FedUpUSA

Archive for the ‘Mortgage Modificaton’ Category

SEATTLE — A Seattle bar owner is so angry at Chase Bank that he’s offering a free steak to anyone who can prove he or she has closed his or her account at Chase this week.

Stephen Mollmann, who owns Twilight Exit in the city’s Central Area, told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News he’s fed up with Chase because he said the bank has dragged its feet over his application to refinance his home mortgage. His offer was reported on CapitolHillSeattle.com.

“I can use the Twilight Exit as my soapbox and my weapon,” Mollmann said. “I can just load it full of steak.”

He said the bank is stalling “or hoping I just go away and keep paying my mortgage” because “I’m a cash cow to them.”

A Chase representative said the bank is trying to work through Mollmann’s application, but Mollmann said he’s hoping new banking regulations passed by Congress on Thursday will speed that along.

Tighter rules for big banks and financial institutions are among the key provisions of the new law, along with stricter regulations for real estate and mortgage transactions.

“It’s a win-win for consumers,” said Bruce McClary, with Clearpoint in Seattle — a nationwide, nonprofit consumer counseling service.

McClary said the Consumer Protection Agency that will be established under the new law will help rein in fraudulent banking practices of the past few years.

“I think the big benefit is where the teeth come in and the enforcement mechanism that’s put in place based on this legislation,” McClary said.

The new agency will promote consumer financial education. It will help protect seniors from lending abuse. It will require clear, understandable language on all financial documents.

And it will eventually offer a free, 800 number for consumers to call for help.

McClary said consumers should start seeing the new rules of the legislation later this summer, but that the 800 number may not come along until sometime next year. SEATTLE — A Seattle bar owner is so angry at Chase Bank that he’s offering a free steak to anyone who can prove he or she has closed his or her account at Chase this week.

Stephen Mollmann, who owns Twilight Exit in the city’s Central Area, told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News he’s fed up with Chase because he said the bank has dragged its feet over his application to refinance his home mortgage. His offer was reported on CapitolHillSeattle.com.

“I can use the Twilight Exit as my soapbox and my weapon,” Mollmann said. “I can just load it full of steak.”

He said the bank is stalling “or hoping I just go away and keep paying my mortgage” because “I’m a cash cow to them.”

A Chase representative said the bank is trying to work through Mollmann’s application, but Mollmann said he’s hoping new banking regulations passed by Congress on Thursday will speed that along.

Tighter rules for big banks and financial institutions are among the key provisions of the new law, along with stricter regulations for real estate and mortgage transactions.

“It’s a win-win for consumers,” said Bruce McClary, with Clearpoint in Seattle — a nationwide, nonprofit consumer counseling service.

McClary said the Consumer Protection Agency that will be established under the new law will help rein in fraudulent banking practices of the past few years.

“I think the big benefit is where the teeth come in and the enforcement mechanism that’s put in place based on this legislation,” McClary said.

The new agency will promote consumer financial education. It will help protect seniors from lending abuse. It will require clear, understandable language on all financial documents.

And it will eventually offer a free, 800 number for consumers to call for help.

McClary said consumers should start seeing the new rules of the legislation later this summer, but that the 800 number may not come along until sometime next year.

KIROTV – Seattle, WA

Note:  Sadly hoping that the financial regulation bill just passed will help him with this is futile.  It’s actually going to help the big banks avoid having to do further mortgage modifications.

By Dylan Ratigan

The dire straits of the middle class of America has made it near impossible for our politicians to keep up the pretense that our current government truly works for the “people.” Between the multiple overt and secretive bailouts, the massive bonuses and the circular use of our tax money to lobby for these continued handouts, you can no longer hide from the evidence.

When Senator Durbin said “The banks… frankly own this place,” you realize it was not in jest.

Couple this with recent protections handed by the Supreme Court to corporations to directly influence elections and it can make things seem hopeless for those not on Wall Street or their chosen politicians. Favored CEOs and now even foreign countries get all the printed money they need, leaving us paying both our bills and theirs.

And now nearly a quarter of all Americans are currently underwater in their mortgage because of that steadfast honor.

If you are one of them, chances are you didn’t do anything wrong. Almost all of you were not subprime borrowers or speculators, but merely people buying a house that they thought they could afford at the time. You were just unlucky in that you bought a house during a time when an outdated Wall Street and their complicit politicians decided to use housing to regain the income they lost due to the Schwabs and Etrades of the internet age.

You didn’t cause this mess. They did.

Now you are struggling to make the same payments on this mortgage on your now overpriced home even in light of a crashing economy and massive deflation, all while the government does everything in its power to help Wall St. keep the bonuses coming.

Well, it is becoming time to take matters into your own hands… I suggest that you call your lender and tell them if they don’t lower you mortgage by at least 20%, you are walking away. And if they don’t agree, you need to consider walking away.

It probably doesn’t feel right to you.

That is because you probably are a good person. But your mortgage is a business deal, and it is not immoral to walk away from a business deal unless you went in to the deal with the intention of defaulting.

But somehow, even though the corporations are pumped to exercise their new rights, former bankers like Henry Paulson, current ones like Jamie Dimon and — get this — now even Fannie Mae execs want to keep you from exercising your rights.

But before you let them (or anyone commenting below) force you into paying that $500k mortgage on a $300k house, ask them if they’ll push Jerry Speyer into “honoring his obligation” by breaking into his $2 billion personal piggy-bank to keep paying for Stuyvesant Town?

Or how about asking Hank and Jamie to lecture fellow bailed-out CEO John Mack about how “you’re supposed to meet your obligations, not run from them”? Maybe make him use some of his $50+ million for those buildings he bought in San Francisco?

And before shaming and punishing American homeowners, did they nag Steve Feinberg about helping “teach the American people…not to run away” by writing a check out of his billion-dollar pocket to cover all the stiffed landlords and vendors at Mervyn’s? After all, at least you aren’t single-handedly putting 1,100 employees out of work when you walk on your mortgage.

As part of the deal for your house, your mortgage holder gets interest payments from you and they also use the note to your house for their capital reserves. In return, they take the risk of a foreclosure. In many states, you paid extra to have a non-recourse loan where the lender just gets the house back if you stop paying — your interest rate would’ve been much lower if you were held personally liable like a student loan. But if you still feel bad, then donate the money saved to charity instead of to their bonuses. And when someone tries telling you why it is so wrong, here are some answers:

- Yes, it might seem selfish, but you are actually going to help fix our country the right way, through the use of pure capitalism. There are 3 parties involved in your mortgage — the mortgage holders, the servicing bank and you. You probably want to stay in your house. Most of the people who actually own your mortgage also want you to stay in your house, preferring a mortgage reduction that you keep paying instead of the total loss of a foreclosure. But the major banks (BofA, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan, Citi, etc.) that underwrite and service the loans don’t care about either of you. They (with the aid of their government) just care about hiding their true financial condition for long as possible so they can continue to bonus themselves outrageously. The credible threat of you walking away from your mortgage en masse is the only market-based solution that will force these banks to work with the mortgage holders on your behalf.

- No, you will not “hurt” your neighbors — certainly not near the scale of the banksters. Chances are someone just as nice will you will move in and (unlike you) pay a fair, non-inflated price for the house. Encourage your neighbors to fight back against the banks and ask for their own mortgage reductions as well.

- Yes, it might make getting a loan harder for everyone. Considering the spate 0% down NINJA loans over the past decade, that probably isn’t a bad thing.

- Yes, it might hurt your credit. But with time, people bounce back from having foreclosures on their record. Search online and then talk to a lawyer about the repercussions, which vary by state.

- No, the banks won’t necessarily pass the losses on to customers. They already make a lot of money. If costs are passed on to every consumer without banks competing on price, that’s a sign of illegal collusion or a monopoly. Let’s fix that instead of just letting banks ruin our lives. They might, however, not all make $145 billion in bonuses next year doing something fundamentally so easy that it is an unpaid job in Monopoly.

Meanwhile, our captured government has made it clear that they want to further reward these banksters because there are clearly better ways to “save” the economy without rewarding those most responsible for the damage.

Instead of claw backs for the past theft and strong financial reform for the future, they choose to cover-up the gross misuse of our tax money, making our country worse by helping the criminals on the backs of the most honest.

But thankfully, in this country we still have the tools to fight back and regain our country. Our vote, our voice, our laws and what we choose to do with every penny we have that doesn’t go to taxes are the benefits of our hard-fought freedom, and in this battle we must use them all to fight back. It’s time for the citizens to once again own this place.

ZeroHedge

Over a third of HAMP participants have exited the program and another batch is coming up. Those leaving the program will likely end up in foreclosure. Moreover, 4 million delinquent borrowers are not even eligible for the program.

Please consider Borrowers exit troubled Obama mortgage program.

The Obama administration’s flagship effort to help people in danger of losing their homes is falling flat.

More than a third of the 1.24 million borrowers who have enrolled in the $75 billion mortgage modification program have dropped out. That’s more than the 27 percent who have managed to have their loan payments reduced to help them keep their homes.

Last month alone, 150,000 borrowers left the program — bringing the total to 436,000 who have exited since it began in March 2009. A major reason so many have fallen out of the program is the Obama administration initially pressured banks to sign up borrowers without insisting first on proof of their income. When banks later moved to collect the information, many troubled homeowners were disqualified or dropped out.

“The majority of these modifications aren’t going to be successful,” said Wayne Yamano, vice president of John Burns Real Estate Consulting, a research firm in Irvine, Calif. “Even after the permanent modification, you’re still looking at a very high debt burden.”

HAMP Performance Report Through May 2010

Here are a couple of charts from the Making Home Affordable Program Servicer Performance Report Through May 2010.

Hamp Trials Started

Permanent Modifications

Waterfall of HAMP-Eligible Borrowers

Not all 60-day delinquent loans are eligible for HAMP. Other characteristics may preclude borrower eligibility. Based on the estimates, of the 5.7 million borrowers who were 60 days delinquent in the 1st quarter of 2010, 1.7 million borrowers are eligible for HAMP. As this represents a point-in-time snapshot of the delinquency population and estimated HAMP eligibility, we expect that more borrowers will become eligible for HAMP from now through 2012.

Only 30% of the 5.7 million borrowers who are 60 days delinquent are eligible for the program. 4 million delinquent borrowers are stuck. Of those eligible for the program, only 346,000 have completed the trial and received a permanent modification.

Many of those receiving a permanent modification will slip back into default and head for foreclosure. Many of those who successfully keep their house would be better off if they lost it.

Looking at HAMP from every angle, it’s safe to say the program was a failure and another huge wave of foreclosures is coming down the road.

Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

More Than 250,000 Borrowers Dropped From U.S. Modification Plan

March 12 (Bloomberg) — More than 250,000 of the 1 million borrowers who have received trial loan modifications through the Obama administration’s chief foreclosure prevention plan have either dropped out or been removed from the program through February, the Treasury Department said.

Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the lenders in the Home Affordable Modification Program successfully converted 168,708 trial plans into permanent loan modifications, up from 116,297 through the end of January, the Treasury said today in a report. More than 666,000 borrowers were in trial repayment plans, Treasury said.

The program, announced more than a year ago, is short of the 3 million to 4 million at-risk homeowners Obama targeted. About 2.82 million U.S. homeowners lost their properties to foreclosure last year and 4.5 million filings are expected in 2010, RealtyTrac Inc. said last month.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dawn Kopecki in Washington at dkopecki@bloomberg.net;

With results like these, makes you wonder exactly who this program was supposed to help.