Foreclosure Settlement Checks Significantly Smaller Than Regulators Forecasted: Homeowners

Foreclosure Settlement Checks Significantly Smaller Than Regulators Forecasted: Homeowners

Adam Crain reckoned he was due $125,000. That amount would come as compensation for losing his Oak Harbor, Wash., home to foreclosure while he was serving aboard a naval vessel in the Middle East. He calculated that sum using a table distributed by federal regulators as part of a $9.2 billion settlement with mortgage companies over a wave of improper foreclosures.

Federal law offers special protections from foreclosure to military personnel, especially those receiving hazard pay, as Crain was at the time.

But last week, when Crain opened the envelope and removed his check, he was horrified by the amount his bank, Wells Fargo, had determined he was due: Eight hundred dollars was all he received.

“This is what happens when there is no oversight,” Crain said.

NY judge trims multi-million dollar RMBS suit

NY judge trims multi-million dollar RMBS suit

A New York state judge has trimmed a suit accusing Deutsche Bank AG  ($45.85 -0.2%) and several of its units of misrepresenting the risks of more than $150 million in residential mortgage-backed securities, ruling that the plaintiffs couldn’t prove the bank owed any duty sufficient to support a negligent misrepresentation claim.

 

NY AG wants Obama to appoint new interim FHFA director

NY AG wants Obama to appoint new interim FHFA director

ew York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman applauded President Obama for the potential nomination of Congressman Mel Watt, D-N.C., as the permanent head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

However, Schneiderman called on Obama to take immediate action to replace acting director Ed DeMarco with a new acting director who will allow principal reduction relief for struggling homeowners.

“As I have consistently said, the FHFA’s refusal to allow principal write-downs that would result in more loan modifications is a direct impediment to our economic recovery and stands in way of our efforts to provide much needed assistance to homeowners in New York and across the country,” Schneiderman said.

Federal class action suit attacks Hawaii judges over handling of foreclosures

Federal class action suit attacks Hawaii judges over handling of foreclosures

HONOLULU (CN) – A Hawaii family and a developer filed a federal class action against every Circuit Court judge in Hawaii, accusing them of using “ancient judge-made procedures” to enforce foreclosure judgments.
     Jerry Agbannaoag, Ke Kailani Development et al. claim the judges’ practice fostered the “flipping” of properties and unjustly enriched lenders.
     Michael J. Fuchs, the founder of Home Box Office, is also a plaintiff.
     They sued the honorable judges of the First, Second, Third and Fifth Circuits of Hawaii – all 32 judges.
     “Hawaii courts matter-of-factly merely assume routinely when determining and enforcing foreclosure deficiency judgments that the confirmed sale price minus the net proceeds of sale controls and mathematically determines by subtraction the monetary deficiency amount,” the complaint states.
     “This procedure completely ignores reality,” the plaintiffs say. They call it an “arbitrary and mechanical method” that fails to protect borrowers.
     The plaintiffs claim other states have passed laws against the practice.
     “Today, many state legislatures have passed anti-deficiency statutes, requiring that after a foreclosure auction, state courts must hold a separate, evidentiary hearing to determine the ‘fair value’ of the foreclosed property, which is not necessarily the ‘auction price,'” they say in the complaint.