Category Archives: Credit markets

Conversation on Russia TV on Wall Street Conduct, Lack of Reform

I enjoyed the interview on Russia TV, but boy, the lighting was harsh!

Josh Rosner: “Could Violations of PSA’s Dwarf Lehman Weekend?”

Josh Rosner, a well respected bank analyst (he describes himself as “a recovering GSE analyst”) is circulating a client note and it takes the foreclosure crisis very seriously. The critical part is his discussion of the conveyance chain. As we indicated before, the minimum chain for a recent mortgage securitization is is A (originator) => […]

Bank Disinformation III: Obama Throws Weight Behind Banks, Housing “Market” Over Borrowers

I should have expected this, Team Obama is so predictably bank friendly that it was inconceivable that the Administration would ever decide against them on anything other than the occasional sop to maintain plausible deniability. But this morning’s news stories reveal the officialdom isn’t even bothering to keep up appearances. First, from Politico writer Ben […]

Bank Disinformation I: PR Machine in Overdrive on Foreclosure Fraud Front

A DC contact warned me last week that the banks were readying a massive pushback on the foreclosure crisis. It went into full swing over the weekend. Obama, admittedly through his proxy, David Axelrod, threw his weight in behind the banks on Face The Nation: Q: I guess the first question I would have is […]

Bank Disinformation II: Banks Attacking Rule of Law Frontally

Readers may argue I’m reading more of a bank PR role in a page one Wall Street Journal story than is warranted. However, even the Columbia Journalism Review took notice of the Journal’s scanty reporting on the foreclosure crisis, a mounting series of problems that is deservedly damaging to the banking industry’s image and bottom […]

Satyajit Das: Pleasant & Unpleasant “Truths”

Yves here. If nothing else, be sure to read the section on the Money Honey book. 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). Michael Hirsh (2010) Capital Offense: How Washington’s Wise Men Turned America’s […]

Bank of America Suspends Foreclosures in All States

We have been saying for some time that the affidavit problem that has led GMAC, Bank of America, and JP Morgan to suspend foreclosures in 23 judicial states could not be limited to these states. The robo signing of affidavits was clearly done across all sorts of court actions. As we indicated, the bogus affidavits […]

John Paulson Throwing Weight Around in DC Against Foreclosure Fraud Inquiries

I got a very interesting report from a contact who is reasonably well plugged in with some of the government authorities that are taking a hard look at the foreclosure crisis. Readers have no doubt heard of hedge fund manager John Paulson, whose famed subprime short bet is reportedly the most profitable single trade in […]

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 […]