Above the law

"A West Sacramento man is among the first in the state to use California's new Homeowner Bill of Rights to stop a bank from foreclosing on his home, and experts say the case marks a shift in a legal system that has traditionally favored lenders.

Kevin Singh, a house painter, secured a federal court order earlier this month after Bank of America allegedly engaged in a now-forbidden practice called dual tracking. The behavior, in which a bank proceeds with foreclosure while negotiating with a borrower for a loan modification, has been widely criticized as deceptive.

Experts said Singh's case was the first instance in which a judge issued a preliminary injunction to halt a foreclosure auction under the Homeowner Bill of Rights.

This week, North Carolina-based Bank of America was negotiating to resolve the case, said Singh's lawyer, Sacramento attorney Aldon Bolanos. Any settlement would have to include rescinding the foreclosure, he said. The Homeowner Bill of Rights also provides for attorneys fees for winning an injunction."

Even with all the fines and laws they still think they are above it.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/23/5441875/west-sacramento-homeowner-uses.html#storylink=cpy

Mixed

"Stocks were mixed in early morning trading Tuesday as investors waited to hear Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testify on Capital Hill. Investors are also eager to see the minutes of the latest Fed policy-making committee due out this afternoon."

Paused

"Sales of homes in foreclosure by Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. ground nearly to a halt after regulators revised their orders on treatment of troubled borrowers during the 60 days before they lose their homes.

The banks said they paused the sales on May 6 to make sure that their late-stage foreclosure procedures were in accordance with the guidelines. The banks wouldn't say exactly which issues had been under scrutiny.

Bank of America Corp., by contrast, continued foreclosure sales at a normal pace, apparently confident its procedures met the revised restrictions."

Shoddy loans

"Americans lost $192.6 billion in wealth, or an average of $1,700 per household, last year due to foreclosures, according to a report released Thursday by the Alliance for a Just Society, a coalition of progressive grassroots organizations across the country. The report also found that the U.S. could lose $221 billion if officials don't come to the aid of millions of borrowers who owe more on their homes than they're actually worth.

The findings indicate that many Americans are still suffering from the housing bust, which critics say was the result of major lenders pushing shoddy loans on borrowers who couldn’t afford them. Meanwhile, Wall Street investors and construction companies are reaping the benefits of a recent rebound in the housing market."

UW

So supposedly I am back to underwriting.....until they ask for another round of paperwork.

Yesterday...more paper

Yesterday more paper work was requested from Bank of America---we are now up to over four hundred pages of documentation requested. As I've stated before this is all by design---most people simply give up.

Down

"Foreclosure activity in April fell to its lowest level in 74 months, but action is ramping up in some states, says a national foreclosure tracker.

In April, one of every 905 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing, market watcher RealtyTrac says. That was the lowest level since February 2007 — near the beginning of the nation's foreclosure crisis — and down 23% from a year ago.

But foreclosure activity is increasing in some states where legal procedures and new laws to protect homeowners had slowed down foreclosures."