MFI Boston

Providence Council OKs fine for disregarding foreclosure law

admin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:22:16 +0000

Philip Marcelo, Providence Journal
PROVIDENCE — The City Council has approved a $2,000 fine for banks or lenders that fail to follow the city’s new foreclosure ordinance, which requires that lenders attempt to renegotiate mortgages with homeowners before filing a deed of foreclosure with the city.

The fine was among a number of amendments that received final approval from the council Thursday. The amendments were proposed by Mayor David N. Cicilline’s administration and are expected to be signed by the mayor later this month.

The new language introduces substantive changes to an ordinance put into effect in September to slow the tide of foreclosures.

The first local law of its kind in the state, it encourages lenders to try to modify a mortgage so that a homeowner can remain in his or her home. A similar one has since been adopted by the City of Cranston.

According to Cicilline, the amendments were requested to address problems noted since the rollout of the new mandates.

As it is written, the “foreclosure mediation ordinance” requires a meeting between lenders and homeowners prior to foreclosure.

Any lender failing to comply with the requirements would not be able to have a deed of ownership recorded by the city Recorder of Deeds, a step necessary to complete the foreclosure process.

But the city has found that failure to comply with the ordinance can lead to breaking the chain of title, which affects the value of the property and creates problems for the purchaser. (Read more)

Bank of America Attempts To Steal House From Elderly MA Couple Ruining Son’s Homecoming From Iraq

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:54:12 +0000

WCVB-BOSTON — A Massachusetts couple says their son’s homecoming from Iraq was spoiled when Bank of America/Countrywide foreclosed on their Florida home, which they owned free and clear, according to a lawsuit.

Homeowner Charlie Cardoso, of New Bedford, was shocked to hear that the bank, with whom he never had a mortgage, foreclosed on his Spring Hill, Fla., home, despite telling the bank it had the wrong house.

The Cardoso’s tenant was forced to leave the Florida home, and the bank seized the home, changed the locks and removed personal property from the house and garage, the family claims.

They said Bank of America’s foreclosure spoiled the couple’s plans to welcome home Cardoso’s wife’s son, who had just completed his third tour of duty in Iraq.

Upon notice of the seizure, Charlie Cardoso drove to Florida to protect his house, missing the homecoming.

(Read more)

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Behind Cancelled Foreclosure Auctions?

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:44:20 +0000

The fact that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the holiday now have “unlimited” support from the government may signal new methods of dealing with the foreclosure crisis that once again will destroy the prudent in our country and reward the Wall Street bankers with another gift.

So why have cancellations risen so much in the last few months? This has to do with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi, and JP Morgan. All these lenders went on a foreclosure “holiday” that by their own admissions, ended on January 3rd. So that in itself would account for many of the auctions recently canceled.

Now part of this may come from the foreclosure holiday but why cancel February? It probably has to do with HAMP and also something with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac now having unlimited support.

You can understand why the shadow inventory numbers are off the charts yet looking at standard data paints a deceiving picture.

Military Families Get Help Fighting Foreclosures

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:36:53 +0000

It is one thing to worry about the safety of your spouse who is serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

It is another thing to be afraid that while he or she is gone, the bank will take away your house and your loved one will have nowhere to come home to.

Linda Kellam, 50, knows both those fears. Her husband James, 49, is serving in Afghanistan with the 1218 Transportation Unit of the Army National Guard, which is based in West Palm Beach.

By the time he was deployed July 8, they had both lost their jobs in layoffs. Then the bank tried to foreclose on their Greenacres condo. They became casualties of the mortgage crisis.

“We weren’t able to pay and the lender wouldn’t work with me,” Kellam says.

Struggling with high mortgage bills? You may be a victim of mortgage fraud. Contact MFI-Boston for help. We’ll investigate and do a forensic mortgage audit. We may be able to help you save your home. Contact us today!

401k/IRA Screw Job Coming?

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:17:53 +0000

Now this is a guaranteed rape job.

In a short conversation this noontime that CNBC apparently has omitted from their archives (Why’s that folks?) Rick Santelli was talking about a potential to effectively force money into the Treasury market.

Where would they get this? From your 401k and IRA accounts!

Let me tell you what this is – it is an attempt to prevent the collapse of the Treasury market!

Forcing people into Treasuries as an “annuity” is exactly what Social Security allegedly is. Except that Treasury stole the money that was collected in FICA taxes and spent it!

New York Fed Faces House Subpoena Over AIG Bailout

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:13:20 +0000

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York may be forced to deliver documents related to American International Group Inc.’s government bailout after the chairman of a House oversight committee said he would issue a subpoena.

Edolphus Towns, the New York Democrat who runs the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said yesterday in a statement he would issue a subpoena for New York Fed records concerning the decision it made to fully reimburse AIG’s partners. Banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Societe Generale SA were among beneficiaries of AIG’s rescue, called by lawmakers a “backdoor bailout” for financial firms.

The New York Fed, run by Timothy Geithner when AIG was rescued, had resisted since November calls to provide documents without a subpoena, Darrell Issa, the ranking Republican on the oversight committee, said yesterday in a letter.

Struggling with high mortgage bills? You may be a victim of mortgage fraud. Contact MFI-Boston for help. We’ll investigate and do a forensic mortgage audit. We may be able to help you save your home. Contact us today!

Congressional Delegation Requests Criminal Investigation

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:08:37 +0000

Northern Colorado’s congressional delegation turned up the heat on former New Frontier Bank officials Tuesday, calling for a federal investigation into the bank’s collapse.

U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall along with U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate possible fraud connected to the April failure.

The bank was closed by federal regulators for unsafe and unsound banking practices leaving numerous businesses and farmers with loans they couldn’t refinance and without lines of credit crucial to run their businesses.

One Woman’s Saga as She Stares Down Foreclosure

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:05:12 +0000

Many a financially strapped homeowner has a story to tell about missed mortgage payments, delinquency notices, and threats of foreclosure.

Few of the stories have as many twists and turns as the now-eight-year-long tale of Donita Bagner of West Philadelphia, court records, legal documents, and interviews show.

Between Bagner’s 2002 purchase of a four-bedroom, one-bathroom rowhouse and what could prove to be the final order evicting her from it winds a road.

NY AG Cuomo Asks 8 Banks for Bonus Information

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:52:05 +0000

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Monday pressed the nation’s eight biggest banks to reveal how much they plan to pay out in employee bonuses for 2009.

Cuomo told reporters that he also wants to know how the size of the banks’ bonus pool would have been affected if the banks hadn’t received a taxpayer rescue at the height of the financial crisis in late 2008.

The fact-finding effort comes as Wall Street banks this month prepare to hand out near-record compensation for last year’s performance.

Living on Nothing but Food Stamps

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:45:49 +0000

After an improbable rise from the Bronx projects to a job selling Gulf Coast homes, Isabel Bermudez lost it all to an epic housing bust — the six-figure income, the house with the pool and the investment property.

Now, as she papers the county with résumés and girds herself for rejection, she is supporting two daughters on an income that inspires a double take: zero dollars in monthly cash and a few hundred dollars in food stamps.

With food-stamp use at a record high and surging by the day, Ms. Bermudez belongs to an overlooked subgroup that is growing especially fast: recipients with no cash income.