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.
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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
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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
,
.