wall street mavens.

And, Barack Obama had a MAJORITY in BOTH HOUSES.  He had room to bargain. I would suggest that it was Barack Obama’s ongoing desire to literally hand feed any success the country has in an economic recovery that has alienated him from the republicans, where he easily could have found his 12 votes.

Mr Bruce, The small community banks have been the only ones getting hurt, The Mega banks are bigger than ever ! you got it all backwards
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html

@ Bruce - no-one is expecting cramdowns and to suggest that homeowner anger at the failure of HAMP is about cramdowns significantly misstates the issue.
In fact, cramdowns - suddenly owing less money, seemingly unjustly enriched by dint of a judge or other third party - are a straw man argument used to confuse the issue and inflame rage at people who were unfairly treated.
HAMP would have given millions of people a shot at lower mtg. interest rates (prevailing rates, that banks give all comers off the street) in return for a tiny fee. The homeowners would have had a chance to right their own ships, just as the banks did (tho their money was given or lent free - some $13 trillion to date.)
Speculators who are not gutting neighborhoods for 50-cents on the dollar f.c. purchases enjoy mtg. interest at today’s rates. Banks were content to deny existing homeowners the refi options for being underwater.
Permitting these refis is all HAMP was about. It was specifically included in the bailout, where (if spent) the money would have been less than 1% of the total sum. (Most remains unspent so even that number is high.)
You are entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts. Cramdowns are a red herring and we are fully aware of this fact.

Speculators are NOT gutting neighborhoods when they pay $0.50/dollar for properties.  I live in North Las Vegas which is ground zero and what you call speculators I call saviors who come in, fix up the outside and inside and then rent the place.  My sister-in-law just moved into a house close to where I live.  The landlord lives down the block and yes he hopes to make a nice profit someday but in Las Vegas it will be many years before any profits are made.

Obama chided the evil speculators who owned GM secured bonds.  Those bonds were owned by ordinary Americans including many auto workers and were rendered worthless by Obama’s crony capitalism maneuver that re-wrote 200 years of bankruptcy law precident in a matter of weeks.

I have tried to inform you that any writedowns of mortgages disallows collection on most mortage insurance products purchased to cover properties as part of the purchase process.  Why would any bank forego immediate collection of insurance proceeds by foreclosing and instead take a deal with the homeowner that most likely never pays off?

The government programs intended to help distressed homeowners were never structured to take into account these general limitations of the marketplace.  Instead of fessing up the government has chosen to try to get by with glittering generalities and attacks on lenders.

Truth, the sooner we can get done with the foreclosure process the sooner we can hit an absolute bottom in housing and the sooner Americans can feel just a little bit better about their home’s value.

Now if you would like to spend years and years in this economic stasis then continue to believe that all of the evils that occurred were because of anybody but government.

Barnie Frank and Chris Dodd were famous for starting all of their speeches with news about home ownership in the US hitting new records.  It went from 2/3 to about 72% at the peak.  We are now back below 2/3…. the moral of the story is that the marginal home buyers should have never been homeowners in the first place and they probably did get suckered into a sucker’s game when they accepted loan terms that were simply too good to be true.

As I read these posts it appears that most of you think homeownership should be a right and you are part of the same elite that believe healthcare should be a right and this should be a right and that should be a right given to you by government.  Government has effectively fooled you into believing that they and only they bestow rights.  Our rights come from god allmighty; not governments.  What we get from government is one group demanding that something be taken from another group and given to them.  That is not an expression of any rights.  It is an expression of government theft by fiat.

To Parallel Foreclosure, the majority in Congress was thwarted by Republican filibusters in the Senate until things could get done in lame-duck sessions. Meanwhile, Democrats who voted against cramdowns were enticed by lobbyists that it was a bad idea to do this, so they didn’t support it. There were some Democrats who acted like Republicans, like Lincoln from Arkansas, so it wasn’t brought up again, modified, and now it’s too late.

Ok. Mr. Bruce i’m going to go with you on the sooner we hit bottom the better, so here are a few suggestions to do that:
Reinstate the Glass–Steagall Act
Break up the banks
Moratorium in all foreclosures until the Banks clear up their fraudulent acts on FRAUD-CLOSURES
Regulate them to their teeth so they will never do this again
Do a thorough investigation after allegations of robo-signing, improper foreclosure, improper securitization, and other frauds came to the forefront.
And finally prosecute foreclosure fraud and other frauds meaningfully
Then we will hit bottom but with some clarity

Mr Bruce, more info about what your banks friends have been doing::

4closurefraud.org/2011/02/06/foreclosure-fraud-michael-wasylik-talks-to-bay-9-news-about-fraudclosures/

The whole foreclosure process is a profit center for servicers like and Banks to the detriment of homeowners and often times to the detriment of investors.”

The longer Banksters or servicrers can stretch out the foreclosure process, the more fees it can collect.

It makes no economic sense when you think about the scenarios up there. If you take a step back, though, and you take a look at where Fannie Mae is today, one of the things Fannie Mae is attempting to do is to avoid the appearance that they have less money than they actually have,

All these losses can’t hit the books, It’s better for them to take it back into inventory, close the doors, winterize it and sit on it, rather than take the loss.by modifying

Hey Bruce—-

What do you call a homeowner who lost their job and can’t find another one and can’t pay their mortgage because of the “19 banks that caused the crisis” (who by the way have never been sent to jail or fined), and tried to modify his mortgage (because the president told him to), but was lied to about how it would help him and tried for months to get the loan mod but was told “too bad, so sad” by the bank which by this time had foreclosed on his property and kicks him to the curb with out so much as a “oops, you lose”?

Do you call him a sucker, or collateral damage?

Karen & acmodspecialist take it easy on Bruce You Bullies !!! Karen,
  You can live Here with the other unemployed Person thats here !!!
  Nice house Owned for 12 years, 2 old Dogs !!! Nice Back yard for my
Future Chicken Coop and this years Garden !!!
    The reason people screw with other people in a Bad way is Because they don’t Believe they are going to get Caught and they don’t
  believe Someone will shoot them or whip their ass Severely in a Minute or so after the infraction !!!!!!!!!  Do   any of you Object to this view ??????????    Then why are you people still talking about the fine print shit !!!!!  You Know,  The reason we “Need” Attorneys !!! LoL
  Get real people We are getting to the top of the slope on this One !!!
  Make the Judges Accountable !!! Disbarred for their oversight and tax their Estates and their Children and Grandchildren Accountable !!!
    Oh !!!  Now they Want to Be   ”  Just   ”  Now you People will Have an   Audience that wants to Listen !!! They will Probably Start
Pointing Fingers ” They made me Rubber Stamp That ” Like Most Pencil Pushing White Collar Spineless Scum Would Do !!!  Are you People Still Whining about the Fine Print Fellows ??? Do Something Different !!! Sincerely Shawn Mc.

Karen & acmodspecialist take it easy on Bruce You Bullies !!! Karen,
  You can live Here with the other unemployed Person thats here !!!
  Nice house Owned for 12 years, 2 old Dogs !!! Nice Back yard for my
Future Chicken Coop and this years Garden !!!
    The reason people screw with other people in a Bad way is Because they don’t Believe they are going to get Caught and they don’t
  believe Someone will shoot them or whip their ass Severely in a Minute or so after the infraction !!!!!!!!!  Do   any of you Object to this view ??????????    Then why are you people still talking about the fine print stuff !!!!!  You Know,  The reason we “Need” Attorneys !!! LoL
  Get real people We are getting to the top of the slope on this One !!!
  Make the Judges Accountable !!! Disbarred for their oversight and tax their Estates and their Children and Grandchildren Accountable !!!
    Oh !!!  Now they Want to Be   ”  Just   ”  Now you People will Have an   Audience that wants to Listen !!! They will Probably Start
Pointing Fingers ” They made me Rubber Stamp That ” Like Most Pencil Pushing White Collar Spineless Scum Would Do !!!  Are you People Still Whining about the Fine Print Fellows ??? Do Something Different !!! Sincerely Shawn Mc.

@ Bruce I have seen and heard many ignorant and uneducated comment about this foreclosure crisis from those who trying to protect the banksters. You are far the worst with your comments.

We know here at propublica site your kind. When millions of people don’t agree with banks including yours something is wrong.

But don’t worry some day all of the banksters will be asked and they have to answer. No matter how much money they stole from the American people they can’t take it with them to hell.

As usual there are some great comments and thoughts on the subject.  This is a well informed group.
In regard to Cram down, it is not going to happen. In May of 2009 we made the suggestion to Barney Frank that two items be added to the bill which would have made it difficult for those 12 dems to vote against it. The first was that a judge could only cram-down to HAMP guidelines. The Senate already voted for HAMP therefore it would have given them political cover to set that standard thereby limiting activist judges which was every opponents, including the banking lobby, concern. The second item was to require that the banks/servicers could not offshore the modification work. This would have made it more palatable to a few Republicans. Mr. Frank said if I could convince Durbin the House would go along with it. I brought it to Durbin, Heid and Schumer. Good lip service but they did not make the change in the bill and it lost. 

The new Senate Bill S.222 at Judiciary Committee where bills like this start does not even suggest Cram-down.  Instead it gives authority to Federal Judges to offer Mediation Conference as a legal component of Bankruptcy. I made two suggestions to the bill on Friday; the first was that any offer from the servicer must meet a minimum standard of HAMP guidelines.  That has been rejected and I was asked not to include it in my request.  The second was that a Neutral Third Party underwrites the file and makes the recommendation to the Court at the Mediation Conference that the applicant does or does not qualify for a modification. A concern by the minority leader for the Committee was control and transparency of the process.  Our proposed addition also covers that concern. I will be meeting with a really good Federal Judge this week to push for our proposed addition. This effort is not much but it is an attempt to move the underwriting out of the servicers hands with the backing of the court.

I have also been in contact last week with someone from the National Association of Mortgage Investors. I think sometime we forget that Investors are being hurt with this mess.  I have read their written testimony to the Senate and am happy with most of their positions. It is the servicers that are causing the majority of the problems. Investors lose also when there is a foreclosure. Yes, the NPV test is a problem and I do not think that will change.

The level of frustration of millions of Americans is being ignored by the media and the government. It is two years that the government efforts where announced. We know we can not count of the servicer/banks to help the country economy. We also know now that the government either can not or does not want to help. I am not too confident in the AG’s and the courts will be limited and take time. Something else needs to be done.

There needs to be one message delivered to the right people at the right time by thousands of people. I know there are many good sites out there working hard to gather a unified effort. It is difficult to do since most people are not as informed as other.  There are also obviously hundreds of thousands that do not know where to go. 890,000 people have been denied a HAMP modification we should be able to get to them.

It is my opinion that our only reasonable option is to force the government to take the underwriting out of the servicers hands when ever possible. I would ask people to do a Google search on an article I wrote called HAMP’s Fatal Flaw.  In that article I offer a solution, it is not a magic bullet but it would force competition.  Let me be perfectly clear, my organization AAHMP was built to do this work so I do have a financial interest in having this happen. I think people that have read my post here know that this is a lot more than just money for me. If your interested who we are I suggest you visit our web site at http://www.aahmp.org click on the video on the right side of the page and maybe you want to click on our History to see how involved we have been for the past two years.

My thoughts are this, we need to gather as many people as possible using a simple social network like twitter. I will post every day something that may be helpful to people during this difficult times. I will keep people informed with tweets on programs and political activity and what AAHMP is doing to try and impact the debate.  During Feb we would need to build a following. This can be done with everyone’s help, many people here follow and post on other related web site, there are also the non profits who have hundreds of clients fighting this battle. We build a base using my account at twitter. I am new at this but I think it is @aahmp. There are many smart people here and I would ask for help on tweets which are only 140 characters. 

Once we build that base of at least 1,000 people we target specific people at specific times, ie the afternoon before a hearing in the house or senate while their staffers are preparing and again the morning of the hearing. We call and email all members of the committee and let them know we want change to the process and deliver one message - take the underwriting out of the servicers hands where possible. Other structures of interest would be the GSE’s, Treasury, OCC, HUD, AG’s State Government. Enough people could make an impact because we would be playing on their field. With this effort we may even be able to get the media’s attention.

This action can not take place until we know we can jam their phone lines and their inbox.  I having been dealing in this mine field called Washington for the past two years, I have a pretty good idea how it works. We would not waste our time on the banks/servicers.

Please comment

Steve,  You Seem to be trying to Work things in through the front and side door and Does sound Less Primitive to some of the approaches I may have had in Mind ! It only took 20 Min. for A Very Nice Intelligent
Atty. (Fab. Woman) to find the discrepensies in my Foreclosure !!!
  In The Beginning I was told to Contact Legal Aid in My City and they
said we Don’t Rebuttle your Forclosure, we Help with Mod. ....LoL…
  I Already had an Attitude About Being sued By Dear Uncle Freddie !
  Then 1 1/2 years to Finally have someone Show me Whats Wrong !
    Scratching My Head !!! If I Had this Knowledge Long ago I would have helped any friend , Neighbor, Family or Person in Need to Look
and see If the Fine Print was Bogus and the Sharks Were Premature
  well you Know Chocking on their Fine Print !!!    Lets Get Together !!!
  Together we STAND   Divided We Fall !!!  And Who Keeps Voting for this Entrenched Gov’t.. ???????? Quit That !!!  Does it Hurt When You Do That ???  Don’t Do That !!!    Sincerely Shawn Mc.

@ Steve I lake the fact that you working on trying to organize.

However in my opinion that is what the government want, Everybody to sit front of their computer and complain. As long as people doing that our government is laughing at us with the banksters.  People in Egypt didn’t like what the government did to them so they protested. Because they had .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Most of the Americans just sitting home front of the TV .

As long as the American people sitting home nothing will get done. We have to get together and get out there. But this will not happen because we have too many lazy people.

In many countries around the world the government is scared of the people.  In the so called FREE USA the people are afraid of their government. If this is what we call freedom then we all have a problem. America had freedom many years ago, but the people gave that up and handed it over to corporations.

And for last The media will not get involved because they get their money from advertising. Look how many bank commercials on TV. Do you think they will report seriously on the lies that bankers doing? Here and there a 2 min - 4 min segment nothing else.

The American people are doomed.

When 100 000 Illegal alien protested in Los Angeles all the sudden the Illegal aliens deportation stopped. Now they live here and don’t get deported. Why ? Because they had the guts to go out and protest and they scared the government. Our government is actually scared of the illegal aliens, while the US citizens are scared of our government.

That is why the American citizens can be pushed around thrown out of homes. NO GUTS NO GLORY.

Not to run you down steve but I Agree with Gabor On your angle of Attack !!!  Gabor ,  I’m Buying you More Ammunition For a Belated
Christmas Present !!!  Go Woman !!! 
  Anyway,  Start with white Paint on Black Tarps Duck Taped With
Common Sense Statements About whats Been Going On !!! You Know
  Similar to the way Elected Officials Have Their Supporters Put Signs
  In their Yards !!!    ”  ONLY   BIGGER ”  They will Get Press and
  our Current Gov,t. Will Not want these Simple Gestures   and the
  Previous President and his People will Be Giggling at The
    ” QUICKSAND PIT ” They Left for Obama !!!  Sincerely Shawn M

This discussion group is very well informed and articulate. I respectfully suggest more attention be given to what can be done to correct existing problems instead of simply identifying and explaining the problems.

Here is my list:

1. Encourage mortgage debtors in foreclosure to defend against summary judgment. If one out of five follows this advice, foreclosure will grind to a halt. The courts will be unable to process the volume of cases. Foreclosure reform will only result from necessity not the good conscience of our elected officials.
2. According to the Special Inspector General for TARP’s June 2010 Report, the federal government spent $4.3 trillion on rescuing Wall Street. Make the recipients repay using all lawful means available. Such lawful means include:
(a) use of the Federal and State False Claims Act;
(b) liability for practicing fraud and deceit upon federal agencies such as FNMA and FRMAC;
(c) criminal liability including racketeering;
(d) enforcement by federal and state authorities of repayment and redemption provisions:
(e) liability for damages to state and federal agencies as investors for breach of warranties and representations; and
(f) special taxes.

What is needed is a campaign to raise public awareness about these two issues. Nothing will be done unless and until, the electorate demands action on these two initiatives. It should also be obvious that recovery of $4.3 trillion will go a long way to repairing the hole in the Federal budget without sacrificing entitlement benefits for the elderly.

Garbor, I do not feel a very large protest can happen for two reasons.  First most people in this situation are embarrassed to let other people know they are in trouble.  Many are not but not in the numbers needed to have an impact.  Second to organize a very large protest is difficult due to logistics and cost.  I imagine there are not many people who have the extra money to get to DC.  A state by state protest at state capitols can also be difficult due to the reasons mention above. These protest have been tried before with very little effect. American people are lazy but not to lazy to send emails and make calls. A protest is also only good for one day, politicians can give lip service to the cause at that moment and than walk away. We need a sustained effort with large numbers. We need to let people know who and when to make contact.  One thing I have learned after all this time dealing with Washington is that these Congressman and Senators move quick from one issue to another. We need to keep them focused. 

Schawn,  what I am doing is trying to walk in the side door and beat them at their own game, using the rules they have set up hopefully with the help of the courts We also have the “Escalation” process which is part of HAMP.  The servicers have already agreed to do it when they signed the Servicer Participation Agreement (SPA) with Treasury.  We need to use that vehicle because it is an easier sell to DC since no new legislation or funding is needed.  It gives the politicians the political cover on both the left and right to be in favor of an effort. Will new legislation be need - maybe - but this is an immediate fix to HAMP.

Would this proposed effort be the answer - we do not know - however based on what I know politically it has a chance if we have the numbers.

@ Steve There is not one politician in my state that I did not contacted.

They are unable to do or just don’t want to do anything. I was told their hands are tight. I guess it wasn’t tight when they gave money to Wall Street. Thats all is matter keep the fat cats happy. After all they are the campaign donators and not the American people.

The OCC have been reviewing my case since May 2010 I don’t know how many other people filed a complaint but I am sure the result is the same. Treasury has not enforcing the rules on them. This country is more corrupted then a third world country in somewhere in the globe.

Banks are braking laws left and right. In CA we have a law CCC 2923.5
which states not to file NOD while a homeowner is in Loan Mod. Do you think they care. Millions of CA residents are a victim of the new fraud. It is called Notice of Default Robosigning. If you don’t have the money to file a lawsuit banks are getting away with this fraud in CA.

and guess what : The AG is unable to stop this fraud. The Banksters
running this country and not the politicians and not the people. Banks don’t have to obey the law.

Behind our computers and on the telephone we can spend as many hours as we want to. I am sure most of you who are in this site already done that, and nothing changed since this crisis happened.

So all I am saying we tried one way to change the system, IT DOESN’T WORK.  All people have to do is start to walk front of banks with signs then on main street . Believe me things will change. I am not talking about 20 people. And if they embarrassed then lets put a paper bag on all of our head . Then we don’t have to be embarrassed , but the numbers count.  Imagine a thousand of people with paper bags on their head protesting against banks. Personally I think bankster should be ashamed and not people.

But none of this will happen. The said thing is, if our country would be attacked by an enemy force lets say on the coast of Florida, we would be occupied in less then a week the way this government is running. We are just lucky that no enemy of us figured this out.

It has been 2 years since the crisis started. Nothing got done to help the people. Look at Katrina disaster, Look at 911. The problem in America is we are always prepared after the disaster. But then we fall on the other side of the horse. (Like making the mother drink her own breast milk at the airport. ) That is our national security Do you remember? Or when Tom Ridge told us to by plastic bag and Duct tape in case of a biological attack.

And these people are in charge of the United States of America.
It is a sad joke.

Any one looked at the how the servicers are reporting modifications to SIGTARP?  For example, I called Fannie Mae last week to see if they could put a fire under BofA regarding a modification that has been stagnating.  Of course BofA says Fannie Mae says is the hold up and visa versa.  Anyway, I actually got a Fannie Mae rep to talk to a BofA rep on a conference call and low and behold, the loan had been reported as modifed in the Fannie Mae system several months ago.  That means that BofA reported a loan modification (maybe even got their servicer compensation from those TARP funds that were allocated for that purpose) and the borrower is stuck with a growing arrearage, stress and slouching toward foreclosure.

OK, if anyone knows the HAMP guidelines then one knows that if a borrower has a dreaded pick-a-pay loan, the goal of HAMP modifications is to get the borrower into a fixed rate,fully amortized loan.  Except at Indymac, the lovechild of the FDIC loss share prenup.  IndyMac, in its waterfall test for HAMP, the initial income test at 31% of gross income, decided they can use the lowest, interest only payment, to see if a borrower is eligible for HAMP, completely defeating purpose of the HAMP guidelines. And what consequences are there for INDYMAC?  Nada, Nothing. The borrower has no options. No Choices, but to short sale, deed in lieu or foreclosure. Of course, they could enter into a repayment plan, where they would be paying close to twice their fully amortized payment, but if they could afford that, why would they have fallen behind in the first place?

Chase is even worst. Only thing in reality from chase is Negative NPV .
But they never provide the actual numbers to the homeowners. And they can get away with that. Then foreclose, and sell the homes for their buddy investors for less then half, in CA. While the homeowner could have saved his or her home if Chase would have considered writing the loan down.

IE. Current mortgage 500K Home foreclosed family kicked out then the home sold for 250 K.

Homeowners income qualify under the HAMP for up to $ 300.000.
Chase sends a letter to homeowner; Loan Mod denied due to negative NPV , but without numbers to back it up.

Chase then sell the home at auction or keep it in its books for a lower value as asset.

And not one Government Agency is investigating or holding these banksters accountable.