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Thursday, September 30, 2010

Good Article

I loved her line, "it could happen to your neighbor, your sister your friend, it could even happen to YOU.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-cuevas/foreclosure-it-can-happen_b_744721.html

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

They did this... it never had to be this way.

At the end of the line, and out of options.  Options I had last year, options that I watched slip away as I worked to get a Making Home Affordable modification.  Options that they took from me as they squeezed my last pennies out of me to Dual Track their success and my failure.

Now it is the final curtain, its dark today.  Very dark. 

BUYER BEWARE...... what else is new?

THE FAIR HOME LOAN BUREAU IS NEITHER FREE NOR ADVERTISING HONESTLY.

If you are a desperate and scared homeowner you could fall for this among other amazing scams out there, Making Home Affordable, being the biggest one of them.  But back to the Fair Home Loan Bureau, advertised on the Huffington Post.

The free part is the phone call and referral to an attorney.  OMG I just get more sick every day. 

The not so free part is the monthly payment that runs for the life of your loan if they save it, and I didn't even get so far as to ask what the payment is if they loose.  Probably the same thing but on your dead loan this time.


Here is part of their AD ON THE HUFFINGTON POST.

"A FREE service to American homeowners.

The Fair Home Loan Bureau was established to make home loan modifications easier and more accessible. Homeowners interested in home loan modifications should contact the Fair Home Loan Bureau first to begin the home loan modification process."

President Obama's Plan for Mortgage Modification
The Fair Home Loan Bureau was established after the enactment of the stimulus package to help Americans begin the loan modification process free of charge

http://www.fairhomeloan.org/landing-page/form2?gclid=CKn35J_YrKQCFR5N5Qod22sydw

Charlatans!  Pure unadulterated greed and nasty marketing.

BTW do you have to be an American to get scammed, or can you get scammed if you are a citizen of another country?

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

The HAMP Hope Hotline. Don't fall for it.

So last Monday I called the HAMP Hope HotlineThe HAMP Hope Hotline is another scam the Government  has created to pretend they are monitoring the banks.  Not that some of the very hardworking representatives don't want to help, but obviously it was set up with the same intention as the HAMP program, to keep the desperate confused homeowners busy....and well...... confused.  Bank of America even named a department in their organization the Hamp Hope department.  So when you say you called the HAMP Hope Hotline, they say which one, the one in our company or the other one?  Are they freakin kidding?  Is this situation for real?

So anyway, the "real"  HAMP Hope Hotline, calls Bank of American with me on a 3-way call.  This is when BOA tried to say they denied me for insufficient paperwork, which I produced in less than 60 seconds.  Of course then they found it.  So I was told my denial was in appeal, and I would hear back from them within 5-7 days.  Really?  Hmmmm, its 8 days later, should I hold my breath?   I am not calling them for some more run around, department transfers and nonsense conversations.

I am one of the people who has gotten off this not so merry-go-round.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Bank of America Forecloses on Florida man who has NO MORTGAGE,

Jason Grodensky had  never even taken out a mortgage.  Jason and his Dad bought their house cash in December and in July got a foreclosure notice and discovered that the title was transfered to BAC Home Loans Servicing.   Is this getting weird or what?

Bank of America acknowledged the mistake and generously offered to correct it at their expense.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

How are the banks Performing?

Well take a look at this article to see what the big banks are up to.

I personally give Bank of Amercia an F for performance. (Please leave a comment under this post and rate your bank, give the name of the bank and the grade.)

This article shows how many borrowers have been put into modifications per bank, how many are still in modifications after the 3 months, how many modifications have become permanent,and how many have been canceled which is by far the largest group, for Bank of America it is a  whopping 50%.

Now out of the modifications that have been made permanent, these charts don't tell you what kind of a deal the borrower got.  HAMP suggests that the new loan is no more than 31% of the borrowers income, but he banks have simply gotten around this by saying that the borrower does not qualify for a HAMP modification. So of the 25% that BOA modified, some of these loans may still be 50% or greater of the homeowner's gross income.  My fabulous offer which was denied anyway, was  over 50% of my gross income.  So some people may in essense only be saving a few hundred dollars a month,  but the banks can use them as a statistic, and  later when they default, say these people just can't be helped..... they are still defaulting.

YES BOA we are one step ahead of you .

http://bailout.propublica.org/loan_mods/list

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

So now BOA is calling me, I guess I complained to enough outside sources.

But what are they calling to say?  Nothing of any value to me.  They read their scripts, they say they don't know what's going on with my loan.

The bottom line is I am not "satisfied" with their acknowledgments of my complaints.  I want them to MODIFY MY LOAN.  

So Bank of America.  Next time you call and ask me what the problem is, shall I get a mega phone and shout in your ear, MODIFY MY LOAN.... ITS BEEN OVER A YEAR!?

That's what I want.  Period.

Oh and don't try to tack any principal onto my balance, I WENT IN CURRENT.

HAMP GUIDELINES ARE WRITTEN TO HARM BORROWERS

American Citizens had the right "assume" that the government had OUR best interest in mind.  A homeowner in a fragile financial situation suffering from the stress of the economic downturn, shouldn't have had to read the guidelines that were written for the servicer with a fine tooth comb, looking for land mines, but instead should have been able to rely on the guidelines written for the homeowner.

To say that we the people were BETRAYED, is the understatement of the century.  We were sacrificed is more like it. 

WE WERE SACRIFICED.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

What a beautiful day for a daydream.

A dream that the big banks will compensate the little people for everything they took from us these last few years.  I see this happening soon, and I see their demise, and the emergence of little honest banks in each town, with Jimmy Stewart managers who care about their customers because it makes for good businness.  Don't laugh.  I have a right to my pleasant daydreams.

Monday, September 20, 2010

ANOTHER VICTORY Marques v. Wells Fargo

Mr. Marques went pro se, and beat the big boys.

Judge sent him home with a leave to amend, but a clear victory.

Judge basically said if you are an intended 3rd party for a federal contract YOU CAN SUE FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT... WOO HOOO.....

Wells Fargo lawyers tried to get the case transferred to a DC court ( home owner is in CA) judge did not go for it!

Come on for how long to you think you can rob us in BROAD DAYLIGHT... its getting too obvious now.

“On or about April 13, 2009 Defendant entered into the Commitment to Purchase Financial Instrument and Servicer Participation Agreement for the Home Affordable Modification Program under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 with Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”) and agreed to perform certain loan modification and foreclosure prevention services for eligible loans.”

“Plaintiff filed a complaint in San Diego County Superior Court alleging breach of the Agreement on the theory that he is a third-party beneficiary under California Civil Code Section 1559, that his loan was eligible for modification, Defendant refused to offer to modify it under the Agreement, but instead commenced foreclosure proceedings.”

Today was my last day of struggle with BOA for HAMP

An nice gentleman from the HAMP program talked to me at length about BOAs denial of my modification.

We called BOA, who said there was a document missing and that is why they denied me.  I found the email in which I mailed the document in 1 minute.  Gave him the time and date of the email.  He suddenly found it, re-opened my case and put it into appeal.

BUT after talking with HAMP, I realized what I must have known all along.  It is too much of a loss for BOA to give me a modification.  The reason they put me in the trial was to get me to pay as long as possible.  PERIOD.

They are supposed to give me an answer with in 5-7 days.

I am fighting my battle with you from another angle oh dear old BOA.

The Making Home Affordable plan isn't failing, the banks are failing the Making Home Affordable Program. BOA gets an F.

What Obama said was we are going to ALLOW lenders to work with borrowers?  HELLO, how about we are going to INSIST that banks work with borrowers.  Everyone keeps saying that the program doesn't work.  The PROGRAM, JUST LIKE AA, WORKS IF YOU WORK IT.   The banks have gotten away with tremendous crimes.  They need to be held ACCOUNTABLE,  the executives and CEOs need to go to prison.  Appoint new executives and if they don't follow through, send them to prison.  A poor man who robs a 7/11 of $100, will go to prison,  but a CEO who robs hundreds of thousands of unemployed and otherwise destitute people  of the money they need to find suitable housing, wastes months sometimes years of the poor man's time, and emotionally pushes some to suicide (there are many documented cases,) gets a bonus. 

The Executives of Bank of America and the other big banks need to face criminal charges, what they have perpetrated was calculated fraud.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

THIS IS GREAT....BUT IT WAS LAST MARCH.. NO ONE LISTENED...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knhoo9qTXrE&feature=channel

This addresses my situation exactly!

Anyone going through a modification should listen to this just for the validation.

ITS TOTALLY OBVIOUS but NO ONE SEEMS TO SEE IT.

 In an article from the

The Wall Street Journal
By Darrell Issa and Jim Jordan

Titiled WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

http://www.gop.gov/wtas/10/08/25/wsj-cleaning-up-the-mortgage#share

The writers say:

"OBAMAS PROGRAM TO HELP HOMEOWERS HAS  UNFORTUNATELY MADE THINGS WORSE."

Why isn't anyone saying why things got worse?  Its not because of the program!  Its because the BANKS REFUSED TO COMPLY WITH THE PROGRAM. 

Then later in the article he says that loans that were modified are in default again.  Again, WHY?  Because instead of modifying the loans to 31% of the borrowers income as the guidelines suggest, the banks modified the FEW PERMANENT LOANS THEY DID to 63.5% of the borrowers income.

Isn't the answer clearly obvious?  If you are spending 63% of your income on your mortgage you can't afford to eat!

FORCE THE BANKS TO MODIFY THE LOANS TO 31% OF THE BORROWERS INCOME.  The borrowers would stop defaulting, the foreclosure crisis would come to a screeching halt, and the banks would have to spend the Tarp money on these modifications , not the CEO, and top executive bonuses. 

CRISIS OVER.

Sometimes the obvious is staring people right in the face.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

CLASS ACTION SUIT JULY 2010 TEXAS

PLAINTIFFS’ ORIGINAL COMPLAINT
I. PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
1. Plaintiffs are and represent people who purchased their first homes between 1994
and 2006, usually with loan assistance from the Federal Housing Administration and the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs. Their loans were all serviced by Defendant BAC, which is a
wholly owned subsidiary of Defendant Bank of America, N.A.

This lawsuit complains not of
poor customer service by BAC, but of a systematic home loan servicing scheme that includes
hours of telephone runaround, misleading and inconsistent information, lost correspondence,
verbal abuse, and extensive delay, all of which have documented costs not only in terms of
money, but in health. The facts in this case reveal the harsh reality that underlies the loan
Case 6:10-cv-00051 Document 1 Filed in TXSD on 06/29/10 Page 1 of 51
2
servicer’s press statements about loan modifications and forbearance agreements following
collapse of the U.S. housing market.
 

Friday, September 17, 2010

AFTER a 13 MONTH appilication process my MODIFICATION HAS BEEN DENIED.

So I went to Bank of America one year ago current on my loan.  I asked for a modification, because the government advised me to do so.  I was trying to sell my place last year, but I was told I could modify the loan into a more affordable payment, enabling me to stay in my home.  I took my home off the market ( in retrospect a really bad decision.)

I spent 13 months documenting my life to Bank of America.   I was given the run-around.  I was lied to ( lost paperwork.)  I was cheated ( false late fees and derogatories on my credit.)  I was told in February that I qualified for a Making Home Affordable modification.  I was told if I sent in 3 payments on time my loan would be modified.  I was told to pay a specific trial payment.  I did.  I even paid more on 2 occasions. 

Bank of America used this program to damage my credit and my finances.  Now Bank of America is demanding many thousands of dollars in late fees and penalties OR they say they will take my home.  They are asking me to just turn over the keys and walk away.  ( Deed in Lieu.)  In return they will damage my credit.  I am sorry I must be missing something.  How do I benefit from this?  I put over 60,000. into my house.   I should accept damaged credit as  compensation?

Can someone please explain to me how this is a good deal for me?

Well needless to say, I am choosing to NOT take their fabulous offer. 

Oh then there is the short sale offer. 

I should fill out a crap load more documentation repeatedly for many more months, I should heat the house care for it, mow the lawn, show it to hundreds of vultures who are in the market specifically for a short sale or foreclosure.  In return I will get???? OH yeah, My credit destroyed.  HMMMM second offer refused.


So what are my other options?

1. Pay thousands of dollars to Bank of America for allowing me the privilege of spending a year documenting my life to them.  If I do this I can have a worse deal than before, as they have changed my loan for the worse.  

OR......

MAKING HOME AFFORDABLE MODIFICATION IS THE FAST TRACK TO FORECLOSURE

What? Doesn't a modification or short sale application stop a foreclosure.  Well no, it doesn't.  It may stall the gavel, or it may not even do that. 

As soon as you agree to do a modification, the foreclosure process  begins.  Unless your modification is to make your loan payment higher.  But lets just say for argument sake that you are trying to get your payment reduced.  Well what happens to the differnce between your reduced payment and your original payment?  Very simply the Mortgage companies use this "deficit" to start the FORECLOSURE clock ticking.  This is also when they start to damage your credit, the day you agree to a trial modification, and in my case the day I called about it, they randomly reported me as late when I wasn't (I did get them to correct that but excuse my french, WTF?)

So every month that they stall giving you an answer, they get to keep moving that foreclosure clock closer and closer to the Sheriff's desk. 

If they actually gave you a permanent modification after the 7-18 months in which they tortured you with their game of lost and found documents, at least you could look at the terms and make a rational decision.  They don't do that however.  They tell you some ridiculous thing about needing to "test you" for 3 months. 

HELLO?  WHAT GENIUS CAME UP WITH THIS?

So now after 7,8,9,10 more months in a "3" month trial, your credit is trashed, you "owe" the banks thousands, you can't go back, you can't go forward, because they still keep saying your loan is under review.

Wait it gets better.  They ask for updated bank Statements.  When they see that your bank account is empty they decide it is time to decline your "trial" and demand repayment of the thousands of dollars, plus late fees and penalties.  And you better have a secret stash to pay that off in 30 days, or guess what?

Time to foreclose, because as I said, they have been working on your foreclosure while you foolishly send all your silly trial payments in on time, thinking that this was a real program.

After all the government started it?  Shouldn't we trust the government?

You tell me?

Government Reform and Oversight Committee MARCH 30,2010

Report more trial mods that permanent.
As of April 2010
1.1 million trial mods
fewer than 200,00 permanent

Pipeline for trial mods has to be replenished.

Treasury needs to establish the 2nd lien holder program.

GAO have been making recommendations..
Treasury taken steps but not implimented

1. Establish performance benchmarks.
2. Resolve compliance issues or penanties for services who are not complying.
3. Inconsistancies with how borrowers are being treated.
4.Problems with how complaints are being delt with
5.What kind of appeal process can we impliment that would provide due process for borrowers.


TARP program has helped numerous institutions but not the borrowes.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsMjitaXSps&feature=related

Government Housing Rescue Total Failure?

This is one of the most infuriating videos you will watch.  BOA staff have absolutely no MORALS, VALUES ETHICS OR SENSE OF RESPOSIBILITY. 

They lie steal and cheat from the borrower who is padding their pockets.   The CEOs and presidents should all be sent to prison.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0UZa0NYWNI&feature=related

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Wells Fargo Class Action Suit

http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/04/16/BankBailout.pdf

MY STORY HOW BANK OF AMERICA SCAMMED ME.

I am a borrower who was never delinquent. The US government solicited me into the Making Home Affordable Program, now HAMP. I first applied in August 2009. After months of supplying paperwork I was told I was in a "trial" modification. I was instructed to pay the modified payment "instead of my usual payment." That was February of 2010. I have made 7 "modified" payments. Every month Bank of America reports me as delinquent. Every month Bank of America charges me late fees, penalties and interest.

 

I never missed one payment . BOA has ruined my credit. I was told by a customer service representative that I am almost 3 months behind on payments. (I never missed a payment,) I was also told that it would cost me $7,000 to get OUT of the modification. That was last month, and more fees have accumulated since then. I also was told by a customer service representative that once my account reaches 3 months delinquent, they will send out an Act 91 notice which states that they are beginning foreclosure. This should be happening shortly.  HOW IS THIS LEGAL?

 

Bank of America is using a Government program to target at risk borrowers, lure them into what appears to be a financial solution. This manipulates the borrower into coming up with funds to stay current because of the lure of the promised lower interest rate, and a more affordable mortgage. The banks knew that there were large numbers of borrowers on the verge of falling behind. They just didn’t know exactly who these people were.

 

The Making Home Affordable program allowed them to identify these at risk borrowers!  Huge percentages of borrowers are now being declined and foreclosed on after making timely payments for lengthy periods of time, sometimes as long as 18 months, (the trial payment was supposed to be 3 months.) The banks give shoddy explanations or none at all for declining borrowers who have made these payments in the hopes of achieving this allusive goal. The excuse that the borrower has not complied with paperwork demands is an obvious scam, as most of us have documented proof that we have if only someone will ask for it.

 

 

I was approved for a trial modification on February 27, 2010.  I was and am current on my loan .  All my taxes (which I paid separately , were up to date.)

 

Now 7 plus months later, Bank of America is claiming that I am 3 months delinquent on my mortgage.  I have made each and every payment on time. 

A modified payment that they instructed me to pay (IN WRITING.)
 
I am absolutely trapped now.  I will have to come up with thousands of dollars to get out of the modification, to be back in a mortgage I cannot afford.
 
But if I keep paying this modified payment.  They can foreclose on my home, while I am still paying.

The banks are using the HAMP program to identify at risk borrowers and foreclose on them while continuing to collect payments.

The banks refer to this as DUAL TRACK.

More complaints to FREDDIE MAC , FANNIE MAE

and to any one who answers the phone basically.  My horse cares more about this injustice than any regulatory agency in this country.

Is this just bureaucracy at its best or is it a well planned conspiracy?


Why isn't Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac investigating all these foreclosures? Why are they just shelling out the dough?  Come on Frannie, get out the gloves can we please QUESTION these foreclosures?  Did they ALL really HAVE to happen?

How on Earth have the banks gotten away with this, FOR THIS LONG?  Well people they are coming down,  we the people, have had ENOUGH!

WE ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Marriage vows must have been written by a dog.

Its true, go over them in your mind right now.  In sickness and in health, for better or for worse,  in good times and in bad for as long as we both shall live.

I don't know about you but the only one who ever said those words to me and meant them was my dog.

And not only does she mean them, she means them with a fierce loyalty. A loyalty so intense, she makes me wish I could be a tenth as good as she is.   She doesn't care if the value of our home tanked.  She doesn't care if we live in a shack.  She just wants to be next to me and have the opportunity to love me.  A walk once in a while would be great, but if she doesn't get one she doesn't complain either. 

I love my dog.

The Mush.

SOMEONE LISTEN!

I am not alone.  I represent the working American.  The single mom who spent a lifetime to achieve a small goal.  A goal of raising my kid in a nice house.  The citizen who will not be able to hang on to her middle class status much longer.  

I am the end of an era.  An era of hope for Americans. 
 
 
 

EMAIL FROM THE HAMP ESCALATION CENTER

Thank you for your inquiry, however, the HAMP Support Center does not provide assistance directly to homeowners. NO KIDDING.

For further assistance please contact the Homeowner’s HOPE Hotline at 1-888-995-HOPE (4673). The Homeowner’s HOPE Hotline provides free HUD-approved counseling and is available 24/7 in English and Spanish. Other languages are available by appointment. You can also find a HUD-approved housing counselor at www.hud.gov. These services are free.

THIS AND A BAG OF CHIPS MAY OR MAY NOT GET YOU ON THE SUBWAY, BUT IT SURE AS HELL WON'T HELP YOU GET YOUR LOAN MODIFIED.

  • Beware of Foreclosure Rescue Scams.  HELLO HOPE Hotline HAMP IS THE SCAM.
  • Assistance from a HUD-approved housing counselor is FREE. Beware of anyone who asks you to pay a fee in exchange for counseling or a loan modification.AND MOST OF ALL BEWARE OF THE BANKS WHO CAN RACK UP JUNK FEES THAT WOULD SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF YOUR RICH UNCLE JOE!
  • Beware of people who pressure you to sign papers immediately. OH WOULD THAT BE LIKE BANK OF AMERCIA WHO SAYS IF YOU DON'T GET THIS PAPERWORK BACK IN 24 HOURS YOUR MOD WILL BE DENIED.  THEY FAIL TO MENTION THAT EVEN IF YOU DO GET YOUR PAPERWORK BACK WITHIN 24 HOURS YOUR LOAN WILL BE DENIED.
  • Do not sign your deed over to anyone unless you are working directly with your mortgage lender to forgive your debt. THAT'S RIGHT DON'T GIVE YOUR DEED TO ANYONE, BECAUSE THE BANK WANTS IT.
  • Never make a mortgage payment to anyone other than your mortgage lender without their approval.
  • THAT'S RIGHT KEEP PAYING YOUR LENDER, BECAUSE THEY WANT AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE SO THAT WHEN THEY PADLOCK YOUR DOOR YOU WON'T HAVE A DIME TO GET AN APARTMENT.  NO REASON IT JUST MAKES THEM HAPPY.
Thank you,

The HAMP Support Center SUPPORT MY ASS.
This e-mail and its attachments are proprietary and confidential, pre-decisional, not for publication, and contain Nonpublic Information under a Financial Agency Agreement with the U.S. Department of Treasury. If received in error, contact the sender and delete this e-mail and its attachments. Confidential treatment required.

FROM FREDDIE MAC'S WEBSITE, ONLY READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO PUKE!

FREDDIE MAC IS BRAGGING AGAIN!

Initiated more than 143,000 trial modifications under the HAMP program – approximately 14,000 of those were converted into permanent modifications (as of 12/31/09).



During the second half of 2009, Freddie Mac accelerated its efforts to convert more HAMP trial period loans into permanent modifications by implementing document collection and signature services, and door-knocking programs and by reaching out to distressed borrowers through local nonprofit organizations. We will continue to take extraordinary measures to keep families in their homes whenever possible through the MHA program and our own long-standing programs. In addition, we enhanced the Freddie Mac Relief Refinance MortgageSM last year - increasing in the maximum allowable loan-to-value ratio up to 125 percent and the ability to refinance through any servicer - to enable more borrowers to take advantage of the program.

( YOU MEAN BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF BY THE PROGRAM DON'T YOU FRED?)

.

Really?  I hate to sound negative but Freddie is BRAGGING ABOUT A 1% CONVERSION RATE?

THEY CONVERTED 14,000 out of 143,000 to permanent modifications. 



WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO THE 99% OF BORROWERS WHOSE DOORS YOU KNOCKED ON TO GET THEM ROPED INTO THIS PROGRAM??????????

Since its not on your website, ALLOW ME TO ELABORATE. 

THEY WERE THROWN OUT ONTO THE STREET.  THEY WERE AMONG THE GIGANTIC WAVE OF FORECLOSURES THAT IS DESTROYING THE REAL ESTATE MARKET you have the nerve to say you are saving!

Every hear the expression put up or shut up Freddie?  Well I am telling you now, PUT UP OR SHUT UP!

THE SUN IS SHINNING TODAY AND THERE IS A COOL BREEZE

Wow someone in Singapore has viewed my blog.  THANKS!  And Switzerland!  Cool!

Thank you everyone who has stopped my.  Its a great feeling to know I am being heard somewhere in the Universe if not in my own world.  The support I have received these last few weeks from people from  my the home mod websites is amazingly uplifting.

  This journey can be such a lonely one. 

Of course I blame the Banks, but we keep saying "the Banks!"  Its silly really isn't it?  Do "Banks"  make decisions about loan modifications? 

Then there are the people who think that Freddie and Fannie are going to "help us."  Freddie and Fannie are part of it.  

And the HAMP guidelines?   They came up with the 3 month trial, which gave the banks Free Rein, to manipulate this show .


Every time they come up with a "new guideline"  it has nothing TO DO WITH MAKING THE BANKS COMPLY.  Why is that?  What are the guidelines for?


This morning I woke up thinking about the people on this journey, the ones who had kind things to say to me, the ones who reached out to me in my darkest hours last night.  I opened my eyes to a feeling of warmth not fear.

Thank you all.

And all of you who are stopping by, please post something, I want to hear from you.

3 AM AND STILL EMAILING HAVE I GONE MAD? HOME MOD MAD?

I am still emailing politicians who are deleting my emails faster than I delete the Viagra spam that clogs my mail box. 

I am getting paranoid too.  I suspect anyone I meet online of being a bank plant.  I am sure they have plants out there trying to convince us to walk away.  They get insurance money from Freddie or Fannie, or FTC or for all I know God himself is giving the banks incentives for foreclosing on our homes. 

So my mother told me today that Ken Lewis had an 84,000 rug in his office.  WHAT?  That's more than some people's homes.  How is that not wrong?  Who paid for that rug.  What the heck did it look like?   Did it have gold thread? Possibly a real lions head weaved in.   Oh dear off on a tangent...what happened to BOA not owning my mind, I think they got a piece of me back tonight. 

My online group supporters came to the rescue tonight... holding me up when I thought my mind had snapped for sure.

Monday, September 13, 2010

HAVING A BAD NIGHT

I am having one of my worst HAMP nights to date.  I feel out of control with anger and frustration.  I feel like screaming and crying and throwing myself on the floor like a child. 
 BOA returned my homeowners insurance check today.  For some reason this freaked me out.  It felt like an invasion, and evil omen.  They are taking my house. 

WHAT?  WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON?  How did I get into this?  How can I get out of this?  I have heard of people not paying their mortgages and living for a year or 2 in the home.  I AM PAYING MY MORTGAGE. 

This lame modified payment is only 175 less than my mortgage .  So this is new age foreclosing?  The borrower pays until the day the Sheriff comes?

I am really in a state tonight, and I fear for my sanity.  

OFF THE MERRY GO ROUND?

OK so HAMP scammed us.  The Banks made buckets of money off the borrowers.  AND THE BANKS CAN SEEM TO DO WHAT EVER THEY WANT TO YOU AS soon as you even say the word HOME MOD.

Just call a bank and say home mod, and you will see your credit sink faster than the titanic.

Are you still among the unsuspecting believers who think that banks have to follow rules and laws like everyone else?   Well think again, and do it fast.  They don't.

DON'T GO ANYWHERE NEAR A BANK THESE DAYS.  In fact I think I need to get one of those fireproof boxes and start keeping all my money it that!

NEW AND IMPROVED HAMP SCAM

Freddie Mac: “Rumors” (A New and Improved HAMP Scam?)


Filed under: Bailouts Only Propped Up Zombies, Land Recourse — Tags: fannie and freddie, strategic default — Russ @ 3:23 am





With the HAMP scam reaching the most becalmed horse latitudes of incredibility, dubious rumors have it that Obama’s ready to try again with a new mortgage mod scam, this one centering on the GSEs. This rumor may be just hype, but the issue’s likely to keep coming up, if only because the kleptocrats will feel the need for a fake carrot to accompany whatever sticks they try to use to beat the strategic defaulters. So I figure a short post on the subject is worthwhile.



Whenever you see the system say anything about mortgages, the basic facts to immediately summon to mind are:



1. The system is committed to propping up housing prices and if possible reflating the bubble. This is to prop up the balance sheets of the bankrupt banks, and in their wildest dreams get securitization going again, blowing the same bubble all over again.



2. The system’s worst nightmare is bottom-up debt jubilation. The growing wave of strategic defaults is beginning to comprise a mini-jubilee. So in anything, if we assume they’re trying to stave off strategic defaults we’ll never be wrong.



The only things which could possibly help distressed borrowers are principal writedowns and bankruptcy court cramdowns. But these would constitute the system’s capitulation to reality-based deflation. Therefore, unless they decide to completely overthrow their existing policy, any alleged relief they offer will have to be a scam. The way we can measure this scam is simple: Does the proposal acknowledge lower asset prices of not? If not, it’s a scam meant to string underwater borrowers along, trying to dissuade them from strategically defaulting and to extract more payments out of their doomed position before the inevitable foreclosure.



Thus the HAMP offered temporary mods to those current on the mortgage, dangling the fictitious carrot of a permanent mod while the real goal was simply to get someone who might walk away to instead throw a few more full payments down the rathole.



So what are we hearing about this alleged new policy?



Ongoing rumors of a streamlined GSE induced refi wave began last week with notes from Morgan Stanley and Bank of America. Folks at these firms proposed that borrowers could benefit, resulting in increased consumer spending, if only the GSE’s initiated a streamlined and broad program to allow those of their mortgagees who are current on their mortgages to instantly refinance from their higher rate mortgages to current market rates.



The argument is, since the GSEs own the credit risk anyway, they should change the refinancing requirements and lower or eliminate appraisal requirements and LTV requirements for refinancing. Doing so would, it is suggested, lower the burden on borrower cash flows, as they would benefit by lowering their rates by about 150bp. The pitch was ‘it would be a costless plan with real benefits’. Nice theory, too bad it doesn’t work and isn’t possible.





So the principal remains the same. The borrower’s payment is refinanced, while the taxpayer covers the rest via last December’s GSE Bailout extension. The banksters win, they keep being bailed out and keep having their fraudulent balance sheets propped up. The underwater debtor keeps drowning, but at a slower pace. Over the long run more could perhaps be extracted from him this way than under the HAMP scam. The limp bubble gets some hot air pumped into it. The taxpayer is robbed all the way down the line.

TREASURY MAKES SHOCKING ADMISSIONS

PROGRAM FOR STRUGGLING HOMEOWNERS JUST TO A PLOY TO ENRICH BANKS




By Zach Carter

August 25, 2010



The Treasury Dept.'s mortgage relief program isn't just failing, it's actively funneling money from homeowners to bankers, and Treasury likes it that way.





The Treasury Department's plan to help struggling homeowners has been failing miserably for months. The program is poorly designed, has been poorly implemented and only a tiny percentage of borrowers eligible for help have actually received any meaningful assistance. The initiative lowers monthly payments for borrowers, but fails to reduce their overall debt burden, often increasing that burden, funneling money to banks that borrowers could have saved by simply renting a different home. But according to recent startling admissions from top Treasury officials, the mortgage plan was actually not really about helping borrowers at all. Instead, it was simply one element of a broader effort to pump money into big banks and shield them from losses on bad loans. That's right: Treasury openly admitted that its only serious program purporting to help ordinary citizens was actually a cynical move to help Wall Street megabanks.



Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has long made it clear his financial repair plan was based on allowing large banks to "earn" their way back to health. By creating conditions where banks could make easy profits, Getithner and top officials at the Federal Reserve hoped to limit the amount of money taxpayers would have to directly inject into the banks. This was never the best strategy for fixing the financial sector, but it wasn't outright predation, either. But now the Treasury Department is making explicit that it was—and remains—willing to let those so-called "earnings" come directly at the expense of people hit hardest by the recession: struggling borrowers trying to stay in their homes.



This account comes secondhand from a cadre of bloggers who were invited to speak on "deep background" with a handful of Treasury officials—meaning that bloggers would get to speak frankly with top-level folks, but not quote them directly, or attribute views to specific people. But the accounts are all generally distressing, particularly this one from economics whiz Steve Waldman:



The program was successful in the sense that it kept the patient alive until it had begun to heal. And the patient of this metaphor was not a struggling homeowner, but the financial system, a.k.a. the banks. Policymakers openly judged HAMP to be a qualified success because it helped banks muddle through what might have been a fatal shock. I believe these policymakers conflate, in full sincerity, incumbent financial institutions with "the system," "the economy," and "ordinary Americans."



Mike Konczal confirms Waldman's observation, and Felix Salmon also says the program has done little more than delay foreclosures, as does Shahien Nasiripour.



Here's how Geithner's Home Affordability Modification Program (HAMP) works, or rather, doesn't work. Troubled borrowers can apply to their banks for relief on monthly mortgage payments. Banks who agree to participate in HAMP also agree to do a bunch of things to reduce the monthly payments for borrowers, from lowering interest rates to extending the term of the loan. This is good for the bank, because they get to keep accepting payments from borrowers without taking a big loss on the loan.



But the deal is not so good for homeowners. Banks don't actually have to reduce how much borrowers actually owe them—only how much they have to pay out every month. For borrowers who owe tens of thousands of dollars more than their home is worth, the deal just means that they'll be pissing away their money to the bank more slowly than they were before. If a homeowner spends $3,000 a month on her mortgage, HAMP might help her get that payment down to $2,500. But if she still owes $200,000 on a house that is worth $150,000, the plan hasn't actually helped her. Even if the borrower gets through HAMP's three-month trial period, the plan has done nothing but convince her to funnel another $7,500 to a bank that doesn't deserve it.



Most borrowers go into the program expecting real relief. After the trial period, most realize that it doesn't actually help them, and end up walking away from the mortgage anyway. These borrowers would have been much better off simply finding a new place to rent without going through the HAMP rigamarole. This example is a good case, one where the bank doesn't jack up the borrower's long-term debt burden in exchange for lowering monthly payments



But the benefit to banks goes much deeper. On any given mortgage, it's almost always in a bank's best interest to cut a deal with borrowers. Losses from foreclosure are very high, and if a bank agrees to reduce a borrower's debt burden, it will take an upfront hit, but one much lower than what it would ultimately take from foreclosure.



That logic changes dramatically when millions of loans are defaulting at once. Under those circumstances, bank balance sheets are so fragile they literally cannot afford to absorb lots of losses all at once. But if those foreclosures unravel slowly, over time, the bank can still stay afloat, even if it has to bear greater costs further down the line. As former Deutsche Bank executive Raj Date told me all the way back in July 2009:



If management is only seeking to maximize value for their existing shareholders, it's possible that maybe they're doing the right thing. If you're able to let things bleed out slowly over time but still generate some earnings, if it bleeds slow enough, it doesn't matter how long it takes, because you never have to issue more stock and dilute your shareholders. You could make an argument from the point of view of any bank management team that not taking a day-one hit is actually a smart idea.



Date, it should be emphasized, does not condone this strategy. He now heads the Cambridge Winter Center for Financial Institutions Policy, and is a staunch advocate of financial reform.



If, say, Wells Fargo had taken a $20 billion hit on its mortgage book in February 2009, it very well could have failed. But losing a few billion dollars here and there over the course of three or four years means that Wells Fargo can stay in business and keep paying out bonuses, even if it ultimately sees losses of $25 or $30 billion on its bad loans.



So HAMP is doing a great job if all you care about is the solvency of Wall Street banks. But if borrowers know from the get-go they're not going to get a decent deal, they have no incentive to keep paying their mortgage. Instead of tapping out their savings and hitting up relatives for help with monthly payments, borrowers could have saved their money, walked away from the mortgage and found more sensible rental housing. The administration's plan has effectively helped funnel more money to Wall Street at the expense of homeowners. And now the Treasury Department is going around and telling bloggers this is actually a positive feature of the program, since it meant that big banks didn't go out of business.



There were always other options for dealing with the banks and preventing foreclosures. Putting big, faltering banks into receivership—also known as "nationalization"—has been a powerful policy tool used by every administration from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan. When the government takes over a bank, it forces it to take those big losses upfront, wiping out shareholders in the process. Investors lose a lot of money (and they should, since they made a lousy investment), but the bank is cleaned up quickly and can start lending again. No silly games with borrowers, and no funky accounting gimmicks.



Most of the blame for the refusal to nationalize failing Wall Street titans lies with the Bush administration, although Obama had the opportunity to make a move early in his tenure, and Obama's Treasury Secretary, Geithner, was a major bailout decision-maker on the Bush team as president of the New York Fed.



But Bush cannot be blamed for the HAMP nightmare, and plenty of other options were available for coping with foreclosure when Obama took office. One of the best solutions was just endorsed by the Cleveland Federal Reserve, in the face of prolonged and fervent opposition from the bank lobby. Unlike every other form of consumer debt, mortgages are immune from renegotiation in bankruptcy. If you file for bankruptcy, a judge literally cannot reduce how much you owe on your mortgage. The only way out of the debt is foreclosure, giving banks tremendous power in negotiations with borrowers.



This exemption is arbitrary and unfair, but the bank lobby contends it keeps mortgage rates lower. It's just not true, as a new paper by Cleveland Fed economists Thomas J. Fitzpatrick IV and James B. Thomson makes clear. Family farms were exempted from bankruptcy until 1986, and bankers bloviated about the same imminent risk of unaffordable farm loans when Congress considered ending that status to prevent farm foreclosures.



When Congress did repeal the exemption, farm loans didn't get any more expensive, and bankruptcy filings didn't even increase very much. Instead, a flood of farmers entered into negotiations with banks to have their debt burden reduced. Banks took losses, but foreclosures were avoided. Society was better off, even if bank investors had to take a hit.

ut instead, Treasury is actively encouraging troubled homeowners to subsidize giant banks. What's worse, as Mike Konczal notes, they're hoping to expand the program significantly.



There is a flip-side to the current HAMP nightmare, one that borrowers faced with mortgage problems should attend to closely and discuss with financial planners. In many cases, banks don't actually want to foreclose quickly, because doing so entails taking losses right away, and most of them would rather drag those losses out over time. The accounting rules are so loose that banks can actually book phantom "income" on monthly payments that borrowers do not actually make. Some borrowers have been able to benefit from this situation by simply refusing to pay their mortgages. Since banks often want to delay repossessing the house in order to benefit from tricky accounting, borrowers can live rent-free in their homes for a year or more before the bank finally has to lower the hatchet. Of course, you won't hear Treasury encouraging people to stop paying their mortgages. If too many people just stop paying, then banks are out a lot of money fast, sparking big, quick losses for banks -- the exact situation HAMP is trying to avoid.



Borrowers who choose not to pay their mortgages don't even have to feel guilty about it. Refusing to pay is actually modestly good for the economy, since instead of wasting their money on bank payments, borrowers have more cash to spend at other businesses, creating demand and encouraging job growth. By contrast, top-level Treasury officials who have enriched bankers on the backs of troubled borrowers should be looking for other lines of work.



Zach Carter is AlterNet's economics editor. He is a fellow at Campaign for America's Future, writes a weekly blog on the economy for the Media Consortium and is a frequent contributor to The Nation magazine.

MONDAY MONDAY...

What do you first think of when you wake up in the morning?  If you are anything like me, in other words in a home modification trial, or trying to get one, the first thing you think of is the big boys, the bank.

Which agency should I address?  I have long since stopped calling Bank of America.  In fact when they call me now I have decided to tell them I have nothing to say if they are not offering me a permanent modification.  If the person calling knows nothing about my loan, but is calling in response to one of the complaints I made, I am not interested UNLESS HE HAS CALLED TO OFFER ME A PERMANENT MOD.

This is some kind of brain washing, some sort of secret torture. (Well not so secret) I could say oh its me I have an OCD personality, and maybe I do, but I see thousands of others doing the same silly things I am doing.  Fighting for this something that is actually a GAME, the banks are playing. 

I hate cliches.... but God to be a fly on the wall of THAT FATEFUL MEETING.  The ones that the SOBs sat around a table and said OK lets tell them we are going to do these modifications.  If we keep them in trials for long periods of time, we can "dual track" them into foreclosure and the whole time they will be paying.  Its guaranteed they won't even know what happened, it's genius!   It will QUADRUPLE OUR REVENUE!    Maybe there was a human being in the room who said, wait, but what about the home owner?  The ones with families?  Won't they be hurt.  That person was probably fired or shut up jack quick by the other robots who saw nothing but increased bonuses for themselves. 

How are these people so selfish?  Are all people that selfish?  In the same circumstances would we all do the same thing, and "justify" it to death?  Sadly I think most people would.  Human beings are horrible animals.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

THE TREASURY IS STILL LYING TO THE PUBLIC! ITS SICKENING.

EVERYTHING BELOW IS AN OUTRIGHT LIE.  YES FOLKS AN OUTRIGHT LIE.

CANCELLATIONS ARE NOT GROWING BECAUSE BORROWERS ARE NOT SUBMITTING THEIR DOCUMENTATION!    BORROWERS ARE NOT MISSING PAYMENTS IN TRIAL PLANS EITHER. 

THE TREASURY OFFICIALS THINK THEY CAN JUST CONTINUE THIS RIDICULOUS COVERUP.

_________________________________________________________________________

"Cancellations are growing because of insufficient documentation from borrowers, missed payments, or because borrowers are found to earn too much to qualify, according to Treasury.



Treasury officials still say the program is helping stem the tide of foreclosures.


"The latest report on HAMP shows the program continued to help responsible homeowners," says Herb Allison, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability. "We continue to see more HAMP trial modifications convert to (permanent) modifications."

______________________________________________________________________
I GUESS THIS CALLS FOR ANOTHER EMAIL TO THE WHITEHOUSE.

ACCIDENTAL FORECLOSURE

Bank of America repossessed home even though it was up to date on the mortgage.
It took 6 weeks to get the house cleaned up after they cut water lines and created other damage.

OOPS wrong address they say, just a little mix up.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j100eYdYyDo

Ken Lewis talks about Values

Is he kidding?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqhGGJF42VQ&feature=related

RETIRED DISABLED VETERAN FIGHTS FOR HOME

A retired Navy Veteran who is disabled spenT 2 years trying to get a home modification. 

NPV Net Present Value formula us used to deny borrowers modificatins.

The banks WANT TO FORECLOSE.   Will Doc's home be saved?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q4ukkSVm7Q

Saturday, September 11, 2010

HOW DO WE STOP THE MADNESS?

This seems to be the question of the hour.  Now that we have figured out that the Banks are purposfully foreclosing, what are we going to do about it?  What can we do about it?  As recently as last week, I was still thinking that I should try another avenue to get my home modified.  Out of curiosity, I wonder why they modify the ones they do?  Is it purely random?  Is there a method?

Many of us have walked away or are deciding if we should walk away.  Are these our only options?

The banks are perpeturating a fraud.  The class action law suits are arising.  History is being made, and we are part of it. 

Its pretty exciting.

FORECLOSURE AND SHORT SALES ARE MUCH MORE PROFITABLE THAN MODIFICATIONS

Here is a great Vlog that explains exactly how and why the banks are thrilled if they can get you to foreclose.  They are making a killing.

Please watch and pass it around to all your favorite sites!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmodOyhAV68&feature=related

DUAL TRACK: THE BIG FAT AMERICAN LIE OF MAKING HOME AFFORDABLE

 

OK so my brilliant little theory is actually not a theory, but an actual FINANCIAL PLAN.


So this is how it works. There are actually 2 parts to it.
1. There are people who have already fallen behind (the borrowers who have stopped paying.)


2. There are the people who are on the verge of falling behind (these are are still current.)


Now the banks know about the ones who have fallen behind, but their harassing phone calls and letters cannot seem to get these people to pay. So what will get these people to pay? The MAKING HOME AFFORDABLE BIG FAT AMERICAN LIE!

They don't know about the ones who are about to stop paying, but lucky for the banks, the MAKING HOME AFFORDABLE BIG FAT AMERICAN LIE will solicit the homeowners who are in danger of falling behind.

All they have to do to make this work is actually modify about 1-5% of these loans.The other 99% will end up going to foreclosure when we are done with them!  Woooooo Hoooooo. THAT'S IT. ITS THAT SIMPLE!  And Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac give us insurance money, they don't even question us.  It's so awesome!  Again Lucky for the big banks, when people are so distracted by silly things like how to come up with money for food and utilities, its hard for them to focus. So they can easily be tricked! They are so desperate to feed their families,(its funny to the bankers really,) they will actually fall for a ruse this obvious.


So once we get them to START PAYING OR KEEP PAYING. ( we don't know how they are coming up with the money now, if they couldn't before... oh maybe they are borrowing from family or friends by telling them that they are saving their homes! Maybe they are cutting down on food, the are probably too fat anyway... who cares where they get it, that's not our problem,) we start foreclosure, simultaneously. Its called the DUAL TRACK. Most of the time they don't even know what's going on because we keep sending out this silly little notices saying you are in a HAMP trial modification. We even have service representatives telling them to ignore those silly little foreclosure letters. Most of the time it works, they ignore them...


When they finally realize what has happened, we are very close to foreclosure. WOW look how much money we saved doing it this way! Its GENIUS!


Thanks MAKING HOME AFFORDABLE! WE DON'T OWE YOU!

So why is the real estate market crashing?  Its so simple.  Foreclosures that could have been modified loans are bringing down the value of everyone's house.  How could this be changed?  Really simply.   Just force the banks to modify the loans that qualify for the Making Home Affordable program.  

HOW?  Simple.  Hire outside underwriting agencies.  They verify income and tell the banks  this loan gets modified and this is by how much.  Banks have don't decide, the underwiting agencies do.  These agencies could be non profit, run by people who have been through the modification process and are unemployed.  Thats it.  Training could be really quick and simple.  I could do it, and so could anyone else.  Its really easy.

End of Real Estate Market Crash.

OH the banks wouldn't like this?  Really, OK, pay back the tarp money, but pay it back with all the profit you made from it this year, then we can give this profit to all the people applying for modifications and they can pay off or pay down their loans.

End of Real Estate Market Crash.