Once more, why would anyone go to work for a company that is being investigated for fraud and at the core of robo-signing?
LinkedIn-
Janis Smith joined MERSCORP in 2011, where she is responsible for corporate communications strategy and initiatives, media relations, media risk management and internal communications.
Smith has provided strategic communications, media relations, and writing services to Fannie Mae and other organizations as a contractor/consultant since 2009, and from 2000 to early 2009, she managed a team of professionals who reported publicly on Fannie Mae’s financial performance, business and economic data and fixed-income securities. She was also a media spokesperson for the company.
Smith’s previous employers include the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency – Administrator of National Banks (OCC) from 1993 to 2000; and, the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) from 1989 to 1993. The OCC and OTS are financial institution regulatory agencies and bureaus of the U.S. Department of Treasury. Smith was also employed by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) from 1986 through October 1989, and at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston from 1982 to 1985. From 1981-1982, she worked in the trust department of The Massachusetts Companies, Inc., in Boston.
LITTLE ROCK Many title insurance companies in Arkansas are refusing to issue policies in the sale of certain foreclosed-on properties, after a local U.S. Bankruptcy Court ruling in September called into question the validity of the homes’ titles. Sales …
ONE of the richest and most secretive sources of profit in the mortgage business is coming under scrutiny.
It’s about time.
Gretchen Morgenson-
Investigators are training their sights on a type of hazard insurance policy known as force-placed insurance, a type of policy that has driven up costs for homeowners and pushed some into foreclosure. People who buy certain mortgage securities may be getting hurt, too.
FORCE-PLACED insurance. Most homeowners never hear about it until their mortgage lender sends them a letter saying that they must have flood or some other kind of insurance and that if they don’t act quickly, the lender will buy it for them — at a price, it turns out, that is almost always much higher than the market rate.
I was one of those homeowners, and I wrote a column last year about how difficult it was to get this type of insurance removed. I was reminded of that column when I read a colleague’s article about New York State investigating banks for making homeowners buy this overpriced insurance.
Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and Chris Hayes discuss the possibility of a reported agreement that may not hold U.S. banks liable for mishandling mortgage notes.
Is President Obama really going to use the State of the Union speech on Tuesday to announce a deal between big banks and all 50 state attorneys general? And if so, is it going to be a good deal for American homeowners? Or a good deal for the banks? Former NY Governor and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer shares with Chris what he has heard the White House has been pushing for.
It’s always about the money and these things must change.
Orlando Sentinel-
A measly $338.91.
That’s how much Sherman McCray owed his homeowner association when the board of directors foreclosed on his Clermont house.
Of course, the debt wasn’t just $338.91 by the time a Lake County judge on Jan. 3 ordered the 81-year-old Korean War veteran’s home sold.
Oh, no. Between 2010 when McCray failed to pay a homeowners assessment and that final hearing, the all-powerful homeowner association in the Vistas subdivision had levied late fees, costs and interest, and it had busied itself running up absurd lawyer bills by sending threatening letters at every turn.
HUD says foreclosed Detroit home is unsafe; options being explored
MSNBC-
The federal government now says a 101-year-old Detroit woman it promised could move back into her foreclosed home four months ago can’t return because the building’s unsanitary and unsafe.
Texana Hollis was evicted Sept. 12 and her belongings placed outside after her 65-year-old son failed to pay property taxes linked to a reverse mortgage, The Detroit News reported Sunday. Two days later, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said she could return.
But now, HUD said it won’t let Hollis move back in because of the house’s condition. She had lived there about 60 years.
