HAMP is guaranteed to do no more than it has done to-date, and that new defaults and re-defaults will continue to perpetuate the crisis, causing millions more Americans to lose homes unnecessarily.... (Continue reading)
Latest GAO Report once again has recommended that Treasury improve its capability to track and analyze data related to HAMP loan modifications. Again and again.... (Continue reading)
It's been six years since this crisis began, and it's shocking how far we haven't come as far as loan modifications are concerned. But, at this point it's not the servicers that are causing most of the problems... it's... (Continue reading)
Okay, so I decided that I would do it... I'd bring up the topic of the ongoing foreclosure crisis. These were my peeps and it's not like I don't know a thing or two about the subject matter... maybe... (Continue reading)
How would you like to find out that no one had told you that you had easy access to several hundred thousand dollars, and so not knowing, you made other plans that you didn't want to make and wouldn't have... (Continue reading)
The program would allow homeowners trapped in certain type of mortgage, known as a Private Label Security or PLS Loans, to voluntarily participate in a program where the City purchases these mortgages from investors and repackages them at terms homeowners... (Continue reading)
Can we connect these dots? Housing market takes a dive, consumer spending craters causing retail earnings to collapse, with underlying employment numbers somewhere south of ghastly.... (Continue reading)
In other words, the housing market hasn't recovered, and won't recover because it can't recover until the underlying fundamentals change, and that won't happen for a long, long time. It certainly won't happen as long as we refuse to... (Continue reading)
So, if Wells Fargo was now willing to allow Arthur to sell the home he'd built and lived in since 1988 for $375,000... why not sell the home to Arthur for $375,000, and Arthur would use a reverse mortgage for... (Continue reading)
I'm actually relieved that the White House knows about the millions of delinquencies, underwater and effectively underwater loans... that sales have been "slowing" since last July, but slowing even more so since the first of the year. I'm so... (Continue reading)
Using a Zestimate to determine a home's value is almost like trying to make your mortgage payment using Monopoly money. And yet, homeowners and others involved in loan modifications from around the country have confirmed being told by Chase,... (Continue reading)
A large part of this protracted recession it said is due to households trying to reduce their debt levels, which in turn leads to less spending in the economy, driving the recession deeper and further.... (Continue reading)
Eminent domain is not only being considered as a solution to the housing crisis by Richmond, California... there are now some TWO DOZEN CITIES across the country considering the plan authored by Professor Robert Hockett of Cornell University Law School.... (Continue reading)
I've seen my government fail at lots of things over the years, but this failure is too important and too costly to allow it to continue. We've lost more than five million homes to-date... and recent forecasts show we're... (Continue reading)
'Twas the Night Before Christmas 2013 is an Annual Political and Economic Year in Review I write every year... I've been doing it since 2007, so this year makes it seven years in a row. If you want to... (Continue reading)
Ahsan Kushkaki discovered Mandelman Matters after Bank of America denied his loan modification. He was desperately seeking someone who might be able to help him explain the situation to the bank and after finding several of the thank you... (Continue reading)
This is not a tragedy that discriminates. The race diminished as a result of what is being allowed to transpire will be "human". ... (Continue reading)
In addition, spurned on by the Fed's QE and zero-interest-rate policy, Lord knows how many smaller companies and individual investors also jumped on the bandwagon, and as it has the tendency to do, the insanity drove up home prices at... (Continue reading)
Today, Ernie Banks was at the White House being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. It is the highest civilian honor that this country bestows, and this year was the 50th anniversary of the award,... (Continue reading)
My article was nonsense, according to Michael Pines? Well, that would certainly be disappointing, I wasn't aware that I had ever written an article that was considered nonsense by anyone. I'm not saying that everyone likes what I... (Continue reading)
It's not a matter of the Diunugala case being considered "binding authority," because it's not. But the question is, will other California courts consider the case persuasive... and tend to follow the more established case law. If that's... (Continue reading)
This past September signified the fourth straight month of a decline in existing home sales, while mortgage interest rates hit two-year highs. The Mortgage Bankers Association index of mortgage activity is now at its lowest point since November of... (Continue reading)
Well, fast forward to today and Glenn Russell is still very much on the attack on behalf of homeowners, in fact, he just finished arguing his latest case, again in front of the Massachusetts' High Court. I don't want... (Continue reading)
By now the term "robo-signing" has practically become a household word. But it wasn't always that way. Just a few years ago no one had ever heard the term before. So, where did it all begin... and... (Continue reading)
President Obama said that all I needed to do to avoid foreclosure was get my loan modified. He said to just call my bank directly so I did. And I had the most interesting cultural experience. That... (Continue reading)
Another SIGTARP report shows Treasury knows nothing about loan modifications. Big surprise. Look, stop bothering Treasury... they don't want to know, so leave them alone. ... (Continue reading)
Another Hawaii homeowner writes to thank me for helping her with a loan modification at Bank of America. She's the one who did the heavy lifting, and I'm glad I was able to help push it over the finish... (Continue reading)
The SIGTARP is talking about the "Hardest Hit Funds," which were the roughly $8 billion provided by the federal government in the beginning of 2010 to the states hardest hit by foreclosures in order to help their respective housing markets...... (Continue reading)
Marc Dann Explains What Homeowners Need to Know About Foreclosure in Ohio... on this 12-Minute Documentary-style Video... When I visited with Marc this past year in his Cleveland offices, I interviewed him on camera in order to produce this 12-minute... (Continue reading)
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group showed that nearly 80 percent of credit reports contained inaccuracies, and the mistakes in a quarter of those could result in the individual being denied for credit. 60 Minutes reported that a government study... (Continue reading)
Writing about strategic defaults for the LA Times this time out was Lew Sichelman, whose ability to remain oblivious to his interweaving of unrelated facts throughout the article was truly something to behold. ... (Continue reading)
The harm caused by our government's abominable handling of the foreclosure crisis... inconceivably made worse the complete absence of any communication on the subject by the Obama Administration... has barely begun to manifest itself let alone be understood... well, seemingly... (Continue reading)
Portland Maine attorney Thomas Cox is a national hero of the foreclosure crisis. Frankly, I thought everyone already knew that, but apparently not. So, if you aren't already familiar with what Tom has done and continues to do... (Continue reading)
Stewart, Sawyer and Oathout… three Maine homeowners… three separate foreclosure cases… each dismissed with prejudice, meaning none of the servicers trying to foreclose gets another chance at foreclosure. And Maine’s foremost foreclosure defense attorney, Tom Cox, gets the credit... (Continue reading)
Here's a Guest Post by Tom Cox in response to a Deadly Clear post, "Is the Promissory Note Even Enforceable?" But the short answer is that the only thing that's deadly clear about the post is that if you try... (Continue reading)
Chase sold the woman's loan to PennyMac. Simple as that. Had her modification already been made permanent, PennyMac would have had to honor the modified payment amount, but because she was only in a trial modification, Chase is... (Continue reading)
So, what does the Florida Bar's Rules of Professional Conduct have to say about Szymoniak's representation of Mr. Figueroa, as viewed in light of the emails between the two, over that six month period when Szymoniak was Damian's lawyer... (Continue reading)
SallieMae is now offering financing for the high costs of... kindergarten? It's even marketing loans available for pre-K, which I'm pretty sure we used to call, "nursery school." I never thought to ask my mother how much it... (Continue reading)
If you want to learn about what happened to Mr. Glaski... how his case went in the lower court... and how it ended up going his way in the Court of Appeal... get the to get inside scoop from... (Continue reading)
So, as a result of this now published decision by California's Court of Appeal, Mr. Glaski will now be allowed to return to state court to allege that his foreclosure was wrongful based on a challenge to the validity of... (Continue reading)
Long-term interest rates rising means different things to different people, but none of it's good. Higher long-term rates makes it much more expensive for state and local governments to borrow money, and you can probably guess how that would... (Continue reading)
Not surprisingly, the combined effect of the three high-profile reports on borrower performance after having their loans modified, made headlines that have sparked a national debate... yet again. It was a stupid debate back in 2009, and it's an even... (Continue reading)
He did not take advantage of us, he worked with us without charging us any money! He gave us hope and made our dream come true. Home loan modifications do work you just have to have the right... (Continue reading)
Diane and John Bobek, homeowners in Hawaii that I was able to help with their Bank of America mortgage, writes to thank me. ... (Continue reading)
I'm watching a fight for millions in cash that involves banks, pissed off ex-bank employees, and class action lawyers... and I'm supposed to be able to pick out which one is telling the most truth? Isn't that like asking... (Continue reading)
It's far from being the only time I've seen Bank of America do something like this when no one is watching. I truly believe that they made the decision to buy back the Frost's loan from Fannie, because they... (Continue reading)
Ladies and Gentlemen... finally... ... after five years of sheer torture... introducing a "No-Doc" loan mod. The FHFA says modified interest rates will be FIXED... terms will extend to 40 years... and some borrowers won't be required to pay... (Continue reading)
What happened here is not an example of homeowners fighting to keep their homes... it's not an example of foreclosure defense at all. It's only an example of how what's happening on the homeowner's side of this fight, can... (Continue reading)
It's easy to misinterpret something about this crisis. But, it's important that we try to guard against that happening whenever possible for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which is that being wrong means wasting time that... (Continue reading)
Being behind on your mortgage is never any fun, but don't listen to those that would have you believe that the loan modification process hasn't changed at Bank of America over the last few years because they're wrong... it's much... (Continue reading)
So, please... accept this invitation from me and from Bank of America... click the link below and make a reservation to attend one of the upcoming homeowner events. Come and meet me and the loan resolution team specialists at... (Continue reading)
No matter, the more important conclusion reached by the report is that, "Nearly four years later, the problem shows no signs of abating." And isn't that just a lovely thought that made me throw up in my mouth a... (Continue reading)
Although I'm still not sure why, one moment we were packing our home into boxes and the next Bank of America had bought back our loan from Freddie Mac and given us the loan modification we had prayed to get... (Continue reading)
One homeowner that I contacted Bank of America about, a disabled vet, ended up with a fixed interest rate of one tenth of one percent for forty years. And on more than one occasion, I saw the bank buy... (Continue reading)
I wrote this to you and other homeowners because I've been a witness to what Martin's help can lead to and what a homeowner can accomplish even when that homeowner has stopped believing that anything can work. Just because... (Continue reading)
I recently saw someone online saying that as a result of multiple insurance payouts a bank could receive millions of dollars on a $200,000 loan that went into default. It's just not true. There are lot's of reasons why... (Continue reading)
My point is that the increasing sales volume of non-performing loans means the unthinkable... that it's going to get even worse for homeowners who are seriously delinquent and need to get their loans modified in order to keep their homes.... (Continue reading)
And that's not even the worst of it. Sheriff's auctions in Ohio were up 73 percent in April compared with a year ago reaching the HIGHEST LEVEL IN FIVE YEARS.... (Continue reading)
It absolutely fascinates me, for example, that the Nevada legislature, in amending the law, took the time to write in a sentence saying: "require an affidavit containing a local or toll-free telephone number at which borrowers can obtain the current... (Continue reading)
I was asked by Janet Reiner to appear on her community access television show about the foreclosure crisis and I agreed. Along with me was John Wright from Piggybank Blog and I think the whole thing is worth... (Continue reading)
So... for California homeowners facing foreclosure... who know the facts and have been unable to get a resolution to their situation... there's the California Homeowner Bill of Rights. Other states are considering adopting the same sort of legislation and... (Continue reading)
So, I know... you want to read about how a homeowner won some major victory in the courts somewhere... or how someone filed and got quiet title to their property... or how a bank couldn't figure out who owned a... (Continue reading)
Understand... I'm not telling you which path you should choose, but I am saying that you should choose one and then do everything in your power to achieve the goals that lie at the end of that path. Just... (Continue reading)
RealtyTrac Vice President, the ubiquitous Daren Blomquist, said he had "no immediate concern" related Connecticut's newfound foreclosure prowess, which makes perfect sense since he's not losing a home there. ... (Continue reading)
So, how do I know where the other undiscovered and unreported stockpiles of foreclosures are hiding as the banks wait until they feel like recognizing losses, having fixed the document problem to the degree that they can start booting people... (Continue reading)
Nevada's legislature is considering adopting its own Homeowner Bill of Rights, and in fact, the bill... SB 321... has already passed the Nevada State Senate and is headed to the House.... (Continue reading)
It's been 3.5 years since the money was made available. It's time for the programs funded by hardest hit funds to help homeowners... stopping foreclosures with aggressive benefits and inclusive qualifying requirements. Surely we know what doesn't work...... (Continue reading)
There is one mortgage banker that did it right for their shareholders and borrowers. They didn't take TARP funds or any sort of tax-payer funded bailout... instead they took their losses, restructured the company, and protected their shareholders... ... (Continue reading)
I wish we'd stop with the false bottoms and imaged recovery stories so we could actually concentrate on making some much needed improvements in how we're handling our economic malaise, because that's the only way we're going to see any... (Continue reading)
I know many have been wondering where I've been for the last two months from the slew of emails I've received, I thought I'd explain what I didn't want to explain at the time... and let everyone know that not... (Continue reading)
The problem is that when we start believing things that aren't true... even though do so might make us feel better for the moment... that's when we lose all of our power. No one is powerful when they've got... (Continue reading)
Okay, so that's GAME OVER for the State of Illinois. Ball four... take a hike... we'll see you back here in 2014 or 2015. Take some time off, you deserve it. ... (Continue reading)
We've lost more than five million homes to foreclosure since 2008, and according to all published data at the end of 2012, we've got millions more seriously delinquent or at risk... but somehow housing is defying all laws of economics... (Continue reading)
You can't blame everything on Ben Bernanke. He's only one man who got 1600 on his SATs. He can only do so much. It's not he's got ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD to play with... Oh,... (Continue reading)
David takes us through concise and easy to understand explanations of most of the major events since the meltdown began on July 10, 2007... the day the credit markets went into a deep freeze that continues to this day. ... (Continue reading)
Then how in the world can we be "at the bottom," of housing price declines or starting to see ANY sort of "housing recovery" as the MORONS in the media are also reporting TODAY, after receiving your press releases?... (Continue reading)
Now, as anyone will tell you... Max Gardner knows this subject like the back of his hand, and he should... he's been at it for some 30 years... before the rest of us had any idea this sort of economic... (Continue reading)
Margery has been representing Florida homeowners since the foreclosure crisis first began in 2007, so when it comes to SCAMS... she's literally seen everything.... (Continue reading)
When all you need is a Mac, some software and a reasonably competent 15 year-old in order to create a reasonable facsimile of a U.S. Treasury bond, it could be incredibly problematic and a real opportunity to cash in for... (Continue reading)
Foreclosure defense attorneys Matt Weidner and Tom Cox tell Mandelman what's working and what's not for homeowners in foreclosure courts. ... (Continue reading)
If you make a mistake and cause harm on a scale of the Great Depression, what happens to you? Don't you even get fired? Reprimanded? A stern talking to?... (Continue reading)
It doesn't look to me like canceling the OCC IFR saved the banks money, in fact it looks to me like it cost banks quite a bit more than they would have paid under the IFR's "Financial Framework" as shown... (Continue reading)
On this Mandelman Matters Podcast: Foreclosures Rising with Attorney Brian Chapman, I ask Brian to walk through two recent decisions by the North Carolina courts, one of which is now headed for the state's Supreme Court. ... (Continue reading)
Either we could sell the space to the highest bidder... I bet McDonald's would pay a pretty penny, no pun intended, to put "Ronald the Clown" on the new coin for example. Or, how about we engrave it to commemorate... (Continue reading)
Here's your first chance to listen to Phillip Swagel on a Mandelman Matters Podcast... he'll be back again... but you don't want to miss this one because we won't be going backward in time, so click PLAY below and listen... (Continue reading)
Gloria Petroni is concerned that Nevada homeowners may have been lulled into a false sense of security by AB 284 and now aren't familiar with what to do when faced with having to fight for their homes in court. ... (Continue reading)
I'm just so relieved that none of this dismal economic news was caused by the respective economies being in deep recession led by unreported worsening unemployment and pretend housing market recoveries. Because if those things were the cause, why... (Continue reading)
If you're a homeowner who would be interviewed about your specific experience saving your home from foreclosure, or if you have clients you've helped avoid foreclosure and they are okay with me calling to record an interview with them, let... (Continue reading)
Over time, I hoped, as people came to understand what had actually happened, they would let themselves off the proverbial hook, and once not bound by shame, they would speak out and when in great enough number, our leaders would... (Continue reading)
Beginning in the fall of 2011, and increasing in speed and ferocity after January 1, 2012, the State Bar begins using its newly concocted interpretation of SB 94 as a hammer to threaten and strong-arm lawyers who have received a... (Continue reading)
Known as the "statement of qualified holder," it doesn't require a lawyer to look at anything that shows the bank holds the original mortgage, but even more stunning is that it also provides lawyers with complete absolution from any wrongdoing... (Continue reading)
In all but a very small number of cases, homeowners have continued to find the courts either unwilling or incapable of dispensing what they would consider fair and just solutions, and while the federal government has remained essentially mute on... (Continue reading)
Please take this chance to make your voice heard, and tell everyone you know whose home is underwater they should do the same. We screamed our heads off about AIG bonuses, both in the streets and in the tens... (Continue reading)
The mortgage market is not just dominated by the government, the mortgage market is the government, and that's not just here in the US, it's everywhere. Governments are the lenders of ONLY resort. ... (Continue reading)
What's even harder to understand is that the State Bar's most recent interpretation of SB 94 completely disagrees with how California Attorney General Harris and Governor Brown interpreted the law in documents filed with the court last year when... (Continue reading)
I'm not the least bit worried that the Republicans and the Democrats won't come together right before the holidays to forge some ill-conceived, witless, and entirely cowardly compromise that only kicks the proverbial can down the road even further... it... (Continue reading)
The recent decision by the state bar court now effectively prohibits the charging of fees by lawyers even AFTER services have been completed. Yes, you read that correctly... lawyers can't take advance fees, nor can they be paid after... (Continue reading)
The fact that there are properties at the very bottom that appear to have increased in price by a few points is no indication that housing is recovering. ... (Continue reading)
Is that what I'm to believe? She hid it from LPS. For SIX years. A million documents. And the whole time, LPS must have just thought she was great at getting the signatures she... (Continue reading)
According to Moody's Analytics, FHA's actions prevented home prices from dropping an additional 25%, which in turn saved 3 million jobs and half a trillion dollars in economic output. But now FHA is broke. Now what?... (Continue reading)