Martha My Dear… You Are An Inspiration
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is hunting for bank. She just bagged Goldman Sachs, among others, and they’re writing down mortgages faster than you can say “fraudulent securitization”. She’s my God damn hero. I think I’m voting for her for president in 2012 whether she runs for the office or not.
Apparently, Martha My Dear decided she’d better do something about the foreclosure crisis in Massachusetts, seeing as no one else was. And so being a woman with a fully developed adult brain, she thought she might take a look at the people who made all the money… the investment banks and their role in the origination and securitization of mortgages.
(I know just how you’re feeling. Exciting isn’t it? Hang on… it gets even better.)
As part of the settlement, Goldman has agreed to principal write-downs so that homeowners in Massachusetts can refinance or sell their homes! (I swear… I am not making this up.)
For homeowners with loans held by Goldman entities, the investment bank… ooops, I’m mean the commercial bank… will reduce the principal of first mortgages by 25-35% and second mortgages by 50% or more!
And borrowers who have a first mortgage that’s seriously delinquent will be required to make a “reasonable monthly loan payment” while trying to refinance… or until they sell their home, which is certainly more than reasonable. And, if after six months, the borrower is still unable to find financing or sell his or her home, Goldman will reduce the principal owed on the existing loan to assist the borrower!
Martha’s office announced that the settlement with Goldman Sachs & Company is worth $50 million and includes substantial principal write-downs and refinancing options for loans owned by Goldman and/or serviced by Litton.
Martha has been investigating the role of investment banks in the origination and securitization of sub-prime loans in Massachusetts. And, in order to resolve any potential claims stemming from the Attorney General’s investigation, Goldman has agreed to provide loan restructuring to Massachusetts sub-prime borrowers. The program is designed to enable borrowers to replace the “problem loans” with affordable ones based on the current value of their properties.
(Holy Mary Mother of God… just when I’d thought I’d seen everything.)
Additionally, Goldman has also agreed to make a $10 million payment to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which I thought was darned considerate of them, and has pledged to continue cooperating with Martha in her ongoing investigation of industry practices. This woman muct be scary as can be. You go girl. You’ve got Goldman Sachs sounding like actual human beings!
(Do you hear that President Obama? Secretary Geithner? Is any one in D.C. paying any attention to what this woman has going on in Massachusetts? Yoohoo! Lookie here…)
That’s not even all of it… even if a homeowner’s loan isn’t held by Goldman, but is serviced by Goldman’s affiliated servicing company, Litton Loan Servicing LP, Goldman says they’ll help qualified borrowers find refinancing and other alternatives to foreclosure.
The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office began investigating the securitization of sub-prime loans in December 2007, and since then has focused on industry practices related to the issuance and securitization of sub-prime loans to Massachusetts consumers. Martha’s looking into whether securitizers may have:
- Facilitated the origination of “unfair” loans under Massachusetts law.
- Failed to ascertain whether loans purchased from originators complied with the originators’ stated underwriting guidelines.
- Failed to take sufficient steps to avoid placing problem loans in securitization pools.
- Been aware of allegedly unfair or problem loans.
- Failed to correct inaccurate information in securitization trustee reports concerning repurchases of loans.
- Failed to make available to potential investors certain information concerning allegedly unfair or problem loans, including information obtained during loan diligence and the pre-securitization process, as well as information concerning their practices in making repurchase claims relating to loans both in and out of securitizations.
Martha’s investigation into securitizers is part of her comprehensive enforcement approach to combating sub-prime lending and the foreclosure crisis. This latest inquiry concerns the role of “Securitizers” (read: Goldman Sachs), who bundled mortgage loans and sold them as mortgage-backed securities or other investment vehicles.
(I can’t wait for Part 2… I hope her next installment covers “The role of Bold Face Liars & Greedy Bastards in the Financial Meltdown.”)
So far, Martha has sued Fremont Investment & Loan, as well as Option One and its parent H&R Block, alleging unfair, deceptive and predatory lending practices. And she’s obtained preliminary injunctions against those companies too!
COME ON EVERYBODY LET’S SING! MARTHA FOR PRESIDENT! OH YEAH, BABY!
Martha my dear though I spend my days in conversation
Please
Remember me Martha my love
Don’t forget me Martha my dear
Hold your head up you silly girl look what you’ve done
When you find yourself in the thick of it
Help yourself to a bit of what is all around you
Silly Girl.
Take a good look around you
Take a good look you’re bound to see
That you and me were meant to be for each other
Silly girl.
Hold your hand out you silly girl see what you’ve done
When you find yourself in the thick of it
Help yourself to a bit of what is all around you
Silly girl.
Martha my dear you have always been my inspiration
Please
Be good to me Martha my love
Don’t forget me Martha my dear.
The Beatles
Letting lying borrowers who can't afford their McMansion off the hook is nothing to encourage. Housing prices must drop. This does nothing to help that happen because it doesn't show up as a comp, does it? So prices stay out of reach for buyers -- you know, the prudent people who didn't jump on the greed liar-loan bandwagon and wouldn't sell their soul for a stainless steel stove. People who can't afford their houses must move. Speculators must take their losses and their credit must suffer.
punstress...
First of all, no one is in favor of helping people who can't afford their McMansions or those who speculated in real estate. We're talking about homeowners... regular people who made decisions they believed were the right ones. The worst of the sub-prime loans have long since been foreclosed on, the loans going into foreclosure are just people caught up in a meltdown caused by the banks and Wall Street... not by homeowners.
The banks and Wall St. are blaming the borrowers... the mortgage brokers... the politicians... the regulators... anyone but themselves. It's total B.S. Did the borrowers break the bond market? Did they build fraudulent mortgage backed securities and get them rated AAA when they knew they weren't AAA because they were the ones that built them? No one should be able to default on a mortgage they can't afford, because no one should be able to get a mortgage they can't afford.
You're all upset about a homeowner who bought a house... or refinanced their home to fix it up... what about the bankers on Wall St. who paid themselves $18 billion in bonuses last year while the whole financial system and markets were melting down? Why aren't you mad at them? You'd rather be mad at some family who bought a house at the worst possible moment in time?
Look, I don't think you understand what's happening here:
Remember the toxic assets on the banks balance sheets?
Well, we need to get them off of their balance sheets, but if the government pays an amount that would allow taxpayers to make a profit, then it will leave big holes in the bank balance sheets and the taxpayers will have to give them billions more money.
If the government pays what the banks want for these assets, then the taxpayers will lose billions more.
Do you see what's happening here? As housing prices drop, the toxic assets become more toxic. And no matter what you and I are going to end up paying for the drop... not only in our own home values, but through our tax dollars too.
Foreclosures breed foreclosures... every foreclosure lowers your home's value... which reduces consumer spending... which leads to higher unemployment... which leads to more foreclosures, which lowers housing prices even further, which makes the toxic assets more toxic... soon we will ALL be in serious financial trouble... ALL of us.
You focusing on borrowers paying for their bad decisions is costing you as much money as them... more in fact. You're thinking on this is harming you. And me. Think this through... it's not the borrower. It's the banks.
And until we stop the foreclosures... we're all paying the bill for every dime it's costing in decreasing values. It's not costing the borrowers that have no money, because they have no money to lose. It's costing you... you're costing yourself money... think it through...
And for the record... I don't like it any more than you do. I didn't get involved in the bubble... my wife and I have owned our home for 19 years. I see the same McMansions you do.
Martin,
Thanks for relaying what appears to me to be the first and only large scale solution to the dillemm of home owners in default due to the greedy lending and shameful eforcement of illegal loans and the market meltdown. After your illumination to me as to the scale of the problem (23 years worth of loan modifications was it?), it is evident that this type blanket coverage of groups of homeowners is the only possible real solution.
Now, if you can sucessfully get this message and solution to the robber barons at Chase and Wells Fargo, and California's Attorney General, to rectify the massive dilemma placed on the millions, yes millions, of CA homeowners who took out Washington Mutual and Wachovia Alt-A Option ARM loans and are now within 2-3 months of losing their homes. Thanks for the help.
Problem here is that Goldman holds very little of the original securitization. They sold it all off. Don't kid yourself. Goldman has much more power than a State AG. This is a nuisance suite to them.
Martin,
You and Tobby understand this like few others. Time is not on our side. WAKE UP AMERICA! Your pocket is being picked. Because of misinformation and sleight of hand, you've been tricked into believing the crook is your neighbor.
Uncle Sam is very close to becoming (literally) our landlord.
Let's pick it up people! I'm thinking 6 months and the damage will be irreverserible.
I pray I'm wrong.
Thanks for relaying what appears to me to be the first and only large scale solution to the dillemm of home owners in default due to the greedy lending and shameful eforcement of illegal loans and the market meltdown. After your illumination to me as to the scale of the problem (23 years worth of loan modifications was it?), it is evident that this type blanket coverage of groups of homeowners is the only possible real solution.
Now, if you can sucessfully get this message and solution to the robber barons at Chase and Wells Fargo, and California's Attorney General, to rectify the massive dilemma placed on the millions, yes millions, of CA homeowners who took out Washington Mutual and Wachovia Alt-A Option ARM loans and are now within 2-3 months of losing their homes. Thanks for the help.
Dave...
One step at a time, that's all I can do... one step at a time... she still totally rocks for thinking of it, don't you think?
You and Tobby understand this like few others. Time is not on our side. WAKE UP AMERICA! Your pocket is being picked. Because of misinformation and sleight of hand, you've been tricked into believing the crook is your neighbor.
Uncle Sam is very close to becoming (literally) our landlord.
Let's pick it up people! I'm thinking 6 months and the damage will be irreverserible.
I pray I'm wrong.
lotzahomes...
I know exactly what you mean... few understand it, but I'm about to publish an article about it and I'm making it simple so that anyone can understand it. PLEASE, when it comes out on line this week... spread the link to every single homeowner you know... not just in the industry... everyone. Usually, I write to industry people... but this is for every single person in the country.
We've been deceived and misled. People need to know that:
1. "Bailing out homeowners" has nothing to do with paying for your neighbor's kitchen remodel.
2. It was never a "sub-prime borrower" problem. It isn't now and it wasn't then. To call it a sub-prime borrower problem is like calling a fuse, a bomb.
3. we are paying for every single dime of drop in real estate prices... every single dime. Stop the foreclosures... NOW, or we will all be broke.
If anyone is the slightest bit uncertain about this, please get in touch with me. I'll walk you through any and all of it. Slowly and simply. There's no shame in not understanding this... it's arcane and complex nonsense. I'll walk you through any part of it... really.
Rick Santelli is a jackass of monumental proportion. And I want to make it known right here and now that I would like to kick the feathers out of him and would be happy to fly in and meet him anytime and anywhere. (I'm trying to figure out how to send a letter to his parents too.)
I know exactly what you mean... few understand it, but I'm about to publish an article about it and I'm making it simple so that anyone can understand it. PLEASE, when it comes out on line this week... spread the link to every single homeowner you know... not just in the industry... everyone. Usually, I write to industry people... but this is for every single person in the country.
What article that you've written since contains this explanation? Guess I missed it. :?
On a side note: let Santelli know that he can bring Cramer along and we'll take 'em on in a Tag Team Death Match... :twisted:
I know exactly what you mean... few understand it, but I'm about to publish an article about it and I'm making it simple so that anyone can understand it. PLEASE, when it comes out on line this week... spread the link to every single homeowner you know... not just in the industry... everyone. Usually, I write to industry people... but this is for every single person in the country.
What article that you've written since contains this explanation? Guess I missed it. :?
On a side note: let Santelli know that he can bring Cramer along and we'll take 'em on in a Tag Team Death Match... :twisted:
dcd... stay tuned, it's on the way...