“Ocwen, Ocwen, Ocwen.” What a peculiar sounding name for a large company! Does it have some noble Greek meaning? Or perhaps a venerated Roman god high on the Pantheon of deities? Surely, a quick Google search will provide an etymology, and the mystery will be solved. Right? No, Nada, Nyet! There is nothing; just a name with no provenance. But wait! One genealogy site shows there to be a single birth record of someone with the name of “Ocwen.” However, that’s it. The trail abruptly ends. No other births, no family records, no divorces, no death notices. Just an odd name, a cipher, existing in a peculiar jumble of discordant letters. Hmmm. Sounds slightly demonic, like something from a Dracula script; the undead – existing to suck the life from its victims. Given the Ocwen we see today, perhaps that isn’t too far from the truth….[Continue here.]
This story is just too funny to ignore. The PR department of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), one of the Big Banks in perennial trouble with the Justice Department [eight current investigations – but who‘s counting?], came up with what they believed to be a whiz-bang idea to shine their tarnished image: Set up a Twitter account that permits followers to ask questions of a senior executive. The hashtag was #AskJPM. According to the article, one observer dubbed it “Snarkpocalypse.” Read the comments here. Continue reading “Death By A Thousand Tweets: J.P. Morgan’s Excellent Adventure In Social Media”
In Part One of my latest rant blog post, I took a look at the Big Banks and their sordid activities during the securitization heydays of 2005 – 2007/8. But I was just getting warmed up. Part Two discusses how the banks have come to the aid of the prosecutors and courts in presenting themselves as “victims” that suffered “actual losses.” This is patently untrue; the record must be set straight. Part Two is my effort to do so. ~PCQ Continue reading “Big Banks, Loan Fraud, and Moral Equivalence – Part Two”
Introduction. As the Big Bank scandals appear to be diminishing, I’ll admit that it’s probably time to get over the RATs (Rapers of the American Taxpayers), and move on to other more uplifting topics for this blog site. Perhaps I will…. Continue reading “Big Banks, Loan Fraud, and Moral Equivalence – Part One”
In one of the most insightful articles I’ve read about Big Banks from the Great Depression to the present, authors Frank Partnoy and Jesse Eisinger, writing in the Jan/Feb 2013 issue of The Atlantic, discuss why America’s big lending institutions are no safer today, than the months leading up to the 2008 collapse of the financial markets. [See,“What’s Inside America’s Banks?”] Continue reading “What’s In Your Bank?”
Congrats to Terry Scannell, the attorney who convinced a Washington County jury last Thursday, July 18, 2013, to rule in favor of his clients, Bela and Eva Lengyel, in one of the first – if not the first – wrongful foreclosures cases in Oregon. The fact that it is occurring only now, 5+ years after the credit and housing crash that gave us the Great Recession, speaks to the difficulty of these cases, and the perseverance of both attorney and clients. Continue reading “Chase Chased & Caught – Slapdown!”
In a recent article in Mortgage Servicing News here, we learn that apparently 49 state attorneys general were unable to draft the terms of the $25 billion National Mortgage Settlement in a way the Big Banks couldn’t slip through them like the eels they are. It seems that notwithstanding the AGs’ collective belief the banks would stop dual-tracking -that insidious practice of putting someone into a loan mod program while foreclosing them at the same time – it still continues. Continue reading “Ever Wonder Why the Big Banks Lose Your Loan Mod Paperwork? Wonder No More!”
I’ve written several blog posts about the mortgage insurance (“MI”) problem. Two of the several posts are found here and here.
In many cases, MI is not purchased by the borrower, but by the lender – without the borrower’s knowledge and after the loan has already been made. This type of MI is technically referred to as “credit enhancement”, and is bought by the originating lender, say Countrywide [now Bank of America] as the loan is being bundled with millions of dollars of similar mortgages, and sold to investors through a process called “securitization.” Since MI insures the ultimate owner of the loan, i.e. the investor, this enhancement makes it more attractive in the pool of securitized loans being sold. And by placing MI on the mortgages bundled and sold, the ratings agencies, such as S&P and Moodys, give the bonds better investment ratings. Continue reading “Mortgage Insurers – Short Sale Shakedown Artists”
Background. The Big Banks, their excesses, and the stories of their rapacious greed, are slowly receding into the rearview mirror of memory, like an Elm Street nightmare. We all know how it ended; the federal government bailed them all out to the tune of $445 billion. Some accepted the money begrudgingly, saying they were forced to take the medicine although they weren’t really sick.[1]
Clearly, the Big Banks have suffered huge reputational damage over the last few years – and rightfully so. But there was another player during these years that – except for those who have followed the story of the Financial Crisis – seems to have gone relatively unnoticed in the public eye; probably because the word “bank” is not found in its name. The company is American International Group, or “AIG”. Interestingly, the name and acronym give no hint of its core business. It is an insurance company! That’s right, insurance; quite possibly the world’s most boring, dry, unsexy and uninteresting profession, second only to statisticians.[2] Continue reading “AIG – Hapless Victim or Reckless Ingrate? (Part One)”
Slam! Bang!
HER: “Honey, is that you? You’re home early from the firm. Usually, on Fridays, you go over to Lucifer’s Lounge with the other attorneys for shots of Devil’s Springs Vodka, and regale each other with stories of the families you foreclosed during the week. Honey? Honey? What’s wrong?”
HIM: “I think I screwed up….”
HER: “Was it a little, itsy, bitsy, ‘No one will ever know,’ mistake – or one of those ‘Where’s my passport’ mistakes?” Continue reading “Foreclosure Mill Morality”
