U.S. Banks Reportedly Offered Deal On Improper Mortgage Practices

Big U.S. banks in talks with state prosecutors to settle claims of improper mortgage practices have been offered a deal that may limit their legal liabilities in return for a multibillion-dollar payment, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

The talks aim to settle allegations that banks including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial, seized the homes of delinquent borrowers and broke state laws by employing so-called "robosigners," workers who signed off on foreclosure documents en masse without reviewing the paperwork.

The FT, citing five people with direct knowledge of the discussions, said state prosecutors have proposed settlement language in the "robosigning" cases that also might release the companies from legal liability for wrongful securitization practices.

A spokesman for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who is leading states' negotiations with the banks, denied any deal has been offered on securitization.

"We do not intend to release any aspect of securitizations," said Geoff Greenwood, Miller's spokesman.

The banks are pressing for immunity from a raft of alleged civil violations and have called the latest proposal a "non-starter."

The two sides are due to meet again this week to iron out differences on any proposed deal, the article said.

(Reporting by Stephen Mangan in London and Dave Clarke in Washington D.C.; Additional reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Matt Driskill)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[tooncesrocks]

04:16 PM on 10/03/2011

NO DEAL... NO DEAL... ENOUGH IS ENOUGH...

NO
GO
DD
AMN
deal...!!!!!!!! tHIS IS TOTAL BS>>>

GOD F' america

[MayorsRevenge]

09:36 AM on 09/08/2011

You didn't believe Obama when he said he was going to bring change did you?

[karen1p]

04:37 PM on 09/07/2011

If the banks are "let off"........I will RlOT myself, I don't know about anyone else.

[Realtors Are Liars]

10:26 PM on 09/07/2011

If the Realtor Crime Syndicate is "let off"...... I will continue to write letters to congressmen and the US DOJ about their crimes.

[gmb007]

02:41 PM on 09/07/2011

The Mafia is small potatoes.

Organized crime doesn't get any more organized, any more vicious, any more virulent than Wall Street.

Or, as Goldman Sach's Lloyd Blankfein might smile and say, God's Gangsters doing His holy work.

[karen1p]

03:06 PM on 09/07/2011

Very succinct.

I'm a new fan.

[karen1p]

03:08 PM on 09/07/2011

Or any more well-connected to our politicians!!

[gmb007]

01:44 PM on 09/07/2011

Wall Street writes their own law.

"Deals" and paltry, token "fines" are just a business expense.

What we have here, people, is essentially lawlessness - legalized economic tyranny that infiltrates and poisons every aspect of American life.

If we still operated under strict rule of law and true justice, Lloyd "I'm-Doing-God's-Work" Blankfein and the rest of the Holy Wall Street Army would be rotting in prison.

[karen1p]

03:18 PM on 09/07/2011

Actually, they don't write their own laws, they just defy the one's currently on the books. That is, with the help of our judges, legislators and such.

[tooncesrocks]

04:19 PM on 10/03/2011

They actually DO write them and hand the bills to legislators as finished products to be passed... in exchange for money..

...erm campaign donations.

Democracy is a sham... and to think the US seeks to spread this BS all over the world

[gmb007]

01:26 PM on 09/07/2011

The Mafia bows in humble awe - and jealous envy - at the feet of Wall Street.

[gmb007]

01:20 PM on 09/07/2011

"Capital [i.e., rich men] must protect itself in every way... Debts must be collected and loans and MORTGAGES FORECLOSED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

When through a process of law the common people have lost their homes, they will be more tractable and more easily... governed by the strong arm of the law applied by the central power of leading financiers .

People without homes will not quarrel with their leaders.

This is well known among our principle men now engaged in forming an imperialism of capitalism to govern the world. By dividing the people we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance to us except as teachers of the common herd."

~ JP MORGAN 1902

*********

Al-Queda, etal. is no real threat to America.

Banks will destroy us.

[karen1p]

03:20 PM on 09/07/2011

Al Queda was the "made up" threat so that most Americans would look the other way as the terr0rists from within really did the destruction that would stick much more than wiping out two buildings.

Al Queda is the reason for the Iraq oil invasion that we are currently still undertaking.

[gmb007]

02:46 PM on 09/08/2011

Exactly. Al Queda became the ultimate "enemy", the perfect excuse to ram even more tyranny and war-for-profit down our throats.

[Box500]

01:17 PM on 09/07/2011

The ballot box no longer works. The judicial "system" no longer works. The government is no longer of, by, and for the people.We all know what really needs to be done.

[tooncesrocks]

04:21 PM on 10/03/2011

yes... we do!
The USA has become a shameful place... not because of the average person... but because of those controlling it

[gmb007]

01:07 PM on 09/07/2011

America does NOT have a justice system.

We have a legal system.

Whatever you can get away with is legal.

[gmb007]

01:06 PM on 09/07/2011

Giving "deals" to banks is nothing more than negotiating with financial terrorists.

[gmb007]

01:03 PM on 09/07/2011

Banks get kid-glove "deals" - Joe American gets prison.

[Joseph Joyal]

10:10 AM on 09/07/2011

The banks pay each other and the government for their illegal actions but for those that really got scammed there is no relief.
Banks still foreclose on their improper mortgages and the government allows them to. In many cases the foreclosures do not meet state or federal laws requirements but the judges turn a blind eye to the banks illegal action.
So much for justice

[vinyl1]

10:28 AM on 09/07/2011

We have an adversarial judicial system. It is not up to the judges to go looking for evidence, the opposing lawyers have to bring it before the court. Most foreclosures are unopposed, even if they are improper, because the 'homeowner' has not made any mortgage payments for two or three years and figures his time in the house is up.

[Joseph Joyal]

12:40 PM on 09/07/2011

When the laws is being violated and the judge knows about it and still allows the foreclosure that's a problem. in many cases ib Florida the judge does not even allow the defendant to make a reply in open court allowing the bank to foreclose without ever proving their case.

[Carolab]

02:14 AM on 09/07/2011

Deal or no deal, the banks will get off light.  Bet on it.

[baldguy]

10:35 AM on 09/07/2011

They need to take the top decision maker of each of these banks into the courtyard, climb the steps, have a loop placed around their necks, then open the door. Maybe if THAT was the penalty, there might be some justice....The rest might quit %$#^ing around with our lives....

[wvdn2tn]

01:49 AM on 09/07/2011

And WHY would they be offered a deal???? This is the problem - they do crappy things to their customers knowing full well that they will get away with it. They should have to go to court and pay for the grief they have caused people. The government is forever wanting to interfere in our lives so now is a good time for them to step up to the plate - instead of offering DEALS!!!!!!

[Frenbar]

11:09 PM on 09/06/2011

When the rule of law does not apply to the rich and the powerful, the law loses its legitimacy. For the Obama administration and some state AG's to let these thieving bankers not only go unpunished for their crimes, but ask them to return only a tiny amount of what they stole as "punishment" should be a clear signal to anyone who still has a doubt about their interest in law and justice.