Post Tagged with: "mortgages"
Moment of Truthiness
if many countries were in the cast of “The Biggest Loser,” the US would be among the fattest competitors. Thus, with this report, is the US now able to say, “See here, we are going to go work as hard as the rest of you to slim down”? Maybe not. Today, for all the fanfare associated with “The Moment of Truth,” it did not get the votes necessary (14 out of 18 Commissioners) to move it forward to Congress for consideration. Only 11 Commissioners voted yes, as five of the six senators on the Commission backed the plan, but only one of the six House members did. The Moment of Truth will have to wait.
MBS Putbacks Uncertain but Other U.S. Bank Problems Also Loom
Jonathan R. Laing reports in Barrons that the exposure of U.S. banks to liability for putbacks of defective MBS (mortgage backed securities) is greater than the $52 billion reported last week from the findings of the COP (Congressional Oversight Panel). The Laing article has a total potential liability of $86 billion for U.S. banks. What
Time To Shut Down MERS
Randall Wray advises us to support Representative Kaptur’s bill and restore the rule of law Every link of the home finance food chain promoted fraud—from mortgage brokers and appraisers who conspired to overvalue property to stick buyers with overpriced homes, to many mortgage lenders which preferred the riskiest mortgages to maximize interest and fees, on
Put-Back Losses on Mortgages Estimated at $52 Billion
by John Lounsbury Buried 72 pages deep in the latest COP (Congressional Oversight Panel) Report is the following table: (Click on table for larger image.) The significance of this table is explained in the report: The estimated $52 billion would be borne predominantly by four firms (Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup),
Elizabeth Duke Testimony on Foreclosure Crisis
Fed Governor Elizabeth Duke predicts at least two more years of foreclosures at current rates and gives specific details about exposures of the current crisis
Janet Tavakoli on the Foreclosure Crisis and Systemic Fraud Issues
I found this video by David Fry with Janet Tavakoli as guest very enlightening. Tavakoli takes the same view that I have regarding how fraud is toxic for any banking system and must be rooted out. However, her most compelling statement had more to do with the rule of law, when she says "you just
Videos: Depositions of Alleged Robo-Signers From Nationwide Title Clearing
Over the past several years, Bryan Bly, Crystal Moore and Dhurata Doko have signed thousands of mortgage assignments as vice presidents of Citi Residential and other major lenders. Yet when asked in a recent deposition what a mortgage assignment is, Bly replied: "I’m really not sure." Moore, meanwhile, defined a promissory note as something "that
Fewer Foreclosures but Worries Increase
Price declines have the strongest effect on foreclosure rates; unemployment is secondary. The foreclosure document mess is temporarily slowing foreclosures
Is the foreclosure crisis overblown?
Here are Andrew Ross Sorkin and Joe Nocera of the New York Times having a video debate about the foreclosure crisis. Nocera thinks this is a key economic issue. Sorkin thinks the issue is overblown. My take: For political reasons, the Obama Administration would like to deep six this issue because it could harm the
Eliminating Foreclosure Fraud: Setting the Record Straight on Bank of America, Part 2:
William K. Black is an Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He is a white-collar criminologist and was a senior financial regulator. He is the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One. L. Randall Wray is a Professor of Economics at the University
Open Bank of America’s Books And Set the Record Straight
William K. Black is an Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He is a white-collar criminologist and was a senior financial regulator. He is the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One. L. Randall Wray is a Professor of Economics at the University
The Aggregate Picture on Mortgage Delinquencies and Foreclosures
Lender Processing Services releases a monthly data set which gives a better view into how the mortgage market is doing overall. I have taken a look at the most recent publication and have a few charts to share with you below on the data through September 2010. My overall take on the data is that