In this toxic climate, many financial journalists are on edge, worried that any misstep could make them the target of criticism for being too cozy with Wall Street. Back in October, New York Times op-ed columnist Joe Nocera, who often writes about finance, was taken to task by media critic Erik Wemple of The Washington Post for speaking at a securities conference in Miami sponsored by Wall Street firms including Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Morgan Stanley. The gig appeared to breach the paper’s own rule for not permitting staff journalists to take speaking fees from any for-profit sources. Nocera “declined to address the speaking fee,” Wemple wrote, and he also declined to talk to me.
But while some news organizations don’t permit their staffers to take speaking fees from any sources, including Wall Street, there is still plenty of action out there.
Brent and Wendy Diers of Fruita thought their foreclosure nightmare would end in April when they sent a check to pay off their mortgage.
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But more than six months later, CitiMortgage hasn’t followed through on repeated assurances it would release the lien and give them title.
And despite a judge’s ruling that they are not in default, the lender’s law firm, Castle Meinhold & Stawiarski, continues to pursue a foreclosure sale.
“We are not in default and they do not have authorization to sell our house,” a frustrated Wendy Diers said.
Although the Diers case is extreme, it is just one of several stories of borrowers in Colorado and elsewhere who find themselves trapped in a frustrating state of limbo.
A surge in foreclosures has strained the system across the country, creating problems of lost paperwork, uncertain ownership on mortgages, and sloppy processing that has forced some lenders in recent weeks to pull back.
And those individuals who fall through the cracks like the Dierses find it hard to get out.
In a phone conversation, the Dierses recorded a CitiMortgage employee in May telling them “rest assured, we do have the check. Everything is fine.”
In July, the couple were told the title was being contested. Another CitiMortgage representative, named Jennifer, in late July tells them, “We have the title clear. The mortgage has been paid.”
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