Oregon lawmakers reached a last-minute deal Monday on protections for homeowners facing foreclosure, passing legislation that will require lenders to meet face to face with borrowers before initiating foreclosure.
The House approved Senate Bill 1552 by a 56-4 vote late Monday as the Legislature approached adjournment. It will require lenders to meet with borrowers in mediation and end the “dual track” practice of foreclosing while negotiating a loan modification.
23 (ii) A declaration by the beneficiary made under the penalty of perjury stating that the beneficiary is the actual holder of the promissory note or other obligation secured by the deed of trust shall be sufficient proof as required under this subsection. A violation of this subsection (7)(a)(ii) is a class C felony as provided in RCW 28 9A.20.020 and 9A.20.021.
Funny, because Florida homeowners are still waiting for you lawmakers to go after the fraud in your own backyard, you know like what Nevada AG Masto & California AG Harris are doing, by going after LPS, which HQ’s are in Florida.
Make any sense?!
Palm Beach Post-
Some Florida lawmakers want to tweak a rarely used fast-track foreclosure law to shrink the state’s court backlog and as an end run around Wall Street reforms that may bar nonjudicial foreclosures.
The Senate judiciary committee, which has discussed ways to reduce the average two-year timeline to repossess a home in Florida, is scheduled to meet today in Tallahassee.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
538 Dirksen Senate Office Building
The witnesses will be: Mr. Jack Hopkins, President and CEO, CorTrust Bank, on behalf of the Independent Community Bankers of America; and Ms. Faith Schwartz, Executive Director, Hope Now Alliance. Additional witnesses may be announced.
All hearings are webcasted live and Individuals with disabilities who require an auxiliary aid or service, including closed captioning service for webcast hearings, should contact the committee clerk at 202-224-7391 at least three business days in advance of the hearing date.
Witnesses
Panel 1
* Mr. Jack Hopkins
President and Chief Executive Officer
CorTrust Bank, on behalf of the Independent Community Bankers of America
* Ms. Faith Schwartz
Executive Director
Hope Now Alliance
To establish clear regulatory standards for mortgage servicers, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 12, 2011
Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. REED, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. INOUYE, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. AKAKA) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Establishes certain proof and settlement requirements for plaintiffs seeking summary judgment or a default judgment in a residential foreclosure proceeding; provides that only the owner and holder of a mortgage and note, or its agent, shall have standing to commence a mortgage foreclosure action; lack of standing shall be defense that may be raised at any time; requires the plaintiff in a foreclosure action to affirm that it is the holder and owner, or its delegated agent, of the subject mortgage and note; the summons and complaint shall include a copy of the original mortgage and note, and all endorsements, assignments and transfers thereof, and any delegations of authority by the owner and holder of the mortgage and note.
TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to residential
foreclosure actions; and to amend the
real property actions and proceedings law, in relation to
standing to commence an action to foreclose a mortgage
PURPOSE OF BILL:
Establishes certain proof requirements for plaintiffs
in mortgage foreclosure actions.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS OF BILL:
Requires a mandatory settlement
conference be held as a condition precedent to the granting of
summary judgment motions in residential mortgage foreclosure
proceedings;
Creates standards for the granting of summary judgment and default
judgments, including an affirmative showing that plaintiff has dealt
with defendant in good faith as required by the implied covenant of
good faith contained within the mortgage.
EFFECTS OF PRESENT LAW WHICH THIS BILL WOULD ALTER:
Amends CPLR 3212
(a); creates a new CPLR (j); amends CPLR 3215 (f); amends CPLR 3408
(a) and (f); amends RPAPL 1302; creates a new RPAPL 1302-a.
JUSTIFICATION:
There exists in all contracts, and in all mortgages, an
implied covenant to act in good faith and to deal fairly. Gordon v
Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 30 N.Y.2d 427, 437, cert denied 410 U.S. 931;
Security Pacific National Bank v. Evans, 62 A.D.3d 512 (1st Dept
2009); DiBlanda v. ADC Pinebrook, LLC, 44 A.D.3d 702 (2nd; Dept
2007). Unfortunately, it would appear that numerous residential
properties have been foreclosed upon without any showing that the
foreclosing mortgagee has lived up to this requirement in law. Given
that the great majority of foreclosure judgments result from either
applications for summary judgment or default judgment, it is
important that there be a demonstration to the Court that this
covenant has been abided by. The bill would also clarify that the
duty of all parties to negotiate in good faith at settlement
conferences required by CPLR 3408 includes the duty to abide by the
covenant of fair dealing, and that this obligation shall continue
throughout the pendency of the action.
Likewise, numerous residential properties have been foreclosed without
an adequate showing that the mortgagee-plaintiff owns and physically
possesses the note and mortgage, and can demonstrate a chain of
custody from mortgage inception through to the commencement of the
action. This bill would require plaintiff in a mortgage foreclosure
action to make such a showing.
This bill would also require that a plaintiff demonstrate standing and
capacity to bring the action, and that plaintiff has attended the
mandatory settlement conference required by CPLR 3408, all as a
condition precedent to the entry of summary judgment, or a default
judgment.
Finally, the bill would also require that standing and capacity be
affirmatively demonstrated in order to successfully adjudicate a
mortgage foreclosure action. Further, the bill would amend the CPLR
to provide that failure to timely raise standing as a defense would
not result in waiver of same.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill, 2011.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately, except that portion of the bill which
states requisites for the quantum of proof necessary in order to
prevail in a mortgage foreclosure action shall become effective on
the 90th day after the bill shall become law.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), the fifth- biggest U.S. bank by assets, received a subpoena from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office seeking information on the firm’s activities leading into the credit crisis, according to two people familiar with the matter.
A late attempt by the finance industry to change Oregon mortgage recording laws is dead.
Oregon House Judiciary co-chair Wayne Krieger opened a hearing this afternoon and said the amendment sought by loan servicers, title companies and credit unions would not pass out of the committee today. Minutes later, the committee voted to approve Senate Bill 519, the bill that the financial industry lobby attempted to amend.
At least they agree a cloud hoovers over foreclosures…
Oregon Live-
A bid by major financial institutions to retroactively waive Oregon recording requirements blocking foreclosure sales appears in jeopardy but will get at least one more day, a legislative leader says.
Now, the financial industry lobby wants the Oregon Legislature to amend an affordable housing bill to retroactively waive those reporting requirements.
“I think we found a white elephant, flying pig and unicorn”
REUTERS–
Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) executives have good reason to be worried about the risk of receiving subpoenas from the Justice Department, and investors should be concerned too.
The U.S. government has a real chance of finding inconsistencies between Goldman executives’ testimony to Congress and their internal documents, which means subpoenas could turn into something more serious, lawyers said.
Sponsored by Senator BONAMICI; Senators BATES, BOQUIST
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject
to consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor’s brief statement of the essential features of the
measure.
Provides that failure to include required modification form with notice of sale, failure to comply with provisions governing loan modifications and failure to record required affidavit of compliance with loan modification requirements are unlawful practices subject to enforcement under unlawful trade practices law. Prescribes time within which beneficiary or beneficiary’s agent must file affidavit for recording. Requires trustee to send copy of required affidavit to Department of Justice.
Requires Department of Consumer and Business Services by rule to prescribe form of affidavit and specifies minimum requirements for affidavit.
Removes certain exemptions from requirement to comply with law governing mortgage loan modifications.
Permits grantor to record affidavit stating that grantor requested loan modification in accordance with law and by applicable deadline.
Requires trustee to be resident of this state or have registered agent that meets certain qualifications.
Matt Taibbi has a new article on Rolling Stone on the recent hearings in the U.S. Senate and whether or not Goldman Sachs executives should be facing criminal trials or not in the wake of ongoing investigations into their part in the financial meltdown we went through a few years ago. CNN decided to bring in the Atlantic Monthly’s Wall Street apologist Megan McArdle to debate Taibbi on Your Money.
A Senate committee has laid out the evidence. Now the Justice Department should bring criminal charges
Rolling Stones-
They weren’t murderers or anything; they had merely stolen more money than most people can rationally conceive of, from their own customers, in a few blinks of an eye. But then they went one step further. They came to Washington, took an oath before Congress, and lied about it.
Holder told the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing today that the department is reviewing the April report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, led by Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat. Holder didn’t say which aspects of the report, which probed the causes of 2008 financial crisis, are under review
In 2007, the report says, Deutsche Bank rushed to sell off mortgage-backed investments amid worries that the market for subprime loans was deteriorating.
“Keep your fingers crossed but I think we will price this just before the market falls off a cliff,” a Deutsche Bank manager wrote in February 2007 about a deal stocked with securities created from raw material produced by Ameriquest and other subprime lenders.
Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) and former Goldman Sachs Mortgages Department head Daniel Sparks, Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations hearing, April 27, 2010
Dylan Ratigan with special guest New York Times’ Louise Story, discussing the 600+ page report uncovering Goldman Sachs scheme to defraud investors. According to Bloomberg, The U.S. Justice Department and regulators will have to determine whether employees and executives of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. violated any laws when they traded securities tied to the housing market and testified to Congress about the transactions, Senator Carl Levin said.
Homeowners will now have 30 days from the time that they get an initial letter from their lenders to respond and ask for a period of time called “meet and confer.” If they do, they’ll get 60 days to talk with their lender and counselors before the lender can issue a notice of default, followed by a notice of trustee sale.
United States Senate
PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Carl Levin, Chairman
Tom Coburn, Ranking Minority Member
WALL STREET AND
THE FINANCIAL CRISIS:
Anatomy of a Financial Collapse
~
MAJORITY AND MINORITY
STAFF REPORT
PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE
ON INVESTIGATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
April 13, 2011
In the fall of 2008, America suffered a devastating economic collapse. Once valuable securities lost most or all of their value, debt markets froze, stock markets plunged, and storied financial firms went under. Millions of Americans lost their jobs; millions of families lost their homes; and good businesses shut down. These events cast the United States into an economic recession so deep that the country has yet to fully recover.
This Report is the product of a two-year, bipartisan investigation by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations into the origins of the 2008 financial crisis. The goals of this investigation were to construct a public record of the facts in order to deepen the understanding of what happened; identify some of the root causes of the crisis; and provide a factual foundation for the ongoing effort to fortify the country against the recurrence of a similar crisis in the future.
Using internal documents, communications, and interviews, the Report attempts to provide the clearest picture yet of what took place inside the walls of some of the financial institutions and regulatory agencies that contributed to the crisis. The investigation found that the crisis was not a natural disaster, but the result of high risk, complex financial products; undisclosed conflicts of interest; and the failure of regulators, the credit rating agencies, and the market itself to rein in the excesses of Wall Street.
While this Report does not attempt to examine every key moment, or analyze every important cause of the crisis, it provides new, detailed, and compelling evidence of what happened. In so doing, we hope the Report leads to solutions that prevent it from happening again.
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