news

Boycott Chase bank, Help a military man save his home...

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:37:05 +0100

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-chase-bank-dont-foreclose-on-soldiers-family?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&alert_id=mZHbRYoBMg_TnPDmroMaW

Tell Chase Bank: Don't Foreclose on Soldier's Family

SIGN THIS PETITION

SIGNATURES

81,067

PETITIONING

Spokesperson, Chase Bank(Thomas Kelly)

STARTED BY

Economic Fairness Oregon

OVERVIEW

20 year-old Aaron Collette is currently serving in Iraq and looking forward to seeing his family. He's been in the Army for a year and half, and recently survived an IED explosion next to his squad. Aaron could vacation anywhere in the world, but he simply wants to come home to Oregon and see his family.

Unfortunately, Aaron might not have a home to return to. His family will be kicked out of their home later this month.

JPMorgan Chase is foreclosing on Tim Collete's home in Bend, Oregon on June 20th. Tim has asked the bank to hold on foreclosure proceedings until his son, Aaron, is able to return from Iraq for his two weeks of leave time. But so far, they've refused.

"I don't want him thinking about coming home and having it not be there. I just want him to come home and know he can be safe for 15 days," said Tim Collette.

Tim Collette's story is all too familiar. He was told by his bank that he'd only qualify for a loan modification if he missed two of his monthly payments. Once he did that (remember: per the bank's instructions), Chase attempted to foreclose on him. One financial blogger writes, "Like the nightmare scenarios we have heard about, they basically tortured him for a year and ended with turning down his modification request."

The Daily Mail reports: "The nightmare with JPMorgan Chase bank began back in 2008 when Mr Collette, who had been making regular payments on his mortgage, asked for financial help. He started making payments again until last year when he got a demand for $9,000 Chase claimed he should have paid, and the foreclosure process began all over again."

"All I'm asking for is something to let me be there for a few more months," said Tim.

Let's work together to stop Chase bank from foreclosing on Tim Collette and his family.

Update 6/24/2011: When Tim Collette's story initially broke, Chase responded to the media frenzy by telling reporters they would work with Tim to find a solution. Last week, they informed Tim that the foreclosure is back on. Tim and his family are now scheduled to be foreclosed on August 9th.

Read Petition Letter

Up on your mortgage payments but behind on your homeowners association fees?

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 19:56:13 +0100

If you think you are safe from foreclosure then keep reading...

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Neighbor-vs-neighbor-as-apf-2524543580.html?x=0

Neighbor vs. neighbor as homeowner fights get ugly

As more are unable to pay homeowners' fees, associations pit neighbor against neighbor

Michelle Conlin and Tamara Lush, AP Business Writers, On Sunday July 10, 2011, 3:46 pm EDT

The Inlet House condo complex in Fort Pierce, Fla., was once the kind of place the 55-and-older set aspired to. It was affordable. The pool and clubhouse were tidy, the lawns freshly snipped. Residents, push-carts in tow, walked to the beach, the bank, the beauty parlor, the cinema and the supermarket. In post-crash America, this was a dreamy little spot. Especially on a fixed income.

But that was Inlet House before the rats started chewing through the toilet seats in vacant units and sewage started seeping from the ceiling. Before condos that were worth $79,000 four years ago sold for as little as $3,000. And before the homeowners' association levied $6,000 assessments on everyone -- and then foreclosed on seniors who couldn't pay the association bill, even if they didn't owe the bank a dime.

Normally, it's the bankers who go after delinquent homeowners. But in communities governed by the mighty homeowners' association, as the sour economy leaves more people unable to pay their fees, it's neighbor versus neighbor.

"What the board is doing is trying to foreclose on people to force people out the door," says Mike Silvestri, 75, who stopped paying his dues at Inlet House in protest over what he considers unnecessary and unaffordable assessments.

He and others say there were cheaper ways to deal with the rat infestation and leaky sewage that led the board to order up a costly plumbing overhaul. "They are bamboozling old people. I'm old, but I'm not senile," he says.

In the past, housing associations have gained infamy for dictating everything from the weight of your dog (one mandated a diet for a hound) to whether you can kiss in your driveway (not if you don't want a fine). Homeowners' associations have served as the behavior police, banning lemonade stands, solar panels and hanging out in the garage. One ordered a war hero to take down his flag because of a "nonconforming" pole. Another demanded that residents with brown spots on their lawns dye their grass green.

Now, past the faux regal gates, beyond the clubhouses, many property owners in associations owe more than their homes are worth. Some are struggling to pay their bills after they lose a job. Others have had their pay cut. So they've stopped paying their association dues.

To combat the rise in delinquencies, boards are switching off utilities, garnishing income and axing cable. They are yanking pool passes and banning the billiard room. And, in the most extreme cases, they are foreclosing.

"The treacherous part is that homeowners' associations are acting like a local government without restraints, and they have this extraordinary power," says Marjorie Murray, a lawyer and founder of the Center for California Homeowner Association Law.

Today, one in five U.S. homeowners is subject to the will of the homeowners' association, whose boards oversee 24.4 million homes. More than 80 percent of newly constructed homes in the U.S are in association communities.

And of the nation's 300,000 homeowners' associations, more than 50 percent now face "serious financial problems," according to a September survey by the Community Association Institute. An October survey found that 65 percent of homeowners' associations have delinquency rates higher than 5 percent, up from 19 percent of associations in 2005.

Associations set rules for their communities. They levy monthly dues, typically between $200 and $500, and cover the costs of services that a municipal government usually takes care of: road repair, streetlights, sewage systems. If an association's budget is strained or major repairs need to be done, the board can levy a "special assessment" on top of those dues. And when one homeowner doesn't pay those fees, all the other homeowners have to pick up the cost.

The rise in delinquencies comes as banks are taking over foreclosed homes and then leaving them vacant more often than ever. Taken together, these shortfalls are resulting in higher fees for all of the other homeowners -- and massive financial angst for association boards.

Before now, associations rarely, if ever, foreclosed on homeowners. But today, encouraged by a new industry of lawyers and consultants, boards are increasingly foreclosing on people 60 days past due on association fees, says Evan McKenzie, a former homeowner association attorney who is now a University of Illinois political science professor and the author of the book "Beyond Privatopia: Rethinking Residential Private Government."

The government does not keep statistics on how often homeowners' associations initiate foreclosures. But a nonprofit research group found that association-initiated foreclosures in the Houston area jumped from 500 in 1995 to 2,200 in 2007. Most association-related foreclosures in Texas do not go through the judicial process, so the group's analysis represented only a fraction of the foreclosures that housing associations have initiated.

In exchange for adhering to the rules, homeowners got safe communities with clubhouses, pools and tennis courts. But what many didn't realize when they bought their homes was that the fine print gave the association the right to foreclose -- even over a few hundred dollars in unpaid dues.

All the association board has to do is alert its attorney to place a lien on the property to start the process. The home can then be auctioned by the board until the bank eventually takes ownership. Homeowners typically have no right to a hearing.

"These are banana republics," McKenzie says.

The problems in some communities are resulting in more scrutiny. In Nevada, the FBI is investigating corruption in elections of association boards. In Utah and Arizona, legislators are trying to pass bills that would root out the use of debt-collectors who are alleged to have used thug-like tactics to strong-arm residents into paying fees.

State legislatures in California, Arizona, North Carolina, Texas and Florida have taken up legislation that would clamp down on foreclosures.

Not everyone thinks the tactics are out of line, though.

"When people are not paying their assessments, they're not shortchanging some giant multinational corporation. They are taking money directly out of the pockets of their neighbors," says Andrew Fortin, head of government affairs for the trade group the Community Associations Institute.

So the neighborhood feuds are escalating. At Inlet House, one resident claims her fellow senior citizens have turned into vigilantes, vandalizing her car in retaliation for not paying her dues.

In all, 17 of the 60 units are in various stages of delinquency. Paul Gray, a fastidious budgeter, paid off his mortgage long ago and paid all but $2,500 of the Inlet House assessment. The association initiated foreclosure proceedings. A few days after he received the foreclosure notice, Gray suffered another stroke, three friends say. Now he is in a nursing home. He has since paid off the $2,500. His home, worth $89,000 in 2006, is for sale for $18,500.

In the meantime, the board, facing $172,000 in costs from nonpayers, has had no choice but to raise dues by an extra $50 a month to an average of $375. Between the assessment and increased dues, some residents complain that they pay more than they would to rent a plush oceanfront spread down the street at the posh Fontainebleau condo complex. Association manager Janice Stinnett, who is also an Inlet House resident, says she isn't to blame, the nonpayers are.

"It's unfair that everyone is paying extra to cover these deadbeats," she says.

The board is continuing to make the plumbing repairs that made the assessments necessary to begin with. It will soon issue another special assessment to cover the costs.

To homeowners who opposed the repairs on the grounds that they were too expensive, the entire picture adds up to a crime. Says Silvestri, "What these associations are doing is illegal. It's a fraud."

Bank of America Foreclosed on by Florida couple.

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 13:39:20 +0100

Bank of America Gets Pad Locked After Homeowner Forecloses On It

10:53 PM, Jun 3, 2011

http://www.digtriad.com/news/watercooler/article/178031/176/Florida-Homeowner-Forecloses-On-Bank-Of-America

Written by

Kelly Heffernan-Tabor

Collier County, Florida -- Have you heard the one about a Homeowner foreclosing on a bank?

Well, it has happened in Florida and involves a North Carolina based bank.

Instead of Bank of America foreclosing on a Florida home, the homeowner had sheriff's deputies foreclose on the bank.

It all started five months ago, when Bank of America filed foreclosure papers on the home of a couple, who didn't owe a dime on their home.

The couple said they paid cash for the house.

The homeowners went to court and were able to prove they didn't owe anything on the house. In fact, it was shown that the couple never even had a mortgage bill to pay.

A Collier County Judge agreed and after the hearing, Bank of America was ordered by the court to pay the legal fees of the homeowners', Maurenn Nyergers and her husband.

The Judge said the bank was wrongfully trying to foreclose on the Nyergers' house.

After more than 5 months, the bank still hadn't paid the legal fees, and the homeowner's attorney did exactly what the bank tried to do to the homeowners. He seized the bank's assets.

"They've ignored out calls, ignored out letters, legally this is the next step to get my clients compensated, " attorney Todd Allen told CBS.

Sheriff's deputies, movers, and the Nyergers' attorney went to the bank and foreclosed on it. The attorney gave instructions to to remove desks, computers, copiers, filing cabinets and any cash in the teller's drawers.

After about an hour of being locked out of his bank branch office, the bank manager handed the attorney a check from the bank for the legal fees.

"As a foreclosure defense attorney this is sweet justice" says Allen.

Allen says this is something that he sees often in court, banks making errors because they didn't investigate the foreclosure and it becomes a lengthy and expensive battle for the homeowner.

CBS News

Kaufman Englett Lynd or KEL Attorneys in Florida

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 14:32:44 +0100

This is someone you can listen to and the ones helping me with my foreclosure.
They stay in touch, answer questions, and they help you out with your interests in mind.

The person I found first who is often in the spotlight is Matt Englett.
https://www.facebook.com/kel.attorneys

Foreclosure help seminar at Alpharetta High School June 11

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 14:23:51 +0100

Fulton County Schedules Foreclosure Prevention Fair

| Print |

Events scheduled June 11 at Alpharetta High School
The Fulton County Department of Housing and Human Services Office of Housing and Community Development will host a free Foreclosure Prevention Fair in June to help Fulton County residents in danger of losing their homes because they can no longer afford their mortgages.

The event will be held on Saturday, June 11, 2011, at Alpharetta High School from 9:00 a.m. until 4 p.m. Alpharetta High School is located at 3595 Webb Bridge Road in Alpharetta.

NeighborWorks and the Mortgage Bankers Association report that every three months, 250,000 new families enter into foreclosure. Statistics from the organizations also indicate that one child in every classroom in America is at risk of losing his/her home because parents are unable to pay their mortgage.

RealtyTrac reports Fulton County led all counties in total foreclosure activity for the first quarter of 2011. Foreclosure filings were reported on 13,052 Georgia properties in March, a 2 percent increase from February 2011 but down almost 27 percent from March 2010. One in every 311 Georgia housing units received a foreclosure filing in March, the sixth highest state foreclosure rate in the nation for the month.

Atlanta Regional Housing website reports a steep drop in foreclosure filings in the 20 county metro Atlanta region from the previous month – “reaching a 2-year low.” In April 2011, 1, 463 foreclosure filings were reported compared to 1,864 in April 2010. In a recent news article, by the Atlanta Journal - Constitution, Equity Depot President Barry Bramlett attributed the drop in filings to changes in lender requirements and the initiation of an extra step before advertising foreclosures because of paperwork problems.

HUD certified housing counselors will be on hand along with major lending institutions to provide counseling and assistance. The event is designed to help homeowners to determine options available for avoiding foreclosure such as loan modification and other financing tools. Counselors will also assess your current situation and map out a solution possibly determining if families qualify for the Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable program. The "Making Home Affordable" program provides responsible homeowners with support to obtain affordable refinancing or loan modifications to help them stay in their homes.

Families who need assistance must bring two copies of the following documents in order to obtain assistance onsite.

·        Two most recent monthly mortgage statements
·        Recent Lender/Mortgage Company communications (letters and emails)
·        One month of most recent pay stubs for all household members contributing toward mortgage payment
·        Your tax return; If self-employed, the most recent quarterly or year-to-date profit and loss statement and two years of tax returns
·        Documentation of income you receive from other sources (alimony, child support, social security, etc.)
·        Two most recent bank statements
·         Copies of monthly bills: utilities, auto, insurances, etc
·        Unemployment insurance letter
·        Property Tax Statement
·        Current homeowners insurance policy
·        Personal loan statements
·        Most recent credit card statements
·        Settlement Statement/HUD 1 from your mortgage closing
·        Mortgage Deed (Warranty or Security Deed)

Those who arrive without the documents will be rescheduled for an appointment following the Foreclosure Prevention Fair.

For more information, visit www.fultoncountyga.gov or call the Department of Housing and Human Services at 404-613-7944. The website contains copies of the documents that need to be completed and brought to the event, along with a registration form that should be completed to help ensure timely processing the day of the event.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/confusing-lawyer-fees-complicate-foreclosure-battles/1173271

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 14:21:28 +0100

Confusing lawyer fees complicate foreclosure battles

By Susan Taylor Martin, Times Senior Correspondent
In Print: Friday, June 3, 2011

With 466,500 Florida mortgages in default, more and more lawyers are vowing to "help you fight foreclosure.''

But help often comes at confusing cost, with cash-strapped homeowners forced to choose between a dizzying variety of payment plans.

Some foreclosure defense lawyers charge by the month or by the year. Others require an up-front retainer,

But no matter what the client chooses, the bottom line is usually this: Hiring an attorney will delay a final judgment of foreclosure, but it won't keep the bank from ultimately taking back the house.

"I fight like hell for people, but I'm also constantly telling my clients that at the end you're probably going to lose it,'' says Mark Stopa, a Tampa Bay defense lawyer.

To be admitted to the Florida Bar, lawyers must swear, among other things, that they will not delay a case because of malice or greed. But defending a homeowner against a bank's foreclosure suit requires motions and hearings that can legitimately delay foreclosure for months.

"The hope is that by making it difficult for the bank, they'll get frustrated and work out some sort of solution my clients want,'' Stopa says. Most often, that is an agreement not to hit the homeowner with a so-called deficiency judgment if the house sells for less than the amount owed.

Stopa says he generally charges $1,500 a year, which enables clients to "get off really inexpensively'' if the case is resolved within 12 months (If not, they can re-up for another year for another $1,500.) Handling a large volume of cases, many of which have similar legal issues, helps keep the fee relatively low, he says.

Stopa says he has had several clients who first went to other lawyers and were quoted fees reportedly as much as $18,000 or even $35,000.

"If somebody could afford that much,'' Stopa says, "they should be paying their mortgage.''

Kaufman Englett Lynd or KEL, a multistate firm with offices in Tampa and St. Petersburg, also charges by the year, although its annual fee is around $2,500.

For that "we represent you at every hearing, we work on modifying the loan,'' says Jeff Kaufman, a partner in the firm. "We have actual foreclosure audits that we do on every file to determine violations'' by the bank or its representatives.

The result, he says, is that "it's not unusual'' for clients to remain in their homes for up to two years, eventually vacating with cash for keys or a deficiency waiver.

Kaufman is highly critical of the practice at some firms of charging a monthly fee, typically $500.

"It's the biggest scam,'' he says. "It's really in their benefit to make (the case) keep going and going. These cases on average, if you contest them, run from 12 to 24 months and that means $6,000 to $12,000. And the minute the guy stops paying, they're off the case.''

But other lawyers argue that monthly fees make sense, especially for borrowers who want to move the case along quickly.

"Suppose the property is vacant and the client is an out-of-town investor and the objective is a waiver of deficiency,'' says lawyer Richard Shuster, who has offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Melbourne. "We've had some cases resolve in under 90 days.''

Shuster's firm, which charges a monthly fee of $495, says many clients like paying the same amount each month instead of being socked with huge bills during periods when a case requires a lot of the lawyer's time.

"In a month when a case goes to trial, we may do $10,000 worth of work and it would be very difficult for the client to afford that,'' Shuster says. "A monthly arrangement means that in some months we may be slightly overpaid and in others slightly underpaid, but we believe it balances out.''

"Free" house

For lawyers doing foreclosure defense, the ultimate victory is getting the buyer a "free'' house. But it might not be as free as the client thinks.

Shuster's firm charges a bonus if a foreclosure suit is dismissed with prejudice, meaning the bank cannot refile the case, and the firm is able to remove all liens and other encumbrances on the property.

So far, judges have dismissed three cases with prejudice but "we have not finished quieting title in those cases,'' Shuster says. "We wait for the time for appeal to expire or there may be a second mortgage to be settled or property taxes that need to be taken care of. The bonus when we get someone a free house, it's generally $10,000 or $20,000.''

But how would the homeowner pay that much?

Shuster says he would trust clients to pay whatever they could each month or else pay the full amount if they sell the house. But he says his firm would never put a lien against the house "because we don't want to be a creditor of the client.''

That's not the case at the Ticktin Law Group, a Deerfield Beach firm with a Tampa office. When it wins a foreclosure case and quiets title, it charges a contingency fee of up to 40 percent, based on the property's value and payable via a new mortgage held by Ticktin.

That means the client still makes mortgage payments, only this time to the lawyers instead of to the bank.

"If we are able to defeat the bank's mortgage, then we will have won the equity in the house,'' says Peter Ticktin, the firm's founder. "Our clients that have given us mortgages are very happy with us because they've won their houses.''

Ticktin says his firm is "in it to win it'' though he acknowledges that most of its 3,000 foreclosure cases have yet to result in a free house. Apart from the contingency, the Ticktin group charges a $100 "set-up'' fee plus monthly fees ranging from $330 to $600.

The Florida Bar offers little guidance on attorneys' fees other than that they should not be "excessive.''

"Generally, lawyers should be able to correlate between the services they actually provide and the fees that they charge,'' says Elizabeth Tarbert, the Bar's ethics counsel. "Whether or not you can do that when just charging a flat monthly fee, I don't know.''

Matthew Weidner, a St. Petersburg lawyer who represents borrowers, typically charges $1,500 to $2,500 up-front, but says he bills against those amounts.

"Ethically, I want to be able to show what I've done for my money through time records, e-mail, phone calls,'' he says. "The key is records — being able to defend your records in front of a judge.''

Susan Taylor Martin can be reached at susan@sptimes.com

.FAST FACTS

Choosing a foreclosure defense lawyer

. Check the Florida Bar website (www.floridabar.org) to see if the lawyer has ever been disciplined.

(NOTE...check your states Bar website, most have them.)

. Make sure you get a written contract that clearly states how much you will pay the lawyer and under what terms.

. Tell your lawyer what your objective is. Do you want to stay in the house as long as you can? Or are you willing to walk away if the bank agrees to a waiver of deficiency or a "cash for keys'' deal?

[Last modified: Jun 02, 2011 10:01 PM]

Foreclosure Prevention Workshop

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 21:44:22 +0100

Foreclosure Prevention Workshop

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developments will present a Foreclosure Prevention Workshop for Local, State, and Federal Government Employees. The workshop will take place on Monday, April 25, 2011 at the Sam Nunn Federal Center . Registration is required. Register at www.hud.gov/georgia.

Providing the Pieces for Sustainable Homeownership, Atlanta

Event Date: April 25, 2011

Event Time: 9:30 AM-12:00 PM

Description: While these workshops were initially targeted to government employees (local, state, and federal public sector workers), they are now OPEN TO ALL HOMEOWNERS seeking assistance.

Struggling to pay your mortgage? Know someone who is facing foreclosure and wish you could help?

This FREE foreclosure prevention training will equip you with knowledge and resources on foreclosure prevention and affordable, sustainable homeownership. In addition to information sessions on FHA programs and other foreclosure prevention initiatives, there will be opportunities to meet one-on-one with a HUD-approved housing counselor or a representative from Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, VA, or USDA-Rural Development to facilitate mortgage workout options with your servicer after the event. Also, the State of Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) will provide information about mortgage payment assistance.

The same training will be offered at two (2) different times on April 25:
in the morning from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, and again in the afternoon from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Presented by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Event flyer

Registration is required. Before you register online, please be ready to answer the following questions, about your mortgage during the online registration process, so that we may better serve your needs during the workshop:

1. Is your mortgage owned by Freddie Mac? Yes/No
Please go to https://ww3.freddiemac.com/corporate/ to determine if your mortgage is owned by Freddie Mac.

2. Is your mortgage owned by Fannie Mae? Yes/No
Please go to www.fanniemae.com/loanlookup/ to determine if your mortgage is owned by Fannie Mae.

3. Is your mortgage insured or guaranteed by one of the following: FHA, VA, or USDA? Yes/No

4. None of the above/not sure?

Register online now. Please select only one of the following times to register your attendance:

9:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon OR 1:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

NOTE: If you wish to meet with a HUD-approved counselor or a representative from Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae about your mortgage, please review the list of documents you should bring with you. You will also be able to schedule an alternate time to meet with a housing counselor.

Location: Sam Nunn Federal Center, 61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, GA 30303

Bring valid picture ID to get through the building security.

While there is private parking in the area, we encourage the use of public transit.

Widow: Bank insists on talking to my dead husband

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 23:20:17 +0100

http://www.news10.net/news/article/131500/2/Widow-Bank-insists-on-talking-to-my-dead-husband
Written byGeorge Warren

Jeanette Noble SONORA, CA - A widow who
SONORA, CA - A widow who is losing her home to foreclosure said she's willing and able to make her house payments, but the bank insists on dealing with her dead husband.

Jeanette Noble, 66, fell several months behind in her payments following the death of her husband, Norman, in Oct. 2009, because their joint bank account was temporarily frozen.

Jeanette later contacted Wachovia Mortgage to arrange a repayment plan, but the bank refused to talk to her because the loan was in her husband's name alone.
s losing her home to foreclosure said she's willing and able to make her house payments, but the bank insists on dealing with her dead husband.Jeanette Noble, 66, fell several months behind in her payments following the death of her husband, Norman, in Oct. 2009, because their joint bank account was temporarily frozeJeanette later contacted Wachovia Mortgage to arrange a repayment plan, but the bank refused to talk to her because the loan was in her husband's name alone.

SONORA, CA - A widow who is losing her home to foreclosure said she's willing and able to make her house payments, but the bank insists on dealing with her dead husband.

Jeanette Noble, 66, fell several months behind in her payments following the death of her husband, Norman, in Oct. 2009, because their joint bank account was temporarily frozen.

Jeanette later contacted Wachovia Mortgage to arrange a repayment plan, but the bank refused to talk to her because the loan was in her husband's name alone.

"I tell them he expired. He's dead. He's not here. He can't talk to you," Jeanette explained.

She faxed a copy of Norman's death certificate, which only complicated the problem. Future mail was addressed to "Estate of Norman Noble," and bank representatives still refused to talk to Jeanette because she wasn't a court-appointed representative of Norman's estate.

Jeanette said an attorney told her probate would cost $1,000 and could take several months. The home was scheduled for a courthouse auction this week, but for unknown reasons the auction was postponed until May 5.

Jeanette said it was Wachovia's idea in the first place to put the loan solely in her husband's name because it streamlined the process when the couple refinanced their home in 2008.

A Wachovia statement from February indicates the past due balance on the account is just over $2,000.

Jeanette said with her husband's VA benefits and her Social Security, she can easily make the current payments and would be willing to have the past due payments and penalties tacked onto the back of the loan.

"I would think they would want to get their money. She's more than willing to pay," said Sheila Murphy, a longtime friend.

A spokesman for Wells Fargo, which acquired Wachovia, said he's researching Jeanette's case and would have a response on Monday.

by George Warren, GWarren@news10.net

News10/KXTV

VIDEO: 'This Is Not America': SWAT Team Evicts Grandmother, Community Fights Back

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 23:16:19 +0100

April 1st, 2011 11:01 PM

VIDEO: 'This Is Not America': SWAT Team Evicts Grandmother, Community Fights Back

By Van Jones and Marianne Manilov

Day after day, the media and government ignore an ongoing national tragedy: a tsunami of foreclosures is still sweeping millions of Americans out of their homes. As many as three million American families this year will hear a terrifying knock on the door: a law enforcement officer will tell them to get out, because a bank won't work out a fair deal and allow them to stay.

But one remarkable grandmother this month refused to go quietly.

And her brave example -- including her willingness to stand up, along with her neighbors, to a SWAT team -- finally got elected officials to intervene.

A modern day Rosa Parks, her courage may well spark a national movement.

Grandmother and longtime Rochester resident Catherine Lennon was evicted from her home on March 28.

It was a moving scene captured on the video below.

But Ms. Lennon should never have been booted out. Her problem was simple enough to solve: her husband died in January of 2008, leaving her with no will and her home ownership in legal limbo. She acknowledges missing some payments. But then, because her name was not on the house's official mortgage paperwork, she says her bank refused her checks and returned them to her. She says she has the ability to make her payments.

But believe it or not: Fannie and Freddie wouldn't accept her money.

Fannie Mae, which now owns Lennon's home, received $90 billion in bailout money. According to Max Rameau of Take Back the Land, "In order for banks to get their mortgage insurance money, they must evict the families. Instead of a system or laws that try to keep families in their homes, banks have a perverse incentive to evict them. We should be rewarding banks that keep people in their homes, not the ones that kick people out."

Instead, according to Ms. Lennon, the bank called in the police. A SWAT team came to evict her and her 11 children and grandchildren. Neighbors stood with Ms. Lennon throughout the ordeal.

"This is not America," said one shocked neighbor.

Take Back The Land Rochester, a local group providing eviction defense, attempted to stop the eviction. Seven people were arrested, including a 70-year-old neighbor, still in her pajamas. Take Back the Land Rochester is a part of an impressive national network of volunteers who are standing on the frontlines and helping those facing eviction and foreclosure.

After Lennon's eviction, Rochester residents increased their calls and letters to their elected representatives and the media.

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter intervened and got Lennon on the phone with Fannie and Freddie to begin negotiations on the mortgage. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York also called Take Back the Land Rochester to offer their support.

Lennon's story is both a light of hope and a warning. In the next week or two, Lennon may get her home back. We hope to see a video of the celebration as Ms. Lennon and her family are allowed back into their family home.

But tonight Lennon and her family are in a homeless shelter. And today across the United States, more than 8,000 people will lose their home to foreclosure. They are grandmothers, husbands, sisters and aunts. They are the fabric of our community: the teachers, the janitors -- the same workers who are under attack in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and elsewhere.

The time has come in the United States where we all must be brave like the volunteers of Take Back the Land, where we all must be eviction defenders. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were originally established to help US citizens fulfill the dream of owning our homes. In a time when communities are hurting, we must stand together and demand policies that will save American families from losing their homes. We must stand together to protect and rebuild the American dream.

UPDATE:
Bank of America today said that Ms. Lennon had fallen behind on her payments.

In response to the Bank of America statement, Ryan Acuff (an organizer with Take Back the Land- Rochester, the community group supporting Ms. Lennon) released the following statement:

After Catherine Lennon's husband died of brain and lung cancer in 2008, the Lennon family, understandably, experienced the same financial harship many people are facing today. As a result, Catherine did miss some mortgage payments to Countrywide/Bank of America, just as we have stated in our press releases and public statements. However, Catherine not only met with the Housing Council, the local HUD approved mortgage counselors, but attempted to engage with Bank of America. In fact, Catherine sent a payment to the bank, but the bank returned the check and refused to negotiate with her because the mortgage was in the name of her deceased husband, who did not leave a will. While Catherine was, indeed, delinquent, the fact remains that Bank of America refused her attempts to pay and efforts to negotiate modifications to her mortgage for the reasons stated above.

Contact Take Back the Land

Address
PO Box 510232

City, State, Zip
Miami, FL 33152

Hours- Mon to Fri

Hours- Sat and Sun

Primary Phone
786-231-3446

Fax Number

Email Address
takebacktheland@gmail.com

Web Site Address
www.takebacktheland.org

In Proposed Mortgage Fraud Settlement, a Gift to Big Banks

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:14:31 +0100

If you have a second mortgage or are thinking of getting one you may want to read this.

http://www.truth-out.org/in-proposed-mortgage-fraud-settlement-a-gift-big-banks68578

In Proposed Mortgage Fraud Settlement, a Gift to Big Banks

Wednesday 16 March 2011

by: Jesse Eisinger | ProPublica | Report

Lurking in a proposed mortgage fraud settlement with the state attorneys general is a clause that could be worth billions for the big banks.

Yes, I mean the settlement that might extract the supposedly large sum of $20 billion [1] from the banks to settle foreclosure fraud. The one denounced as a "shakedown" [2] by Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama.

Despite such rhetoric, the settlement might let the banks avoid tens of billions of write-downs, thanks to a clause with a biblical flavor: the last shall be first.

The proposed agreement -- which is preliminary and subject to intense negotiations being led by Tom Miller, the attorney general of Iowa -- would allow banks to treat second mortgages, like home equity lines of credit, just like the first mortgages. Under the proposal, when a bank writes the principal down on the first mortgage, the second should be written down "at least proportionately to the first."

Suddenly, the banks would be given license to subvert the rules of payment hierarchy, as Gretchen Morgenson pointed out [3] in The New York Times on Sunday. Yes, the clause says the other alternative is to wipe out the second's value entirely, but given a choice, the banks would be extremely unlikely to do that.

So how is this a gift? Because when the principal on the first mortgage is reduced, the second lien is typically wiped out. The first lien holder has the first right to any money recovered, and the second lien holder has to wait its turn.

The proposal "seems astonishingly generous to the second-lien holders," said Arthur Wilmarth, a law professor at George Washington University. "And who are those? Of course, they are the big mortgage servicers."

And who owns the big mortgage servicers? The biggest banks.Throughout the financial crisis, we have heard plenty of intoning about the sanctity of contracts. But this suggests that the banks, with the authorities' tacit approval, think contracts are for thee and not for me. The price to get the banks to do the right thing contractually with mortgage modifications and foreclosure is to allow them to not do the right thing elsewhere.

To understand the significance of this issue, cast your mind back to the height of the housing bubble. People used their homes as A.T.M.'s, withdrawing billions from their equity to finance motorboats and meals at Applebee's.

The top four banks now have about $408 billion worth of second liens on their balance sheets, according to Portales Partners, an independent research firm specializing in financial companies. Wells Fargo, for instance, has more money in second liens than it has tangible common equity, or the most solid form of capital. If banks had to write these loans down substantially, acknowledging the true extent of their losses, they would have to raise capital -- and might even teeter on the brink of insolvency.

The performance of second liens is among the biggest puzzles in banking today: why are they doing better than the firsts? When Wells Fargo disclosed its earnings, for instance, it classified 5.3 percent of its first mortgages as nonperforming, but put only 2.4 percent of its second liens in that category. That seems very odd because it's much easier to lose your home if you don't pay your mortgage than if you don't pay your home equity line.

Investors are deeply skeptical about the value in these loans, bidding about 50 cents on the dollar for them these days. Even allowing that banks probably hawk the least attractive loans and that investors bid low to generate a high return for the risk, many of these loans are still probably not worth 100 cents on the dollar.

Yet banks have taken relatively few write-downs on second loans so far. In fact, even when the first clearly is in trouble, sometimes the banks appear to resist writing loans down. Bill Frey, who runs Greenwich Financial Services, has instigated lawsuits to try to recoup the value of mortgage securities by getting the banks to buy back faulty mortgages that were in the pools he examined. He analyzed mortgage securities made up of loans by Countrywide Financial, which is now owned by Bank of America, looking for instances when the second lien was still extant, even though the first lien attached to the same property had been modified. Such a situation would suggest that a bank was not marking down a second lien even when the underlying, more senior first lien was impaired. He says he found multiple instances in every one of the 200 pools he examined.

Mr. Frey argues that the banks should charge off those seconds. "That's the concept of subordination," he said. "It's been around since the Magna Carta. Maybe we should get on the bandwagon."

This is not simply a fight between hedge funds, which own the securities that contain the first liens, and banks that house the seconds. Many mortgage securities are held by small banks, life insurance companies and pension funds. "I can see little reason why a pensioner should take the loss instead of Bank of America, when it's Bank of America's bad loan," Mr. Frey said.

A Bank of America spokesman said that it charges off second loans when borrowers haven't made payments for 180 days. The bank doesn't, nor is it required to, charge them off just because the first lien has been modified, he says. But if a first mortgage is modified, the bank will increase its reserve because it's more likely that the second will sour.

Since the fall, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has been examining how banks across the industry are treating their second liens, according to two people familiar with the review. The O.C.C. declined to comment.

But so far, the agency has evinced a rather blasé attitude about the potential problem on banks' balance sheet. Don't expect forceful action any time soon.

In this case, making the last first may mean that weak banks continue to inherit the earth.

Address		PO Box 510232

City, State, Zip		Miami, FL 33152

Hours- Mon to Fri

Hours- Sat and Sun

Primary Phone		786-231-3446

Fax Number

Email Address		takebacktheland@gmail.com

Web Site Address		www.takebacktheland.org