Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 2011)
5 Street roots Feb 18, 2011 FORECLOSURE, from page 4 Good Grief America will be hosting a | servicers have used this program in a very homeowner workshop in the Tigard area predatory manner and compounded the Friday, Feb. 25. Cost is is $20 per grief and financial loss of the American household if in foreclosure or default. people. The servicers have little to no intention of performing on the trial Online preregistration is required'-at www, modifications that they set up. It is doubtful goodgriefamerica.ning.com. Location will if they even have authority. They tell people be e-mailed upon registration. that it will be a three-month trial period while they prepare the final modification. Six, nine and twelve months later, with the party of standing. Unfortunately homeowners are still making the payments, our research shows that in many cases increasing their anxiety each month as to why they don’t have a modification. We have there may not be a party of standing, seen them go up to 18 months and then the “Someone who actually owns our loan that we can negotiate with and create a win-win.” homeowner receives a letter that says they This was difficult for me to believe in our are denied. The reasons are all over the early research but it is now hard to deny. board. We often see them say “excessive The chain of title between the homeowner deferred payments.” This means, now you and the source that provided the money for are too far behind. Usually a sale date is th e loan is seriously broken in many places. within three weeks of the notice and the After years of being in the industry, I just homeowner panics. We too often see the couldn’t believe that this took place. As we loan servicer foreclose right in the middle continued to research, we found that the old of the homeowner making payments without any notice. The PTSD escalates. We process of transferring deeds and notes to the new owner also find that little if “party of standing” any of these had been destroyed payments even go in the securitization toward their loan. process that Wall A report that I "They created a casino Street banks created. read over a year ago beyond my imagination with They created a explains why this goes on. It was called our loans. To do this, the old casino beyond my imagination with our “Why servicers system had to go. Many of loans. To do this, the foreclose when they the notes were shredded and old system had to go. should modify, and destroyed. The Wall Street Many of the notes other puzzling were shredded and bankers seemed to think servicer behaviors.” destroyed. The Wall They pointed out they were invincible and Street bankers how profitable could rewrite real estate law seemed to think they' foreclosures are. On were invincible and in America in the name of average,a greed and profit. To a great ! could rewrite real foreclosure is 46 estate law in percent more degree th ey w ere successful A m erica in th e nam e profitable than a of greed and profit b ut now th a t em p ire is performing loan. To a g re a t d eg ree cru m b lin g around tb em ." This does not include they were successful the credit default but now that empire swaps that the is crumbling around servicer may have them. We just had a purchased on the landmark ruling in Oregon on one of our loans. Yes, those were bets that the cases regarding MERS, tiie Mortgage homeowner would not perform. We have Electronic Registration System. This is the found up to 30 times the face amount of the system that Wall Street developed instead of loan could be the payout if the servicer is using the county recording system used for able to foreclose. The bottom line is that hundreds of years. MERS is non they lose money when they modify and can transparent, so they could move the loans make a fortune when they foreclose. around at will without anyone knowing who owned them. This casino spun so fast that it J.Z.: How is that possible? is doubtful who owns what anymore. This N.K.: Many different entities on Wall is one of the issues at the heart of why the Street, including the loan servicers bought modifications aren’t working. credit default swaps for pennies on the J.Z.: I know that legislative action on dollar on these loans. The dirtier the loan Oregon Laws is part o f your agenda. What are the more credit default swaps were bought. you calling for? The numbers we are seeing are up to, 30 times the face amount. The credit default N.K.: We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit and our swaps were sold like an insurance policy but lobbying abilities are limited, but we have they weren’t insurance because they shared our research with our legislators so weren’t regulated, registered anywhere and theyunderstand what is actually going on. had very little reserves behind them if the This has enabled them to write loans defaulted. Basically, they were bets amendments to the laws and new that the loans would go bad. By September ♦ legislation. We have built a network of 2008 the holders of the bets were coming 22-plusattorneys that we have assisted in forward as the loans were massively educating to help homeowners. Some of defaulting. AIG and Lehman Brothers were them are working with the legislators on the two main houses on Wall Street that legal issues as we'U. We want transparency sold the' credit default swaps. Lehman went and a moratorium on foreclosures until down and the government stepped in and is these issues are resolved. We are not backing all the bets. They have no idea how counting on our legisltors to do the job for many trillion are still out there but it is us. We are finding that fair and reasonable massive and will break the taxpayers’ backs judges are digging in and tearing these in ways no one is talking about. issues. We are looking for sustainable remedies in the courts. J.Z.: W hat kind of policies are you advocating for in the future to protect homeowners? N.K.: We want sustainable modifications nearest you. Thank you! To inquire about orders, go to www.roseciiyresource.org, or call Becky M ullins at 503-228-5657 Meet Your Local Branch Manager: T h ib w m iw arent ju st streets and build ings. Communities are thriving places where cultures, commerce and souls grow stronger together. *- . ■ Mary More information is available at www. goodgriefameried. ning. com, or by calling the homeowner hotline at 541-690-8334. you can’t find a vendor in your neighborhood, call Street Roots, 503-228-5657, for the vendor If Kll Scriven performs on a sidewalk in Portland. H e’s one o f many street musicians, or tskers, whose livelihood is under review as the city revisits its Street Musicians vrtnership. Street performers, business owners, police and others gathered Feb 10 m a .cetins convened bv City Commissioner fyn^ n d g lfp r it^ ty j^ S ^ ^ g !& jreement. f h e a ^ e ^ n t allows musicians to perform in a location fo r one hour a t a me with some guidelines on noise and equipment, and without interruption. The leeting was an education for attendees, most o f whom knew, little about the agreement. 1ary Edmeades al impact Banking 503.445.2156 Member At Albina Community Bank the most ordinary financial transaction can have an extraordinary impact on our iocal community. the places where you live and work?
