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Eight million people are at risk of losing their homes because Wall Street abandoned responsible lending practices to gain short-term profits. The housing crisis is not just a problem for families facing foreclosure - it's a problem for every homeowner in America. As long as foreclosures persist, home values will keep going down, and everyone loses.

We need your help. Have you been affected by the housing meltdown? Foreclosed on? Underwater? Record your story, or the story of a friend, family member, or neighbor, and send it to us. You can also add your written story along with a photo for the map. Then, watch the video stories of the families, mothers, fathers, and children who have lost, or are losing the place they call home.

Tag Archive for 'bailout'

Bank of America Still Screwing Troubled Mortgage Borrowers

Published
by
ZP Heller
on May 14, 2009
in Content
. Comments

If you think Bank of America is curbing their predatory practicies now that they’ve ousted Ken Lewis as chairman, think again.  Check out this ad I came across:

SHORT SALE!

Have You Had Difficulty Negotiating A Short Sale With Your Lender?

To approve a Short sale of your primary home, did the Lender make you sign a note or letter stating you must repay the difference between your loan and the sale amount, even if you never refinanced your home?

Did the Lender force you into Foreclosure and Bankruptcy?

We are a group of individuals (not attorneys) concerned with the way certain Banks have treated troubled borrowers and are investigating their practices, especially in light of the billions of dollars banks have received in TARP Monies. Some of these ill-advised business practices may even be illegal under California law, and costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

This is not a solicitation of business. We want to hear from you. Confidentiality assured.

Please call 1-866-981-8781 and leave a confidential message. Thank you.

What prompted this ad is that Bank of America has apparently been screwing over troubled mortgage borrowers who are attempting to negotiate short sales on their homes.  Borrowers who can’t afford to keep their homes have to work out a deal with their bank, selling short on their home at whatever the market value is currently in order to avoid foreclosure altogether.  Bank of America, however, is forcing these troubled borrowers to sign deficiency letters, meaning the borrower has to repay the difference between the sale price and the remainder of the existing loan on the property, which could easily force borrowers into bankruptcy.

What’s odd is that banks get far less in foreclosure than in short sales, so it would be in their best interest to work something out.  What’s more, Bank of America recently announced it was easing its policy on short sales, requiring 5 percent of short sale proceeds instead of 10 percent.  But this ad makes it sound like Bank of America is still having it both ways with troubled borrowers.

In California, Bank of America’s predatory behavior might be violating the law, since they are refusing to bless a short sale if the borrower does not sign a deficiency letter, even when the borrower’s home has not been refinanced.  If you know anyone, particularly in California, who has had difficulty negotiating a short sale, urge them to call 1-866-981-8781 and leave a confidential message.  Bank of America has already taken tens of billions in our taxpayer money through the bailout; we can’t allow them to continue screwing homeowners at every turn.

Bernie Sanders to the Rescue

Published
by
ZP Heller
on February 26, 2009
in Content
. Comments

President Obama delivered a fantastic speech last night. It’s tone alone will go a long way toward reassuring a nation mired in economic crisis. And amazingly, there were many moments of bipartisan applause, like when Obama tackled corporate greed: “I intend to hold these banks fully accountable for the assistance they receive, and this time, they will have to clearly demonstrate how taxpayer dollars result in more lending for the American taxpayer. This time, CEOs won’t be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks or buy fancy drapes or disappear on a private jet. Those days are over.”

This was music to my ears, but as Robert Scheer astutely pointed out at The Nation, the problem Obama had in discussing regulation to fix our financial woes is that many of his top economic advisers, including Lawrence Summers, were responsible for gutting the regulatory system that helped cause this mess in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, Obama’s speech was strong and hopefully it will symbolize a fundamental change in thinking from his economic team. But I’m just glad we have someone like Senator Bernie Sanders to help Obama make good on his demagoguery.

The Independent Senator from Vermont says we need a new Wall Street. He wants to confront the culture of greed head on, get rid of the CEOs of these corrupt financial institutions, and establish a much stricter regulatory process. Sanders has been a vocal critic of TARP spending from the beginning, and last month he called for the congressional TARP Oversight Panel to expand its focus and dig into the causes of the financial crisis, using subpoena power to expose the roots. Sanders’ vigilence and frankness, coupled with Obama’s rhetoric last night, is what gives me hope.

It’s Time to Treat America’s Homeowners as Well as We’ve Been Treating Wall Street’s Bankers

Published
by
ariannahuffington
on February 17, 2009
in Content
. Comments

If you were to make a pie chart showing the amount of attention given to the banking part of the financial crisis — both by the government and by the media — and the amount of attention given to the foreclosure part, the catastrophe being faced by millions of American homeowners would barely rate a sliver.

But we are facing nothing less than a national emergency, with 10,000 Americans going into foreclosure every day and 2.3 million homeowners having faced foreclosure proceedings in 2008.

When we put flesh and blood on these numbers, the suffering they represent is enormous and so is the social disintegration they entail.

For a small sample, check out Brave New Foundation’s new site, Fighting For Our Homes, where you can see video of people doing just that. People like Debra from Pennsylvania who, due to health care costs, is facing foreclosure on her home of 33 years or Penny from Texas who has been pushed to the brink of homelessness as the result of costly repairs necessitated by Hurricane Ike.

Continue reading ‘It’s Time to Treat America’s Homeowners as Well as We’ve Been Treating Wall Street’s Bankers’

Why Is Bank of America Blaming the Financial Crisis on Dead Mothers?

Published
by
ZP Heller
on February 9, 2009
in Content
. Comments

How do you know when your bank is standing in the way of economic recovery? Well, take the following quiz. Your bank took $45 billion in bailout funds and:

a) Blew it on an overseas bank investment, DC lobbyists, corporate jets, executive bonuses, and a lavish Super Bowl party worth $10 million alone.
b) Announced it would lay off 35,000 workers while refusing to provide adequate health care for the rest of its 212,000 employees.
c) Asked participants on a conference call to donate large sums of money to vulnerable anti-union Senatorial candidates in order to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act.
d) Blamed the financial crisis on dead mothers.
e) All of the above.

Sadly, for Bank of America, the answer is “e” as in “egregious.” TPMMuckraker had a story Friday about Theresa Hatt, a Bank of America customer who died of cancer last month at 52. When her son, Paul Kelleher, called Bank of America to let them know, an estates representative asked if Kelleher intended to pay off the balance of his mother’s credit card. When he said he wasn’t obligated to, the representative said, “I know that if it were my mother, I’d pay it. That’s why we’re in the banking crisis we’re in: banks having to write off defaulted loans.”

Continue reading ‘Why Is Bank of America Blaming the Financial Crisis on Dead Mothers?’