Window Dressing: File a Lawsuit — Maybe It will Improve the View
Posted on September 2, 2011 by Neil Garfield
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EDITOR’S COMMENT: YAWN! The government keeps filing lawsuits that COULD be big and COULD cause make corrections in the marketplace to reflect reality. But then they go nowhere, with discovery stymied by the Banks and then a settlement on the table that sells out everyone except the half dozen big banks that we allow to control the market, courtesy of our taxpayer money and our refusal to apply the same rules to them we do to the 7,000 other community banks and credit unions who could do the same or better job at handling the country’s finance sector.Don’t get fooled. When someone comes out and says that securitization was an illusion, a ruse to defraud as many people in world population as possible, TEN we will have addressed the problem. When that special someone is willing to consider the idea that the banks never actually lost money and never needed a bailout, but that the top management diverted pornographic profits to off-shore havens then we will be on track to recapture the nation’s wealth, which currently is held hostage by Wall Street banks and the great majority of those in government who depend upon the mega banks for their political campaign expenses.In the meanwhile, the lawsuits should be watched because deep inside each suit are some additional allegations, indicating the results of administrative investigations that you can use. When we get serious, the lawsuits will come fast and furious and aggressively pursued. Until then, all thee actions amount to little more than window dressing.
U.S. Is Set to Sue a Dozen Big Banks Over Mortgages
By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ
The federal agency that oversees the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is set to file suits against more than a dozen big banks, accusing them of misrepresenting the quality of mortgage securities they assembled and sold at the height of the housing bubble, and seeking billions of dollars in compensation.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency suits, which are expected to be filed in the coming days in federal court, are aimed at Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, among others, according to three individuals briefed on the matter.
The suits stem from subpoenas the finance agency issued to banks a year ago. If the case is not filed Friday, they said, it will come Tuesday, shortly before a deadline expires for the housing agency to file claims.
The suits will argue the banks, which assembled the mortgages and marketed them as securities to investors, failed to perform the due diligence required under securities law and missed evidence that borrowers’ incomes were inflated or falsified. When many borrowers were unable to pay their mortgages, the securities backed by the mortgages quickly lost value.
Fannie and Freddie lost more than $30 billion, in part as a result of the deals, losses that were borne mostly by taxpayers.
In July, the agency filed suit against UBS, another major mortgage securitizer, seeking to recover at least $900 million, and the individuals with knowledge of the case said the new litigation would be similar in scope.
Private holders of mortgage securities are already trying to force the big banks to buy back tens of billions in soured mortgage-backed bonds, but this federal effort is a new chapter in a huge legal fight that has alarmed investors in bank shares. In this case, rather than demanding that the banks buy back the original loans, the finance agency is seeking reimbursement for losses on the securities held by Fannie and Freddie.
The impending litigation underscores how almost exactly three years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the beginning of a financial crisis caused in large part by subprime lending, the legal fallout is mounting.
Besides the angry investors, 50 state attorneys general are in the final stages of negotiating a settlement to address abuses by the largest mortgage servicers, including Bank of America, JPMorgan and Citigroup. The attorneys general, as well as federal officials, are pressing the banks to pay at least $20 billion in that case, with much of the money earmarked to reduce mortgages of homeowners facing foreclosure.
And last month, the insurance giant American International Group filed a $10 billion suit against Bank of America, accusing the bank and its Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch units of misrepresenting the quality of mortgages that backed the securities A.I.G. bought.
Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan all declined to comment. Frank Kelly, a spokesman for Deutsche Bank, said, “We can’t comment on a suit that we haven’t seen and hasn’t been filed yet.”
But privately, financial service industry executives argue that the losses on the mortgage-backed securities were caused by a broader downturn in the economy and the housing market, not by how the mortgages were originated or packaged into securities. In addition, they contend that investors like A.I.G. as well as Fannie and Freddie were sophisticated and knew the securities were not without risk.
Investors fear that if banks are forced to pay out billions of dollars for mortgages that later defaulted, it could sap earnings for years and contribute to further losses across the financial services industry, which has only recently regained its footing.
Bank officials also counter that further legal attacks on them will only delay the recovery in the housing market, which remains moribund, hurting the broader economy. Other experts warned that a series of adverse settlements costing the banks billions raises other risks, even if suits have legal merit.
The housing finance agency was created in 2008 and assigned to oversee the hemorrhaging government-backed mortgage companies, a process known as conservatorship.
“While I believe that F.H.F.A. is acting responsibly in its role as conservator, I am afraid that we risk pushing these guys off of a cliff and we’re going to have to bail out the banks again,” said Tim Rood, who worked at Fannie Mae until 2006 and is now a partner at the Collingwood Group, which advises banks and servicers on housing-related issues.
The suits are being filed now because regulators are concerned that it will be much harder to make claims after a three-year statute of limitations expires on Wednesday, the third anniversary of the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
While the banks put together tens of billions of dollars in mortgage securities backed by risky loans, the Federal Housing Finance Agency is not seeking the total amount in compensation because some of the mortgages are still good and the investments still carry some value. In the UBS suit, the agency said it owned $4.5 billion worth of mortgages, with losses totaling $900 million. Negotiations between the agency and UBS have yielded little progress.
The two mortgage giants acquired the securities in the years before the housing market collapsed as they expanded rapidly and looked for new investments that were seemingly safe. At issue in this case are so-called private-label securities that were backed by subprime and other risky loans but were rated as safe AAA investments by the ratings agencies.
In the years before 2007, “the market was so frothy then it was hard to find good quality loans to securitize and hold in your portfolio,” said David Felt, a lawyer who served as deputy general counsel of the finance agency until January 2010. “Fannie and Freddie thought they were taking AAA tranches, and like so many investors, they were surprised when they didn’t turn out to be such quality investments.”
Fannie and Freddie had other reasons to buy the securities, Mr. Rood added. For starters, they carried higher yields at a time when the two mortgage giants could buy them using money borrowed at rock-bottom rates, thanks to the implicit federal guarantee they enjoyed.
In addition, by law Fannie and Freddie were required to back loans to low-to-moderate income and minority borrowers, and the private-label securities were counted toward those goals.
“Competitive pressures and onerous housing goals compelled them to operate more like hedge funds than government-sponsored guarantors, ” Mr. Rood said.
In fact, Freddie was warned by regulators in 2006 that its purchases of subprime securities had outpaced its risk management abilities, but the company continued to load up on debt that ultimately soured.
As of June 30, Freddie Mac holds more than $80 billion in mortgage securities backed by more shaky home loans like subprime mortgages, Option ARM and Alt-A loans. Freddie estimates its total gross losses stand at roughly $19 billion. Fannie Mae holds $38 billion of securities backed by Alt-A and subprime loans, with losses standing at nearly $14 billion.
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Filed under: bubble, CDO, CORRUPTION, currency, Eviction, foreclosure, GTC | Honor, Investor,Mortgage, securities fraud Tagged: | American International Group, Bank of America, bankruptcy,borrower, Citigroup, countrywide, Countrywide financial, DEUTSCHE BANK, disclosure, Fannie MAe, Federal Housing Finance Agency, foreclosure, foreclosure defense, foreclosure offense,foreclosures, Frank Kelly, fraud, Freddie Mac, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, LOAN MODIFICATION, Merrill Lynch, modification, quiet title, rescission, RESPA, securitization, TILA audit, trustee, WEISBAND
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The ‘No’ bypassed on all ‘loan applications’ feed to Alt-A Loan Lenders. Consumer never told the property was placed with CREDITOR who sold mortgage backed note as collateral to third party and sold servicing of debt to another third party and the consumer signed promissory note with Mortgage Servicer’s affiliate who acted as Temporary Lender the commercial client of the ‘Seller’ of the loan.
Penn-Ohio Life Insurance Company Arizona
Regency Consumer Discount Company.
Reliance Consumer Discount Company.
STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY
MY BROTHERS ALAMARTE
5625 Mills Civic Parkway
West Des Moines IA 50266
RSSD ID 1208568
(SEC INFORMATION VERY VALUABLE)
PARENTS OF FIRST BANK
FIRST BANK (378549) WEST DES MOINES IA Non-member Bank
currency Federal Reserve System Parent money flows to from
FIRST Bank (378549) Non-Member Bank
flows to from
FNB Holding Company Capital Trust I 3187872 Domestic Other ENtity
1983-03-11 FNB HOLDING COMPANY located at WEST DES MOINES, IA was established as a Bank Holding Company.
1984-12-31 FNB HOLDING COMPANY moved to 1630 22ND STREET WEST DES MOINES, IA.
2006-10-15 FNB HOLDING COMPANY moved to 5625 MILLS CIVIC PARKWAY WEST DES MOINES, IA.
CHEMICAL BANK SIGNIFICANT IN RELATIONSHIPS WITH US TRUST ACQUISTION OF CHASE MANHATTAN MORTGAGE CORP
*********************************************************************
District 76-Naples, FL
3299 Tamiami Trail East, Suite 304
Naples, FL 34112
Phone: 239-417-6200
Fax: 239-417-6204
1003 The Capital
402 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399
Phone: 850-488-4487
Director of District Affairs: Kevin Comerer
FNMA v. LEBO #856-Civil-2010 Wayne County Pennsylvania
For the South Central Assembly for Effective Governance
and municipal CDBG programs, area nonprofits, USDA Rural Development, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other organizations.
This study stands as critical evidence that predatory lending in the mortgage industry is a serious issue
ô€€¹ It hits those individuals hardest with the least means of protection and the fewest resources – the poor, minorities, and the elderly.
ô€€¹ The federal, state and local governments’ role in combating predatory lending must be increased, in part, because it has adverse impacts on homeownership rates, tax revenue, and neighborhood stability.
ô€€¹ Predatory lending is a very human problem that impacts (not only the immediate victims) but also the neighborhood, extended families, communities, and ultimately the entire region.
ô€€¹ New specific resources need to be directed to the families that have been victimized as well as to those organizations and individuals who are directly working to combat the problem and assist victims.
ô€€¹ The Assembly intends to continue its efforts to prevent further predatory lending by:
o Making the public aware of this problem,
o Conducting further research as needed,
o Broadening its Task Force to include more parties and agencies interested in the effort,
o Advocating for progressive anti-predatory lending legislation at all levels,
o Helping housing counseling agencies, legal services and other
organizations in their anti-predatory lending efforts,
o And by assisting victims of this unscrupulous lending.
W. Craig Zumbrun
Executive Director
South Central Assembly for Effective Governance
777 West Harrisburg Pike
Middletown, PA 17057
717-948-6464
WCZ2 @ PSU . EDU
The Honorable Stephen R. Reed, Chair
Commissioner Nancy Besch, Vice-chair
Commissioner Anthony Petrucci, Second Vice-chair
Commissioner Harry Stokes, Secretary
Ed Calvert, Treasurer
Commissioner Rose Marie Swanger, Assistant Treasurer
Directors
We acknowledge the members of the Board of Directors of the South Central Assembly for Effective Governance (as
of the date of this report):
Mayor Robert Anspach, City of Lebanon Representative John Payne, HD 106
Vladimir Beaufils, SC Workforce Investment Board Dr. Steven Peterson, PSU, School of Public Affairs
Mayor Jim Becraft, Borough of Carroll Valley Doug Pfautz, Elizabethtown
Harrison Bink, Bink Partnership, Inc. Commissioner Cheryl Plummer, Franklin County
Mayor John Brenner, City of York Stephen Powell, Powell Steel
Keith Chase, Gannett Fleming Commissioner Christopher Reilly, York County
Susan Connell, Newport George Rettew, Jr., Rettew Associates
Commissioner G. Warren Elliott, Franklin County Robert Shaffer, Sr., Engineer, Gannett Fleming
Harriet Faren, Leb. Valley Chamber of Commerce Rep. Michael Sturla, PA House of Reps, HD 96
Michael Fesen, Norfolk Southern James Turner, Esq., Turner & O’Connell
Barbara Groce, Vice-President, ENVISION Mayor William Troxell, Borough of Gettysburg
Christopher Gulotta, Cumberland Co. Redev.
Authority
Margaret Weaver, Gettysburg-Adams Co. Chamber
of Commerce
Francis B. Haas, Jr., McNees, Wallace & Nurrick Boyd Wolff, Former PA Secretary of Agriculture
Prof. Irving Hand, Delta Development Merrill Yohe, Retired, AMP, Inc.
William Hawkins, Triad Strategies
Roger T. Karsnitz, Sr. Myerstown Ex Officios
Commissioner Mark Keller, Perry County George Klaus, USDA
Dr. Raymond Klein, Mechanicsburg Mike Krempasky, DCNR
Jo Ellen Litz, Commissioner-elect, Lebanon Co. Dennis Lebo, PADOT
Walter Lyon, Capital Region Water Board Dave McCarraher, HUD
Dr. Joseph McCarthy, Susquehanna Conference Susan Parry, RC&D
Senator Harold Mowery, Jr. Senate of PA, SD 31
Penny Myers, Waypoint Bank
Staff Members
W. Craig Zumbrun Daniel Marcucci, PhD, MLA Kari A. Reagan
We acknowledge the members of the Predatory Lending Task Force of the South Central Assembly for Effective
Governance (as of the date of this report):
Chair, Penny Myers, Waypoint Bank
Vice-Chair, Dan Betancourt, Community First Fund Steve Masters, City of Philadelphia
David W. Buches, FHLB – Pittsburgh Leila McAdoo, Dauphin Co. EDC
Betsy Buckingham, Realtors Assoc. of York &
Adams Counties
Willonda McCloud, Lancaster Co. Human Relations
Commission
Gerald Burke, Community Action Commission Derrick McDonald, Borough of Steelton
Phyllis Campbell Patricia McMorrow, Freddie Mac
Ed Carlin, Fannie Mae Pat Mrkobrad, Cumberland Co. Redev. Authority
Ray Cartwright, PA Human Relations Commission Chad Myers, Housing Initiatives Corp.
Ken Connor, PA Human Relations Commission Randy Patterson, Lancaster Co. Redev. Authority
Sam Cooper, Dauphin Co. Bar Association Kay Pickering, Harrisburg Ctr. for Peace & Justice
Cindy Daley, Regional Housing Legal Services Mary Rios, TABOR Community Services
Sherrie Davis, Housing Council of York County Kevin Ritchey, Atty.
Gladys Delgado, TABOR Community Services Craig Roda, Fulton Bank
Lisa Fishburn, Schuylkill Community Action Byron Ross, USDA Rural Development
Hellen Gemmill, McNees Wallace & Nurrick Nancy Roth, Housing Council of York
John Goryl, PA Housing Finance Agency Roberta Ryan, PA Housing Finance Agency
Gwendolyn Hailey, Esq. Beth Schalk, Lanc. Housing Opp. Partnership
Olaf Hasse, F&M Trust Dganit Shefet, Dauphin Co. Area Agency on Aging
Marilyn Hedge, Wachovia Ray Spencer, Citizens Bank
Randall Heilman, Lancaster Co. Planning Comm. Mark Stone, City of Harrisburg Dept. of Housing
Alan Jennings, Community Action Committee Joseph Terrana, Fannie Mae
John Kilduff, PA Credit Union League Renee Thomas-Glover, SACA
George Klaus, USDA Aimee Tyson, Lancaster Co. Redev. Authority
Tucker Landon, Esq. Don Williams, M&T Bank
Karl Ledford, Adams Co. Housing Authority Jeremy Wilson, USDA Rural Development
Glenda Machia, Community First Fund David Wise, Summit Terrace Neighborhood
Traxsene Martinez, PA Human Relations Council
Funding support to combat predatory lending was received from the following in 2003:
Allfirst Bank First Union Bank / Wachovia
Citizens bank Freddie Mac Foundation
City of Harrisburg Community Dev. Block Grant Fulton Bank
Commerce Bank Lancaster Co. Housing & Redevelopment Authority
Community First Fund Lancaster Co. Human Relations Commission
Community Action Program of Lancaster County Lancaster Housing Opportunity Partnership
Cumberland Co. Housing & Redevelopment
Authority Affordable Housing Trust Fund
M&T Bank
Dauphin County Affordable Housing Trust Fund TABOR Community Services
Dauphin County Community Dev. Block Grant USDA Rural Development
Fannie Mae Corporation, Wilkes Barre Waypoint Bank
Farmer’s First Bank
Federal Home Loan Bank, Pittsburgh
Applying For A Loan & Having an approved loan application means you can begin the closing process c/o Bank Closing Agent & Tempoary Lender and Institutional Investors Bank.
Guaranteed Safety of Timely Payment of Principal and Interest
Our strength lies in our guaranty: Ginnie Mae is the only agency to offer mortgage-backed securities backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government.
1. Borrowers Ability to Meet Financial Obligations
2. Insured by and/or Guaranteed by FHA and/or VA
3. Issuer’s Financial Strength and Obligations
If you are a current Ginnie Mae single-family issuer,
Single Family Division:
Ginnie Mae Office of Mortgage-Backed Securities
Single-Family & Manufactured Housing Division
451 7th Street, SW, Room B-133
Washington, DC 20410-9000
550 12th Street, SW, Third Floor
Washington, DC 20024
Fax (202) 485-0232
Director
Single-Family Division
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE TEAMS
Multifamily Division
Office of Mortgage-Backed Securities
Multifamily Programs Division
451 7th Street, SW, Room B-133
Washington, DC 20410
Fax (202) 708-3019
550 12th Street, SW, Third Floor
Washington, DC 20024
Director
Multifamily Programs Division
(202) 708-2043, Ext. 4979
Mortgage-Backed Securities Specialist
Multifamily Programs Division
(202) 475-7825
Fax (202) 485-0233
Calendar of Deadlines for ACH Payments, Pool Processing, and Data Reporting (PDF)
Ginnie Mae I Electronic Transmission Due Dates (PDF)
Ginnie Mae II Custom Pool Due Dates (PDF)
Ginnie Mae II Multiple Issuer Pools Securities Delivery Dates and Loan Package Transmission Due Dates (PDF)
Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) Pool Interest Adjustment Date – Date of Federal Reserve Board’s Statistical Release H15
FNMA v. LEBO #856-Civil-2010 Wayne County Pennsylvania
Judge Grants Motion for Jury Trial on Counterclaim, deletes Foreclosure from Docket.