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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 2012)
Street roots 7 Feb. 17, 2012 SHIELDS, from page 1 hell of a lot of work. would grant immunity for fraudulent dealings. J.Z.: What’s the survival rate for these bills? J.Z.: The national mortgage settlement will net Oregon an estimated $230 million, the bulk to be distributed from homeowners who were victims. B u t $30 million goes to the state of Oregon. How would you like to see that applied? ng C.S.: That’s a good question. I think it should go to the homeowners themselves to buying down principle, so people can afford their mortgages. f it the end of the day, people power does w in owl; It fast takes a h e ll of a lo t of w o rk." ■Km P ile Hillarfin UlC QZO U lIIlU ll C.S.: I’d say 50/50. J.Z.: What is your reaction to the House Republication’s refusal to bring up several foreclosure bills for discussion? C.S.: At the end of the day, there are two currencies in politics, one is money and the other is people power a lot of times money wins, but not all the time. So it’s going to depend on people calling on their state representatives, particularly those who live in East Multnomah County and areas outside of Portland, to call on their representatives to say this is important. We’ve got to stand up to the banks. The Oregon attorney general should have the right to sue banks when they engage in fraud in these matters. At the end of the day, the Republicans will weigh who is more important to them — the banks or their constituents. It will be up to the constituents to make their concerns known to their legislature. At the end of the day, people power does win out; it just takes a J.Z.: You’d have to get the support o f the house to sign off on it at some point. What do you say to Republicans who suggest that these efforts am ount to overregulation o f the industry and won’t help Oregonian’s avoid foreclosure? C.S.: Going back to the fact that the modification bill has come out unanimously, I don’t know if it’s true the Republicans think it’s too much regulation. The Senate Republicans on my committee agree with me that having a modification mediation program just makes good common sense. The question is whether the House Republican leadership will listen to the people or listen to the banks. J.Z.: Have the banks and lenders been aggressive on this in Salem? C.S.: Yeah, there is a group that’s called the United Financial Lobby. They’ve been very aggressive in trying to kill any type of mortgage relief for everyday people. J.Z.: How much further are state lawmakers willing to go to manage this market in the future, to keep this crisis from happening again? C.S.: We definitely need to do more. Part of the challenge is that we are preempted from doing a lot on federally chartered banks, and so in many respects, this is a U.S. Congress issue. But I think that to the degree that we can continue to stand up for consumers, I’m sure that my committee can push the ball forward. existing securities fraud class action case. The losses were triggered by a n the heals of the national foreign currency exchange mortgage settlement against manipulation scheme, which came banks for defrauding to light after whistleblowers alleged homeowners, Oregon Treasurer Ted that BNY Mellon was rigging prices Wheeler and Attorney General John to obtain higher profits. Kroger announced that they were The lawsuit alleges that instead heading up a class action lawsuit to of buying and selling foreign recover at least $15.7 million from currency at the “best execution Bank of New York Mellon Corp. standards,” as promised, BNY The money will recoup what was Mellon would charge clients the lost to the Oregon Common School least favorable rates and pocket the Fund and Oregon Public Employees difference in profits. Retirement Fund. Oregon did not have any foreign In the announcement from the currency transactions through BNY Attorney General’s office, the state Mellon. However, the Common also seeks to help other similarly School Fund and Oregon Public situated investors recover losses they suffered due to securities fraud Employee Retirement Fund (OPERF) were damaged because engineered by the New York-based the fraudulent practices and financial institution. subsequent outrage caused the A motion filed Monday in U.S. value of Oregon’s holdings of BNY District Court in New York seeks to make Oregon a co-lead plaintiff in an Mellon stock to plummet. O I® 1' ' 3 ill » B ill i B I I l Ji u I SS-: : ; __ T A tt Z /M 1 A A ( a < The Oregon State Treasury and Oregon Investment Council bought and sold shares in BNY Mellon between April 2008 and June 2011 on behalf of OPERF and the Oregon Common School Fund. In that span, the value of those shares fell from $42.06 to $24.86, a decline of 41 percent. OPERF lost more than $14.5 million and the Oregon CSF lost approximately $1.2 million. According to Kroger’s office, during that period of time, BNY Mellon misled investors by failing to describe what was actually happening inside the company: Specifically, that as much as 69 percent of the profit from foreign exchange trading was derived from an illicit price manipulation scheme, according to the complaint. Puts an end to robosigning, the signing of affidavits filed statements utilized in foreclosure proceedings must be accurate as to the amounts owed and the standing of the bank/servicer to file for foreclosure and must be based on the signor’s personal knowledge of the facts. The affiant must actually review the bank/servicer records before signing. And banks/servicers shall not pay incentives to employees or third parties to encourage speed in the signing of affidavits. ■ Requires pre-foreclosure referral notice to borrower of their loan status 14 days before a delinquent loan Is referred to a foreclosure attorney. The notice shall contain facts supporting the bank’s/ servicer’s right to foreclose along with other required to bring the loan current. new protections to ensure accuracy of * f Ut* within two days and accepting partial payments when they’re within $50 of the scheduled payment. in could move forward even during the medation process. Once a loan has been referred to foreclosure, the agreement allows for suspending the foreclosure process if t'ne borrowing receives a loan modification and files in a reaches out to the bank/servicer due to difficulty making their loan payments. I develop loan portals where can check, at no cost, the status of their loan , to be updated every 10 business days. On ■ All default, foreclosure fees and bankruptcy related service, including third-party fees shall be bonaflde, reasonable In amount, and disclosed to the borrower in detail. Likewise, attorneys’ fees charged in foreclosure shall only be for work LOOKING FOR AN AFFORDARI F PL A fF TO RFNT? Your online housing search just got easier. . -M t W * •** 'w WWW» w W «M B »*««/ -W Thousands o f listings • Free service FUN TO SHOP • LO C w w w .n e w s e a s o zs« and Wells Fargo. The settlement will provide as much as $25 billion in relief to distressed borrowers, and for signing states and the federal government. It also establishes the following new standards for operations regarding loan modifications and foreclosures. The devil is in the details, which have yet to be released, but here are the highlights: ensure oversig ■ e a t f r e ; J, » • Oregon to sue banks over benefits STAFF REPORTS The landmark national mortgage settlement was reached between 49 states, the federal government and five major , .
