Articles
|The FORUM
|Law Library
|Videos
| Fraudsters & Co.
|File Complaints
|How they STEAL
|Search MSFraud
|Contact Us
occurs post loan origination when mortgage servicers use false statements and book-keeping entries, fabricated assignments, forged signatures and utter counterfeit intangible Notes to take a homeowner's property and equity.
Articles Updated 101925
New York court makes it harder for lenders to restart foreclosure clock
New York court makes it harder for lenders to restart foreclosure clock
A New York appeals court clarified that lenders can’t reset foreclosure deadlines by dropping and refiling cases, tightening timelines for mortgage professionals.
On October 15, 2025, the Appellate Division, Second Department, issued its decision in GITSIT Solutions, LLC v Azcuy, a case focused on the statute of limitations for mortgage foreclosure actions. The case began in 2005, when Christopher Azcuy and Susan Gayle Cohen executed a note in favor of HSBC Mortgage Corporation (USA), secured by a mortgage on their Haverstraw, New York property. In 2012, HSBC started a foreclosure action and elected to accelerate the entire mortgage debt.
Articles Updated 101225
ATTOM: Foreclosures Continued to Rise in the Third Quarter
ATTOM: Foreclosures Continued to Rise in the Third Quarter
There were 72,317 foreclosure starts nationwide in the third quarter, an increase of 2% compared with the second quarter and up 16% compared with year ago, according to ATTOM’s latest U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.
States that had the greatest number of foreclosure starts in third quarter included Texas (9,736), Florida (8,909), California (7,862), Illinois (3,515) and New York (3,234).
Major cities with a population of 200,000 or more that had the greatest number of foreclosure starts for the quarter included Houston (3,763); New York (3,452), Chicago (3,144), Miami (2,502); and Los Angeles (2,321).
Articles Updated 100525
Class Action Alleging Deceptive Mortgage Acceleration Notice Language Proceeds
A North Carolina federal court has allowed a putative class case to proceed on a theory that a residential mortgage servicer’s notice that it “may” accelerate is deceptive under the FDCPA and state law. On September, 16, 2025, a judge for the US District Court of the Middle District of North Carolina issued a memorandum opinion and order in the class action proceeding captioned Christel England et al. v. Selene Finance, LP, case number 23-cv-00847, denying the defendant servicer’s motion to dismiss a putative class action complaint. The putative class plaintiffs alleged that the servicer’s default notice is deceptive under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the North Carolina Debt Collection Act, and the North Carolina Collection Agencies Act.
The language of the notice at issue is familiar to the residential mortgage servicing industry. Titled Notice of Default and Intent to Accelerate, the notice states that:
Articles Updated 092825
Vermont court revives Ditech, US Bank foreclosure after note dispute
A Vermont Supreme Court decision has put a foreclosure case back on track after years of twists over who really owned the mortgage.
Here’s what happened: Back in 2015, Ditech Financial LLC, which had taken over from Green Tree Servicing, started foreclosure proceedings against Karen Brisson. The loan dated to 2007, and like many in the industry know, the mortgage had already changed hands a few times – first with Chittenden Trust Company, then Everbank, then Green Tree, and finally Ditech. Brisson defaulted, and after a trial in 2018, the court sided with Ditech, confirming it held the original note and setting the amount owed. Brisson was given a six-month window to pay up or lose the property.
But things didn’t go as planned. After the redemption period ended, Brisson filed for bankruptcy in 2019. The foreclosure was put on pause. Once she was discharged from bankruptcy, Ditech tried to get the case moving again and asked for a new sale date. The parties attempted mediation, but no deal was reached.
Articles Updated 092125
ATTOM: Foreclosure Starts Continued to Rise in August
Foreclosure starts were down slightly in August compared with July but were up 17% in compared with August 2024, according to ATTOM’s latest U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.
Still, foreclosures remain near historical lows.
States that had the greatest number of foreclosure starts in August included Texas (2,982), Florida (2,803), California (2,558), New York (1,207) and Illinois (1,170).
In addition, completed foreclosures were up 5% compared with July and were up 41% compared with a year ago.
States that had the greatest number of REOs in August included Texas (476), California (343), New York (319), Florida (276) and Illinois (232).
A total of 35,697 U.S. properties saw foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — in August, down 1% compared with the previous month ago but up 18% compared with a year ago.
Articles Updated 091425
Fraud and the Statute of Limitations in Foreclosure Defense
One of the most common questions homeowners ask us is this:
“If I discover fraud in my foreclosure case, is it too late to do anything about it?”
Her is our answer. It depends. And here’s why.
Why Fraud Changes Everything
Every state has statutes of limitations (SOL) that set deadlines for filing lawsuits, including claims of fraud. But here’s the key: most states allow the clock to start ticking when the fraud is discovered, not when it happened.
This is called the “discovery rule.” It means if you just uncovered evidence that your foreclosure was based on false documents, forged signatures, or fabricated assignments, you may still have a case—even years later.
Articles Updated 090725
Trump Is Accusing Foes With Multiple Mortgages of Fraud. Records Show 3 of His Cabinet Members Have Them.
The White House has targeted opponents, including a Fed governor, for having more than one primary residence on their loan papers. ProPublica found that, in one case, a Trump cabinet secretary got two such mortgages in quick succession.
Articles Updated 083125
Summertime Done Come and Gone My Oh My, August 26, 2025 - But Who Can Unlearn All the Facts That I’ve Learned: Facts Matter for Summary Judgment
In a recent foreclosure action, Plaintiff Lakeview Loan Servicing, LLC (“Lakeview”) sought summary judgment against Defendant Andrew Branley (“Branley”). Lakeview claimed that Branley executed a Note to JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (“Chase”) on June 12, 2013, in the principal amount of $317,091.00, secured by a mortgage and a Consolidation, Extension and Modification Agreement (“CEMA”) of the same date. The mortgage and CEMA were recorded in August 2013. Lakeview asserted that the Note was endorsed in blank, transferred to Lakeview and that an Assignment of Mortgage from Chase, dated February 6, 2019, was recorded shortly thereafter. Lakeview maintained it had physical possession of the original Note prior to commencing the action in June, 2023 and that Branley had been in default since April 1, 2020.
Branley opposed, arguing that Lakeview failed to prove it held the Note at commencement of the foreclosure action. He challenged the affidavit from Lakeview’s servicer, Flagstar Bank, for not confirming review of Lakeview’s own records, for omitting any statement that the original Note was examined and for lacking supporting business records. He also disputed the amount owed, claiming he borrowed only $6,001.67 under the CEMA and asserted that the 2019 Assignment of Mortgage referenced only the original 2010 mortgage, not the Consolidated Mortgage or Consolidated Note, raising questions about Lakeview’s ownership.
Articles Updated 082425
DFPI Orders Mortgage Lender to Pay $2.3 Million for Per Diem Interest Overcharges
On August 18, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced a $2.3 million settlement with a former mortgage lender and servicer for alleged violations of the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act and California Financing Law. According to the DFPI, the company improperly charged thousands of California borrowers per diem interest in excess of what is permitted under state law.
Articles Updated 081725
Fannie Mae issues new servicing rules for temporary buydowns
Fannie Has asked servicers to implement the new rules immediately, with mandatory compliance starting Nov. 1.
Fannie Mae has updated its servicing guidelines for temporary interest-rate buydowns, calling for immediate adoption ahead of a Nov. 1 mandate.
The changes outline how to apply buydown funds in different workout scenarios, along with updated borrower notification requirements.
Articles Updated 081025
AG Campbell Secures $2 Million Settlement With Mortgage Loan Servicer For Violating Consumer Protection, Foreclosure Prevention Laws
BOSTON — Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today announced that her office has reached a $2 million settlement with a Texas-based residential mortgage loan servicer, Cypress Loan Servicing LLC (Cypress), formerly known as Rushmore Loan Management Services LLC. The settlement resolves allegations that the company violated Massachusetts’ consumer protection, foreclosure prevention, and debt collection laws, putting homeowners at unnecessary and unlawful risk of foreclosure.
As part of the settlement, Cypress will pay $2 million to the Commonwealth; make extensive changes to its business practices to ensure compliance with applicable Massachusetts law; and regularly report on its compliance with the settlement to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO). In addition to penalties to the state, the monetary payment is expected to provide restitution for certain impacted consumers who experienced foreclosure.
“When mortgage loan servicers like Cypress violate our critical consumer protection and foreclosure prevention laws, they aren’t just breaking the rules – they are causing real pain and instability for Massachusetts residents and families,” said AG Campbell. “I am proud to announce this settlement, which will help ensure compliance with meaningful consumer protections and put mortgage servicers on notice that Massachusetts will not tolerate unlawful practices that put profit over people.”
The AGO alleged that Cypress engaged in significant violations of the Massachusetts foreclosure-prevention law, known as Section 35B, which was enacted in 2012 in the wake of the foreclosure crisis and requires mortgage servicers to make a good faith effort to help financially struggling borrowers avoid foreclosures, including by providing required notice of borrowers’ right to pursue an affordable loan modification on certain mortgage loans. In reviewing loan modification applications under 35B, creditors must consider the consumer’s ability to pay, as well as other factors, such that any resulting loan modification is affordable. The AGO alleged that in many instances, Cypress unlawfully required consumers to pay large upfront down payments that were not subject to an affordability analysis as a threshold requirement to entering an otherwise affordable loan modification. Thus, consumers who could not afford these down payments were unable to access the modification and some ultimately were forced into an otherwise preventable foreclosure.
Bombshell Mers Admission Collapses 15+ Years
This section is a republish from a report from Bill Paatalo, PI ... on MERS!
DAVE KRIEGER
AUG 3
As you may remember, everyone wanted to sue MERS because they thought the patented process was flawed. Eventually, attorneys figured out that MERS (even though a directive from its board of directors in 2011 said NOT to file suits on behalf of MERS, because everyone was countersuing) had a parent, MERSCORP, Inc. (which later changed to MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. … which later sold to Intercontinental Exchange Inc. “ICE”, who also owns the New York Stock Exchange, in October of 2018).
Now everyone is finding out that MERS was just a computer system. That computer system is controlled mostly by mortgage loan servicers who own what they input as to the data consumers might find when they do Servicer ID searches in the MERS System®.
We already know that MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc.) does not claim any pecuniary interest in the loan. Thus, MERS (through its agents and assigns) cannot transfer something it did not own in the first place. That makes the assignment document fraudulent as to its misrepresentative content. To put it another way (without stepping into legal shit) … there are laws on the books in every state that allow you to challenge assignments, which are allegedly “encumbrances of record” according to your mortgage loan security instrument. So, IMHO, the Courts collectively are full of shit (and so are the law firms dishing this opinion out) that you can’t attack documents in your chain of title.
Bill makes a great point about title insurers paying attention to what’s coming. Now this posted PDF is quite lengthy and contains a lot of context links, help is always there when you’re in distress.
Articles Updated 072725
ICE: Foreclosure Starts, Mortgage Delinquency Rate Increased in June
There were roughly 31,000 foreclosure starts nationwide in June, an increase of nearly 10% compared with May and up 36.5% compared with June 2024, according to ICE Mortgage Technology’s First Look report.
In addition, the mortgage delinquency rate increased to 3.35%, up 4.74% compared with May but down 3.8% compared with June 2024.
As of the end of the month there were about 1.834 million homes in some stage of delinquency, an increase of about 90,000 compared with the previous month but down about 39,000 compared with a year earlier.
Articles Updated 072325
"Thank you for calling the FBI, now get lost"
Today, I called the FBI office in Detroit, relevant to their investigation of the Detroit judge receiving bribes. Deadline Detroit | Detroit News: FBI Investigating Detroit Judge Andrea Bradley-Baskin I was transferred to the FBI tip line. This rather shocking event then transpired--
I was asked by the Tip Line officer to recount why I was calling. When I tried to give her some brief input as to who I was and how I came upon this information, she cut me off, stating that she did not care about this. This is relevant because within a few minutes, she was asking how I came across the information.
Articles Updated 071325
CFPB Terminates Two Consent Orders Addressing Overdraft Fees and Mortgage Servicing Violations
On July 1, the CFPB terminated two separate consent orders, one involving a federal credit union and the other involving a national mortgage servicer. Both orders stemmed from 2024 enforcement actions and involved alleged violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), with the mortgage servicing matter also receiving violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Truth in Lending Act, and the Homeowners Protection Act.
Articles Updated 070625
Welcome Back, Wells Fargo!
The past two decades have been tough ones for Wells Fargo and the many victims of its sprawling crime wave. While the banking industry is full of scammers, Wells took turning time honored street-hustles into multi-billion dollar white-collar hustles to a new level.
The Federal Reserve announced last month that Wells Fargo is no longer subject to the asset growth restriction the Fed finally enforced in 2018 after multiple scandals. This was a major enforcement action that prohibited Wells from growing existing loan portfolios, purchasing other bank branches or entering into any new activities that would result in their asset base growing.
Upon hearing the news that Wells was being released from the Fed’s penalty box, my mind turned to this pivotal moment in the classic movie “Slapshot.”
Articles Updated 062925
Fannie & Freddie Establish Joint Venture To Advance FinTech Services
A new report revealed that U.S. Financial Technology, LLC (U.S. Fin Tech) was established by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) to replace Common Securitization Solutions (CSS), their jointly owned heritage business. The name U.S. Fin Tech more accurately captures its vital role in offering businesses cutting-edge, creative technology and business solutions.
CSS, currently officially known as U.S. Financial Technology LLC, is a Delaware-based business that is governed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and co-owned by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
Articles Updated 062225
Percent of Properties Seriously Underwater by State for the First Quarter 2025
ATTOM’s latest data on the proportion of seriously underwater mortgages for the first quarter 2025 show that the percentage of seriously underwater homes nationwide remained relatively steady nationally and increased from 2.5% in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 2.8% in the first quarter of 2025. Although a 0.4% increase, the finding compares favorably to the 6.6% rate that was reported in the first quarter of 2020.
This article reports on the latest trends in the percentage of properties seriously underwater by state. The term “seriously underwater” refers to properties where the loan balance exceeds the market value by at least 25%.
Articles Updated 061525
ATTOM: Foreclosure Starts Decreased in April, While Completed Foreclosures Increased
A total of 35,498 U.S. properties saw foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — in May, down 1% compared with April but up 9% from a year ago, according to ATTOM.
Lenders started the foreclosure process on 24,165 properties in May, down 4% from the previous month but up 8% from a year ago. States that had the greatest number of foreclosure starts in May included Texas (3,077), Florida (2,780), California (2,641), Illinois (1,242), and New York (1,222).
Lenders repossessed 3,844 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in May, up 7% from April and up 34% from May 2024. States that had the greatest number of REOs included Texas (460), California (300), Pennsylvania (257), Michigan (236) and Florida (234).
“Foreclosure activity in May reflected a mixed picture with fewer starts but a continued rise in completed foreclosures,” says Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM, in the report. “This suggests that while fewer new defaults are being initiated, lenders may still be working through a backlog of existing cases. We’ll be watching closely in the months ahead to see how these
Articles Updated 060825
Industry Preps For Changes To CFPB’s Pandemic-Era Mortgage Servicing Rule
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently rescinded a pandemic-era Mortgage Servicing Final Rule (Federal Register, Docket No. CFPB-2025-0014). The interim final rule (IFR) rescinds the final rule “Protections for Borrowers Affected by the COVID-19 Emergency Under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), Regulation X,” originally issued June 25, 2021.
br>“The Bureau finds that it has good cause to remove, without prior notice and comment, language relating to the COVID-19 pandemic added by the 2021 COVID RESPA Rule, as prior notice and comment is unnecessary,” states the new rule. “Both the temporary additional early intervention live contact requirements and the temporary special COVID-19 loss mitigation procedural safeguards have been sunset by their own terms, and the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency expired on May 11, 2023.”
Articles Updated 053125
One Long Island family’s hellish journey to foreclosure
“My parents are seniors and now you’re putting them out of their home,” said Nina Greene, 44, a retired New York City Police Department (NYPD) police officer who is physically disabled from a line of duty injury. She worked with the city’s evidence collection team, a skillset that has proved useful in her battle to try and keep her family home.
Despite her efforts, the Greene family has lost their years-long struggle to keep their house from foreclosure. Greene claimed that her parents were swept into a scam when they were unable to keep up with mortgage payments or get approved for a loan modification, and were summarily denied help from a long list of servicers that shuffled around the note to their mortgage. The housing courts disagreed and ruled in favor of the banks.
Articles Updated 052525
ABSTRACT: How Your Mortgage Became a Wall Street Security Without Your Knowledge
-
Topics Covered in This Article
- Part 1: Introduction and The Foundation of the Scheme
- Part 2: Turning Notes Into Securities & Violating REMIC Rules
- Part 3: MERS – From Registry to Syndicate Clearinghouse
- Part 4: State Law Case Studies – Yvanova, Bain, and Beyond
- Part 5: Bifurcation, Trustees, and Phantom Creditors
- Part 6: Standing Under UCC Articles 3 and 8
- Part 7: TILA Rescission and the Question of Consummation
- Part 8: FDCPA, § 1641(g), and Federal Disclosure Failures
- Part 9: Judicial Presumptions and the “Yes, But” Problem
- Part 10: The Endorsed-in-Blank Myth and the Illusion of Standing
- Part 11: ASC 860 - The Accounting Trail Is the Truth
- Part 11.5: From Enron to MERS – The Evolution of Off-Balance-Sheet Fraud
- Part 12: Administrative Demands and Shifting the Burden of Proof
- Part 13: The 'Too Big to Fail' Myth and Judicial Complicity
- Part 14: Post-Settlement Enforcement and the Hypocrisy of Litigation Admissions
- Part 15: Final Thoughts on Title Destruction and Systemic Failure
Articles Updated 051825
Foreclosure Spike Puts 60,000 Veterans In Danger Of Losing Their Homes
The end of the Veterans Affairs Servicing Program — a federally funded initiative designed to keep vets in their homes — has put tens of thousands service members at risk of losing their homes, Marketwatch reports.
For almost a year, veterans could temporarily modify their loans to a 2.5% interest rate through the Veterans Affairs Servicing Program, which gave vets in delinquency some financial breathing room. That program ended on May 1, leaving almost 60,000 vets in danger of losing their homes.
Articles Updated 051125
When it comes to foreclosures ...
(Op-Ed) — This is bigger than the BIG CON! And while I can’t give legal advice, I sure can point the finger (my middle one) in the right direction and at the right party, especially when experience factors into the equation. Every mortgage loan servicer has a document manufacturing unit … OR … in the alternative … a third-party document manufacturing mill that churns out crap at an alarming rate and causes it to be “electronically recorded” (18 U.S.C. § 1343) in land records that allow for such; or the mill mails the document for recording using the United States Mails (18 U.S.C. § 1341) … and what the the U.S. Department of Justice do about it? NOT ONE F**KING THING! So it’s up to us as consumers to “grow a pair” and launch a “full spread” against them!
Again, I refer you to the section in Paragraph 19 or 20 of your Mortgage or Deed of Trust unilateral adhesion contract that spells out the Note you signed will be sold, sometimes multiple times over, sometimes the Note will be split up and put into tranches (slices) on Wall Street in some securitized trust. This happens BEFORE you even get to the closing table! (I know, what was I thinking, right?)
Simply put, when you signed the Note at the closing table, you created a debt instrument for yourself, but you created an equity instrument for the “lender”.
BUT! The security was already being traded on Wall Street!
So you’re the maker of the Note. What did you get in return? Did you actually SEE the funds transferred into the seller’s account? No. You only got a paper statement called a HUD-1. That’s a government-issued and mandated mortgage statement, which means the U.S. government is in on the scheme. I call it a scheme because there are things that are not disclosed to you at the very beginning of the loan transaction (see the article “Attention Loan Applicants!”)
So where does the servicer fit into the equation?
Articles Updated 050425
"Pick-a-pay" mortgage left Massachusetts couple on brink of foreclosure. I-Team's Call For Action saved them.
An elderly couple in Lynn, Massachusetts was just days away from being evicted from their home after their bank foreclosed on it. They turned to the WBZ-TV I-Team's Call For Action for help.
After nearly 10 years of fighting to save their home, the Cavalieres were ready to give up and began packing up.
"It's been a whole life in the last 23 years, 24 years," Kathy Cavaliere told the I-Team. "This has been the center of our family. All holidays, all get togethers. And it was going to be gone within days."
The bank foreclosed on the couple's property and they were being evicted. Kathy's husband Joe Cavaliere is 85. He said they ran into financial trouble after he got sick several years ago.
"I was out of work for a little while and then I got laid off and we fell behind on the mortgage payments. So, we sent them $5,000 to catch up and they said they wanted the whole thing, which was somewhere around $400,000."
Articles Updated 042725
Wells Fargo To Pay $185,000,000 To Customers in Massive New Settlement – Here’s Who Will Benefit
Wells Fargo customers may be eligible to be beneficiaries of a $185 million payout from the bank following a court’s approval of a massive class action settlement.
A lawsuit initiated last year claims that during the Covid-19 era, Wells Fargo issued mortgage forbearances to its customers when they didn’t want them, causing unnecessary hardship while also negatively affecting credit scores due to halted payments.
Plaintiffs alleged that the bank decided to provide mortgage forbearances to certain clients who had made an inquiry or expressed hardship but didn’t explicitly request a forbearance.
While Wells Fargo did not admit to any wrongdoing, the bank has agreed to pay $185 million to affected customers.
According to Top Class Actions, Wells Fargo customers who had a mortgage placed into COVID mortgage forbearance without informed consent between March 1, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2021 are eligible for compensation.
Articles Updated 042025
Mass layoffs paused at Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
A federal judge on Friday temporarily paused layoffs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that impacted the majority of the banking regulator’s workforce.
District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said that Thursday’s RIF notices sent to more than 1,400 CFPB employees could have violated a court order restricting removals at the agency.
“[T]here is reason to believe that the defendants simply spent the days immediately following the Circuit’s relaxation of the Order dressing their RIF in new clothes, and that they are thumbing their nose at both this Court and the Court of Appeals,” she wrote.
Articles Updated 041325
U.S. Foreclosure Activity Increases Quarterly in Q1 2025
IRVINE, Calif. — April 10, 2025 — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its Q1 2025 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows a total of 93,953 U.S. properties with a foreclosure filings during the first quarter of 2025, up 11 percent from the previous quarter but down 2 percent from a year ago.
The report also shows a total of 35,890 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings in March 2025, up 11 percent from the previous month and up 9 percent from a year ago.
Articles Updated 040625
Homeowners sue Fannie Mae, BNY over inflated foreclosure costs
Major lenders and mortgage servicers are facing class-action lawsuits in New York over allegations that they inflated foreclosure-related charges on home equity loans, improperly costing homeowners thousands of dollars.
The lawsuits, filed Thursday in US federal court in Brooklyn, claim that lenders and their servicing partners wrongly applied compound interest instead of simple interest during a critical stage of the foreclosure process. Specifically, the alleged miscalculations occurred between the time lenders sought court authorization to sell a property and when that motion was officially granted.
According to the filings, the practice systematically increased the payoff amount owed by borrowers, diverting surplus funds that should have gone back to homeowners following foreclosure sales.
Articles Updated 033025
Preliminary Injunction Granted in Case Against Illegal CFPB Shutdown
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson orders agency to reinstate fired employees, stop any reductions in force, preserve data and ensure employees can perform their statutorily mandated functions
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson granted a motion for a preliminary injunction in the lawsuit brought by the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) and other plaintiffs against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought. In a 112-page opinion, the judge agreed that the defendants were trying to eliminate the agency and that the plaintiffs would be likely to prevail in showing that the law does not permit them to do so.
Articles Updated 032325
A VA rescue effort saved 15,000 veterans' homes. Some in Congress want to scrap it
Kevin and Jenny Conlon live in upstate New York, not far from where he was stationed with the Army at Fort Drum. About 12 years ago, after Kevin's two combat tours in Iraq, the couple had a young kid and were struggling to pay rent and save money. Getting a VA loan meant that they could buy a house with no down payment. And they've been there ever since.
"That's the longest I've been in one place," said Conlon.. "Without the VA loan, there was no way that we could have afforded to buy a house," his wife added.
The VA home loan has long been a bedrock benefit of the G.I. Bill, giving vets a leg up into the middle class.
But all that went awry for tens of thousands of vets like Conlon a few years ago, because of a blunder within the Department of Veterans' Affairs.
The vets were left facing foreclosure after the VA scuttled a key part of a pandemic-era mortgage relief program. When NPR first uncovered the VA's mistake, there were about 40,000 vets in danger of losing their homes. The VA responded by halting foreclosures for a full year while it rolled out a rescue plan.
Articles Updated 031625
New FHFA Director Bill Pulte is focused on GSE reform
In a series of tweets Thursday evening, newly confirmed FHFA Director Bill Pulte made it clear that pulling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of conservatorship is his top priority and wrote: “big announcements coming soon.”
After reposting news of his Senate confirmation and thanking specific Senators and supporters, Pulte put out these statements from his page on X as separate tweets:
“Under President Trump’s leadership of the housing market, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have great potential to, safely and soundly, unleash opportunity for more Americans to realize the American Dream”
“There are over 15,000 employees between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac”
“For far too long, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been underperforming (compared to where they should be at) as companies and in Safety and Soundness but now, thanks to President Trump and his Golden Age of Housing, we will fix it, Effective Immediately!”
“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are great American Icons, and under President’s leadership of America, they will return (safely and soundly) to their Glory!”
The choice of Pulte, the grandson of William J. Pulte who built a namesake homebuilding empire, to lead FHFA has been cheered by those in the housing industry, who see him an ally who understands the challenges of the housing market.
Articles Updated 030925
Hear From The Experts: What’s Ahead For Mortgage Servicing?
The next installment of the Five Star Institute Webinar Series, set for Tuesday, April 8 at 1:00 p.m. Central, the Five Star Institute, in partnership with Selene Finance, will present “The State of Mortgage Servicing 2025.”
The Five Star Institute Webinar Series aims to broaden the horizons of the mortgage industry, serving as a source for complimentary insights and education about critical industry topics led by subject-matter experts and company sponsors.
For the second consecutive year, MortgagePoint and Selene Finance partner on an exclusive “state of the industry” webinar featuring insights from high-level mortgage servicing executives. From economic headwinds to policy and regulatory shifts in Washington, jump into Q2 of 2025 with an examination of where the industry stands and where the industry is headed in the months to come.
Articles Updated 022825
Mortgage Delinquency Rate Flat in December as Loan Performance Remains Strong
The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate was flat in December compared with November, at 3.1%, according to CoreLogic.
Early-stage delinquencies?(30 to 59 days past due) represented 1.6% of all loans, unchanged compared with December 2023.
Loans 60 to 89 days past due represented 0.5%, also unchanged compared with December 2023.
Serious delinquencies?(90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure) represented 1% of all loans, again flat compared with December 2023.
The December 2024 serious delinquency rate of 1% continues its downward trend from a high of 4.3% in August 2020.
Month-over-month, the share of loans 30 or more days past due ticked down very slightly compared with November.
The foreclosure rate dropped slightly in December compared with December 2023, according to the firm’s Loan Performance Insights Report.
The foreclosure inventory rate, at 0.2%, was down 0.1% compared with December 2023, matching the lowest ever for any month since at least January 1999.
The foreclosure rate has been between 0.2% and 0.3% since 2020, CoreLogic says in its report.
Articles Updated 022325
Coalition of Attorneys General Rallies to Support CFPB Amidst Shutdown Efforts
Attorney General Anthony G. Brown has aligned with a coalition of 23 attorneys general in a decisive move to sustain the operations of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The collective effort comes in response to directives issued by the Trump administration and supported by figures such as Elon Musk, which instructed federal employees to halt ongoing investigations into deceptive corporate behaviors.
The coalition has filed an amicus brief in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, advocating for CFPB employees. The bureau, recognized for its independent oversight of substantial financial entities, including banks and mortgage servicers, has historically returned over $20 billion to consumers affected by fraudulent activities and curbed unnecessary fees and predatory practices in auto and mortgage lending.
Articles Updated 021625
Fannie Mae Blames Multifamily Fraudsters in Part for Setting Aside $752 Million
Fannie Mae set aside $752 million for credit losses in its apartment complex lending business in part because of fraud or suspected fraud, denting profits amid an industrywide scrutiny of borrowers.
“We have discovered instances of multifamily lending transactions in which one or more of the parties involved engaged in mortgage fraud or possible mortgage fraud,” the firm said in its annual report released Friday. The $752 million credit loss provision was for the year ended Dec. 31, following $495 million and $1.25 billion in 2023 and 2022, respectively, according to the report.
Articles Updated 020925
Russell Vought, CFPB's new acting head, issues directives to halt portions of bureau activity
Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought issued a series of directives to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees Saturday night in his new capacity a the bureau's acting head, effectively slowing a large portion of the bureau's activity to a standstill.
In the email to CFPB employees, which was obtained by NBC News, Vought confirmed that he has taken on the role of acting head of the bureau and announced a dozen directives that would go into effect immediately.
Articles Updated 020225
A Refinance Boom Can Create Strains for Mortgage Servicers
Lenders, especially ones that control their own servicing, should prepare now
The mortgage industry is expected to see a significant uptick in refinancing activity, driven by recent interest rate cuts. This surge presents both opportunities and challenges for mortgage lenders, who must navigate the complexities of managing escrow payments, processing refinanced mortgages and maintaining cost-effective operations.
As homeowners seek to capitalize on lower interest rates in the coming months, lenders face increasing pressure to remain competitive while ensuring efficient and compliant processes. Mortgage originators who will want to take advantage of a refinance boom will also want to understand this market shift could affect the lending landscape.
Articles Updated 012625
$5.8M Nationstar Mortgage servicing class action settlement
Nationstar Mortgage agreed to pay $5.8 million to resolve claims it violated mortgage servicing laws, costing some borrowers to lose their homes to foreclosure.
The Nationstar settlement benefits two groups of affected homeowners: the service transfer population and the property preservation population.
The service transfer population includes borrowers whose loans were transferred in bulk to Nationstar for servicing between Feb. 1, 2011, and Dec. 18, 2017, whose loans became 30 days delinquent within 90 days of the service transfer and whose delinquency resulted in foreclosure.
Articles Updated 011925
Trump says he'll nominate Bill Pulte to run Fannie, Freddie regulator
Jan 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday he would nominate Bill Pulte to be the next director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
"Bill needs no formal introduction to the Great Citizens of our Country, because they have seen, and many have experienced, his philanthropy firsthand," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
The FHFA regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants that have operated under U.S. government control since 2008. The regulator is expected to play a central role in any effort to return the pair, which back the majority of the nation's residential mortgages, to the private sector.
Articles Updated 011225
Wall Street Watchdog Warns “Clock Is Ticking on a Coming Catastrophic Financial Crash”
The indefatigable Dennis Kelleher, Co-Founder and CEO of the Wall Street watchdog, Better Markets, has just released his organization’s monthly newsletter for January 2025 and it’s a humdinger.
Kelleher warns that the financial deregulators that incoming President Donald Trump has packed into his administration means “that the clock is ticking on a coming catastrophic financial crash that will likely be much worse than 2008.”
Kelleher adds that this “is not hyperbole.” He cites evidence from past financial crashes, writing:
“…there is always a lag after deregulation and the creation of artificial liquidity. That was true for ‘roaring ‘20s’ followed by the crash and Great Depression; the ‘great moderation’ of the early 2000s followed by the crash and Great Recession; the deregulation of the first Trump administration in 2017-2020 that led to the 2023 banking crisis when 3 of the 4 largest bank failures in US history happened. Much worse is likely to happen next time.”
Articles Updated 010525
Elderly Yonkers Homeowner In Alleged “Wrongful Foreclosure” Questions Why Judge Marx Won’t Sanction Plaintiff for ViolationsNovember
Shereen Bobrowsky, the disabled Yonkers woman, a senior, who claims there’s an ongoing attempt to wrongfully foreclose on her property-and to harass and intimidate her-wants to know why Judge Paul I. Marx, who’s presiding over the case hasn’t sanctioned the opposing party for violating deadlines set by the court for delivery of documents.
Separately, after reviewing some of the documents that are on the docket in the State Supreme Court, Westchester County, White Plains, New York, in light of past reports about compromised records in various court jurisdictions, in New York and elsewhere, this reporter is curious as to why there were no decisions and orders of the many motions Ms. Bobrowsky entered that requested important items such as “the accounting” and the Pooling and Servicing Agreement (PSA).
Articles Updated 122924
Mortgage Delinquencies Jumped 8 Percent in November
As of the end of the month there were about 2.027 million residential properties in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due but not in foreclosure) – an increase of about 159,000 compared with the previous month and up about 224,000 compared with a year earlier.
About 3.74% of all loans were in some stage of delinquency.
Year-over-year, delinquencies were up 10.46%.
Serious delinquencies (90 days or more past due but not in foreclosure) also increased. They totaled about 512,000, as of the end of November – an increase of about 32,000 compared with the previous month and up about 53,000 compared with a year earlier.
While much of November’s spike was driven by seasonality, post-hurricane distress, and a late-in-the-month Thanksgiving, delinquencies more broadly continue to rise from recent year lows, ICE says in its report.
Articles Updated 122224
FHFA Releases 3rd Quarter 2024 Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report
Washington, D.C. – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released its third quarter 2024 Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report. The report shows that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) completed 43,459 foreclosure prevention actions during the quarter, raising the total number of homeowners who have been helped to 7,047,721 since the start of conservatorships in September 2008.
Articles Updated 121524
Texas Passes Law Expanding Mortgage Borrower Protections
Effective November 23, 2024, the Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending (the “DSML”) adopted new rules affecting mortgage loan companies, mortgage bankers, individual residential mortgage loan originators, and mortgage servicers.
A brief summary of the new rules as they impact different types of organizations or mortgage loan originators is set forth below:
Articles Updated 120824
HUD Extends Foreclosure Moratoriums in Areas Devastated by Hurricanes Helene and Milton
WASHINGTON - Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced it is extending through April 11, 2025, its foreclosure moratoriums for FHA-insured Single Family Title II forward and Home Equity Conversion Mortgages in Presidentially Declared Major Disaster Areas (PDMDAs) declared as a result of this past summer’s Hurricanes Helene and Milton. This extension provides borrowers affected by these catastrophic events with additional time to access federal, state, or local housing resources; to consult with a HUD-approved housing counselor; and/or to rebuild their homes.
“When disaster strikes, we know that families and communities need not only resources, but time to recover,” said HUD Agency Head Adrianne Todman. “Today, by extending our foreclosure moratorium, we continue the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to help those affected by the catastrophic Hurricanes Helene and Milton to repair and rebuild their homes, communities, and lives.”
Articles Updated 113024
Miami senator’s bill targets rigged foreclosure auctions, following Miami Herald exposé
Taking aim at what she called “predatory practices,” a Miami state senator filed a bill this week to close loopholes that allowed a South Florida attorney to manipulate condo foreclosure auctions. Sen. Ileana Garcia, R-Miami, said the Miami Herald’s “Rigged” reports earlier this year dissecting the maneuvers of South Florida attorney Brad Schandler provided the framework for her proposed legislation (SB 48). Schandler’s strategy for winning foreclosure auctions would be rendered impossible under the bill Garcia filed on Wednesday.
Articles Updated 112424
When Pam Bondi Protected Foreclosure Fraudsters
June Clarkson and Theresa Edwards were attorneys in the Economic Crimes division of the Florida attorney general’s office, based in Fort Lauderdale. They joined the government to prevent companies from ripping off their customers. In 2010, they heard from an oncology nurse named Lisa Epstein, who delivered information about how law firms across the state were using hundreds of thousands of phony documents to foreclose on homeowners. Lisa knew this because the banks tried to do it to her.
A group of foreclosure victims had found documents that were literally signed “Bogus Assignee.” They had documents dated 9/9/9999. They had documents notarized on dates before they were allegedly created. They traced these documents back to Florida’s “foreclosure mills,” law firms that churned out foreclosures the way a factory churns out sweaters. The false documents were necessary because banks and lenders, striving during the housing bubble to sell mortgages and deliver them to investors, securitized the loans without maintaining chain of title, botching the true ownership records. Instead of rectifying the situation, the banks had the foreclosure mills concoct false evidence and present it in courts to dispossess people.
Within months, the attorney general’s office had opened investigations into Lender Processing Services, Florida Default Law Group, the Law Office of David J. Stern, Marshall C. Watson, Shapiro & Fishman, and other components of Florida’s great foreclosure machine. In the course of the investigation, Clarkson and Edwards deposed Tammie Lou Kapusta, a former paralegal with David J. Stern, who testified that the firm employed offshore foreclosure document shops in Guam and the Philippines, receiving fake documents that the paralegals would sign. Notary stamps were sitting around the office, and anyone on the team would use them and forge the signatures of the notaries.
Articles Updated 111724
Are debt collectors calling you about a zombie 2nd mortgage?
NPR's investigations team has been doing stories about what are called zombie second mortgages. These are loans taken out 20 years ago that homeowners thought were dead and gone. Often homeowners say they were told by their mortgage lender that the loans were resolved or forgiven through a loan modification. But then the loans rise from the grave when companies try to collect or foreclose. Some companies are allegedly breaking state and federal rules trying to collect on these old loans.
Articles Updated 111024
The U.S. Has Failed Its Children – In the Most Unconscionable Ways
Yesterday, the National Association of Realtors released their annual Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. It showed that by the time Americans have saved enough money for a downpayment to buy their first home in America, they will be close to middle age. The study recorded the median age of first-time home buyers as the oldest in the history of the study, at 38 years of age. (In the 1980s, first-time home buyers were in their 20s.) At the same time the age of first-time home buyers was hitting a record high, the percentage of first-time buyers was hitting a record low – just 24 percent of the market in the latest survey. That is the lowest percentage share of first-time home buyers since the National Association of Realtors began conducting the survey in 1981.
Articles Updated 110324
Top 10 Zombified Metros in Fourth Quarter 2024
According to ATTOM’s newly released Q4 2024 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report, approximately 1.4 million (1,355,909) residential properties in the United States are vacant. This accounts for 1.3 percent of the total housing stock, or one in every 77 homes nationwide. This figure is nearly unchanged from the previous quarter and has increased only slightly compared to last year.
Articles Updated 102724
With AI-Powered Chatbots Coming to Customer Service, Are Mortgage Customers Ready?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay. Three-fourths of business leaders say they are planning to escalate their AI investments, as they see its potential to redefine customer service and many other business functions. That includes the lending industry, in which AI-powered customer service has already started to establish a foothold and is poised to grow. Are customers ready for the future of AI-driven customer service?
This Lending Intelligence Report dives further into one aspect of the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Mortgage Servicer Satisfaction Study. It highlights the prevailing sentiment and emerging trends in AI-powered customer service, and how that may change with the continued uptick in servicer adoption.
Articles Updated 101724
Could Big Tech Own Federally-Insured Banks? Here Are the Dangers
The risk of Big Tech firms like Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Meta (Facebook), and Microsoft getting an entrée into the federally-insured banking system by being allowed to buy or create a federally-insured industrial bank has raised alarm bells among three nonprofit watchdogs and the law professor who, literally, wrote the book on the mushrooming systemic risks in the U.S. banking system.
Arthur E. Wilmarth, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Law at George Washington University Law School, joined with the Consumer Federation of America, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, and the Center for Responsible Lending, to file an 18-page letter last Friday with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). (For background on Wilmarth’s seminal book, see our report: Everything this Book Predicted on Wall Street Megabanks Ruling their Regulators Is Now Unfolding.)
Articles Updated 101124
Top 10 U.S. States with Greatest Number of Foreclosure Starts in September 2024
According to ATTOM’s just released September and Q3 2024 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, there were a total of 87,108 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings in Q3 2024. This figure reflects a 2 percent decrease compared to the previous quarter and a 13 percent decrease compared to the same period last year.
Articles Updated 100624
More Americans At Risk of Losing Their Homes This Year Than Last
Friends, its all about vastly increasing the #s of those who are active and public engagement at this point!
Please re-engage and come to MAAPL’s annual meeting THIS Tuesday, 10-8-24 from 12pm-2pm. (See zoom info at the end - in person location yet to be identified)
Background:
Homeowners have at least 20 years to get justice: complete restitution and up to triple damages! And we bring home 21-72 billion in lost wealth for Massachusetts residents - for the first time in US History: land to the disproportionally targetted people of color in their lifetime. (and women heads of households and working communities in general)
Friends, this movement is in massive takeoff mode. And our numbers and coming together for joint efforts could change the course not only of the injustice that all of our homeowners have faced, but the course of real property law and therefore the largest human and monetary area of investment in our nation.
16 years of efforts means we are breaking through in many places BUT only numbers of people and public pressure will then turn those into widespread and permanent change.
In the last little over a year, the Massachusetts Attorney General committed to having her chief of staff and the resources of her office coordinated with the Mass Alliance against predatory lending. And yet, after an initial very successful meeting, there has been no further progress on that.
We broke through with 29 Appeals court, pro se appeals court cases in the last two years. And yet the vast majority of decisions in those cases have been not just dismissive, but actually directly contradictory to the most visible decisions and procedural commitments of our courts. The absolutely milestone decision in HSBC Bank as Trustee v Morris (2022) marked an extraordinary breakthrough with our top court telling all of our lower courts that they must look back all the way to origination. And then the people who brought motions under that decision were denied its application, even when their record was exactly the same as the Morris's record. And just recently, the Morris's themselves were denied the SJC’S direct vacating of their judgment itself, apparently (not trusting the housing courts to take a remand order and vacate it themselves).
But with the bravery of those whose lievs have even been threatened in these foreclosures ,one of them was able to get their eviction case taken all the way up by the SJC and that opened the first big new door; thanks to many 100s of hours of research by a few different people over the years, that case allowed us to hold a press conference and bring evidence to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court of the Fannie Mae systematic, intentional and contracted scheme of denying mortgage consumers their most fundamental right to be free of deceptive and unfair practices. The major deceit here is that the mortgages are owned by Fannie Mae, not the various servicers who, like their law firms are contractually bound to lie to the world about Fannie Mae's investment in the loans (mortgage and note together). The evidence we brought shows the historically largest fraud on the Massachusetts courts and probably in the history of the courts of the US nationwide.
While roadblocks of prejudice, malfeasance and/or ignorance have been thrown in our way through probably more than half of our attempts to get the numerous government enforcement bodies to pay attention and actually do something. We have at this point literally thousands of pieces of evidence which if correctly compiled and distributed take us to the next phase.
There are now media people ready to learn about and cover this and numerous legal (both civil and criminal) and policy avenues to fundamentally change these massive illegal schemes and bring full restitution and triple damages even to everyone in Massachusetts whose rights have been violated in the last 20 years.
And the time has come for everyone to come back together and at minimum put their name on the massive proactive lawsuit and break out of the shame and tell their truth.
We are prepared to compile that massive case and numerous smaller, proactive suits that we can file in numerous different venues, making it possible to find the few judges who give a damn and are interested in enforcing our laws against the richest and clearly overwhelmingly criminal industry in the world.
please join - together, lets be the change we seek in the world!
ZOOM INFO:
MAAPLis inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: MAAPL noon Annual Mtg Zoom
Time: Oct 8, 2024 11:45 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86276065325?pwd=batl22iILbCmpB9Sji3QHizbkjRszK.1
Meeting ID: 862 7606 5325
Passcode: 550124
Articles Updated 092924
More Americans At Risk of Losing Their Homes This Year Than Last
More Americans are at risk of losing their homes this year compared to 2023, according to new mortgage data from Intercontinental Exchange.
While the delinquency rate dropped in August, it was still 5 percent higher than last year, indicating more Americans might be having trouble paying off their mortgages in 2024.
The national delinquency rate fell three basis points to 3.34 percent last month, declining by 0.9 percent from July. And the number of borrowers with a single payment past due dropped by 26,000, but those who had 60-day delinquencies rose by 1,000, the report found.
"Although foreclosure rates are still below pre-pandemic levels, there has been a slight uptick in serious delinquencies," Kevin Thompson, a finance expert and the founder and CEO of 9i Capital Group, told Newsweek.
"This could be attributed to rising mortgage payments. For many Americans, the increasing costs of insurance and property taxes are pushing their overall payments higher than they had anticipated."
There was bad news for serious delinquencies too. That number, which encompasses loans 90 days or more past due but not in active foreclosure, increased by 14,000, reaching a six-month high.
Articles Updated 092224
The Stock Market Had a Psychotic Episode After the Fed Rate Cut Yesterday, Plunging 479 Points from the Day’s High
The Federal Reserve yesterday cut its benchmark interest rate, the Fed Funds rate, for the first time in four years. The cut was by half a point rather than the customary quarter point increments typical of Fed rate moves. Only one member of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), Michelle Bowman, voted against the action. Bowman wanted a quarter point cut according to the FOMC announcement.
A Fed rate cut of a quarter point to a half point was widely anticipated by the market, so the stock market’s wild swings were puzzling to veteran Wall Street watchers.
Articles Updated 091524
U.S. FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY DECLINES BOTH MONTHLY AND ANNUALLY IN AUGUST 2024
IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data and analytics, today released its August 2024 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 30,227 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — down 5.3 percent from a month ago and down 11 percent from a year ago.
"Foreclosure activity has remained relatively steady in recent months, with both foreclosure starts and completed foreclosures declining in August," said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM. "While overall activity is significantly lower than the peaks seen during the 2008 financial crisis, when filings exceeded 300,000 per month, the current economic environment, coupled with rising interest rates and affordability challenges, suggests a continued focus on potential housing market instability."
Nevada, Florida, and Illinois post highest foreclosure rates
Nationwide, one in every 4,662 housing units had a foreclosure filing in August 2024. States with the highest foreclosure rates were Nevada (one in every 2,473 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Florida (one in every 2,605 housing units); Illinois (one in every 2,837 housing units); South Carolina (one in every 2,877 housing units); and New Jersey (one in every 3,227 housing units).
Articles Updated 090824
Bradley Comment Letter Highlights Questions Regarding the CFPB’s Statutory Authority to Issue Contemplated Mortgage Servicing Rulemaking
On July 10, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a proposal to amend the existing mortgage servicing rules in Regulation X. The substance of the proposal has attracted a lot of attention and deservedly so. If enacted, the proposed rule would completely overhaul the default servicing framework in Regulation X and institute mandatory translation and interpretation requirements for certain written and oral disclosures. However, many servicers are also concerned about whether the CFPB has the requisite statutory authority to enact these proposals. We analyzed the CFPB’s purported authority for this proposal under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) and believe that there is significant risk that a court would find that the CFPB lacks the authority to issue rules governing default-related servicing and translation and interpretation services. We explain this analysis in a comment letter that we recently filed and submitted to the CFPB on behalf of a group of mortgage servicer clients.
Articles Updated 083124
Couple sue bank, real estate company over Caribou home foreclosure
CARIBOU, Maine — A couple is suing a Caribou bank and real estate company, among others, for allegedly conspiring to foreclose on their home illegally and causing water damage that prevented it from being sold.
Articles Updated 082524
CFPB Takes Action Against Fay Servicing for Illegal Foreclosure Actions and Violating Law Enforcement Order
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today ordered Fay Servicing to pay a $2 million penalty for violations of mortgage servicing laws, as well as for violations of a 2017 agency order that addressed its illegal foreclosure practices. The company failed to implement the order’s requirements and continued to break the law. Fay Servicing took prohibited foreclosure actions against borrowers requesting mortgage assistance, failed to offer borrowers mortgage assistance options available to them, and overcharged for private mortgage insurance. In addition to the civil money penalty, the CFPB’s order requires Fay Servicing to pay consumer redress of $3 million and to invest $2 million to update its servicing technology and compliance management systems. The order also puts compensation limits on Edward Fay, the company’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), if Mr. Fay does not take actions necessary to ensure compliance with the order.
Articles Updated 081824
Missouri woman arrested in Elvis Graceland foreclosure scheme
Aug. 16 (UPI) -- A Missouri woman was arrested Friday morning and now faces federal charges related to an accused scheme to defraud the estate of Elvis Presley and foreclose on his iconic mansion.
Lisa Jeanine Findley is accused of creating false documents alleging Presley's daughter Lisa Marie Presley took out a $3.8 million loan against her father's Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tenn., the Justice Department said in a statement Friday.
Articles Updated 081124
CFPB Proposes New Rules Aimed at “Streamlining” Mortgage Servicing
On July 10, 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) proposed a rule it says will streamline mortgage servicing and the loss mitigation process. If enacted, the proposed rule would significantly revise the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), including regulations related to loss mitigation procedures and reviews, early intervention procedures, and errors in servicing mortgage loans. The Bureau also sought comment on a myriad of servicing issues, like “zombie mortgages,” which it has identified as problematic through advisory opinions and enforcement actions. Here are four proposed changes for loan servicers to be aware of, plus potential future changes the Bureau is considering.
1. Big Changes to Loss Mitigation Review and Borrower Safeguards (12 C.F.R. § 1024.41)
2. Changes to Early Intervention Requirements (12 C.F.R. § 1024.39)
3. Improper Loss Mitigation Determination Equals an Error in Servicing (12 C.F.R. § 1024.35)
4. Seeking Comment on New Mortgage Servicing Issues
Articles Updated 080424
How Unelected Regulators Unleashed the Derivatives Monster – and How It Might Be Tamed
While the world is absorbed in the U.S. election drama, the derivatives time bomb continues to tick menacingly backstage. No one knows the actual size of the derivatives market, since a major portion of it is traded over-the-counter, hidden in off-balance-sheet special purpose vehicles. However, when Warren Buffet famously labeled derivatives “financial weapons of mass destruction” in 2002, its “notional value” was estimated at $56 trillion. Twenty years later, the Bank for International Settlements estimated that value at $610 trillion. And financial commentators have put it as high as $2.3 quadrillion or even $3.7 quadrillion, far exceeding global GDP, which was about $100 trillion in 2022. A quadrillion is 1,000 trillion.
Most of this casino is run through the same banks that hold our deposits for safekeeping. Derivatives are sold as “insurance” against risk, but they actually add a heavy layer of risk because the market is so interconnected that any failure can have a domino effect. Most