Ohio Blogger to White House for Housing Summit

At White House Meeting, Youngstown Ohio Housing Leader, Blogger, Homeowner  - Pushes Obama Administration for Solutions to Foreclosure and Housing Crisis

WASHINGTON, DC – On Thursday September 13th, Mark Roarty, an Ohio leader and nationally recognized blogger and housing advocate traveled to our nation’s capital to meet with top Obama Administration officials at the White House. Mr. Roarty discussed the immediacy and need for implementing bold new solutions to the housing and foreclosure crisis that has devastated our communities. cities & states.

Mark Roarty prior to White House housing summit

In break-out meetings with officials from HUD, DOJ, and the White House National Economic Council - Mark joined 150 other leaders, clergy, homeowners, and housing advocates (representing 26 states) and laid out recommendations to address the housing crisis and getting our economy back on solid ground. Roarty, along with other leaders, told the White House administration that it is far past time that they enact policy solutions such as:
- Principal reduction as a bold new plan needed to address foreclosures, fix the housing crisis, create jobs, and reset the economy. Specifically, the request included strong language to remove Ed DeMarco, interim director of FHFA, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Ed DeMarco obstinately and ideologically opposes principal reduction, despite its proven benefits for homeowners and taxpayers.
- Publicly support the RMBS Task Force investigating big bank fraud, which the president announced in his State of the Union address back in January. The task force needs additional financial resources and staff to conduct real and effective investigations. The task force work will result in accountability for Wall Street crimes that crashed our economy.
- A nationwide Homeowner Bill of Rights that enacts strong standards for how banks must work with borrowers in foreclosure, including mediation and mandatory principal reduction when it would help the homeowner and investor.

Later in the day, Roarty joined up with other Ohio housing support groups and organizational leaders to visit Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman. In the Senators' Washington D.C. offices they met with key staff to share ideas and ask for support from the Ohio Senators on the recently introduced Menendez/Boxer Bill (S. 3522). The bill would allow homeowners trapped in high-interest loans, guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to refinance into lower interest loans and also eliminate up-front fees along with appraisal and loan closing costs.

Roarty, was invited to the meeting because of  his affiliation with NPA and The New Bottom Line along with his nationally recognized blog Ohio FRAUDclosure. In Ohio, he is a leader and homeowner advocate with the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative (MVOC). 

Tracy Van-Slyke (Director of The New Bottom Line) & Mark Roarty on front steps of White House prior to meeting.

Mark Roarty is also one of three nationwide home-owner spokespersons for The New Bottom Line coalition's Home Is Where The Vote Is campaign. The campaign, with the goal of making President Obama and Governor Romney address the foreclosure and housing crisis, features Roarty in a two-minute video explaining the realities faced by thousands of Ohio homeowners. Some of the deeply felt pain, of being in foreclosure, is shared by Roarty in the video. Recently, after a 4 1/2 year legal battle, a decision was handed down by an Ohio Appellate Court reversing the illegal foreclosure on his home.



More than 400,000 OHIO homeowners have been foreclosed on since 2007, with the state’s eight urban cores being hit hardest. The spike in foreclosures has led to massive neighborhood blight, vacant properties and community disinvestment. Those maintaining their homes have seen a huge decline in value, leaving 529,834 Ohio homeowners underwater on their mortgages. That figure is roughly one quarter of all homeowners in the state. Nationally, there are almost 16 million underwater homes, totaling a loss of $1.2 trillion in home equity. Resetting those mortgages to fair market value would save the average underwater homeowner $543 per month, pumping $104 billion into the national economy every year. This would also allow financial capacity to create 1.5 million jobs nationally.

Related: New Jersey - Homeowners Underwater and abandoning ship.

The foreclosure crisis in Ohio is rooted in illegal activity by lenders and Wall Street and inadequate rules and enforcement. The misconduct included predatory sub-prime lending, targeting of senior citizens, veterans, and communities of color, and bundling and pawning off flawed mortgages, avoiding accountability. Those forces combined with record long-term unemployment to bring our economy to the brink of collapse, and continue to jeopardize our economic recovery.

"The Mahoning Valley (Youngstown), like many areas across the country, need help to stop the on-going and rampant bank and servicing fraud in foreclosure," Roarty said. "Local and state leaders and organizations have done everything possible to deal with the result of illegal and improper foreclosures (vacant homes & blighted neighborhoods) by helping secure funds for demolition. Now we need to address the cause. We need action, and we need it now. My home, our communities, and our economic future is depending on it."

Speaking directly to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan at the end of the meeting, Roarty, in front of the entire forum, asked that the administration officials in attendance pass along the importance of these issues  - directly to the President.

Although he was impressed that the administration agreed to host the forum, he feels that more immediate action is needed. "The President needs to address this in his campaign," Roarty said after the meeting. "It’s great that administration officials heard our concerns and critique, but this requires more than lip service."

Information for Ohio Homeowners at Home is Where the Vote is (HERE)

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Mortgage Servicing Agreement Filed in Federal Court

(picture courtesy of DOJ)

Justice Department, HUD & State AG's FILE $25 Billion AGREEMENT in D.C. 
FIVE Mortgage Servicers to Address Mortgage Loan Servicing & Foreclosure Abuses

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and 49 state attorneys general announced today the filing of their landmark $25 billion agreement with the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses. The federal government and state attorneys general filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia proposed consent judgments with Bank of America Corporation, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Company, Citigroup Inc. and Ally Financial Inc., to resolve violations of state and federal law.   

The unprecedented joint agreement is the largest federal-state civil settlement ever obtained and is the result of extensive investigations by federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, HUD and the HUD Office of the Inspector General (HUD-OIG), and state attorneys general and state banking regulators across the country.

The consent judgments provide the details of the servicers’ financial obligations under the agreement, which include payments to foreclosed borrowers and more than $20 billion in consumer relief; new standards the servicers will be required to implement regarding mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure practices; and the oversight and enforcement authorities of the independent settlement monitor, Joseph A. Smith Jr
Read the rest of the press release (HERE)

SETTLEMENT DOCUMENTS

• COMPLAINT (pdf)

The court documents filed today also provide detailed new servicing standards that the mortgage servicers will be required to implement.  These standards will prevent foreclosure abuses of the past, such as robo-signing, improper documentation and lost paperwork, and create new consumer protections.  The new standards provide for strict oversight of foreclosure processing, including third-party vendors, and new requirements to undertake pre-filing reviews of certain documents filed in bankruptcy court.  The new servicing standards make foreclosure a last resort by requiring servicers to evaluate homeowners for other loss mitigation options first.  Servicers will be restricted from foreclosing while the homeowner is being considered for a loan modification.  The new standards also include procedures and timelines for reviewing loan modification applications and give homeowners the right to appeal denials.  Servicers will also be required to create a single point of contact for borrowers seeking information about their loans and maintain adequate staff to handle calls.

Ally Financial Inc. Consent Judgment (PDF)

Bank of America Corporation Consent Judgment (PDF)

Citigroup Inc. Consent Judgment (PDF)

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Consent Judgment (PDF)

Wells Fargo & Company Consent Judgment (PDF)

For more information about the task force visit: http://www.stopfraud.gov/.

BLOGGER/WRITER: David Dayen asks a simple question
......You might ask why ANY industry with this kind of performance record would be allowed to stay in business. It would be a good question........(HERE)

First of all, as we’ve been documenting, these are larger releases from liability than at first contemplated. It’s not just a “robo-signing” settlement. Among the elements released in the settlement include foreclosure fraud, numerous instances of varied servicer abuse, violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, whistleblower claims of fraud in HAMP, origination errors, false documentation in court, violations of the False Claims Act, appraisal fraud at Countrywide, fair lending violations, underwriting inaccuracies on FHA loans, and more. Here’s just one list from the complaint of servicing abuses found by the government:

a. failing to timely and accurately apply payments made by borrowers and failing to maintain accurate account statements;
b. charging excessive or improper fees for default-related services;
c. failing to properly oversee third party vendors involved in servicing activities on behalf of the Banks;
d. imposing force-placed insurance without properly notifying the borrowers and when borrowers already had adequate coverage;
e. providing borrowers false or misleading information in response to borrower complaints; and
f. failing to maintain appropriate staffing, training, and quality control systems.

And here’s another list on loan modification noncompliance (which in the case of FHA and other loans, is mandatory):

a. failing to perform proper loan modification underwriting;
b. failing to gather or losing loan modification application documentation and other paper work;
c. failing to provide adequate staffing to implement programs;
d. failing to adequately train staff responsible for loan modifications;
e. failing to establish adequate processes for loan modifications;
f. allowing borrowers to stay in trial modifications for excessive time periods;
g. wrongfully denying modification applications;
h. failing to respond to borrower inquiries;
i. providing false or misleading information to consumers while referring loans to foreclosure during the loan modification application process;
j. providing false or misleading information to consumers while initiating foreclosures where the borrower was in good faith actively pursuing a loss mitigation alternative offered by the Bank;
k. providing false or misleading information to consumers while scheduling and conducting foreclosure sales during the loan application process and during trial loan modification periods;
l. misrepresenting to borrowers that loss mitigation programs would provide relief from the initiation of foreclosure or further foreclosure efforts;
m. failing to provide accurate and timely information to borrowers who are in need of, and eligible for, loss mitigation services, including loan modifications;
n. falsely advising borrowers that they must be at least 60 days delinquent in loan payments to qualify for a loan modification;
o. miscalculating borrowers’ eligibility for loan modification programs and improperly denying loan modification relief to eligible borrowers;
p. misleading borrowers by representing that loan modification applications will be handled promptly when Banks regularly fail to act on loan modifications in a timely manner;
q. failing to properly process borrowers’ applications for loan modifications, including failing to account for documents submitted by borrowers and failing to respond to borrowers’ reasonable requests for information and assistance;
r. failing to assign adequate staff resources with sufficient training to handle the demand from distressed borrowers; and
s. misleading borrowers by providing false or deceptive reasons for denial of loan modifications.

Federal Government announces Agreements & Settlements

Federal Government & State Attorneys General Reach $25 Billion Agreement with five Mortgage Servicers to Address Mortgage Loan Servicing & Foreclosure Abuses

WASHINGTON – U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and Colorado Attorney General John W. Suthers announced today that the federal government and 49 state attorneys general (sans Oklahoma)* have reached a landmark $25 billion agreement with the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers (Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Company,** Citigroup Inc. and Ally Financial Inc.{formerly GMAC}) to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses.  The agreement provides substantial financial relief {cough....cough...} to homeowners and establishes significant new homeowner protections {cough...hack....cough}...for the future. 

The unprecedented joint agreement is the largest federal-state civil settlement ever obtained and is the result of extensive investigations by federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, HUD and the HUD Office of the Inspector General (HUD-OIG), and state attorneys general and state banking regulators across the country.  The joint federal-state group entered into the agreement with the nation’s 5 largest mortgage servicers.

The agreement resolves certain violations of civil law based on mortgage loan servicing activities.  The agreement does not prevent state and federal authorities from pursuing criminal enforcement actions related to this or other conduct by the servicers.  The agreement does not prevent the government from punishing wrongful securitization conduct that will be the focus of the new Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group.  The United States also retains its full authority to recover losses and penalties caused to the federal government when a bank failed to satisfy underwriting standards on a government-insured or government-guaranteed loan.  The agreement does not prevent any action by individual borrowers who wish to bring their own lawsuits.  State attorneys general also preserved, among other things, all claims against the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS), and all claims brought by borrowers..:....(Read the rest)

For another perspective: The top 12 reasons you should HATE the mortgage settlement
and David Dayen at Firedoglake: 49-State Foreclosure Fraud Settlement - Details*

* Oklahoma AG (Scott Pruitt) felt banks - owed NOTHING - and wouldn't agree to settlement

**Wells Fargo: ...The states and federal prosecutors agreed to relieve Wells Fargo from any claims and allegations on servicing, modification and foreclosure practices, including some claims related to the origination of mortgages (WHAT !!.. Are you serious??)
...(Read Wells FRAUDgo statement)
 Photo courtesy: williambanzai7

And of course...click below link for:
INDEPENDENT Foreclosure Review.***
***For borrowers who lost their home to foreclosure between Jan. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2011,
a settlement administrator designated by the attorneys general will send claim forms to persons eligible for cash restitution. If you believe you are eligible for relief under this settlement but are concerned you will be difficult to locate,{because you are Homeless and were Fraudulently "kicked-out" or "evicted" and/or may be living in your car}...then please contact your Attorney General’s Office. We will collect and forward your information {hopefully you're keeping it all in a paper sack} to the appropriate person {fax machine} to ensure you {can start the whole process - all over again} are contacted if you are eligible

10-page pdf document:
"Return Integrity & Accuracy"{we never had it!} to Foreclosure and Bankruptcy (HERE) 

For more information about the mortgage servicing settlement, go to:
 http://www.nationalmortgagesettlement.com/


And simultaneously from the

 OCC Settles Civil Money Penalties Against Large National Bank Mortgage Servicers for $394 Million; Penalty Assessment Coordinated with Servicers' Actions and Payments Under Federal-State Settlement

WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today announced agreements in principle with four large national bank mortgage servicers (Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo) to settle civil money penalties in connection with the unsafe and unsound mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices that were the subject of comprehensive cease and desist orders issued by the OCC in April 2011.

Today’s announcement.......{The} OCC agrees to hold in abeyance imposition of such penalties provided the servicers ......take other actions under the federal-state settlement with a value equal to at least the penalty amounts that each servicer acknowledges....
The amounts for each servicer:
$164 million for Bank of America,
$113 million for JPMorgan Chase,
$83 million for Wells Fargo and
$34 million for Citibank,
If after three(3) years, a servicer has not paid an amount equal to its respective penalty, the OCC will assess a penalty against the servicer..... (Read the rest here)

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown - Letter to the FEDS

Sherrod Brown Sends Letter:
Don't Let Wall Street Banks Use the Assets of Middle Class Ohioans to Pay the Penalty for Breaking the Law

SHERROD BROWN:

“Too many Wall Street banks are walking away from too many Ohio Main Street communities,”. Said Senator Brown (D-OH)

* “This foreclosure crisis affects all of us: homeowners, families, neighbors, and state and local governments. It is clear that the current system isn’t working and unfortunately federal regulators have failed to bring meaningful reform to mortgage servicing"



Senator Sherrod Brown's letter Urges "Involved Parties" to Reject Wall Street Plan:
As Big Banks Continue their attempt to force a settlement, on all the soft Attorney Generals, (including Ohio's Mike DeWine) for Mortgage and Foreclosure Fraud, DO NOT use the Assets of Hardworking Americans to Pay for Illegal Foreclosure Practices

CALL NOW & tell Mike DeWine - NO !!! to Ohio caving to Bank "pay-off" or "sell-out"

Contact OHIO Attorney General ! Today!

Toll-free: 800-282-0515 Columbus Local: 614-466-4986
Monday - Friday 8 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine
30 E. Broad St., 14th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215

1- 19 -12 PRESS RELEASE:

“Instead of taking full responsibility for Illegal Foreclosures, Wall Street banks are trying to use the assets of middle class Americans to pay the penalty,” Brown said. “Penalties for Wall Street’s illegal practices must ensure meaningful relief for the more than one in five homeowners who owe more on their mortgage than their house is worth. But Wall Street banks must not be allowed to pass the buck to investors. The reported settlement terms would amount to a slap on the wrist, allowing banks to write down the investments of many of my constituents, without sacrificing anything. Teachers, first responders, law enforcement officials, and other pensioners and retirees should not be penalized for wrongdoing by Wall Street.” In a letter to Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, and Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, Brown said that mortgage servicers should be required to provide meaningful assistance to Ohio homeowners who lost their homes illegally, but not on the backs of other working Ohioans.

"It is reported that the proposed settlement will include a number of components to address the wrongdoings of Wall Street banks and their affiliated servicers, including a system of mortgage principal reduction.....With more than one in five Ohioans owing more on their mortgage than their house is worth, and Ohioans nearly $16 billion underwater on their mortgages, there is no question that principal reduction can and should be an element of any plan to aid homeowners."
(Read in more detail - Ohio Underwater Crisis - from MVOC Press conference)

1- 4 -12: Foreclose, Evict, Abandon - Sherrod Brown says NO

1- 4 -12: RELATED:   OBAMA names RICHARD CORDRAY to head CFPB

1- 3 -12: PRESS RELEASE:
Brown Urges Agency to Take Action to Prevent Needless Evictions of Ohio Families and Neighborhood Blight

*SHERROD BROWN introduced the  Homeowner Abuse Prevention Act of 2011

Lenders & Servicers may face $25 billion in FHA denials

MORTGAGE SERVICERS:  Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. are among mortgage servicers that may face $13.5 billion in costs and

MORTGAGE LENDERS:  May face $11.5 billion in additional costs if the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) rejects insurance claims on soured loans.

Bank of America & Countrywide: combined have $14 billion in endorsed mortgages
Wells Fargo & Company:  originated $9.8 billion in endorsed mortgages
PNC Financial: (acquired National City Bank portfolio) $ 3.6 billion insured by FHA

"We go where the evidence takes us...if it takes us to...players on Wall Street, so be it"
........ Helen Kanovsky - HUD’s general counsel

read more in Bloomberg Businessweek - October 4, 2011 (HERE)

 "Nobody was doing any mortgage due diligence whatsoever,"
"The only question - 'Whos next?' 
........ Christopher Thornberg - principal at Beacon Economics LLC in Los Angeles.

HUD / FHA loan portfolio = $1 TRILLION dollars with only $ 4.7 billion in capital

........Paul Miller, a former examiner for the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and an analyst with FBR Capital Markets in Arlington, Virginia

"The Housing and Urban Development (HUD) department is examining loans insured through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and may refer additional cases to the U.S. Justice Department"

........ Helen Kanovsky - HUD’s general counsel

OHIO FRAUDclosure shared the news (in our June 17th, 2011 post - HERE)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

VS

Deutsche Bank AG

United States Court: Southern District of New York
Case: 2011 CV 2976   Jury Trial Demanded

The above case has REVEALED.... what we already know...these loans are RIPE with FRAUD

and US tax-payer owned Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – ARE BROKE.

TIME TO PAY- UP..... for all the fraud!!!!    

To Big To Fail ???

Bank of America stock has plunged 59% this year (below $6 for first time since 2009)

JPMorgan stock has lost 32% in value and  Wells Fargo has fallen 25% year to date.

Related News: BofA to Shutter Lending Unit After Auction Fails
more from Bloomberg Businessweek - October 4, 2011 (HERE)

U.S. Government to Prosecute mortgage Fraud?

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

VS

Deutsche Bank AG and MortgageIT Inc.

United States Court: Southern District of New York
Case: 2011 CV 2976   Jury Trial Demanded

            

  Explosive News……. or ….........Flash Bang ….........you decide

The name of this blog is OHIO FRAUDclosure, so we want to stay on target topic. However, this appears to be such a major news story and seems directly related to the on-going investigations of FRAUD in foreclosures. That – we simply have to report on it.

I’ll present the information, and then you decide. Is this major and EXPLOSIVE NEWS...or …maybe….just a "Flash Bomb." First, I’m going to try to give it what it needs….a little intrigue and mystery…so you'll have to wait.....for our report.

This is much bigger than the State of OHIO and it is proof positive of our U.S. Government taking action! This is clearly a follow-up from all the information gleaned from the congressional hearings (held last fall) and must somehow be tied-in with the investigations currently being conducted by ALL 50 State Attorney Generals. This is the big one! This is the mortgage investigation and news we’ve all been waiting for. Certainly by now, you’ve read about it, if not having first been texted, tweeted (Twitter) or alerted via the Internet, or another blog. If you Google or Bing (Search) the case file number or named criminal Bank…..it’s a HEADLINE Story. Unfortunately, you will probably get the exact same copied story (UPI reported) and headline everywhere. At least it got some coverage…shortly after being filed in a N. Y. Federal Court on Tuesday morning. But, it "apparently" got lost as being "big news" in New York, since major media and news coverage was focused on the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Darn - What bad timing….you know….for a FRAUD and Foreclosure story of this magnitude.  It got more mainstream coverage on Wednesday – some of it - making the first few pages of major newspapers. The most detailed coverage was through bloggers nontraditional & Internet news outlets (Bloomberg and MSN).  Unfortunately, there are a few folks out there that believe the timing of the lawsuit….well....let’s just say…..was untimely ….and this EXPLOSIVE HEADLINE …well ......may in fact.....simply be.........a headline.

MAJOR Explosion, MAJOR News, MAJOR Headline,.... to be posted here - soon