There’s a great post up by Georgetown law professor Adam Levitin on the implications and misreading of two mortgage decisions last week, the Massachusetts Ibanez case and Harp in Maine. Here are key sections: Ibanez means that to foreclosure in Massachusetts, a securitization trust needs to prove: (1) a complete and unbroken chain of title […]
Read more...There are lots of reasons why servicers are failing to make deep enough mortgage mods to salvage viable borrowers (ones who still have a decent level of income). One of the most troubling is that the parent bank often also has a large book of second mortgages, and writing down first mortgages would require them […]
Read more...If the ASF keeps this sort of nonsense up, it’s soon going to have the status of Pravda in the later stages of the Soviet Union, a mouthpiece of falsehoods that the officialdom is particularly eager to promote.
Read more...Thanks for the many kind notes from readers. I’m on some pretty heavy duty pain meds to contend with what is politely called a complication post some oral surgery (how can anyone get addicted to this stuff? It’s awful, but the alternative, which is taking the OTC version every hour, isn’t recommended either. And I […]
Read more...As readers may recall, the American Securitization Forum came out, in what it no doubt thought was guns-a-blazing style, to attack critics of securitization abuses. In particular, the ASF was taking aim at theories of the sort advanced on this blog, and later in Congressional hearings and in a Congressional Oversight Panel report, that the notes (meaning the promissory note, meaning the borrower IOU) in many cases, if not pervasively, had not been endorsed and conveyed as required by the pooling and servicing agreements, which are the contracts that govern mortgage securitizations. In other words, the industry had committed in contracts to investors to take some very particular steps to assure that the securitization complied with a host of legal requirements to assure that the investors got the benefits of the cashflows from the mortgages, and then proceeded to welsh on their deal.
Normally, this would not be such a big deal. Contracts are often breached; the usual remedy is to get a a waiver, which sometimes might involve a payment of some sort. But securitizations are particularly inflexible agreements. From the abstract of a 2010 paper by Anna Gelpern and Adam Levitin:
Read more...In early 2010, drawing on the military leadership of President George W. Bush, European leaders declared the economic equivalent of “mission accomplished”. A bailout – whoops support! – package of Euro 750 billion had shocked and awed speculators into submission. Like the Bush pronouncement, the European prognosis provided premature. The return of European sovereign debt problems in late 2010, culminating in the bailout of Ireland highlighted the deep seated and perhaps intractable problems of some over indebted European nations.
Read more...The assassination attempt on Gabrielle Giffords and shooting and deaths of bystanders is not merely a tragedy. The targeting of a political figure is intended to stifle opposition. Anyone thinking of running for office or working for a government official will have to now consider personal risk.
Read more...Apologies for the lack of posts and links. Yours truly is not faring well.
Read more...Silencing is a new illusion that shows it’s hard to notice when moving objects change Visionlab
Is something wrong with the sexual development of human males? Hals Report (hat tip reader May S)
Read more...Bottom line: even thought the Supreme Court ruling in this Massachusetts case, Ibanez, was narrow, it still represents a major blow to the securitization industry, specifically, the argument made by the American Securitzation Forum and securitization law firms that have liability on opinions they provided on residential mortgage securitizations. It is also certain to fuel more challenges in court based on failures of the parties to securitizations to adhere to the requirements of their contracts.
Read more...Thin links tonight, yours truly is about to do a face plant. Japan’s Booming Sex Niche: Elder Porn Time (hat tip reader May S) Women’s Tears Dampen Men’s Sex Arousal Hormone, Scientists Say Bloomberg (hat tip reader DeusDJ) WikiLeaks: Secret whaling deal plotted by US and Japan Guardian The uncomfortable truth about mind control: Is […]
Read more...As we’ve suggested, a not-well-recognized effect of the widespread publicity on robo-siging abuses and more recently, the widespread failure of securitization industry participants to adhere to their own agreements is more pushback in the courts. It takes a while for new information to trickle into courtroom strategies, but as the abuses get more press, it […]
Read more...This post first appeared on September 15, 2008 I have no idea what the morrow will bring, but if it is only as bad as Monday’s trading, we should all consider ourselves lucky. Ftich dowgraded AIG to A with a negative watch (hat tip reader Steve) S&P downgraded AIG to A-2 with a negative outlook […]
Read more...Dear patient readers,
Unless the plane was delayed, I’m now en route to Denver to participate in a couple of panels at the ASSA’s annual meeting, one on whether the financial crisis is over (I suspect you can all guess my answer) and another on the future of the Eurozone. I take this as a sign that I am now an honorary economist.
That means posts will be light until Monday. Apologies.
Read more...Bloomberg has a bombshell today, that a case before the Massachusetts Supreme Court may invalidate certain types of mortgage transfers, a central process in mortgage securitizations. A ruling for the plaintiffs would render some past foreclosures invalid, raising the possibility that the borrowers could sue for damages. It would also have far reaching implications, since […]
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