Attorneys General Settlement: A Bigger Bailout Than TARP?
Attorneys General Settlement: A Bigger Bailout Than TARP?
By Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone Magazine, Oct. 5, 2011
Amidst all the bad news coming out of Wall Street and the economy, here’s something good: California has backed out of the talks for the long-awaited foreclosure settlement, now making it far from likely that the so-called “Attorneys General” deal will happen anytime soon.
Report Criticizes Fannie Mae’s Oversight of Law Firms
By Nathan Koppel, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 4, 2011
As our nation’s long mortgage crisis continues, lawyers continue to be blamed for their alleged role in improper home foreclosures. A federal watchdog is due to issue a report today concluding that mortgage giant Fannie Mae and its federal regulator failed to pay enough attention to mounting evidence of abuses by law firms that conducted foreclosures on Fannie’s behalf, according to this report from WSJ’s Developments blog.
Law Firms Descend on Florida to Take Over Foreclosure Business
By Julie Kay, Law.com, Oct. 5, 2011
Law firms from throughout the country have opened offices in Florida to capture foreclosure business abandoned by the Law Offices of David J. Stern and Ben-Ezra & Katz in the wake of investigations into possible foreclosure fraud. The new law firms are being handed 3,500 to 5,000 transfer files at $1,200 to $1,400 per file, according to a legal headhunter.
We Can’t Ignore Housing Anymore
By Neal Lipschutz, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 4, 2011
In the end, we can’t dodge housing. The U.S. recession and financial crisis began with housing and the scourge of subprime mortgages, which were so messily dispensed. It spread to Europe and its banks. For a few years we tried to work around the paralyzed housing sector – the drip, drip of steadily lower home prices, the unresolved status of the wounded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — and it seemed to be working.
Foreclosures Are Killing Us
Craig E. Pollack and Craig E. Pollack, New York Time OPINION, Oct. 2, 2011
After slowing down in the first half of the year, the rate of homes entering foreclosure is rising again. First-time default notices were served on 78,000 homes in August, a 33 percent increase from July. A $1 billion federal program to help jobless and underemployed homeowners ended Friday. Foreclosure notices were filed against a record 2.9 million properties last year, and an additional 1.2 million in the first half of this year.
Obama Should Push Principal Cuts to Help Housing, Cisneros Says
By John Gittelsohn, Bloomberg, Oct. 4, 2011
President Barack Obama has failed in his efforts to help the U.S. housing market recover and should focus on cutting the amount troubled homeowners owe, said Henry Cisneros, who was secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Bill Clinton.