“The guy with the experience approaches the guy with the money. When the deal is complete, the guy with the experience has the money, and the guy who had the money has the experience.”

Author Anonymous

This could be Goldman Sachs CORPORATE MISSION STATEMENT!

Uppitybanker

As you know I have been very critical on this Blog of the Making Home Affordable Program (HAMP) and the lack of WILL or AUTHORITY of the Obama Administration to do what is necessary to get the Banks to do what is right! Below is the News release from California Housing Justice and (http://www.lenderrefund.com which explains the dtory in more detail. 

uppitybanker

On Friday, March 26^th, a Superior Court in Indio, California approved a precedent setting loan settlement agreement between a local Rancho Mirage Homeowner (plaintiff) and one of the Country’s largest Mortgage Banks (defendant). This landmark agreement, negotiated between Ira Meltzer of California Housing Justice and the Banks legal department insures a guaranteed completion of the Homeowners loan modification within 30 days. The Plaintiff had previously been denied a Loan Modification from their Bank until they filed a Court Motion with the help of California Housing Justice and Mortgage Debt Solutions of Rancho Mirage (http://www.lenderrefund.com) 

The Bermuda Dunes couples story is like many in California and around the U.S. They had tried unsuccessfully for 7 months to get a Loan Modification with their Bank, only to receive continued delays, lost documents, and repeated requests for the same documents. In frustration they sought expert help, and attended a seminar provided by California Housing Justice. During the seminar they learned of their legal alternatives and a unique plan of action from Attorney Doug Kaye and the expert modification services of Mortgage Debt Solutions. 

After the court victory,  Attorney Doug Kaye, of Rancho Mirage, representing the plaintiff, hailed the agreement and quick Court approval, saying “ It’s important not to single out this one lender that was the first willing to repair years of modification gridlock. Now all mortgage banks working with California homeowners seeking mortgage relief, through California Housing Justice (http://www.lenderrefund.com/) and Mortgage Debt Solutions can follow the terms of this agreement to complete their loan modification in 30 days!”  

Teresa MacNamara, of MDS says, “We may finally have the  Game Changer! After 2 years of frustration and struggling on behalf of homeowner modifications and short sales, with the mortgage banks, we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”  

FOR FURTHER INFO.: Alan Sherman (760) 488-2600 or info@desertmortgagerelief.com or visit http://www.lenderrefund.com to get them working for you.

California Housing Justice and Mortgage Debt Solutions are not for profit operations.

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in  Detroit . She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).

Word gets around about Heidi’s “drink now, pay later” marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi’s bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in  Detroit .

By providing her customers’ freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Consequently, Heidi’s gross sales volume increases massively. A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Heidi’s borrowing limit. He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral.

At the bank’s corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then bundled and traded on international security markets. Naive investors don’t really understand that the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds are really the debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation’s leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices are still climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi’s bar. He so informs Heidi.

Heidi then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Since, Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and the eleven employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS drop in price by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the banks liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.

The suppliers of Heidi’s bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms’ pension funds in the various BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds. Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers.

Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multi-billion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from their cronies in Government. The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers who have never been in Heidi’s bar.

Now Do You Understand?

Uppitybanker

Originally Published at Abundanthope.net

Terry Hoskins of Moscow Ohio settled his decade long battle with River Hills Bank in a matter of hours!  Many are surprised by his actions. I’m actually surprised it doesn’t happen more often!

Uppitybanker

All I can say after Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner claimed the Mortgage Modification Program HAMP a SUCCESS is Thank GOD he didn’t become a Civil Engineer or a Bridge Builder!

Timmy Sez…

 “Millions more Americans are facing financial security as a result of stabilizing home prices”, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Sunday, even though only about 66,000 people have benefited from permanent mortgage loan modifications aimed to prevent foreclosure, a figure that has resulted in a House panel investigation.

While Timmy was handing out a STAGGERING 66,000 Permanent Loan Modifications in 2009 the Banks were recording a record 2.82 Million Home Foreclosures! It is anticipated that at least 3 million more homes will enter foreclosure in 2010. Well what on earth Constitutes Failure?

 
Geithner said the mortgage modification program has helped 750,000 Americans so far to lower their monthly payments substantially even though he tacitly acknowledged that many of the temporary, verbal agreements have not been made permanent.

What Timmy doesn’t tell you is that the 750,00 Americans he claims as being helped are being subjected to Continual Abuses form the Servicers, such as:

• Continual Harassment Calls from the Collection Department.
• Continuation of the Foreclosure Process.
• A (3) Three Month Trial Mortgage Payment that turns into a NEVER ENDING Trial Payment Plan.
• And there is NO GUARNTEE the Borrower ever gets a Permanent Modification! 

“This program is providing very, very substantial cash flow relief right now to more than 750,000 Americans. And we believe we’re still on a path to be able to reach many, many more American households. And of course, we’re going to make sure that those temporary modifications translate into permanent modifications,” he told ABC’s “This Week.”

750,000 is a BIG Number….But Somebody Please tell Timmy that 3.5 Million Households that are in Foreclosure are NOT getting HELP!

“We’re absolutely committed to make sure that translates into what we said it would, which is for eligible Americans, they’re getting permanent modifications that substantially lower their monthly payment,” he added.

That’s GREAT Timmy that YOU are Committed….. The problem is the Banks aren’t COMMITTED! Their ACTIONS Prove they are COMMITTED only to Foreclosure!.

But Geithner said the temporary deals have translated into “hundreds and hundreds of dollars every month” in real benefits to struggling homeowners, and claimed the program has resulted in stopping house prices from “falling off the cliff” they were tumbling down a year ago.

“People thought house prices might fall another 20 percent, 30 percent. And we’ve had six months now of early signs of stability in house prices. So what that means is, millions and millions of Americans, middle-class families across the country, are now seeing more stability in what is a basic source of financial security for all Americans.

Those programs were enormously effective in helping, again, pull a housing market that was in near collapse back to the point now where you’re seeing the signs of stability,” he said.

Timmy Claims the HAMP program stopped a Housing Meltdown? Really? In actuality the housing markets downfall has been stalled due to lack of inventory as lenders forestall foreclosure on many homes in fear of glutting the market. There is a substantial SHADOW MARKET of FORECLOSED HOMES that haven’t hit the market yet. Beware of proclaiming victory too soon. 

Geithner added that the administration’s efforts to stabilize the big banks — many who participated in taking big risks on housing loans — have brought America back from the brink of collapse.

Timmy…Giving the BANKS Trillions in TARP Money has helped ONLY the Banks! You paid off or covered your friends risky Mortgage Derivative bets. The little guy received nothing to save their homes!

“This was like nothing anybody in public office today, or in the last few decades, have ever faced.  It was the gravest, most dangerous moment since the Great Depression of the United States. Again, remember, we had a — we were in a situation where people were no longer sure they could safely keep their money in the strongest American banks. It was catastrophic. 

“And we were very, very effective — because of the leadership of the president — moving very quickly with enormous care and force to bring stability. And those policies have got this economy growing again.  And as I said, we’ve been able to put out this financial fire at much, much lower cost than anybody anticipated.”

Before you proclaim some miracle Soft Landing of the Housing Market and Economy sparked by the leadership of Barack Obama you might want to talk to someone  other than one of your staff or administration about how wonderful things are going…

In Conclusion I’m  simply afraid to ask Timmy Geithner WHAT in the HELL does he think a failure is….

Uppitybanker

full article from…http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/07/geithner-claims-mortgage-modifications-success-despite-house-probe/

Just for Perspective purposes this is the SAME CONGRESSMAN and the SAME CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE that couldn’t FIND FRAUD in  the actions of Countrywide giving Senator Chris Dodd head of the Senate Finace Committee, any special treatment by giving him TWO OWNER OCCUPIED LOANS at the SAME TIME that saved the Senator Thousands in Loan fees! Everything WAS completely ABOVE BOARD…. Wink ~ but why digress?

and we continue the Show….

For immediate release: Saturday, February 6, 2010
Contact: Oversight and Government Reform Press Office, 202-225-5051
Chairman Towns Opens Investigation into Treasury’s Mortgage Modification Efforts

WASHINGTON – Chairman Edolphus “Ed” Towns (D-NY) is taking steps to ensure success of the Federal government’s efforts to mitigate home foreclosure. The Committee is investigating the Treasury Department’s (Treasury) Making Home Affordable (MHA) program after receiving concerning information about the effectiveness and efficiency of MHA and the extent to which it has assisted struggling homeowners. Chairman Towns, who represents the New York’s 10th Congressional District located in Brooklyn, New York, is a strong proponent of efforts to ease the burden on struggling homeowners.

CONCERNING Information LIKE THIS?

 I would Call this ABJECT FAILURE! Courtesy of the U.S. Treasury… http://www.financialstability.gov/docs/MHA%20Public%20121009%20Final.pdf

“I am pleased that Treasury has developed a plan utilizing a variety of techniques and resources to assist struggling homeowners under the overarching banner of the Making Home Affordable program,” said Chairman Towns. “While I applaud Treasury’s efforts,numerous concerns have been brought to my attention regarding the effectiveness and efficiency of the MHA program and the extent to which it has assisted struggling homeowners.”

CONCERNS? Again we are back to the CONCERNS characterization? I have NEVER heard a homeowner characterize the FORECLOSING of their home as CONCERNING?

Aren’t WE PAST CONCERNS? How many Congressional Meetings must Congress conduct before they admit MAKING HOME AFFORDABLE IS A INSIDIOUS FAILURE? Only 66,000 Permanent Loan Modifications since March 4th 2009  VS. 2.82 Million Foreclosures is MORE than CONCERNING!  IT’S A DISASTER!

A centerpiece of the MHA program is the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) which commits $75 billion for the purpose of reducing mortgage payments of qualified borrowers to no more than 31 percent of their monthly income. Based on complaints, the Committee is concerned that loan servicers have been slow to modify loans, inconsistent in their application of the program and are not communicating clearly with eligible homeowners.

They left out CONCERNS over the Inept training of Ex-McDonald’s Employees answering the phones or and continual loss of faxed loan documents, or the incessent harassing calls from the collection departments while participating in an approved 3 MonthTrial Payment Program. That, by the way, IS NEVER 3 THREE MONTHS! As PROMISED….Shall I GO ON?

In a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Chairman Towns asks for specific data to help the Committee in its efforts to investigate HAMP and explains the basis for his concerns and request for information about Treasury’s efforts to embrace transparency and accountability for its mortgage modification programs.

Chairman Towns wrote to Secretary Geithner, “… it is my understanding that Treasury has thus far refused to reveal in detail how it defines ‘net present value’, one of the key criteria for homeowner participation in the mortgage modification program. Moreover, if a homeowner is denied a permanent mortgage modification, the specific reasons for the denial are not revealed. Finally, Treasury has not established a process for homeowners to appeal the denial of a permanent mortgage modification.”

Here at Uppity Banker we have editorialized many times before about the inequity and insidious Proprietary NPV Formulas the Banks use to Game the System in their favor! BANKS FORMULA’S PURPOSE: How to MAKE the “MOST” MONEY off a Particular Borrower and  YOU FAILED “OUR NPV FORMULA”…So We are Foreclosing!

According to the Congressional Oversight Panel, home foreclosures across the nation have increased faster than the rate of new HAMP trial modifications, by more than 2 to 1. However, the December 2009 “MHA Program Servicer Performance Report” demonstrates that certain institutions have made dismal progress in modifying loans, even though they service a large number of homeowners potentially eligible for HAMP.

NO $H!@ Sherlock….DISMAL….DISMAL? I just home SOMEDAY you and  Congress get CONSERNED enough to apply a REAL SOLUTIONS!

A REAL SOLUTION would be using DU Desktop Underwriter or LP Loan Prospector Underwriting Programs to underwrite the Loan Modifications in seconds instead of MONTHS! As a Mortgage Broker with 20 years experience I could SOLVE the Problem in a Day! The Reality is that the BANKS don’t want to do Loan Modifications THEY PREFER TO FORECLOSE!

So what is a distressed Homeowner when faced with an INEPT Treasury and a INEPT Congress…. Sue the Bastards? See this California based solution offered at http://www.lenderrefund.com

Chairman Towns is expecting a response to his inquiry from the Treasury Department by February 18, 2010.

GOOD LUCK AT GETTING AN HONEST RESPONSE FROM THE TREASURY!

Uppitybanker

Too bad their isn’t a CrOoked letter in the title of  the Making Home Affordable loan modification letter! The letter that homeowners receive when accepted into the HAMP Trial Modification Program. Maybe they would would be fairly forewarned for WHAT they were about to experience!

The Making Homes Affordable Approval letter and plan looks as if it is coming DIRECTLY from the U.S. Treasury. It’s adorned with the OFFICIAL SEAL of the “Special Inspector General” of the “Troubled Asset Relief Program“? The Special Inspector General, Neil Barofsky has the job of auditing all of the banks that receive TARP Money. His Agency doesn’t have anything to do with APPROVING or DENYING your Loan Modification.

So WHY is the Special Inspector General of the U.S. Treasury Seal on the HAMP Loan Modification letters?  

This Letter and SEAL makes it LOOK like the U.S. Treasury is running the HAMP Program…But it’s an “INSIDIOUS LIE”.The Homeowner is FALSLY led to believe that the U.S. Government is behind the Loan Modification Process. The U.S. Treasury is NOT running the loan modification process. The BANKS Are SOLELY IN CONTROL of the Loan  Modification Process!

If you scroll to the bottom of the HAMP Cover page that adorns the Special Inspector Generals Seal you’ll see the label SIG/TARP Fraud Notice. Well the only Fraid here is the FALSE PROMISE of a three month loan trial modification. I can’t help but think how psychologically the homeowner looks at these official looking documents, that appear to be loan documents coming from the U.S. Treasury, and get a false sense of relief that they will be on their way to saving their home. 

The Facts: As of  October 31 per the U.S. Treasury Department, in the Servicer Performance Report for the HAMP program there are 3,299,780 American Homeowners that are 60+ days delinquent in their mortgages and are eligible for the Making Home Affordable loan modification program, . Of those 3,299,780 eligible Homeowners only 697,026 are currently participating in the HAMP Loan Modification Program.

ONLY 31,382Homeowners since March 4th 2009 have received a Permanent Loan Modification! THIS IS NOT ENOUGH!

It’s TIME for the BANKS and the U.S. Treasury to Stop Making FALSE and INSIDIOUS Promises with respect to their efforts to Modify Homeowners in Foreclosure. We DON’T need any more Congressional Inquiries. We DON’T need anymore fancy Government Websites! We DON’T need anymore Phoney Official Seals on NON-BINDING Agreements! Just Modify the LOANS NOW…Before Millions lose HOPE and Lose their homes!

Uppitybanker