Category Archives: Credit markets

Jon Stewart on the Foreclosure Mess

OK, I know NC is in danger of becoming “all mortgages, all the time,” but I assume you’ll appreciate this clip nevertheless. Enjoy! The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c

DC Waking Up to Escalating Foreclosure Train Wreck: Grayson Calls for FSOC to Examine Foreclosure Fraud as Systemic Risk

Wow, someone in DC has connected the dots: that the banks’ failure to adhere to contractual and legal requirements in the residential mortgage backed securities market are so extensive and widespread as to constitute systemic risk. Alan Grayson, Congressman from Ground Zero of the foreclosure mess, is calling on the Financial Stability Oversight Council to […]

Jim Quinn: Consumer Deleveraging = Commercial Real Estate Collapse

Yves here. I did a small study for a then midlevel, now top level Russian oligarch in the early 1990s who bought a US retail chain. It wasn’t exactly the most astute purchase. One of the factoids I came across in assisting him in figuring out how to scrub it up for resale was the […]

Multi-Billion-Dollar Class Action Suits Filed Against Lender Processing Services for Illegal Fee Sharing, Document Fabrication; Prommis Solutions Also Targeted

Welcome to our new readers from the FCIC. Lender Processing Services, a crucial player in the residential mortgage servicing arena, has been hit with two suits seeking national class action status (see here and here for the court filings). If the plaintiffs prevail, the disgorgement of fees by LPS could easily run into the billions […]

Lender Processing Services Tries to Claim that Recent Disclosures are “Mischaracterizations”

Boy, you have to love the way beleaguered companies strain to create the impression that unfavorable revelations are “mischaracterizations.” And Lender Processing Services certainly has its back to the wall. Its stock traded down 5% on Friday and another 8% today before it halted just prior to the close of trading on Monday. (for more […]

Homes in Florida Seized Without Notice of Foreclosure: Suspicously Large Number of “The Dog Ate My Summons” Filings

More revelations from one of the epicenters of the housing implosion. 4ClosureFraud has published an eyepoppingly long list of affidavits of lost summons in foreclosure cases. This is a teeny extract from their sample, so readers can see what their roster looks like: I spoke to the individuals who compiled this sample; the roster on […]

4ClosureFraud Posts Lender Processing Services Mortgage Document Fabrication Price Sheet

A bombshell has dropped in mortgage land. We’ve said for some time that document fabrication is widespread in foreclosures. The reason is that the note, which is the borrower IOU, is the critical instrument to establishing the right to foreclose in 45 states (in those states, the mortgage, which is the lien on the property, […]

“Summer” Rerun: The Treasury Doth Speak With Forked Tongue (Housing Bailout Edition)

This post first appeared on February 22, 2008 Man, not only does the Administration tell whoppers, but it is completely shameless about them. The latest sighting comes from Reuters: Treasury Undersecretary Robert Steel told the Reuters Housing Summit it is proper for homeownership to hold a special status…. “If I default on my credit card […]

Bank of America Halts Foreclosures in 23 States; Connecticut AG Asks State Courts to Suspend Foreclosures for 60 Days

More bad news for banks and servicers on the foreclosure improprieties front. The latest report, that Bank of America is stopping foreclosures in 23 states, confirms the suspicion that problems with foreclosure procedures for residential home loans in securitizations are widespread. From the AP via Washington Post: Bank of America says it is delaying foreclosures […]

Regulator Orders Seven Large Lenders to Review Foreclosure Procedures

This story on the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s inquiry into possible mortgage servicer improprieties was released last night by the Washington Post; oddly Bloomberg had not picked it up when I trolled it, apologies for not catching it sooner. Note that this development supports our contention that servicing problems are widespread. Note […]

Congressmen Attack LPS, Servicer Misconduct; PR Counteroffensive Starting

Only been a few Congressmen have weighed in on the mortgage documentation mess so far, since wrapping up the current Congressional session and campaigning consumes a lot of bandwidth. Nevertheless, I am getting reports from DC that people on the Hill are starting to take the issue of foreclosure document fabrication, errors, and improprieties seriously. […]

Satyajit Das: A CDO Cure for Europe?

By Satyajit Das, a risk consultant and author of Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives – Revised Edition (2010, FT-Prentice Hall). Detox Cures In the first half of 2010, angst about European sovereign debt receded and market volatility eased. In the second half of 2010, concerns about Greece, […]

Fitch Considering Downgrading Servicers Over Affidavits

Boy, if Fitch thinks servicer problems are limited to affidavits, it is gonna learn a lot more in the coming weeks and months. This report comes via BusinessWeek: Fitch Ratings said Wednesday it’s asking mortgage servicers about their foreclosure practices in the wake of GMAC Mortgage LLC’s recent disclosure of procedural errors. The agency believes […]

Meet GMAC’s Robo Signer Jeffrey Stephan

See this video ofthe deposition of GMAC’s famed robo signer, Jeffrey Stephan, who estimates that he signs 10,000 documents a month. If nothing else, you need to watch from 5:00 to the end of the first segment. Hat tip reader Barbara W, from 4closureFraud.org. I wish the sound quality were better; you can also read […]