NYAG Sues MERS, BAC, JPM, WFC
A.G. SCHNEIDERMAN ANNOUNCES MAJOR LAWSUIT AGAINST NATION’S LARGEST BANKS FOR DECEPTIVE & FRAUDULENT USE OF ELECTRONIC MORTGAGE REGISTRY Complaint Charges Use Of MERS By Bank Of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, And Wells Fargo Resulted In Fraudulent Foreclosure Filings Servicers And MERS Filed Improper Foreclosure Actions Where Authority To Sue Was Questionable Schneiderman: MERS And Servicers...
Schneiderman Files Civil Fraud Lawsuit Against Three Major Banks for Use of MERS
New York filed a lawsuit against various units of JP Morgan, Bank of America, Wells, MERSCORP and MERS over their use of MERS in foreclosures. This civil suit alleges that the use of MERS has "resulted in a wide range of deceptive and illegal practices," most importantly, over 13,000 foreclosures in MERS name where MERS...
Schneiderman Files Civil Fraud Lawsuit Against Three Major Banks for Use of MERS (Updated)
New York filed a lawsuit against various units of JP Morgan, Bank of America, Wells, MERSCORP and MERS over their use of MERS in foreclosures. This civil suit alleges that the use of MERS has "resulted in a wide range of deceptive and illegal practices," most importantly, over 13,000 foreclosures in MERS name where MERS...
Investors (and Others) Realizing Their Ox is About to be Gored in Mortgage Settlement
Investors have been remarkably passive as banks and servicers have taken advantage of them. We've heard numerous reports of servicer fee abuses that amount to stealing from investors (remember, if you overcharge a stressed borrower and that borrower loses his home, the money in the end comes out of pension funds and 401 (k)s when...
Michael Olenick: More on ProPublica’s Off Base Charges About Freddie Mac’s Mortgage “Bets”
By Michael Olenick, founder and CEO of Legalprise, and creator of FindtheFraud, a crowd sourced foreclosure document review system (still in alpha). You can follow him on Twitter at @michael_olenick
Fallout continues from the ProPublica/NPR story "Freddie Mac Bets Against American Homeowners," though probably not the sort ProPublica expected.
Many in the...
Yet More Mortgage Settlement Lies: Release Looks Broad, Not Narrow; Other States Screwed to Bribe California to Join
A number of writers, such as Mike Lux, Bob Kuttner, Matt Taibbi, and Justin Krebs, have been willing to convey the Administration message that the current version of the mortgage settlement is a "much tougher deal" and even a pretty good deal, thanks to Schneiderman's intervention.
It is important to note...
Quelle Surprise! Feds Dust off Old Rogue Traders CDO Case to Burnish “Tough on Mortgage Crime” Credentials
The powers that be are in the process of seeing how they can burnish their "tough on bank crime" credentials while not ruffling anyone really important. And the case featured in the Wall Street Journal, "U.S. Plans Charges on Bond Fraud," illustrates the sort of enforcement theater we are likely to see over the...
Why is the Normally Astute Taibbi Sounding Like a Hopey Dopey Liberal on the Mortgage Settlement?
I hate taking issue with Matt Taibbi. I'm a huge fan of his writing and think he has done more to cause the big bad banks discomfort than any single writer.
But even someone as skilled as Taibbi occasionally has the writing equivalent of a bad hair day. And his post, "A...
A Housing Bottom Is Nowhere In Sight
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Source: Barry Ritholtz: A Housing Bottom Is Nowhere In Sight
Housing Bottom Calls Continue Despite Evidence
I have been very unequivocal about my view of Housing market — its not anywhere people should be expecting ordinary year over year price appreciation. As the recent Case Shiller data shows, this is still a market where despite record low mortgage interest rates, prices are falling. A normalized market is probably many years away...
Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (November 2011)
Through November 2011, the S&P/Case-Shiller1 Home Price Indices declined 1.3`% for both the 10- and 20-City Composites in November over October. For a second consecutive month, 19 of the 20 cities covered by the indices also saw home prices decrease. For year over year data, the 10- and 20-City Composites posted losses of -3.6% and...
ProPublica’s Off Base Charges About Freddie Mac’s Mortgage “Bets”
A new ProPublica story, "Freddie Mac Betting Against Struggling Homeowners," treats the fact that Freddie Mac retains the riskiest tranche of its mortgage bond offering, known as inverse floaters, as heinous and evidence of scheming against suffering borrowers.
The storyline in this piece is neat, plausible, and utterly wrong. And my e-mail traffic indicates...
