Banks, states reach $26 billion settlement

[Roland99]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/banks-states-reach-26-billion-settlement-2012-02-09?link=MW_home_latest_news

After more than a year of negotiations, the biggest banks, states and federal authorities on Thursday announced the largest housing settlement ever -- for more than $26 billion -- over foreclosure practices that is expected to offer relief to more than one million U.S. homeowners.

State attorneys-general and federal officials have been in discussions for more than a year with banks over the “robo-signing” crisis - the practice of assigning bank employees to rapidly approve numerous foreclosures with only cursory glances at the glut of paperwork to determine if all the documents are in order.

...

Of the $26 billion in the deal with the five banks, $17 billion must be spent by the banks to assist struggling homeowners. Of that amount, 60% must be employed to reduce the amount owed by troubled borrowers, known as principle reduction. The amount must be spent within three years, or banks will need to make cash payments to regulators.

A government official said he believes the vast majority of principal write-downs will take place on loans sitting on bank portfolios because they will receive the largest credit against their obligations under the settlement to do so.

Not one indictment.

[sarcasmo]

1. Settlements but no jail time, typical banker bullshit.

[tridim]

10. Not true.

The deal protects banks from state and federal lawsuits pertaining to some foreclosure fraud abuses, including robo-signing. However, Schneidermann’s lawsuit against three big banks for allegedly fraudulent use of a mortgage database will go forward. In addition, “individual homeowners retain private rights of action to sue over foreclosure fraud and other abuses.”

[brentspeak]

16. Lawsuits are not criminal investigations

[tridim]

19. Don't ignore the fact that the MERS investigation will continue.

MERS is at the heart of the crime.

[brentspeak]

25. You repeated yourself

Schneiderman's lawsuit is the MERS lawsuit. And the key word is "lawsuit", not criminal investigation.

[tridim]

26. Beau Biden is on MSNBC right now saying CRIMINAL investigations will continue.

Do you dispute his word?

[brentspeak]

27. I'm disputing your word

You've repeated incorrect information at least once already.

[tridim]

29. I posted a direct quote that addressed the facts in this settlement.

[brentspeak]

31. A direct quote that doesn't address the dropping of criminal investigations

What other "direct quotes" do you have?

[Conslayer25]

18. Really?

Oh so individual people can sue. That assumes you have the money to hire an attorney and can afford years of litigation. If you can't afford to do that, then you are out of luck. Sorry don't see that individuals can sue, as being some great gift. This settlement stinks. Bankers let off the hook and no one goes to jail. It's sickening.

[tridim]

20. The MERS investigation will continue. I guess you missed that.

[boppers]

48. Class Action is not off the table.

Expect the annoying late night TV ads soon.

[dennis4868]

17. I guess you did not read the settlements...

the settlement allows state to bring criminal charges and allows citizens to sue the banks in a expedited process.

[Censor-Ready]

44. Lip service but no sharp teeth, typical Obama bullshit.

This 'settlement' will codify the crime of the millenium. Yves Smith on Naked Capitalism gives it the rough treatment it deserves: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/02/the-top-twelve-reasons-why-you-should-hate-the-mortgage-settlement.html#Search

Forget about state level and individual options. Obama is screwing homeowners harder than Clinton screwed union members. The Republican candidates are a laughing stock, but how many people will vote to re-elect Obama as the details of this insider fix start to filter out?

[cstanleytech]

2. "Not one indictment." Hardly surprising, the bankers buy and sell politicians exactly

for this reason.......to escape from the consequences of their actions.

[sarcasmo]

14. +1

[FedUp_Queer]

35. How do I get a piece of that puzzle?

The next time I walk into court, I want to tell the judge that we should look forward and not worry about past recriminations. Of course, I will be saying it from a jail cell.

[harun]

3. How much more corrupt can this system get before people take action?

[chill_wind]

4. This is rich:

"Restitution"..

An additional $5 billion is being allocated in cash to the states and federal government, of which $1.5 billion is being allocated to a fund to be used to provide restitution to homeowners who have lost their home between 2008 to 2011 because they experienced some form of mortgage servicer abuses. The amounts borrowers will receive will vary, but regulators estimate that borrowers could receive between $1500 and $2000 depending on the harm done to them.

Edit to add this comment at the link, which pretty well sums it up:

"Do $1T in bad loans, pay $25B. Nice work if you can find it."

[ms.smiler]

9. Chill wind, that $1,500 to $2,000 should be used by the homeowner as a retainer for competent legal

counsel. It’s my understanding that damages for wrongful foreclosure begin at 3 times the value of the property that was stolen. Compare that to $2,000.

This settlement is simply a drop in the bucket. What about the homeowners who refinanced or paid off their mortgages and have a robo-signed, invalid and fraudulent Satisfaction of Mortgage filed on their Titles?

What about the home buyers who purchased foreclosed properties with those bogus documents in the Title history clouding the Title?

This settlement is virtually meaningless except to tip off some homeowners that they were wrongfully foreclosed.

The situation remains as I projected. It will be up to each homeowner, one by one to file suit regarding their properties so they can be properly compensated for the harm done to them.



I’ve been researching mortgage/foreclosure fraud for 3 ½ years. I filed a Quiet Title action on my property. The trial is presently scheduled for May. A funny thing happens when you challenge banksters. They cower in the corner whimpering, unable to respond to defend themselves.

My case is going very well.

[Autumn]

24. Yeah, great post

$1500 and $2000 depending on the harm done to them. That's a fucking joke.

[nmbluesky]

5. 26 Billion and no jail time BULLSHIT

I am disargee with this..
26 billion? it should be 500 billion or more... alot of the people suffer who lost their house

of course Bankers don't go to jail time.. nothing new!!!

[quakerboy]

40. And last I heard

Its not even 26 billion from the banks. Last I read of the propose deal, the banks got to charge quite a lot of the proposed settlement money through to the pension funds and cities and whatnot who purchased their securities, rather than paying it themselves.

Or in other words, we get to pay our selves, and the bank is basically off the hook entirely. They don't even pay the civil fines out of their corporate cash, when it comes down to it, much less face jail or personal consequences

[sarcasmo]

50. +1

[barbtries]

6. it's such a huge clusterfuck

i honestly don't know whether this is good news or not. i hope it helps a million people anyway.

[kemah]

7. What did Dillinger say when asked why he robbed banks?

That's where the money is. The banks are now robbing and if caught get to pay a fine and offer some half ass apology. They will continue to rob us as long as they can get away with it. White collar crime, where you can rob millions and get a thousand dollars of fines. But if you steal from corporations, you get 5 years or more. Hell uploading music files get more of a punishment than these banksters will ever get.

[Fuddnik]

36. That was Willie Sutton, not Dillinger.

[fasttense]

8. So a bank fraudulently confiscates your home and you get $2,000 max?

So, for a $250,000 home that a bank conned you out of, and used fraudulent paperwork to do it, you get the measly sum of $2,000. Wow, what a deal for the banks.

[tridim]

13. The settlement allows individuals to still sue in cases like that.

The $2000 payments are for otherwise legit foreclosures that used fraudulent paperwork and/or cases that didn't allow borrowers access to the HAMP law.

[ms.smiler]

22. Dear Tridim, there are no otherwise legitimate foreclosures.

Well, extremely few. Legitimate foreclosures are very, very rare.

If the mortgage servicers/banks legitimately owned the loans, there would have been no need for any fraudulent documents. A foreclosure based simply upon a fraudulent Assignment of Mortgage does not mean the foreclosing party had any standing to sue the homeowner.

If Affidavits were presented as well in the foreclosure suit, they would have been just as fraudulent.

The only legitimate party that could bring a foreclosure action against a homeowner is an investment Trust, if they legally owned the loan which didn’t happen. That’s the securities fraud on Wall Street that is directly tied to our mortgage loans here on Main Street.

So our mortgage loans have gaps and breaks in the chain of Title which the fraudulent documents were designed to paper over, thus transferring trillions of dollars of real property to the banksters, not the investors who funded the loans.

[tridim]

23. My foreclosure was legit, even though the mortgage paperwork was fraudulent..

And my HAMP application was completely ignored on three separate attempts.

I don't dispute that I missed payments due to loss of my job. This happened to millions of people due to the Bush recession.

[ms.smiler]

30. Your payments have nothing to do with the party who brought a foreclosure action against you.

You would not have known what Trust or Trusts supposedly owned your loan. There may not even be a Trust that appears in your Title history. You would not have received a full accounting of your mortgage loan. You would not have known if your loan remained in a functioning Trust or a failed Trust that was sold off to the U.S. government or the Federal Reserve.

My attorney and I discovered that even with a Subpoena, MERS will not release my loan information. Why must it remain a secret?

If it helps, think of the situation as follows. Suppose you owed $100,000 to some party somewhere, but some other party came along and stole the home from you using fraudulent documents. Legally, you remain the owner of the property and are entitled to damages. The court considers the great damage done to you and your property Title, subtracts the $100,000 if the debt is valid, and the party who wrongfully foreclosed on you writes you a nice check for the difference.

This is what I never understood about the securitized mortgage scam. The banksters exposed themselves to great liability in order to steal homes. Their greed must have outpaced any sound business sense.

[tridim]

32. I've seen all of my loan documents.

I requested to see them at the law firm that handled the foreclosure. They let me see them, but didn't allow me to touch them.

My loan bypassed the servicing bank (Which was the initiation point of the fraud) and went straight to Fannie. Chase acquired my mortgage from WAMU for $0 and sold it to Fannie for fair market value. Any lawsuit based on that crime should be filed by Fannie, not me.

I'm just glad to be out of the trap that was my massively underwater mortgage, and am doubly glad that I will apparently receive a settlement from the offending bank as opposed to NO settlement which I expected since I can't afford a lawyer. I'm also glad to hear that the state AG's are still pursuing criminal investigations into this practice. The investigation into MERS is also continuing.

[Fuddnik]

11. Sellout, Sellout, Sellout.

I was up 'til about 4:00am this morning looking at some details.

The banks get a credit towards the settlement for short sales. So, money that they've already lost is part of a comprehensive settlement?

We're truly, completely fucked.

Thanks, suckers.

Now, on to bonus season!

[fascisthunter]

12. Maybe People SHould Take the Law into their Own Hands

Let the 99% deal with the bankers as seen fit... see if the rich pricks like it when the tables are turned on them.

[a2liberal]

15. Does it include blanket immunity

like the other one?

[just1voice]

21. Institutionalized criminality protected by the government = corrupt country

Organized crime keeps rising up in political power in all corrupt countries, it's a hallmark of being a corrupt country. The U.S. is no different now as we have torturers, propagandists and criminals of every kind in every branch of government that conspire with and enable organized and institutionalized criminals.

It is an era of evil.

[lovuian]

37. An era of Evil

all planned
and we KNOW what this is all about
Destroyed many people lives

[Scruffy1]

28. This is sick on all levels.

Maybe a couple of grand for getting your house stolen. Won't even pay the moving costs. And another chance for the banks to play around with about 17 billion. I'm sure these morally superior won't scam the system by rewarding their friends and doing inside deals. Enough is enough.

[Roland99]

33. Record Shadow Housing Inventory, And How Obama May Have Just Popped The Consumer Spending Bubble

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/biggest-obstacle-record-shadow-housing-inventory-and-how-obama-may-have-just-popped-consumer-sp

While today's foreclosure settlement deal is by some accounts expected to help the housing market, as the foreclosure pipeline is once again unclogged, it is unclear what this will actually do for price discovery and clearing levels when one considers the already untenable shadow housing inventory, which can be summarized simply as follows - excess supply. It is this overhang that has to clear before there is any hope for incremental demand interest. And since mortgage rates are already at record low levels, and only an MBS QE could do much to stimulate even lower rates (which has its own set of adverse consequences), it is now obvious that from a purely psychological standpoint as long as people expect rates to decline in the future, they will not commit to a new home loan today. What makes it even worse is that the excess inventory has to be literally burned to the ground for regular market clearing to resume.

Unfortunately, as the following chart from JPM shows very vividly, the burning will have a long way to go: the most recent shadow housing inventory is now at an all time high. Think today's action will do anything to help the housing market? Think again - if anything it will simply see the number of foreclosed properties explode. Rather, what it will do, is finally redirect discretionary spending from all the squatters who have lived mortgage free in their houses for years back into mandatory spending such as rent and mortgage bills. For those unclear, recall this post quantifying the benefit of the squatter economy (i.e., non paid rental/mortgage payments going into discretionary spending) - kiss that $50 billion inflow into GDP goodbye. Paradoxically, by trying to fix housing, Obama may have just popped the consumer discretionary bubble, of which the biggest beneficiary is that one certain fruit-shaped company...

[Festivito]

34. 0.005% of the CDS-CDO scandal down, 99.995% to go.

of a 645T$ debacle.

At least they might finish by the year 55,000, as long as no one wants penalties.

Personally, I think those bankers should be in homeless shelters, and just piss-away the half-penny percent on the dollar.

[BelgianMadCow]

43. heyhey now, don't be so demanding!! we're contemplating a 0,01 % tax on derivatives transactions

at least, half the EU (inc Belgium) is. That'll teach em!


O sorry, won't happen -> UK

I say take one year of all profits of all banks, smaller ones excluded. Who's with me?

[Festivito]

45. I say we hand over banking to bureaucrats and let financiers borrow and bet their own money.

... not the money we put into the bank, unless they take out a bona fide loan taken out under their own name.

Other countries run banking through their post offices. You can buy stamps and cash a check at the same teller window. It's not rocket science. The statute of limitations expired. It should be in public domain for the public good.

Just one year of their profits? I guess I'm too demanding -- eh?

[Safetykitten]

38. Well, well, well...looks like business will be picking up for the criminal class.

[Skittles]

39. chump change

the equivalent of a slap on the wrist - truly insulting

[Marrah_G]

41. Yet if some destitute person steals a hot dog...

OMG Lock them up!!!!!!!!!!

[solarman350]

42. The "fix" is in: National Mortgage Settlement is a done deal-Crime Pays! Great Bizness Model!

A big windfall (as usual) for Wall St./Big Banking. This caper dwarfs their last one...The "Savings and Loan" Crisis." Thank ronOLD RAPEnuns for that one when he signed the bill that deregulated the banking industry and then followed up by signing another bill doubling the FDIC ($125,000 to $250,000). So now....connecting the dots here in THIS caper:

The DOJ has yet to successfully prosecute ANYONE criminally responsible for the Wall St./Bankster-orchestrated "Mortgage Crisis." Instead the people who lost their homes due to foreclosure can now rent them back from the same banks and investment groups who loaned them money to buy the very same houses in the first place!

--crime does pay...and many times over... and in spades!

[woo me with science]

46. The theft will continue

For exactly as long as we consent to vote for thieves.


Occupy now.

[donheld]

47. It's a slap in the face.

[woo me with science]

49. Insulting as hell.

This is nothing less than sanctioning theft.

Get the money out of our political system. Occupy. We will continue to have thieves for exactly as long as we consent to vote for thieves.

[ms.smiler]

51. "Missing Settlement Document Raises Doubts on $25B Deal"

http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/177_29/mortgage-servicers-settlement-1046574-1.html

More than a day after the announcement of a mammoth national mortgage servicing settlement, the actual terms of the deal still aren't public. The website created for the national settlement lists the document as "coming soon."

snip

The implication of this is hard to say. Spokespersons for both the Iowa attorney general's office and the Department of Justice both told American Banker that the actual settlement will not be made public until it is submitted to a court. A representative for the North Carolina attorney general downplayed the significance of the document's non-final status, saying that the terms were already fixed.

snip

Other sources who spoke with American Banker raised doubts that everything is yet in place. A person familiar with the mortgage servicing pact says that a settlement term sheet does not yet exist. Instead, there are a series of nearly-complete documents that will be attached to a consent judgment eventually filed with the court. That truly final version will include things such as servicing standards, consumer relief options, legal releases, and enforcement terms. There will likely be separate state and a federal versions of the release.

snip

"Even once we get to the final terms, the servicers we're told are going to be allowed to develop their own plans," says NCLC's Thompson. "They're going to have three months to develop those from when the settlement is approved by the court. We are a long way in lots of ways from being able to kick the tires."