Senate Foreclosure Hearing: Panel To Probe Whether Servicers Are Speeding Foreclosures

washingtonpost.com:

Mortgage industry executives have argued for weeks that they are foreclosing only on borrowers who deserve it for missing their monthly payments.

But consumer groups and attorneys contend that many homeowners are being pushed into foreclosure because of errors or bad advice by the companies managing their loans - an issue that will be a core focus of a Senate banking committee hearing Wednesday.

Read the whole story: washingtonpost.com

Comments

[dadw5boys]

11:02 PM on 12/01/2010

COVER UP WHAT ?????

[AZreb]

09:38 PM on 12/01/2010

Panel - committee - commission - and yet the band plays on with a solid beat of foreclosures, unemployment, poverty, hunger, homelessness - but the members of these panels, committees and commissions are not jobless nor do most of them really give a darn about the situation.

[Gilliam G]

06:43 PM on 12/01/2010

Another corporate bailout in the news...trying to stimulate a better day...financially we're all confused....why am I the one that has to pay....lost my job 2 weeks ago...haven't even told my wife....pretend to go to work each day....pretending I still have a life...but can she still Love a man unable to provide?...Where do we go from here?...Does anybody know?

From the song "Bailout Blues" hear the whole song here and download for free if you like:

http://gilsmusic.bandcamp.com/track/bailout-blues

[webgeek]

06:14 PM on 12/01/2010

They are covering up the crime. Read this:

Matt Taibbi: Courts Helping Banks Screw Over Homeowners
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/232611

[BluAZ]

03:25 PM on 12/01/2010

This foreclosure mess is beyond defensible on the part of the banking industry. If this statement is true: "Lengthy foreclosure delays impose substantial losses on Freddie Mac and taxpayers - by some estimates, $30 to 40 per day and $10,000 to $15,000 per year for every defaulted loan," Bisenius said." -- why not reduce principal amounts by $20,000 to $30,000 and LET PEOPLE KEEP THEIR HOMES? There is no justification for anything banks have done in this situation and when all those internal documents from BofA hit Wiki Leaks after the first of the year the entire world is going to see just how corrupt our banking system really is. Sadly, an awful lot of people will loose their homes before then...

[macmillin]

02:44 PM on 12/01/2010

dragging feet, bank bailout was done overnight, so tired of talk and no action.

[BoshSpong]

03:16 PM on 12/01/2010

Wall street, the banks and big insurance got trillions with no strings attached from a GOP administration - Obama agreed with the bailout and made absolutely no suggestions nor comments regarding accountability at the time, rightly or not he got the blame.

Fine, we expect the GOP to take care of their own, it only stands to reason. But since his election, Obama wasted two years on pushing through Senator Dole's GOP health Plan; a plan that enriches the for profit health industry - he did this in spite of overwhelming support for single payer, he did not support the people's well being in order to appear "bi-partisan".

OK, so Obama continued W/Cheney's policies, wars and economic principles - at least he could have noticed the tremendous hole in which America's homeowners are sinking - but no bailouts be given to the average citizen.

Only 10% of the delinquent mortgages have been foreclosed or modified.

Yet there is Mr. Obama "playing nice" and talking of belt tightening and reducing programs aimed at our battered middle class.

Sadly it now appears that as bad as the election of W/Cheney was for the Nation, Mr. Obama's election may surpass it as a terrible choice for the times.

I got tired of defending Obama, long ago - it is high time that he either begins to truly and unabashedly defend his constituency or that he go ahead and switch political affiliation to Republican. I for one will no longer support this sham.

[Suzeeq]

02:26 PM on 12/01/2010

An investigation with protocols put in place that ensure a foreclose is being done correctly is a good thing. Will it do anything who knows, so far the government has done zero to help home owners. Chase bank was starting foreclosure proceedings as soon as you applied for a loan mod - 3 months of delays and no correspondence and bingo the house was a foreclsoure before you could even blink.

[Sarah Albers]

08:34 PM on 12/01/2010

Yeah, I think the big banks all had the same script. I first asked for a modification about 2 years ago. I still haven't made it to the "committee" that actually looks at your situation. Lost paperwork, etc, etc, etc. has been my bank's rallying cry. Meanwhile, the "investors" have sought foreclosure and are proceeding even as my servicer keeps messing around as if there isn't any urgency. Servicers are at least as much to blame for their bad advice and their unwillingness to actually help anyone.

[AlsoSarah]

01:25 PM on 12/01/2010

Supposedly I was modified back in August. I have yet to recieve the final docs.

"Many borrowers, foreseeing financial difficulty ahead, were told by their mortgage servicers to miss payments in order to get a loan modification. But after doing so, homeowners were served foreclosure papers instead of getting the modification, the advocates say. "


I am pretty sure that everyone that asked for a modification was told this and were saddled with enormous fees also. I know I was. Understand that the 'servicers" are the Big banks. Until very recently they were unwilling to budge one inch.

In other cases, borrowers accrued late fees without their servicer telling them about the fines. The company would then consider the borrower in default of the loan.

[RightToCancel]

11:30 AM on 12/01/2010

1 The most rewarding things about this epic battle that is the foreclosure fight is meeting homeowners and other advocates who are standing up and fighting for themselves and fighting for the heart and soul of our courthouses. http://righttocancel.com/
We have only seen the tip of the mortgage crisis. The scariest part currently of this crisis is that people are losing hope, The common consensus is "why bother...the bank doesn't care...why should I? I will just go rent." The American dream has gone from aspiring to own your own home to just hoping to keep your home. http://righttocancel.com/
If you feel that you have been a victim of predatory lending practices or are currently facing a foreclosure, contact us today and learn how you can take action against your lender using our proven administrative procedure that has already help so many people fight back against the banks and get resolution! [e-mail] Office: 813-321-5114

TJ "The Central Bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the principles and form of our Constitution if the American people allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

[Drmhp]

11:23 AM on 12/01/2010

Owning a home is really renting a home from the banks till you move on to the next one and pay realtors way to much for the option to do that. Is owning a home really that great when you have a gun to your head if you can't keep up?

[AlsoSarah]

01:30 PM on 12/01/2010

Yes.

[Suzeeq]

02:21 PM on 12/01/2010

a seller pays for the real estate commission not the buyer.
you can buy a house without a realtor (as long as it is not listed an MLS) you may over pay or you may buy a lemon but you do have a choice. more often than not you save money using a realtor.
if you can't keep up with the payments its not that great at all thats why there are so many homes on the market but it is a great time to buy because houses are selling way below replacement value.
owning a home is not everything but if you can afford it then it is a great investment, it is tangible not like money sitting in a bank account but most important of all you have a place to live that you can call home.

[Raccoon1]

11:23 AM on 12/01/2010

"A panel to investigate", means that no one wants to take it on. This will be lost in committee until we forget about it.

An old business truism: If you want nothing to get done, assign it to a committee. The bigger the committee, the longer it takes.

[AlsoSarah]

01:34 PM on 12/01/2010

That is unfortunately true.

[FrogLips]

11:20 AM on 12/01/2010

Bad advise by mortgage companies? Why is this a surprise to anybody? It's been SOP for years.

[seal62]

11:10 AM on 12/01/2010

Why was my post deleted? Whos affraid ? http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/ramh/res/respamor.cfm#PV

[Being Middle Class]

10:49 AM on 12/01/2010

Industry executives are lying. Imagine that? And the blame game continues. Banksters point the finger at the investors (Fannie and Freddie) as the reason for not doing modifications. Maybe you have heard "the investor won't allow us to modify the loan" from your bankster. That's BS. Fannie's contention is that the servicer has the authority. A nice little vicious circle that results in the banksters making millions, if not billions on forced placed insurance policies, late fees, inspection fees, BPO fees, process server fees, and a laundry list of junk fees.

[hellboundtrain]

10:38 AM on 12/01/2010

1. What party was responsible for redesigning the set process that broke the chain of title?
2. At what point was the chain of title broken?

They are the responsible party(ies) for this terrible cascading chain of events.