FIRST UP: A favorable ruling from Florida's Supreme Court in the Pino Case... I ask attorney Matt Weidner and Foreclosure Hamlet's Lisa Epstein to tell us what it means to homeowners. SECOND STORY: A blogger in Ohio teams up with... (Continue reading)
And, since it is the holidays, it's also time for my annual year-in-review-in-rhyme, read to the famous holiday poem, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. I started writing my 'Twas the Night year-in-review in 2007, or at least that's the year... (Continue reading)
I was a guest on the News Dissector radio show with Danny Schechter out of NYC. And I was joined by one of the Occupy Wall Street organizers and Capt. (Ret.) Ray Lewis. Check it out... given the... (Continue reading)
A Mandelman Matters Podcast - Washington State attorney, Shawn Newman is fighting to protect the rights of homeowners. His legal theories and experiences in court related to Fannie and Freddie "owned" loans are interesting, to say the least, and... (Continue reading)
This letter was written today by attorney Thomas Cox of Portland Maine, and posted on several legal listservs. It was totally unexpected and more than moving. Tom is the lawyer whose work and depositions of GMAC's Jeffrey Stephan... (Continue reading)
Bank of America… stop torturing disabled American veterans, and stop torturing Arlie Matthews and I do mean immediately… and I also mean… or else. He’s a brave and strong guy, but I know he’s got to be scared to... (Continue reading)
No one helps those who don't help themselves. We need to be WE... and now. Because as long as the country believes that irresponsible borrowers are the problem, nothing will change for borrowers... not enough lawyers will join... (Continue reading)
I also spoke to the members of the panel about the need for the State Bar to give more careful consideration to how it can better support the legitimate and ethical attorneys that could provide representation to homeowners in need... (Continue reading)
The Arizona Bankers Association has been trying to change that for years so banks could go after the homeowners for the amount of the deficiency, and finally they've found their boy in Jack Harper. Inconceivably, Harper says he will... (Continue reading)
Fannie and Freddie actually had a policy stating that they didn't want to receive the physical "notes?" This “policy” was created by Freddie and Fannie and clouds who actually has legal title to the property (i.e. mortgagee) and who... (Continue reading)
Now, when right in front of our eyes, the banking lobby is pushing to make the only federal agency whose role is to protect consumers entirely toothless, once again we’re failing to make our voices heard. I know this... (Continue reading)
Well, I caught up with Jeff after receiving a "friend request" from him on Facebook... I recognized the name right away and sent him a note asking him to join me for a podcast... and he said yes, of course.... (Continue reading)
Here's something you can't do anywhere else... listen to author Michael Hudson not only talk with me about his book, but listen to how he applies his vast knowledge of the subject matter to what's going on today in our... (Continue reading)
So, I’m bringing all of this up because Mr. Edward DeMarco, who is just the "acting" director of the independent federal agency that placed both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship in the fall of 2008, has actually become... (Continue reading)
In this edition you'll find: 1. Robo-signing KILLS... 2. OCC proposes credit rating duties go to banks - A real conversation with a banker-friend of mine. 3. PMI Files Bankruptcy - Regulators step in and take over yet another mortgage... (Continue reading)
What you are about to read has not been smoothed out or otherwise homogenized, it’s just the news as it’s coming at me… and you. Go ahead… read it and then tell me everything’s just fine. ... (Continue reading)
Obviously, either Neal has the cognitive abilities of a fruit loop soaked in milk, or he’s just disturbed. What do you suppose he thinks “spread” to Europe and its banks? I mean, I don’t think loans can spread…... (Continue reading)
I wanted to have Matt on a podcast so both homeowners and other lawyers would have an opportunity to hear his views on the crisis today, and specifically what he's seeing in the Florida courts. And sure enough, Matt... (Continue reading)
So, whether you're a homeowner fighting to keep your home... or a lawyer who represents homeowners in foreclosure, here's an opportunity to hear what April has to say about where we've been, where we are today, and where she thinks... (Continue reading)
Why? Well, according to the Realtors, it’s credit scores and appraisals coming in too low. Well shave my head and call me Baldy… what do you know about that? I certainly do declare, how can such a... (Continue reading)
MEMO TO BANK OF AMERICA… Why do you do these things to me? I was just sitting here minding my own business, perfectly content to write about Chase or Wells or anything else for that matter… but no, you... (Continue reading)
We need, as perhaps the late, great Steve Jobs might have said... to think differently, to fight differently. We need to scare them by making them realize that we are their source of power and just as we bestow... (Continue reading)
You know the stereotype… we all do… reckless and greedy people who bought homes they could never hope to afford by signing their names on nothing down, 80/20 “liar loans” with negative amortization and teaser rates of 1%. And... (Continue reading)
Two movies I really want to see, and I think you will want to see them as well. One is Bailout, and it looks funny and great. The other is Margin Call, and it look dramatic and really... (Continue reading)
Tom's going to share some things that are very disturbing... things he's discovered are going on behind closed doors in the mortgage banking industry... thinks you probably haven't heard about before... things we all need to know. Don't even... (Continue reading)
The bottom-line is that this does appear to be a chance for people who were treated unfairly as part of the foreclosure process (and Lord knows there are plenty who fall into that category) to get a shot at some... (Continue reading)
WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH INVESTORS? WHO ARE THEY? ARE THEY LOSING MONEY ON FORECLOSURES? What do the investors think about all these foreclosures? What's the relationship like between investors and servicers? Do investors want to modify loans? Do... (Continue reading)
Quoth the Craven, "Nevermore."... (Continue reading)
Max basically gives attorneys his thirty-year law practice in a box with easy to follow assembly instructions and ongoing support. And there's nothing theoretical about what Max teaches attorneys at his workshops and seminars. In fact, I've seen... (Continue reading)
I’m not sure what to say to that, now that I’ve read Zach’s article and been shown more of what went on behind closed doors at the Obama White House. That mistakes were made is abundantly clear, but even... (Continue reading)
Even Edward J. DeMarco, acting director of the independent Federal Housing Finance Agency says his fix will be more of a tune-up than an overhaul, with reduced “frictions” and “enhancements.”... (Continue reading)
Homeowners who have been forced into litigation in an attempt to save their homes, whether choosing to represent themselves, or hire an attorney, are battling against the largest financial institutions in the world in a court system that’s anything but... (Continue reading)
I mean, here we had our “smart” president, and the first thing he does upon taking the reins of a nation in real economic peril, is throw together a spending bill whose numbers were pulled directly from the hindquarters of... (Continue reading)
Apparently, this past week, the sound of the economy’s ship going down must have awoken the majority of House Democrats from California who then just jumped all over the Obama Administration for “failing to deliver on promises to curb foreclosures.”... (Continue reading)
Klein seems to think that it’s important to understand how the administration got it so wrong… but I could care less. I think the salient point is that they knew they had gotten it wrong soon enough, and yet... (Continue reading)
Look people… don’t get bummed out about this study, because a few years from now the NBER is probably going to refer to today as having been a peak. ... (Continue reading)
Since then, we’ve been bubbled into financial ruin. We bought high and sold low, until our 401(k)s turned into 201(k)s, and then we doubled down on shares of Pets.com, never bothering to question how the company planned to deliver... (Continue reading)
Brancaccio asked about whether these Wall Street types recognized that bonuses are usually paid on profits, but that profits are "radically down," and Bethany replied that they don't. She said that there's a widespread belief that "it wasn't my fault,... (Continue reading)
It's no secret to anyone close to the crisis that homeowners in distress are routinely lied to by servicers... often homes are lost as a result of those lies... and what's even more shocking than that is how so... (Continue reading)
Basically, the architects of the sub-prime lending that caused the greatest financial crisis in the history of mankind, are now going to profit from the crisis they caused by buying and selling the very sub-prime loans they couldn’t sell before,... (Continue reading)
I wonder what will happen in the next few years as more loans default and the condition of Spain’s banks deteriorates further. You don’t suppose that will mean fewer loans and tighter credit, which will reduce the demand for... (Continue reading)
BUT… the odds are that they won’t win their lawsuits, their legal arguments will not prevail and ultimately they will lose their homes to foreclosure. Many arrive in court having not made a mortgage payment in several years, and... (Continue reading)
Is it possible that I’m only dreaming all of this? Like, maybe I don’t really blog about the financial and foreclosure crises… maybe it’s all just part of a reoccurring, and incomprehensibly maddening dream? ... (Continue reading)
1. Obama Administration Leaps Into Action on the Foreclosure Crisis. 2. Nation's poverty rate climbs to 15.1%, highest in 18 years. 3. Obama Says Government to Help More People Refinance… Again. 4. Mortgage Defaults Skyrocket 33% Nationwide in... (Continue reading)
Obviously, Obama has been hard at work on this very important subject, and I think we have to give credit where credit is due. And he’s got more ideas than just cutting a day of mail delivery, oh yes... (Continue reading)
Watch it. Link to it. Post it. Support it. Everyone who contributes will be listed in the credits and we plan to take the film all the way to the Academy Awards. If "Inside Job"... (Continue reading)
We plan to release the final film by the end of this calendar year. This is an election year. We can’t afford to wait. Please help me change how this country views the tragedy that is the... (Continue reading)
I don’t know what to say except that I am so very sorry that I let them down. So deeply sorry… and I’ll never forget them… I’ll try never to let something like that happen again. ... (Continue reading)
I didn’t want to do this. I was perfectly content ignoring his idiotic drivel as I’ve been doing pretty successfully for over a year. Or, maybe it’s because he hasn’t said anything in over a year, I’m not... (Continue reading)
Citigroup Inc, Wells Fargo & Co, SunTrust Bank Inc. and Countrywide allegedly required reinsurance partnerships on generous terms that violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, a 1974 law prohibiting abusive home sales practices.... (Continue reading)
For twelve years during and after the Savings & Loan crisis (1988-2000), I led the group of business analysts at PricewaterhouseCoopers that was responsible for monitoring Ginnie Mae’s $600 billion portfolio of mortgage-backed securities. During that period, I learned... (Continue reading)
I’ll say one thing for Secretary Geithner: He’s great at distraction. He goes, “Lookie over here.” Then he points his finger towards China… and a pigeon flies out of his ass. You really have to watch this... (Continue reading)
You have to understand that while I’m happy to see any and all deceptive sales practices targeting homeowners stopped, I take no pleasure in seeing Philip Kramer prevented from suing Bank of America or any of the other banksters, all... (Continue reading)
Max Gardner, along with his faculty of expert guest speakers, will be delivering two specially designed in-depth sessions each one laser focused on the topic of the UCC’s impact on mortgage securitization - and each of the seminars is specifically... (Continue reading)
While in Phoenix filming a documentary on the foreclosure crisis, I got a call from NBC Channel 12 reporter Melissa Blasius who said she had heard I was in town and wanted to feature what I was doing in one... (Continue reading)
I remember a year or two back when Warren Buffett quipped that one solution was to “blow up a lot of houses -- a tactic similar to the destruction of autos that occurred with the â€cash-for-clunkers’ program.’” He was... (Continue reading)
Wake up people, we’re running out of time. We need to do better and that means we need to get smarter. And since I still have faith that our laws will prevail, we’ll be needing our nation’s lawyers... (Continue reading)
And call me crazy, but I found the news oddly reassuring… you know… like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an ice cold glass of milk. ... (Continue reading)
Guess what… the federal government has ordered 16 of the largest mortgage servicers to reimburse homeowners who they foreclosed on IMPROPERLY. Well, isn’t that nice? What a lovely surprise. ... (Continue reading)
The fact is that the path we’re on can only end badly, and although I quite proud of how this nation has managed to hold it together until this point at least, as the man said, it’s all downhill from... (Continue reading)
Boy, that sure is a relief, wouldn’t you say? Because, see… I had been under the impression that he had actually been trying to do something big and important and was putting his best foot forward, as it were.... (Continue reading)
If I have to introduce Alabama foreclosure defense attorney Nick Wooten to you, then you're not much of a foreclosure crisis news junkie, because Nick has made headlines for his lawsuits against the banksters on behalf of homeowners as much... (Continue reading)
As a result, homeowners who begin the process of obtaining a loan modification with expectations largely set by the President, are likely to be disappointed at the outcome, regardless the outcome. ... (Continue reading)
1. FDIC is suing former IndyMac CEO for a lot of dough. 2. Obama admits failure on foreclosure crisis. 3. What was the tru cost of the bank bailouts?... (Continue reading)
And the best part of the whole thing is that even if you’re weren’t a DOER this time around… even if until now you’ve just been a “reader,” it doesn’t matter… ANYONE CAN BECOME A DOER AT ANY MOMENT. ... (Continue reading)
Happy Independence Day! 1. Bank of America... The wrong house AGAIN? 2. Let's call it: Bernankeconomics. 3. Fifty Million for 7,000 Short Sales, Cash for Sunkers? 4. The OCC says fewer than 5,000 principal reductions in... (Continue reading)
And I’ll never be able to prove this, but I’m al most positive that I could have bankrupted Fannie Mae for a lot less than $1.5 trillion, and I don’t know anything about the mortgage business. In fact, I... (Continue reading)
I asked a friend of mine who is a fairly senior executive at a major bank, although not one of those mentioned here, and he said that he can’t imagine the banks losing them. He explains that the truck... (Continue reading)
Retirees and the handicapped experience higher living expenses, including home maintenance, spiraling healthcare costs, utilities, and other expenses associated with age, disability, and/or deteriorating health. That fact progressively reduces their disposable income and ability to make mortgage payments. ... (Continue reading)
While Marc was in office he was a very vocal opponent of Wall Street, and the mortgage servicers who were... and still are... destroying his state with unnecessary and even illegal foreclosures. And since he's left office, he's defended... (Continue reading)
“You have exactly 11 hours to sign and notarize this form. Then deliver three copies to one of three addresses in your home city between 3:00 PM and 4:30 PM on Thursday. The catch is that you must... (Continue reading)
A Guest Post by Chicago attorney, Rick Rogers of Rogers Law Group. Rick and I met last year when we attended Max Gardner's Boot Camp in North Carolina last year; we actually shared the Riverview Cabin on Max's ranch... (Continue reading)
"The people of Hawaii today are very proud of their Legislature for (Act 48)," Andleman said. "It was a grassroots movement, they felt like they had a real success on a national scale. I mean it was a big deal.... (Continue reading)
So, now the Attorneys General from New York and Delaware are investigating in order to find out whether trillions of dollars in loans were seriously mishandled and therefore are not in the trusts, as the banksters said they were. ... (Continue reading)
In this issue: 1. Banker-Speak... A new language. 2. An Interesting List. 3. Lessons from History... How we handled foreclosures during the 1930s. 4. I wanted to like Bruce Marks of NACA... but I can't. 5.... (Continue reading)
So, I really didn't know what the banking industry was going to do... I only knew one thing with certainty, even if everyone didn't agree... no way would they conform to the new law governing non-judicial foreclosures. Mediation sounded... (Continue reading)
No matter, at least you're understanding that today the people falling into foreclosure did nothing to cause their fate. It's now happening at every socio-economic level of our society, and you may be assured that it will spread and... (Continue reading)
I had the privilege of meeting Elizabeth Warren about a month ago when she was in San Diego and here are a few of the things she said to me... I wrote them down at the time so I'd have... (Continue reading)
What the heck is going on around here? We’re now passing around a story about a stupid PR stunt by a lawyer that ended up making Bank of America look REASONABLE? Oh my God, people… listen to me... (Continue reading)
You guys all now know that this thing had about as much to do with sub-prime borrowers as World War II. Unless you can point out a sub-prime borrower who was selling synthetic CDOs in Iceland, I think we're... (Continue reading)
The bankers... yes, the very same bankers who leveraged up on garbage CDOs as if housing prices would never ever go anywhere but up are now supposedly shocked and dismayed that mortgage lending volumes don't seem to be "coming back,"... (Continue reading)
Click the button below... and you'll hear a Mandelman Matters PODCAST... A PODCAST THAT MATTERS, if you will. From start to finish, it's unquestionably MAX GARDNER at his candid best. ... (Continue reading)
Falling Home Prices, the Next Financial Crisis is Near, Defaulters Aren't Deadbeats After All, the Economy with Gwen Ifill and MERS has No Clothes.... (Continue reading)
I'm not kidding about this... every morning I wake up, get my coffee, turn on some cable news show, look over at my wife and say: "Look at that, honey... BofA didn't blow up again today! Will wonders never... (Continue reading)
Don't make this more complicated than it need be. If you came and repossessed my car but were NOT the person or entity holding my pink slip, then we had a phrase to describe that occurrence as well ...... (Continue reading)
So... in “Pillage,” Nomi Prins explains in terms anyone can understand that factoring in the leverage at 11:1, we're looking at a $140 TRILLION economic problem... yes, you read that correctly... that's trillion, with a 'T'... (Continue reading)
Today, she writes a Republican conservative blog on azcentral.com. And she’s found Mandelman Matters and joined the group of Americans who know the foreclosure crisis must be stopped. ... (Continue reading)
In 2014, it will be seven years since the meltdown began in the summer of 2007, and something in the neighborhood of 15 million homes will have been lost to foreclosure. And there’s no reason to believe that foreclosures... (Continue reading)
The findings of the independent reviews will be… sealed… closed to the public… whatever the independent reviews uncover or determine will remain a well-publicized secret. ... (Continue reading)
Well, perhaps it’s because Sheila is now a short-timer and will be retiring from her post at the FDIC this July, that she is now feeling a little more comfortable telling the truth, even if that means disagreeing with Walsh... (Continue reading)
Bank of America bought Countrywide for $4 billion and change. That sounds funny to me now. You’ve got to admit it. The idea that someone would PAY money for Countywide has to make you giggle at least... (Continue reading)
In this issue: 1. Treasury reports 84% of HAMP loan mods current after 12 months. 2. Surprise, Surprise... Falling Home Values. 3. State AGs Beg Servicers for Crumbs. 4. Iowa's AG, Miller Calls B.S. 5. Banks... (Continue reading)
My heartfelt thanks goes out to Rep. Herkes and Sen. Baker... the people of Hawaii are very lucky to have you serving in their state's legislature. My sincere hope is that you will be recognized for your work so... (Continue reading)
I’m not going to attempt to write some scathing or potentially insightful commentary about Mr. Mozilo, I’m sure that’s been done many times before, and frankly… he bores me to no end. But, at the same time I felt... (Continue reading)
Stern is emblematic of everything that’s ugly and wrong with the mortgage banking and finance industries in this country. Whether all the allegations about him are true is irrelevant. In my view, he’s an unethical, arrogant, abusive and... (Continue reading)
You see, it’s a very well thought out no-lose proposition, this new California foreclosure rescue program… because if the banks refuse to participate in it, which would kill the whole principal reduction aspect of the plan, it’s really not a... (Continue reading)
1. California’s ex-AG, Governor Jerry Brown Settles Countrywide Suit for $6.5 million. 2. Mandelman ADMITS HE WAS WRONG About AZ’s Foreclosure Program’s Potential. 3. Wall Street Journal: $135 Billion for Bankers in 2010… Breaks Previous Record Set in 2009.... (Continue reading)
So, just curious… who woke up the House Republicans, a group who have otherwise been fast asleep these last two-plus years, at least as far as the foreclosure crisis is concerned. In point of fact, over the last two... (Continue reading)
So, we the taxpayers have spent $160 Million DEFENDING them? Defending them? Gretchen… I think you must have a typo there, right? Shouldn’t the question be, how much are we spending to PROSECUTE them? I mean,... (Continue reading)
There is no “market,” right? We really don’t know how low prices have already gone down to, because if the foreclosures were on the market or if banks were actually kicking all the people out that haven’t made payments... (Continue reading)