6 posts tagged “debt”
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
After the recent dismissal of 14 foreclosure cases by a federal judge in Cleveland, another federal judge in Ohio has given lenders 30 days to prove that they own the properties they intend to seize from troubled homeowners in 27 other cases.
The second judge, Thomas M. Rose of Federal District Court, in Dayton, ruled Thursday that while the lawyer filing 26 of the cases had claimed his clients owned the properties at the time the foreclosures began, he had not submitted the necessary proof to the court.
“Failure in the future by this attorney to comply with the filing requirements,” Judge Rose said, “may only be considered to be willful.”
Taken with Judge Christopher A. Boyko’s dismissal of 14 cases in Cleveland last month, the latest ruling indicates that some courts are growing tougher on lenders foreclosing on delinquent borrowers without providing proof of ownership.
It has long been a common practice for lenders to bring foreclosure proceedings without attaching proof of ownership of the underlying note. Tracking down such documentation may be more challenging because of securitization, the pooling of mortgages into trusts that are subsequently sold to investors.
Citibank is trustee in one case overseen by Judge Rose; it represents a securitization trust sold in 2005 by First Franklin, a loan originator now owned by Merrill Lynch. At issue in the case is a mortgage on a property in Miamisburg, Ohio, for $191,000. The borrower defaulted in August 2006.
Another case involves HSBC, which is foreclosing on a $144,000 mortgage on a property in Dayton. The mortgage was underwritten in 2004 and has been in default since October 2006.
A Citigroup spokeswoman said the company did not comment on pending litigation. An HSBC spokeswoman said the bank had not studied the ruling and could not comment.
An estimated two million families may lose their homes to foreclosure in the coming years, specialists say. A recent study of 1,733 foreclosures by Katherine M. Porter, an associate professor of law at the University of Iowa, found that 40 percent of the creditors foreclosing on borrowers did not show proof of ownership.
Such proof gives a creditor standing to foreclose against a borrower and is required by law.
Judge Rose cited Ms. Porter’s study in his ruling.
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Bush unveils plan to help borrowers: Lenders, investors agree to freeze rates on some adjustable mortgages
updated 3:14 p.m. ET, Thurs., Dec. 6, 2007
WASHINGTON - Hundreds of thousands of strapped homeowners could get some relief from a plan negotiated by the Bush administration to freeze interest rates on subprime mortgages that are scheduled to rise in the coming months.
"There is no perfect solution," President Bush said Thursday as he announced an agreement hammered out with the mortgage industry. "The homeowners deserve our help. The steps I've outlined today are a sensible response to a serious challenge."
Bush has been accused of moving too slowly to address a crisis that has spread to the broader financial market. But he also was careful not to sound as if he were imposing a government solution and violating his free-market principles. He billed his plan as a voluntary, private-sector arrangement that involves no government money.
"We should not bail out lenders, real estate speculators or those made the reckless decision to buy a home they knew they could never afford," Bush said after meeting with industry leaders at the White House. "But there are some responsible homeowners who could avoid foreclosure with some assistance."
Bush said 1.2 million people could be eligible for help. But only a fraction will be subject to the rate freeze. Others would get assistance in refinancing with their lenders and moving into loans secured by the Federal Housing Administration, Bush said.
Also, the aid will only come to those who ask for it, he said. Thousands of borrowers who are falling behind on their payments have been sent letters about the options, and Bush also urged people to call a new hot line: 1-888-995-HOPE.
The announcement followed the news earlier Thursday that home foreclosures surged to an all-time high in the July-September period. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the percentage of all mortgages that started the foreclosure process in the third quarter jumped to a record 0.78 percent, surpassing the previous record of 0.65 percent of all mortgages in the second quarter.
The administration's effort is aimed at stemming a further tidal wave of foreclosures in coming years as 2 million subprime mortgages — loans provided to borrowers with spotty credit histories — reset from their introductory rates of around 7 percent to 8 percent to levels as high as 11 percent, adding hundreds of dollars to the typical monthly payment.
A recent surge in mortgage defaults, part of the worst housing slump in more than two decades, has piled up billions of dollars in losses for big banks, hedge funds and other investors while roiling financial markets worldwide. Some economists think the housing bust may become severe enough to push the country into recession.
Bush originally gave the wrong number for the hot line; the White House later corrected him.
The president mentioned other steps to prevent foreclosures. The FHA has greater flexibility to offer refinancing to homeowners with good credit histories. It is expected that this eventually will help 300,000 families, officials said.
The Federal Reserve is announcing stronger lending standards this month, while the Housing and Urban Development Department and federal banking regulators are acting to improve disclosure requirements, he said.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the streamlined procedures for supporting efforts to refinance mortgages and freeze rates were a "welcome step in helping Americans protect their homes and communities from the consequences of unnecessary foreclosures."
The highest-profile part of the plan would freeze introductory "teaser" rates on certain subprime mortgages, preventing rates from rising for five years.
This offer would apply only to people living in their homes and who have not missed any payments at the lower rate. It also only would apply to loans taken out between 2005 and this past July 30 and scheduled to rise to higher rates in 2008 and 2009.
The hope is that the five-year freeze will buy time for the housing sales and prices to start rising again. Such a rebound would enable homeowners to refinance their current adjustable rate mortgages into fixed-rate loans with more affordable monthly payments.
But even Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who led the negotiations with the mortgage industry, acknowledged the effort is "not a silver bullet."
"We face a difficult problem," he said.
The big sticking point in the negotiations was getting investors who had purchased the mortgages after they were bundled into securities to agree to accept lower interest payments. Critics have said even with a deal, there are likely to be lawsuits. But officials representing major players in the mortgage industry said they believed the plan would withstand any legal challenges and would help at-risk homeowners avoid defaulting on their mortgages.
But George Miller, executive director of the American Securitization Forum, which represents companies that package mortgages into mortgage-backed securities, told reporters he expected the industry would face suits from investors unhappy that the original terms of the mortgages have been modified.
The president also did not miss the chance to lash out at the Democratic-controlled Congress.
Bush blamed lawmakers for not sending him legislation that he said would show they "are serious about responding to the challenges in the housing market." One measure would give the FHA more flexibility; a second would change the tax laws temporarily to help people who have a portion of their mortgage forgiven by banks.
"The Congress has not sent me a single bill to help homeowners," Bush said.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
[sponsor: Reduce Your Unsecure Debt with ASProgram.com]
We
came this close [] to seeing the Cohen Bros.' new one which my buddy
the Dirt Kahuna from the great Michigan band the Dirt Surfers says "
You won't find a better-made crime flick - it's violent as hell. The
film's bad guy is a piece of work, and was a masterstroke in the
casting department. This Cohen brothers film is grittier than "Fargo," but every bit as entertaining.
We reconsidered and rented a bunch of comedies, bought some Orvill R and headed home instead...
Waitress - surprizingly great/quirky small town pie flick
Superbad - the best teen movie EVER! fast paced dialog that kills
Girl Next Door - pretty damn good teen movie straight out of Howard Stern's twisted world
Colonel
Kenny Lee, the proprietor of RealityBB.com and Kentucky's finest
bluesman/guitarist posted this bit of bad craziness recently. I could
not let you miss it, enjoy.
Flo-
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Cops: More Smoke Toad Venom to Get High
www.physorg.com/news115971422.htmlQuote:
In October, a Kansas City man was charged with possessing a controlled substance after Clay County authorities determined he possessed a toad with the intent to use its venom to get high.
"Toad smoking," which is a substitute for "toad licking," is done by extracting venom from the Sonoran Desert toad of the Colorado River. The toad's venom - which is secreted when the toad gets angry or scared - contains a hallucinogen called bufotenine that can be dried and smoked to produce a buzz.
40% of the 78 million Baby Boomers are in hock to creditors. The Boomers who were known for paying their bills are now being fleeced by credit card interest rates and medical expenses that are out of control. Where can they turn?
Let's face facts. Say you want to work and can physically work, but who is going to hire you for a job where your talents can really benefit the company even though you might be willing to work at a lower wage? It is true that there are a few employers that have seen the light and know that what you bring to the job is experience and dependability that is hard to find in younger workers. But these visionaries are few and far between.
So while you are waiting to find a way to pay your debts you continue to use up your assets to keep the door open and put food and medicine on the table with nothing to shield you from the day when your credit is used up.
What are the options: debt counselors, debt consolidators, taking on more debt or having some attorney incorporate or help you give your assets away? None of those solutions are too inviting. On a personal level, since I ran my own business and had several deals in the works I believed that if I could just make it through another month or two, I could begin to pay off my bills.
In my search for a solution I ran across an article that said that once your debtors have gotten the full price for the merchandise, they let you buy on credit and you start running in arrears, many will sell off your debt to collection agencies for pennies on the dollar. That astounded me. In other words a collection agency, that had bought my debt for pennies, was now going to try to get me to pay for that same item again including interest and penalties.
I said there must be a law and there is, the law is that interest, late fees and other penalties on unsecured credit card debt is not controlled or regulated by the Federal Government and hasn't been since the 1978 Marquette Bank opinion that permitted national banks to export interest rates on consumer loans from the state where credit decisions were made to borrowers nationwide. That was when certain states like South Dakota, who was hurting for jobs and revenue, cut a deal with Citibank and others to relax and do away with credit card usury regulations altogether. Now the credit card companies are making more than the oil companies because they are not regulated. You and I the credit card borrowers, are the only ones that can influence the interest rates of the credit card companies by paying down our revolving debt and becoming "deadbeats" (people who monthly pay off their cards) instead of "revolvers." .
We the people have to take control and fight back anyway we can since very few of our legislatures seem to care. What each of us needs is time. Given enough time most of us will find a way to pay off our debts.
In my search I found a program that may be able to "shield" us from our unsecured creditors. I have not tried it yet but the FAQ's sound very promising. This is supposedly a legal way to really create a shield around your assets. Check it out… www.asprogram.com/Splash1.html
Quick, Legal and Simple Solution? Contact our friends at ASProgram and ask about their Premier Program....Flo
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Maxed Out
BRIEF SYNOPSIS:
Maxed Out takes viewers on a journey deep inside the American style of debt, where things seem fine as long as the minimum monthly payment arrives on time. With coverage that spans from small American towns all the way to the White House, the film shows how the modern financial industry really works, explains the true definition of "preferred customer" and tells us why the poor are getting poorer while the rich keep getting richer. Hilarious, shocking and incisive, Maxed Out paints a picture of a national nightmare which is all too real for most of us."
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