If you have already refied your mortgage, or are unable to because of new tighter loan restrictions, there’s an additional and little-known step you can take to lower your monthly payments. It’s called “recasting” or “re-amortizing.” [More]
mortgages
Convicted Fraudsters Still Have Real Estate Licenses
By 11.12.10
So, whaddya gotta do to lose a real estate license? A Sacramento Bee investigation uncovered licensed real estate brokers who were suspected or even convicted of fraud, some of them even convicted for committing mortgage fraud. [More]
Foreclosures Drop 9% Over Fudged Paperwork Fallout
By 11.11.10
For the first time in a long while, foreclosures actually dropped in October, falling 9%. The big drop came about as several big banks halted foreclosures across the board after news about the robo signers began to emerge. Foreclosures are expected to pick back up again November, albeit at a softened pace. It may be 3-4 months before the rate fully resumes. So take a gasp, homeowners behind on your mortgage, you just caught a temporary break. [More]
Mortgage Scandal Of The Day: Forced-Placed Insurance
By 11.11.10
In a dark cranny of the mortgage-servicing world a “force-placed insurance” scandal is brewing. When a homeowner’s insurance lapses, the servicer steps in and buys them a new one, at a price several factors higher than their original. And the company they buy it from is essentially themselves with a different name. Now investors are finding out about the incestuous self-dealing and kickbacks and they’re pissed. [More]
Paying The Foreclosure Lawyer With A Second Mortgage
By 11.10.10
Ever the hotbed of innovation, a new innovation in foreclosure defense is emerging in Florida. Until now, the big question for foreclosure lawyers is “how do we get paid?” If their client can’t afford to pay the bank, how are they going to pay for legal services? One firm has figured out a way. After the original mortgage is nullified or reduced, the client takes out a new mortgage for 40% of the savings, and pays it to the lawyer. [More]
"Adversely Possessing" Empty Houses: Robin Hood Or Fraudster?
By 11.9.10
Citing a law from the 1850’s, Mark is going around Florida looking for foreclosed and abandoned houses and filing paperwork to try to claim their deeds. It’s called “adverse possession.” [More]
Squatters Spoil Dream Home With Fake Deed Claims
By 11.3.10
A Seattle couple were 10 days from closing on their new house when they discovered squatters had moved in who claimed they had seized “free land.” [More]
Banks Paper Over Robo-Signer Errors, Structural Problems Remain
By 11.1.10
After the foreclosure fraud scandal broke, banks scrambled to fix what they described as “procedural” errors and “technicalities.” But the lawyer whose deposition of a former robo-signer sparked the uproar says all the banks have done is put bandaids over bandaids. [More]
Walk With A Family Walking Away From Their House
By 10.28.10
What’s it like to walk away from your house? No, not to go down the street to get some ice cream. Walk away like mailing the keys to your mortgage lender and saying, “Take it. It cost me more than it’s worth.” Immoral? Perilous to future job prospects? Is it “just business?” NPR follows along with one couple grappling with these very questions. [More]
Oops We Lost Your Docs So You're Going To Foreclosure
By 10.27.10
After Alexis’s employer started making her and other workers taking mandatory furlough days, her income dropped so much that she had trouble making mortgage payments. So, like many others, she sought a loan mod. She followed all of Bank of America’s instructions and thought she was on the path to getting a mod. Then BoA told her they were going to foreclose on her house. [More]
Poll: Most Americans Concerned About Ability To Pay Mortgage Or Rent
By 10.27.10
The recession may be over, but according to a new poll by the Washington Post, not only are most Americans concerned about having enough money to pay their rent or mortgage, but that number has continued to increase over the last two years. [More]
Consumer Lawyers Drawn to Foreclosure-Fighting Bootcamp On Remote Farm
By 10.27.10
A growing band of consumer lawyers have been pilgrimaging to a farm located in the depths of the North Carolina mountains to learn the secrets of fighting foreclosures by exploiting lenders’ flawed document trail. [More]
Understand The Essential Players In The Foreclosure Scandal
By 10.25.10
Having trouble keeping track of all the different players and abbreviations and names in the latest foreclosure fraud mess? ProPublica offers a handy primer. [More]
Loan Mod Denied Because Family Saved Too Much, Now Heading To Foreclosure
By 10.25.10
This family sought a loan mod after the father had his hours cut at work, making it hard for them to make their regular monthly payments. They followed the advice of housing counselors, reducing expenses and saving up money. Finally, PNC Bank told them their loan was denied. The $7,160 they saved up, which included a $5,218 tax refund, meant they were too well off to qualify. Now their house heads towards foreclosure. [More]
14 Reasons Why Countrywide Is In The Worst Company Hall Of Fame
By 10.15.10
As the news breaks that Angelo R. Mozilo, the curiously orange former CEO of Countrywide Financial, has agreed to pay millions of dollars in fines, we decided to take a walk down Countrywide’s Memory Lane… which happens to be a street littered with abandoned and foreclosed houses. [More]
Banks Hired "Burger King Kids" To Process Mortgages
By 10.14.10
JPMorgan & Chase had a cute name, the “Burger King Kids,” for the workers with little no experience or qualifications it hired to process the reams of mortgages it plowed through at the height of the housing bubble. These walk-in hires “barely knew what a mortgage was,” writes the NYT. The newbies Citigroup and GMAC/Ally Bank outsourced the work to sometimes tossed paperwork into the garbage can. [More]
How The Looming Mortgage Bond Scandal Could Dwarf The Foreclosure Fraud Crisis
By 10.14.10
If you thought the fake doc foreclosure fraud crisis is bad, wait till you get a load of what could happen once people start looking at the pending mortgage bond meltdown. Reuters blogger Felix Salmon dug into the documents and he says it looks like banks have been lying to investors about the quality all this time. [More]
AGs In Every State Open Joint Foreclosure Investigations
By 10.13.10
On the heels of a massive fraudulent foreclosure document scandal, Attorneys General in all fifty states opened a joint investigation into home foreclosures, pledging to halt any and all wrongful practices at mortgage companies and banks. [More]
