IEHI Feed: The Mortgage Lender Implode-o-Meter


    Wave of Debt Payments Facing U.S. Government
    "?The government is on teaser rates,? said Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan group that advocates lower deficits. ?We?re taking out a huge mortgage right now, but we won?t feel the pain until later.?"

    Back in the USSA
    "In European?s eyes, the US populace seems terribly uninformed about most political matters ? and vote accordingly. Europeans seem to be able to debate an issue without the vitriol and rancor that accompanies the rabid partisanship in the US. (One German $1+ Billion dollar fund manager privately remarked that Rupert Murdoch would be prosecuted in much of Europe). The two party system of the US is thought to be utterly corrupt, and is a joke in Parliamentary countries. Europeans recognize the United States as a ?Corporatocracy? ? government for and by Corporations."

    Weaker Data and the "Nascent Recovery"
    "After spending $trillions one would have hoped to see something more than an expected GDP revision of 2.8%. Looking ahead MarketWatch is asking Do weaker data show recovery is stalling?"

    Illegal housing bidding on rise

    When foreclosure homes come up for public auction in Phoenix, a minimum opening bid is set and bidding is open to anyone. At least that is the way it's supposed to work.

    But a Republic investigation into the daily public auctions held on the Maricopa County Courthouse steps and at some local law offices suggests a growing number of homes are sold for less than the posted opening bid.



    Goldman?s Non-Apology
    We want to thank The New York Times for saying about Goldman Sachs what we said months ago.

    Goldman has repaid its initial $10 billion bailout allotment, but that is only a sliver of its taxpayer support. The firm was paid $12.9 billion, for example, in the bailout of American International Group, and a report by the bailout?s inspector general refutes Goldman?s claim that it did not need the money. Perhaps the biggest continuing prop is that the government clearly considers Goldman too big to fail, which means that taxpayers are on the hook if Goldman faces the abyss again.

    Welcome to the party boyz, better late than never.

    Obama in Wonderland: Hu?s On First

    After that episode, the Chinese never again demanded that any Western envoy perform the kowtow.

    All it took was an American who would not compromise his nation's honor - even by three inches.



    Rep. Alan Grayson on the Fed Bailing Out Big Banks:
    "Rep. Alan Grayson discusses the bill to audit the Fed, which passed out of the Financial Services Committee on November 20, 2009."

    Fed under fire as public anger mounts
    " The chairman of the Federal Reserve Board is always fair game for criticism and second-guessing, usually over interest rate actions. But this year the criticism is much broader as Congress responds to widespread public anger that the Fed bailed out Wall Street but not ordinary Americans, and with unemployment in double digits."

    It's the stupid economy
    " At times it seems overwhelmingly necessary to call spades spades, put some people in their rightful places, and subsequently flush them down. There are such copious amounts of half-truths, full-blown lies, carefully concocted spin and other forms of fantasy flying around the ether and other media channels that it must be impossibly hard for many to tell reality from garbage. "

    Dealing with America's fiscal hole
    " FOR years America?s fiscal problems had a surreal quality. No one disputed that an ageing population and health-care inflation could bust the budget, but that prospect was decades away and procrastination seemed painless. No longer. A giant hole has opened in the budget because of stimulus, bail-outs and a recession that has savaged economic growth and tax revenue. "

    Deflation Returns To Japan; Black Hole Madness In U.S.
    " Japan has been hopping in and out of deflation for decades. Japan is back in deflation once again. The Wall Street Journal is reporting Deflation's Return Weighs on Japan"

    Wall St. Finds Profits Again, Now by Reducing Mortgages
    " While homeowners save money, the arrangement shifts nearly all the risk for the loans to the federal government ? and, ultimately, taxpayers ? at a time when Americans are falling behind on their mortgage payments in record numbers."

    Lawyer's foreclosure defense of 'quiet title' faces tests
    Now McCampbell and his Fort Caroline home are poised to make history in foreclosure defense with an experimental legal approach that would wipe out his mortgage debt and hand him a clean deed. It?s called a ?quiet title,? where the court establishes a party?s title to the property to remove or ?quiet? any challenges or claims to it... Before asking the court to quiet a title, a foreclosure must be dormant for five years. That brings Charney to a critical juncture in many of her early cases where the five years is at or near its expiration. She?ll be seeking multiple quiet titles in 2010, including one for McCampbell, her client.

    Home builders group files Chapter 11
    ``So bad that even the Home Builders Assn. of Greater Chicago has filed for bankruptcy protection. Unable to pay its bills, the Rolling Meadows trade group filed for Chapter 11 protection Friday, nearly four years into a severe industry slump that has put many its members out of business. ''

    Now The FHA Is Subsidizing Hedge Funds That Flip Mortgages For Easy Profits
    ``So it's good for the homeowner, and great for the hedge fund, but the taxpayer bears the burden. Why?''

    Citizens First tries to reduce mortgage business

    "The bank has entered into a partnership with First Preferred Mortgage to offer refinancing incentives to a select group -- about 1,500 of its 11,200 mortgage customers.

    That means Citizens gets an influx of cash and reduces its "balance sheet, which would increase its capital ratios or slow their decline," said Phillip van Doorn, senior banking analyst with TheStreet.com in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

    Yates added the strategy appears unique.

    "This is not something I'm aware of other banks doing," he said. "Basically, (Citizens is) saying 'go refinance to ... help us out.'"



    Republican Senator Robert Bennett Seeks to Permanently Sunset TARP Program
    "Over his career, Bennett has raised 3.5 times as much from the finance, insurance and real estate sector than any other sector. Financial interests are his top career supporter, giving him $2.2 million. The top three industries to lend him financial support all hail from this sector: securities and investment companies ($599,300), commercial banks ($416,200) and insurers ($383,250). Real estate companies also rank in as the ninth most prolific industry to support Bennett, with $230,600 in contributions, and finance and credit companies rank tenth, with $225,350 in contributions. The energy and natural resources sector ranks second with about $633,800 in contributions since 1993. "

    More foreclosures on the way for 2010
    "Looks like the foreclosure mess won?t be going away anytime soon. Just as all the hoopla over the extension of the home buyer tax credit starts to fade, along comes the The Mortgage Bankers Association to bring the market back to reality. One in seven loans is now in foreclosure, up from one in ten at the start of the year. It?s the highest on record since the MBA began track this stuff in 1972."

    New fed housing program involves $29B in financing
    "A new federal program to support state and local housing finance agencies is expected to involve more than $29 billion in government support, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac disclosed Thursday."

    ?Glitch? could cut jobless benefits for a million
    " About one million laid-off workers will see their unemployment benefits end in January unless Congress acts quickly to renew existing federally paid extensions, according to a new report and legislators and state officials."