Posts Tagged ‘subprime meltdown’

Bush Administration Considering A Takeover Of Freddie And Fanny | Consumerist

Mark Ireland, former Minnesota Assistant Attorney General, took a look at what the three remaining presidential candidates are saying about the foreclosure crisis and translated their campaign-speak into good ol’ American English.
According to Ireland’s commentary, only Obama has a real plan. He would increase penalties for fraudulent lending, create a foreclosure-prevention fund, create a standardized [...]

Call it what you will, the borrower bailout/rescue/whatever does not seem to be working. Foreclosures are still on the rise along with defaults and sad stories. And while those numbers go up, the economy continues to worsen.
This is not doing the banks any good, either. Banks lose a ton of money every time they have [...]

From the New York Times, a beautiful graph (seriously, look at that!) showing the impact of the subprime mortgage mess across the U.S.:

(Click for big.)
The Twin Cities is definitely one of the hardest-hit, but just look at Florida!
[via City Pages, The Blotter]

In an odd sort of thank-you note, Bank of American will give two top Countrywide executives, CEO Angelo Mozilo (pictured) and President David Sambol, $19 million in stocks. Bank of America took over Countrywide, the company made famous by writing loans all but guaranteed to fail. Countrywide’s loose lending habits were a significant contribution to [...]

Looks like YouWalkAway.com was one of those “right place, right time” startups. Bloomberg reports that foreclosures are skyrocketing as more and more homeowners just give up. Mortgages are secured loans, after all. Banks just never counted on having to accept the collateral instead of the payback. [via Consumerist]

More on walking away from your mortgage from the New York Times. [via Consumerist]

Here is a short video from Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in which he promises to create a ten million dollar fund to help keep people in their homes and a tax deduction for homeowners who do not itemize on their income tax returns.

[via Consumer Rights Watch]

Bankrate.com highlights the major-party presidential candidates’ stances on the subprime meltdown. Romney, Huckabee, and McCain favor a light touch, perhaps freezing interest rates or offering some aid to borrowers. But they are vague as to what, if anything, they would do. Paul favors a return the gold standard and the abolition of the Federal Reserve.
Democrats [...]

In Part 1 and Part 3, Sarah Ludwig and Herman De Jesus discuss the foreclosure crisis in New York City. De Jesus points out that subprime loans are the only loans available in many minority neighborhoods.
Part 2 features Nerida Soto-Cuccia, an ordinary, well-educated, middle-class homeowner who landed in foreclosure as a result of a subprime [...]

I am torn. I don’t know whether I should post this link or hope it dwindles into obscurity (unlikely). The website says it all:

You Walk Away promises to help homeowners walk away from their current mortgage with no debt, no strings, and says ballsy things like this:
You will immediately know the exact amount of days [...]

“The truth is, our middle-class families are not going to be secure so long as they can’t get out of debt,” Obama said Monday, sharpening the populist rhetoric of his presidential campaign. “If we’re serious about stopping Americans from falling deeper in debt, we’ve got to crack down on predatory credit card companies that are [...]

From the article:
As Twin Cities home foreclosures multiply, so do the opportunities for mortgage fraud.
With more and more homeowners desperate to hold on to their homes, experts are concerned that many are vulnerable to rescue scams like equity stripping.

Not much to add, here. It seems obvious that with more targets, equity strippers and predatory refinancers [...]

Consumerist commemorates the fall of Ameriquest, one of the scummiest subprime lenders with this apropos graphic:

Also from the Consumerist article:
Ameriquest, the lender the epitomized everything that was f*cked up about the subprime mortgage meltdown, is dead.
The lender stopped taking loan applications Aug 1st and its assets (including $45 billion of loans) were sold to Citigroup [...]

A lighter side of the mortgage industry meltdown.