Category Archives: Mortgage Related

Senators Angry About Freddie Mac Betting Against Homeowners: by Jesse Eisinger ProPublica Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., had sharp words for Freddie Mac’s investment practices and conflicts of interest at a Senate Banking Committee hearing Thursday. The senator’s concerns came in the wake of a ProPublica and NPR report that Freddie, the giant taxpayer-owned mortgage company, had made concentrated investments in complex mortgage securities [...]
Mortgage Settlement With Banks Leaves Consumers Still Looking In the Abandoned Windows: by Cora Currier ProPublica The Obama administration is billing today’s $25 billion agreement between most states and five banks that engaged in flawed or deceptive practices as a big win for struggling homeowners. Most of the money in the settlement isn’t a penalty, or a fine levied on the banks. Instead, the biggest slice of [...]
Federal Housing Finance Agency Just STICKING it to Homeowners: by Cora Currier ProPublica, Last week, ProPublica and NPR raised questions about a risky investment strategy at Freddie Mac that would pay off if homeowners stayed trapped in expensive mortgages. It’s just the latest example of how government-owned Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have frustrated many by not putting homeowners first. Fannie and Freddie are [...]
Pennsylvania Reader Sends in New Form H-118 From New York: The Form H-118 is very similar to the Form 1012-R mailings that have been sent to consumer all across the country. They are deceptive in that they attempt to portray themselves as official mailers or government forms. Mailers similar to this have been slammed in mass joinder legal actions in California and the subject of [...]
Kramer, Stein Mass Joinder / Mass Tort Updates for Those Involved: The Receiver in the Mass Joinder legal proceeding in California against lawyers that had marketed Mass Joinder suits against mortgage lenders has released an update. December 1, 2011 The State Bar of California has taken possession of the law practices of Kramer and Kaslow, Mitchell J. Stein, Christopher Van Son, Paul Peterson (Mesa Law Group), [...]
Reporter Helps to Bring Down Steven J. Baum Foreclosure Mill: Well it’s over. It appears the law firm of Steven J. Baum, P.C. in New York is laying off 89 employees and closing up shop. I doubt you’d recognize the name of the lawyer or the firm but I bet you’ve recognize some of the pictures that were recently published from the office Halloween party [...]
Allied Home Mortgage The Subject of Fed Case: Feds File Massive Fraud Case Against Allied Home Mortgage by Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein ProPublica, Nov. 1, 2011, 5:51 p.m.by Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, ProPublica, July 2, 2010by Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, ProPublica, July 2, 2010by Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, ProPublica, July 2, 2010 Federal prosecutors sued Allied Home Mortgage Capital [...]
What Affects Mortgage Rates?: The good news about mortgage rates? They’ve been at or near historic lows recently, and by all indications they should stay fairly low for the short term. But as anyone who follows these rates knows, they can be very volatile – sometimes changing multiple times in one day. What affects mortgage rates? In May 2011 [...]
LA Court Issues Permanent Order Assuming Jurisdiction Over the Law Practice of Mitchell J. Stein: Mitchell J. Stein is an attorney in California who was alleged to be involved in the marketing of mass joinder cases to consumers to join a lawsuit against their mortgage lenders. A permanent order was issued on October 26, 2011 and states the State Bar of California, Office of Chief Trial Counsel is appointed to [...]
Mitchell J. Stein Transcript From California Action Involving Mass Joinder Marketing Part 1: Mitchell J. Stein, Esq. is said to have played a role in the mass joinder scheme that appears to have evolved in California. At least that’s what a judge said recently, which I covered in this article. More documents on this issue have arrived on my desk, a 99 page transcript of the proceeding on [...]
Mitchell J. Stein Transcript From California Action Involving Mass Joinder Marketing Part 2: This is a continuation of the first part of the transcript post. You can click here to read the first part. THE COURT: ALL RIGHT. WELL, I HAVE NOT HEARD ANYTHING THAT WOULD CHANGE MY MIND WITH RESPECT TO THE TENTATIVE RULING ON THE PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION. WHILE I DIDN’T QUOTE ALL THE EVIDENCE IN THE [...]
Court Says Credibility of Mitchell Stein of Mass Joinder Fame, Compromised: Mitchell Stein, one of the attorneys that was raid in California in August for related mass joinder marketing, just received a very unfavorable court ruling in his attempt to wiggle something out from under the seizure of his law practice. I’ve even heard rumblings from some that Stein was returning to practice, got his client [...]
Treasury Reports An 88 Percent Increase In Mortgage-Fraud Since 2010: Banks are re-examining loans that took place during the housing boom and are now finding problems which has resulted in a large jump of reported mortgage-fraud. Reports are showing an 88 percent jump in the second quarter according to the Treasury Department. “Most of the mortgages suspected of fraud closed during the height of the [...]
Homeowners In Financial Distress Lose Over $1.2 Million To Mortgage “Rescue” Fraud: To the tune of a MasterCard commercial: $4.7 million in fradulent mortgage loans… $944,224 lost by lenders…. $1.2 million lost in equity to homeowners…. Shameful. Mary Ann Dean and Charles Donaldson pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme of Sunset Mortgage Company. Dean was [...]
Free Mortgage Modification Help, Tips, Resources, and Calculators: I’ve seen and covered so many mortgage modification scams that I wanted to show you how you can save yourself from being scammed, save thousands and modify your mortgage for free. Before you launch into paying anyone thousands for mortgage modification assistance you should explore your free options first. It’s important to know there is [...]