Msnbc.com is reporting what some have been saying for a while now: lenders aren’t doing loan modifications like they are promising. In fact, in court documents filed in Merrimack County Superior court, countrywide’s respond to one lawsuit is ‘We don’t have any obligation or even necessarily the intention of actually modifying these loans,’
Saying the modification offers are “only Countrywide’s vague advertisements,” attorneys for the lender are asking the court to throw out a lawsuit alleging breach of good faith, fraud, negligence and misrepresentation, which was filed on behalf of a family that was refused a loan modification by the California-based company.
“It’s breathtaking,” attorney Mary Frances Stewart of Concord, N.H., said of Countrywide’s response to the lawsuit she and co-counsel Krista Atwater filed in Merrimack County Superior Court. In its response, “Countrywide is saying, ‘We don’t have any obligation or even necessarily the intention of actually modifying these loans,’ and yet they’re representing that they do.”
Read the full article here at msnbc.com
Loan Modification
countrywide
The Press-Enterprise is reporting a 122 percent surge in default notices that begin the foreclosure process following a three month decline. Between the years 07 and 09, there was over a 300% increase in “Foreclosure-related notices” in Riverside county alone.
Between November and December, California saw a 122 percent surge in default notices that begin the foreclosure process, following a three-month decline, RealtyTrac reported Wednesday.
It was hoped that the law, which took effect in September, would provide time for the lender and homeowner to find an alternative to foreclosure.
Riverside County saw notices of default plunge by more than half in September, stay low for three months and then jump 126 percent to 4,729 in December. San Bernardino County saw the number of default notices increase 92 percent between November and December to 4,247, after falling as low as 1,500 in September.
Read the full article over at pe.com
Mortgage, Uncategorized
foreclosure increase, inland empire, riverside
SmartMoney.com has a good article about some loan modifications. It states why in some cases a loan mod is not as good as it seems (though anything is better then losing your home isn’t it?)
Fortunately, since August last year, Kroger’s been negotiating a deal that should allow him to stay put. Beginning next month, his loan servicer, HomeEq Servicing, will reduce his adjustable interest rate to 3% for two years. (The rate will then increase by one percentage point a year, up to 6% on year five.) The new modification will reduce his $1,300 monthly payment to $870.
It’s a significant improvement from the three so-called forbearance agreements he’d received in the past year and a half. Those deals only added the past-due amounts to his monthly bill, at one point boosting his payment to as much as $1,800. “They make your mortgage payment bigger so you can catch up… and you can’t afford the original one,” he says. “[Now], I’ll definitely be able to keep my house.”
Click here to read the story on smartmoney.com
Mortgage
As politicians and economists continue to forecast doom and grasp at inventive solutions to improve the financial quality of life for the average American and the large multi-national corporations that rely on the consumers, Alamosa County has seen little impact in the housing market.
The numbers of foreclosures in Alamosa County do not show much of an increase regardless of the economic recession. While 2008’s numbers are not finalized, it is clear that there is not much variation from 2007 or 2006.
In 2006, 41 new foreclosures were filed, 15 of which were withdrawn; 2007 saw 62 foreclosures and 28 withdrawals; 2008 ended with 57 foreclosures and 17 withdrawals. According to Lois Widhalm, Alamosa County Treasurer and Public Trustee, “The numbers say we’re down 5 [foreclosures], but we didn’t have as many withdrawn. The numbers did not change drastically.”
Read more…
Uncategorized
The daily news is reporting that the Board Of Supervisors has created a “Real Estate Fraud and Predatory Lending Task Force” which should help homeowners mired in the financial crisis.
The article goes on to state what we have been for months, people are being victimized by loan modification companies asking for monies up front.
According to the DRE a few months back only 10 companies in California were in contract to do loan modifications - but there were 40 loan modification companies in orange county, California.
If you are looking to do a Loan Modification, I strongly suggest you consider doing it yourself. Use a kit like from SelfLoanMods.com to help you throughout the process.
Pastor Herrera Jr., director of the county Consumer Affairs Department, said his office is receiving a flood of telephone calls from people victimized by the deceptive practices of home loan modification facilitators and foreclosure consultants.
“The most common thing we’re seeing are people who tell the homeowners if they give them some upfront money that they can guarantee they will get them a loan modification with a fixed interest rate and there is no problem because of their past credit history,” Herrera said.
Read the Daily News article here
Mortgage
The flames of the foreclosure wildfire leaped higher in December, with Notices of Default rebounding from the stall caused by a California law (Senate Bill 1137), which temporarily slowed foreclosures by imposing new requirements on lenders, according to a report by ForeclosureRadar Inc. of Discovery Bay, which says it tracks every California foreclosure with daily auction updates.
With 42,421 filings in December, Notices of Default are back to the record levels reached in the second quarter of 2008, nearly doubling the 21,557 Notices of Default recorded in November.
Notice of Trustee Sale filings were relatively flat month-over-month. However, Notices of Trustee Sale are filed an average 116 days after the Notice of Default so a rebound in the coming months is likely, says the report.
Read more…
Uncategorized
foreclosure, NOD
Even before the ink was dry on the deal merging Morgan Stanley (MS) and Citigroup’s brokerage operations, talk surfaced of more radical changes at Citigroup (C).
It’s not known exactly what Citi, which pioneered the concept of the financial supermarket, will look like. But it’s quickly becoming clear it will be a whole lot different from the institution initially conceived back in 1998 when Citicorp and Travelers Group were merged to form Citigroup. With the brokerage sold, Primerica, largely an insurance operation, is on the chopping block, according to a source familiar with the discussions. So are some of the bank’s proprietary trading operations, the same ones that bulked up on the toxic real estate-related securities now making Citi’s balance sheet sick.
Broadly speaking, the bank will still have consumer, commercial, and investment banking operations, according to the source. Citi will also hold on to its private bank, which caters to the mass affluent. (An announcement with explicit details isn’t expected until the bank’s earnings call on Jan. 22.)
Click here to read the whole article at businessweek.com
Mortgage
Dorchester mortgage broker who helped unqualified home buyers secure subprime loans has pleaded guilty to forgery, larceny, and other criminal charges, the state attorney general’s office said yesterday.
Nicole Lyder, 34, was sentenced Monday to two years in the Suffolk County House of Correction after entering a plea in Suffolk Superior Court. The allegations included providing false financial information about clients to lenders, qualifying them for loans they couldn’t afford, and then collecting thousands of dollars in commissions.
Lyder entered a not-guilty plea in April and had been held on $500,000 bail, which was reduced to $100,000, before she changed her plea.
Read more…
Mortgage
Jail Time, Loan Fraud
