The long awaited on again, off again, multi-state settlement between the Attorneys General of our various states and the mortgage company rapists, uh, crooks, is apparently on again. Unless this is your first trip to this blog, let me end the suspense: the proposed settlement is: image credit: dreamstime Sorry to ruin the ending. What…
Think life in Detroit is awful? Where else can you grab a piece of the American Dream for your monthly paycheck? Not everything in Detroit is bad. Kids play here. They still make some fine automobiles in these parts. It’s not all a scene out of 8 Mile, after all. But Detroit real estate prices…
No mas! MERS is folding up its tent as far as foreclosing in its own name, or filing pleadings in bankruptcy court in its own name, as it told is clients they have to get an assignment from MERS, and then file stuff in their own name. No more MERS foreclosures in Michigan. Our Michigan…
What do the statistics tell us about the big picture for our economy now? That there will be more bankruptcies in Detroit, and everywhere else in Michigan, and the U.S. The foreclosure crisis continues, if you want chapter and verse, read “Reckless Endangerment.” Foreclosure sales are declining, but in judicial foreclosure states, which Michigan is…
Less than two years ago, Michigan foreclosure law was changed in the face of the greatest foreclosure crisis since the Great Depression. Mortgage companies were required to send an initial foreclosure notice that gave the homeowner the opportunity to request a modification. If he did so, the house went off the foreclosure track for 90…
An essential part of the real estate bubble was mortgage securitization, the process by which mortgage loans were sold into investment trusts from which bonds were sold. It was mortgage fraud from A to Z, from the selling of mortgage backed securities trusts, before the trusts were full of mortgages. From the ratings agencies, assuming…
False advertising fills the airwaves: “the secret credit card companies don’t want you to know.” The secret? They don’t tell you is, you pay, and get no guarantee of anything. The State of Ohio busted a foreclosure scam outfit operated with attorneys. Check with your state’s Attorney General’s office. Better Business Bureau, not so much….
The bailout cost for the “too big to fail” banks and mortgage companies has not even peaked. Taxpayers, like Joe Inhoch, our new fictional blog character, are on the hook hundreds of billions more, counting only the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans that go south. Our politicians already already bailed out those companies, with Joe’s…
We write mostly about specific issues and ways to improve family finances, what might be called micro issues by the economists. This post is a look at the macro picture, as it is referred to by the “dismal science” of economics. Massive fraud in mortgage documentation is coming to light across America. The Federal Reserve,…
Desperate homeowners facing foreclosure can be easy targets for con artists. They steer their victims away from bankruptcy attorneys: “Don’t ruin your credit!” Just like: “Contact us for free information about the secret the credit card companies don’t want you to know about!” Makes my blood boil. What sounds too good to be true, well,…
