Outgoing Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff assures us that the fact that he’s going to work for a firm that “regularly represents Bank of America” has nothing to do with his decision to do an abrupt about-face and sign off on a settlement in a foreclosure case the bank appeared to be losing. Just eleven days earlier, the original plaintiffs …
Bank Settlement Primarily Benefits Banks, Leaves Mortgage Fraud Victims in the Cold
The details of the national mortgage fraud settlement with Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, CitiGroup, Ally Financial and Wells Fargo are in, and nobody is happy except the banks. Max’s initial reaction to the settlement: The reports released today by the Investigator General for HUD with respect to the five major banks involved in the settlement with the Department of …
O Max Gardner III’s Top 12 Predictions for 2012
1. Home Values: Home values will continue to decline during 2012 and I do not expect the bottom of the real estate market to be reached until the 3rd Quarter of 2014. My best guess for any type of sustained recovery in the housing market is no sooner than the 3rd Quarter of 2021. The number of homes in foreclosure will …
Sorry ‘Bout that Wrongful Foreclosure…Here’s $1500
David Dayen at Firedoglake took a look at the latest version of the proposed foreclosure fraud settlement this morning, and (surprise, surprise), it’s still “woefully inadequate”. In a nutshell, those who lost their homes to fraudulent proceedings would get about $1500–about enough to pay a security deposit on a nice place in the midwest or a studio apartment (maybe) in …
Representative Tammy Baldwin Introduces Resolution Against Servicer Releases
For more than a year, we’ve been watching key players in the “investigation” by Attorneys General across the country into fraudulent and otherwise illegal mortgage and foreclosure practices drift toward an inadequate settlement based on insufficient information. Individual AGs who object too strenuously to the rush to settlement, like New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, are ignored, reviled or even …
Delaware v. MERS
On October 27, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden filed suit against MERS, alleging that the registry had repeatedly violated the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act. In a press release, AG Biden said: Since at least the 1600s, real property rights have been a cornerstone of our society. MERS has raised serious questions about who owns what in America. A man …
One Year Later…Nothing
It’s been a year since 50 state Attorneys General announced that they would undertake an investigation into bank foreclosure procedures. Many of us thought government regulators were a bit late to the party at that point, but since the damage was still in full swing they could still have taken meaningful action. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened: at the one-year anniversary …
Beau Biden on Occupy Wall Street
Delaware Attorney General, Beau Biden, interviewed on MSNBC’s ‘UP with Chris Hayes’ discussing, among other things, the state attorneys general negotiations with the banks. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Top Aide to NY AG Calls Out Foreclosure Abuses
Martin J. Mack, Executive Deputy Attorney General for Regional Affairs for the state of New York, called out abuses in foreclosure cases against unrepresented homeowners in his testimony before the Task Force to Expand Access to Civil Legal Services today. We know all too well the hurdles faced by homeowners attempting to fight back against banks and mortgage servicers, and …
Nevada Expands Bank of America Lawsuit
ProPublica is reporting that the state of Nevada significantly increased the scope of its lawsuit against Bank of America today. Nevada’s attorney general charges that Bank of America and the now-defunct mortgage giant Countrywide acquired by the bank in 2008, deceived borrowers and investors at almost every stage of the process. According to the suit, borrowers were duped into unaffordable …
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