Foreclosure Rise a Shock

[Justice]

Source: CNN.com


From Regular monthly report from RealtyTrac, the online marketer of foreclosed properties

- More than 74,000 homes were lost to bank repossessions during the month, up from 67,000 in January,

- Nearly 1.2 million have been lost since the foreclosure crisis hit in August 2007.

- The number of foreclosure filings rose 6% during the month after falling 10% in January.

- Filings leaped nearly 30% compared with February 2008.

- A downtrend had been expected due to the numerous foreclosure moratoriums in effect during the month.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/12/real_estate/new_foreclosure_jump/index.htm?postversion=2009031204

---

I get the feeling that some people don't believe this economy downfall is real.

They are looking for quick fix. In many cases, they are finding quick fixes - getting big bonuses still, setting up companies and funds offshore and onshore to buy troubled assets at a discount, positioning themselves to take advantage of opportunities, low pricing during this downturn.

Meanwhile us regular folks know it is real and are suffering (some for quite some time)

[ixion]

1. "downtrend had been expected"

I swear, these idiots have to be living in some alternate reality. A downtrend? :wtf:

And, of course, they're shocked. Who could have foreseen this? :eyes:

And this passes for "news." Again, I say: :eyes:

[Dawgs]

5. Actually, I downtrend should have been expected.

My wife's cousin works for a company that handles foreclosures in Atlanta. He told us a few weeks ago that foreclosures were way down for his company because lenders put a freeze on them.

The reason for the "shock" was related to the freeze, not the economy.

[SpiralHawk]

2. The putrid fruit of republiconomics

Ptooey

[byeya]

3. I think I can speak for Alan Greenspan when I say that he had

absolutely nothing to do with this. {I just wanted to save him the trouble of another denial}

[1776Forever]

15. Andrea Mitchell Greenspan seemed annoyed yesterday for 1st time.

She was talking to Barney Franks and when he said he blamed the media for turning things into a hatchet job on Obama she couldn't help but agree with him - say what? Yes she said the media did have an agenda and used it when they felt it was to their advantage! She is learning now her own industry cannot be trusted - just like us everyday folks already knew!

[Robbien]

4. It is only a shock because housing corruption is not being reported in US media

for instance

An Australian ISP article today:

CORRUPTION-US: Homeowner Rip-Offs Spark Scores of Lawsuits

BOSTON, Mar 11 (IPS) - Many of the biggest mortgage lenders in the U.S. have engaged in widespread, systematic schemes that ripped off hundreds of thousands of families seeking to buy a home, refinance or foreclose, according to lawsuits filed on behalf of consumers.

Scores of class-action lawsuits, from the 1990s and up to today, detail the illegal and questionable practices used by mortgage-lending companies that pushed millions into bad mortgages, then into bad refinancing loans and then into foreclosures with unfair fees.

The lawsuits have been filed by private attorneys and state attorneys general, and on behalf of NGOs.

Ameriquest, Countrywide Financial, H&R Block and Option One, HSBC Finance and Wells Fargo are just a few of the companies that have been sued - some repeatedly - for masterminding or carrying out plans to defraud families.

”Many of the mortgage lenders taking advantage of people today are those who were the biggest perpetrators last time around,” Jim Campen, executive director of Americans for Fairness in Lending, told IPS.

HSBC, Britain's largest bank, and its entities Household International and Household Financial and Beneficial, wrote hundreds of thousands of sub-prime loans in the U.S. that have been the subject of multiple class-action lawsuits.

The company has gotten into trouble for its mortgages and consolidation loans aimed at people who are low-income.

It was sued in 2002 by attorneys general and paid 484 million dollars into a fund for harmed homeowners in all 50 states. It later settled with ACORN, and later with private attorneys. Complaints against the company are ongoing, according to Fair Finance Watch, an NGO.

Last week HSBC, which operates in Canada and recently expanded to India and Brazil, announced it planned to shut down its mortgage-related business in the U.S. due to a high rate of delinquency on its mortgages. It will lay off 6,100 U.S. workers.

According to a lawsuit filed in Illinois, HSBC found customers by scanning lists of people who held mortgages and also had high credit card balances with K-Mart, Best Buy, Costco and other retailers affiliated with HSBC that provided the lists.

After aggressive mailings and phone calls, HSBC would ”trick” the homeowners into providing their Social Security numbers, which allowed HSBC to gain access to their complete credit histories, and use the information to talk people into high-interest consolidation loans, the suit says.

The loan amounts were so high - and with interest up to 20 percent - that they often far exceeded the value of the homes, and made it impossible for the family to ever refinance with a competitor, according to the lawsuit.

HSBC settled that lawsuit, denying any wrongdoing. It has since been sued by ACORN, the grassroots organisation, and others.

HSBC has plenty of company.

”There are dozens and dozens of cases against Countrywide,” class-action attorney Jeffrey Norton told IPS. He is suing Countrywide on behalf of thousands of plaintiffs who are being charged unfounded fees during loan modifications and foreclosure.

”When someone gets a loan modification agreement, there is one line that says 'fees.' It can be anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars. No one can get answers as to what the fees are comprised of,” Norton said.

After receiving many complaints, the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) filed suit against HSBC, Countrywide and 17 other big-name lenders in 2007, for charging higher mortgage interest rates to people of colour.

The suit, still underway, may help correct the ”egregious, demoralising practices that too often turn the so-called American dream of homeownership into a nightmare,” said NAACP chairman Julian Bond.

Named in the suit are: Ameriquest, Accredited Home Lenders, Bear Sterns, BNC Mortgage, CitiMortgage, Encore Credit, Fremont Investment & Loan, First Horizon, First Franklin Financial, GMAC, JP Morgan, Long Beach Mortgage Company, National City, Option One, Suntrust Mortgage, Washington Mutual, Inc. and WMC Mortgage Corporation.

”If Congress did a better job this could have been prevented,” Odette Williamson, staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Centre, told IPS about predatory lending. Housing advocates first noticed an escalation of discrimination and abuse in mortgage lending in the 1990s and brought their concerns to Congress.

more . . .
http://www.australia.to/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6987:corruption-us-homeowner-rip-offs-spark-scores-of-lawsuits&catid=89:reports&Itemid=184

This story should have been on the nightly news, day after day, so that people and Congress were constantly aware of these corrupt practices.

But it is not. Only articles entitled "Foreclosure Rise a Shock" rates an article.

Of course it is a shock to CNN. Any time CNN stumbles across real news it is a shock to them.

[Dawgs]

6. Did you actually read what you posted?

"A downtrend had been expected due to the numerous foreclosure moratoriums in effect during the month."

That isn't made up. I know from someone who works in a foreclosure company that a freeze was put on in February. The "shock" has nothing to do with the economy.

[notadmblnd]

7. I don't care what anyone says, they are not getting any help

I called my bank to tell then that I'm losing my 1/2 of my income on April 1st and would have trouble making my payments. They told me I couldn't re finance because my house wouldn't appraise for what I owe. Then told me that the did have a hardship program but that I had to fall behind before they could do anything. They did give me a 20,000 line of personal credit. I guess I'm supposed to use that and get in deeper before I'm forced to walk away if I don't find a job soon.:shrug: I also contacted the local government agency that is supposed to help homeowners before they get into trouble. I filled out the paperwork and sent it back in over 3 weeks ago, I heard nothing from them either.

My lender is a subsidiary of HSBC. Now, someone tell me why I shouldn't take that 20,000 and run?

[Robbien]

9. Wait to see if the housing bill passes

and also contact a real estate lawyer.

HSBC is one of the worst ones for renegotiating mortgages since they are one of the primary predatory lenders. Hopefully renegotiation will get easier if the housing bill passes.

[BeFree]

11. Well

If you did you'd be in the same boat with the elitist countrymen who would take the money and run.

But you aren't elite, are you?

[Roland99]

8. When the economy loses 2/3 of a million jobs PER MONTH, wtf did they think would happen?????

[antimatter98]

10. It's ok then, 'only 67000' in Januray, but whew, Feb! Still, nothing is done.

Why does Congress and the White House find the 'ability' to hand out now, about 11 trillion
to the banks, and allow usury credit card rates, but they just fade away on the foreclosure
and personal bankruptcy issues?

This White House is totally in the pocket of the banks and corporations. We are not
represented---I mean, citizens, are not represented. Obama only cares about the banks.

[annabanana]

12. a "shock" to whom?

stupid media

[ananda]

13. Well if we had decent reporters and writers..

.. like Murrow or Steinbeck..

.. then we'd the extent of all the tent cities.. Bushvilles..
and homelessness.. and breadlines.

[Junkdrawer]

14. News Flash: The worse is yet to come (late 2009 - early 2010)...

[thereismore]

16. That look ominous. People need to modify their loans, otherwise... nt