Florida's Attorney General, Pam Bondi, Ignores Foreclosure Fraud

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Answer one question:  Did the people in the house sign a note?

Who the hell knows, when the documents are fake. Kind of the whole point, isn't it?

I know, I know - I'm pulling for the bad guy again.  But how many people, like Moved On, took out more than they could afford based on an idea of putting money in their pockets.  I'm not saying that's the case for all, but I believe it's probably the case for most.  I was working for a builder too and I can tell you that most of the spec homes were purchased by family members of the sales people and then re-sold once construction was complete.  I personally know four people that took a bath when this whole scheme came crashing down. 

I don't understand why someone feels they have any ground to stand on when fighting a foreclosure.  They took the money.  They weren't able to pay it back.  Someone else is taking the house.  It feels pretty cut and dry to me.  Sure, maybe there's some paperwork issue on the other side as to who actually gets the property once all is said and done, but it damn sure shouldn't be the person who quit paying on the note to begin with. 

[JeffreyS]

I'm not new to the site but am new to posting and have a story that I'd like to share and get some feedback from regarding the above subject.  (I guess I can do it, since I'm incognito)

The numbers are made up, but close recollections.  I use them to compare to your own circumstance.

7 Years ago I had a good job as a Project Manager for Mattamy homes - 3 yrs in, approx $76/yr.  My wife worked full time ($40/k) and we have 2 kids - they were 5 & 2 at the time.  We purchased a decent sized bungalow in Murray Hill for $78K after putting $15k down.  We took out the full amount and used the surplus to renovate the house.  Our payment after taxes/ins/etc were around $600/mnth.  Life was really good and we lived day to day - after buying the house and configuring the budget, we didn't plan our savings very well.  We had a really good time. 

Being in the industry, I thought we could make a ton of money by flipping a house in my development.  So we took out another loan $110k on a spec house.  The way prices were climbing daily, I figured within a 8 months (the time to build the house) we could sell it for $140 - $160.  To come up with the down payment, we re-mortgaged our house on a adjustable rate with a 4-1 term, and since things were good, I re-fid for more than the house ws worth - $100k, figuring the way things were going, we could flip the new house in a year and pay back the second note and still pocket about $30k.  Things didn't go as planned. 

In the next year, I lost my job, the economy tanked and we were underwater in both houses for about $200k.  My payment jumped from around $750 ea. to well over $1,000 per home.  There was no way we were making both payments on one income.  All of our dreams were crushed in a full banquet room on baymeadows, when I was let go.

I hear people whine.  I hear people cry.  I don't know how many of those people do it just to do it, or if they have actually been through this.  I have.  I have as much sympathy for the others as I had for myself.  I saw $$$$ and let it get the best of me, and in retrospect, would have made a few different decisions.  I don't blame anyone but myself.  I fucked up.  I owned it.  I'm better for it. 

What ended up happening is both homes were forclosed on.  I didn't see a light at the end of the tunnel so I quit.  I started making our original payment of $700 into an account each month, but the mortgage company never saw a dime.  It took over 1 1/2 years for the forclosure to hit and by that time we had enough saved up to make a down payment on another house - which we did - in someone elses' name.  We own the house via a quit-claim deed, a family member owns the mortgage that we will continue to pay until we can get another mortgage and our credit is more than likely shot for another 5-6 years.  The calls have stopped.  We're living a normal life and that shitstorm is behind us. 

It was my fault.  I wish more people would claim that it's their fault instead of blaming everyone else around them.  It will help you sleep easier.

I don't understand you mad at people who want to work things out with their lenders because they are cry babies who don't have a family members name to use on another home.  While you are the Hero because when you flipped the lender the bird and stopped paying you owned it?

I do not have a problem with what you did.  When your mortgage was initiated you paid for the insurance on the Mortgage companies behalf and they are well taken care of.

What I do have a problem with is trying to vilify people who want to rectify the mass foreclosure problems that would stabilize our country because they won't just own it and suffer the set back.

Bank of America was allowed to buy the largest book of Mortgages, Countrywide when they went belly up, at a discount rate while the Mortgagees were forbidden from paying the discount rate from CW.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

How many people, like Moved On, took out more than they could afford based on an idea of putting money in their pockets.

Thats pretty much a description of every start up or small business that has ever opened in America, NRW.

Really?  I had no idea.

Maybe they should have researched thier business plan a little more before jumping in head first.  This wasn't a 'business' as much as it was a perceived way to make a quick buck and it bit him in the ass, as it did a lot of people. 

I'd like to think that I'm seeing this from both sides of the argument, as I was slap dab in the middle of it during it's peak and its crash, and maybe that's why I'm a little biased towards the homeowners and not the mortgage companies. 

Stephen, I was building houses (not homes, because people actually live in those) in Oakleaf and saw first-hand how the game was run on the sales end.  I didn't have a problem with it then, because the more houses that were sold, the more money I made building them.  I also didn't shed a tear for these same people when they lost their life savings and the money that their families invested in them - because everyone knew that it was unsustainable, it was a complete shell game and it was like watching addicts looking for their next fix - I need 5 more salse this month, who else can I get to buy a house as a flip?  Why do you think there are so many empty houses in the communities even during the boom?

The part that irks me the most is that these are the same people who are fighting the foreclosures due to a clerical error because they feel that they were cheated or goaded into buying a house.  They weren't.  They screwed up and jumped into a ponzi scheme and were left hanging.  I don't disagree that the mortgage companies share the blame by offering tons of credit without due diligence on whether people needed it or not or could pay it back or not, and they have a business plan, too, that the government allowed them to adjust from the status quo.  But there weren't guns held to anyone's head.  The majority of these people made a decision based on greed and got caught with the short end of the stick.  It's no different than putting that same $100k on a roulette table and hoping for black.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

sounds like you are angry at yourself, still, nrw.

Reading your experience, I can understand your angst.

Maybe some anger after losing a great job, but not because of losing any money.  I didn't have the credit or cash to get involved.

[JeffreyS]

I think the "I also didn't shed a tear for these same people when they lost their life savings and the money that their families invested in them" statement says a lot about you.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I think the "I also didn't shed a tear for these same people when they lost their life savings and the money that their families invested in them" statement says a lot about you.

Volumes.   

[acme54321]

If the banks are improperly processing foreclosures then obviously action should be taken. 

Unfortunately  this is a bad situation all around.   There is blame on both sides,  buyers and lenders.   

I do think that foreclosures should continue on mortgages that arent being paid.   Its market coorection.   Unfortunately  some people are now in bad situations financially because of it,  but a lot of those people are the ones who played the gameand lost.   I think our country has a big problem with borrowing money we can't afford, as individuals and collectively through our government.   Hoefully this whole situation brings this issue to light for a lot of people.

[buckethead]

If I take a loan, I must pay or stand in default of the contract. If I default, there are repercussions.

The bank may seize the property. There are legalities and responsibilities to which they must adhere.

Not rocket science here, folks.

let us remember who initiated Moral Hazard with regard to the Mortgage industry. First of all, gubmint. (FHA---Freddie/Fannie)  next in line, Banks.... when loans are prectically guaranteed by the government, banks line up to reap the free money. then SHTF. Here comes TARP and QE∞. talk about moral hazard... Private corporations and investors are made whole/losses mitigated by taxpayers.

Then the trickle down.... A few homeowners get a break by using legal maneuvers to delay foreclosure proceedings.

As a person with a family, I can assure you my intent is to protect my family.




Fuck the bankers.

[buckethead]

The fact that these mortgages were FHA/Freddie/Fannie backed certainly comes into play. The biggest piece of the puzzle was indeed Gramm/Leach/Bliley which effectively repealed Glass/Steagal as you correctly pointed out in your remark about the enabling of wall at to market mortgages (previously prohibited). As to republicans allowing it, I'll cede the point as it was a republican controlled house and senate which put the bill on the desk of President Clinton. (many dems voted in favor, but a significantly higher percentage of dems voted nay than their republican counterparts.)

I'm not trying to rewrite history, and I hold bankers as the most culpable except that they used congress(and the executive branch) as a means of Plunder. It is congress who should have defended the taxpayers from this plunder.

That said, the financial industry is congress is the federal reserve system. It's one big family complete with sibling rivalries.

[FayeforCure]

It is congress who should have defended the taxpayers from this plunder.

Yeah and they've been bought and paid for by the finance industry, including Barack Obama.

We need public financing of campaigns, so our country isn't run by lobbysists, and the bought and paid for congressmen.

How much money did Bondi get from the banks and their employees for her election campaign?

Is she working for us, or the banks?

[acme54321]

It is congress who should have defended the taxpayers from this plunder.

Yeah and they've been bought and paid for by the finance industry, including Barack Obama.

We need public financing of campaigns, so our country isn't run by lobbysists, and the bought and paid for congressmen.

How much money did Bondi get from the banks and their employees for her election campaign?

Is she working for us, or the banks?

We agree on something.  They're all bought some way or another, some more than others.  They are all to blame for our economic situation.

[FayeforCure]

Why are sooooo many Floridians left unprotected by their AG?

Why do Floridians vote for these flawed Republican AGs?


Bondi needs to do her job -- side with consumers in large-lender fraud deal


By The Palm Beach Post

Posted: 7:05 p.m. Monday, Feb. 6, 2012


Federal officials and state attorneys general are supposed to reach a deal this week with Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Ally Financial and Citigroup over foreclosure abuses. If the deal is good for consumers, Floridians have New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and California Attorney General Kamala Harris to thank, not Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The attorneys general had until Monday to decide whether to join the multibillion-dollar settlement that we have hoped will provide relief to millions of homeowners who are in danger of foreclosure or have lost their homes. California and New York had returned to the negotiations, noting that the deal had gotten better since they pulled out months ago. While Mr. Schneiderman and Ms. Harris have insisted that the banks pay for their misdeeds and that consumers get assistance, Ms. Bondi has sided with the lenders, opposing loan forgiveness for underwater borrowers on the premise that those who can afford their mortgages would purposefully default.

Despite the objection of Ms. Bondi and other Republican attorneys general, principal write-down is rightfully a key component of the $25 billion settlement. Economists say it is the fastest way to aid recovery of the housing market. The deal would set aside up to $17 billion for principal reductions and other relief for up to one million homeowners who are underwater and behind on payments. It also would provide $2,000 to about 750,000 who their lost homes to foreclosure. The settlement also requires lenders to reform their mortgage practices.

"We are closer now than we've been before," Ms. Harris said in a statement, "but we're not there yet." They are not closer because of Ms. Bondi, who has been content to take any settlement the banks like - until recently, when she learned, after all that time as a member of the negotiating team, that California might be getting guaranteed minimums.

The Financial Times reported two weeks ago that Bank of America had guaranteed California $8 billion, while Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase committed at least $5 billion. None of the lenders has promised Florida - which has been as hard hit by foreclosure as California - a guaranteed minimum because Ms. Bondi hasn't asked. Perhaps now she will start asking.

- Rhonda Swan,

for The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/editorials/bondi-needs-to-do-her-job-side-with-2155079.html?printArticle=y