David J. Stern to shut foreclosure practice

by Paola Iuspa-Abbott
piuspa@alm.com

This article is reprinted with permission from the Daily Business Review.

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Fed Report Finds No Wrongful Foreclosures By Banks, Consumer Advocates Slam Methodology

Shahien Nasiripour
Shahien Nasiripour HuffPost Reporting shahien@huffingtonpost.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A months-long investigation into abusive mortgage practices by the Federal Reserve found no wrongful foreclosures, members of the Fed’s Consumer Advisory Council said Thursday.

During a public meeting attended by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and other regulators, consumer advocates on the panel criticized federal bank regulators for narrowly defining what constitutes a “wrongful foreclosure.” At least one member of the panel voiced concerns that the public would not take the Fed’s findings of improper practices seriously, since the wide-ranging review did not find a single homeowner who was wrongfully foreclosed upon.

Via Wall Street Journal:

David H. Stevens, the commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration who steered the agency through a critical stretch of the housing downturn, is expected to leave his post this spring, according to people familiar with the matter.

Officials wouldn’t confirm or deny the pending departure. Mr. Stevens declined to comment.

Mr. Stevens has played key roles shaping the Obama administration’s housing policies at the FHA, an agency that has occupied a vital role in healing housing markets by continuing to make low-down-payment mortgages available. He took the helm of the government loan insurer in July 2009 at a time that it faced rapidly rising losses from mortgage defaults and dwindling reserves, raising the prospect of a taxpayer rescue.

Continue reading WSJ

By ABIGAIL FIELD Posted 12:20 AM 03/09/11

Now that I’ve had a chance to read the mortgage mess settlement proposal I realize what it really is: a repudiation of the servicing industries’ standard business practices.

Thankfully, it includes a couple provisions I was concerned were absent. Servicers have to show their math when announcing if a modification is denied, so the consumer can challenge the calculation, and foreclosures will no longer start with incomplete or fraudulent documentation. Those steps buttress other good provisions: banning foreclosures while modifications are negotiated and tried, and making trial modifications permanent after three payments.

While I’m glad those provisions are in the document, the term sheet is nonetheless pathetic. Repudiating the servicing industry’s business model mostly means telling servicers they can’t break the law and must act with basic good faith, such as crediting payments as of the day they were received and charging only one late fee for a late payment. As a result, the agreement reads as an indictment — not just of the servicing industry, but also of law enforcement, regulators and Congress.

By Lorraine Woellert – Mar 10, 2011 12:01 AM ET

The House Financial Services Committee voted to abolish President Barack Obama’s signature anti-foreclosure program, saying it failed to deliver the promised help to homeowners.

The panel voted yesterday along party lines, 32-23, to repeal the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, which pays lenders to rewrite loan terms to lower borrowers’ payments.

Representative Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, called the plan an “epic failure.”

DAVID J. SANDORO, Appellant,

v.

HSBC BANK, USA NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR WELLS FARGO HOME EQUITY ASSET BACKED CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2005-4, Appellee.

Opinion filed March 9, 2011.

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Manatee
County; Edward Nicholas, Judge.

John P. Fleck, Jr., Bradenton, for Appellant.

Joshua D. Moore of Carlton Fields, P.A.,
Orlando, and Michael K. Winston and Dean
A. Morande of Carlton Fields, P.A., West
Palm Beach, for Appellee.

KHOUZAM, Judge.

Excerpt:

We review the summary judgment de novo. Estate of Githens ex rel. Seaman v. Bon Secours-Maria Manor Nursing Care Ctr., Inc., 928 So.2d 1272, 1274 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006). “A movant is entitled to summary judgment `if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions, affidavits, and other materials as would be admissible in evidence on file show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.’” Id. (quoting Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.510(c)). When a plaintiff moves for summary judgment before the defendant answers the complaint, the plaintiff “must not only establish that no genuine issue of material fact is present in the record as it stands, but also that the defendant could not raise any genuine issues of material fact if the defendant were permitted to answer the complaint.” BAC Funding Consortium Inc. ISAOA/ATIMA v. Jean-Jacques, 28 So.3d 936, 938 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010).

Here, the record reflected genuine issues of material fact regarding the purported assignment of mortgage and whether Mr. Sandoro had been provided with a notice of acceleration. Therefore, the trial court erred in granting HSBC Bank’s motion for summary judgment and we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

Reversed and remanded for further proceedings.

WHATLEY and KELLY, JJ., Concur.

Continue below…

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Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 9, 2011; 8:55 PM

Republican lawmakers on Wednesday accused the Obama administration of trying to make an end run around Congress as it negotiates a large settlement with banks involved in shoddy foreclosure practices.

In a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, Republicans criticized the scope of a 27-page draft term sheet that was recently submitted to five of the nation’s largest banks by state attorneys general and a handful of federal agencies, including the Justice Department and the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

“The settlement agreement not only legislates new standards and practices for the servicing industry, it also resuscitates programs and policies that have not worked or that Congress has explicitly rejected,” the letter said. It was signed by nearly half a dozen Republicans, including Rep. Scott Garrett (N.J.), the lead sponsor.

From transcript:

i brought these with me. anybody that works on wall street, anybody that works for one of the banks, take a look at this, okay? because this is what’s coming. this is what’s coming for you, because the people aren’t going to take it any more. the people are going to demand justice. they are going to demand that your ass is in jail. you have taken the money, we want the money back. you have taken our jobs overseas, we want those jobs back. those are a national resource. those are not yours to do with as you please. they affect all of us as society. we have a right to those jobs, we have a right to that money that used to belong to the people of this country. a million people evicted from homes, foreclosured this year. another million expected this year. i just wonder again, if i can, address the wall streeters and bank. how long is this going to go on?

“The settlement agreement not only legislates new standards and practices for the servicing industry, it also resuscitates programs and policies that have not worked or that Congress has explicitly rejected”

Speaking of reviving the FAILED HAMP PROGRAM…

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WASHINGTON D.C. – Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa and Committee on the Judiciary Ranking Member Senator Chuck Grassley sent a letter today requesting additional information from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Chairman Issa and Senator Grassley seek to clarify how the SEC neglected to act on the seemingly obvious, significant conflicts of interest presented by then-General Counsel David Becker’s involvement in the Madoff case.

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