Mortgage Debt & Home Equity

Race and the Housing Bubble

11/16/12

While we wait to see if the second Obama administration will do anything new to help homeowners hit by the lingering mortgage crisis (finally replace Bush-holdover Ed DeMarco at FHFA to make way for debt relief?), there’s time to review a recent development that didn’t get the full attention it deserved.

[more]

BofA v. MBIA and the Future of Private Label Securitization

11/14/12

There's a fascinating and absolutely cut-throat fight going on between BofA and MBIA. There's been some good media coverage of how a litigation fight over MBS fraud has spilled over into a really nasty corporate finance battle. I think it shows yet another danger of too-big-to-fail firms:  they can adopt litigation tactics that others simply can't in order to avoid liability.

[more]

Ultimate Skin in the Game?

11/05/12

Much chatter has been made of Ocwen's acquisition of ResCap at the bankruptcy auction (although not as much as the acquirer of its loan portfolio), but I'm much more intrigued by its pickup of Wilbur Ross's

[more]

Hmmmm....

10/24/12

How is one to reconcile the civil fraud allegations in the US's suit against Countrywide for defrauding the GSEs with the Department of Justice dropping its criminal investigation of Angelo Mozillo in 2011?

[more]

Reverse Mortgages -- The Next Big Problem Area?

10/15/12

In October 2011, I testified to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee's Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection. In a nation of short memories, the hearing took place amid claims that we did not need new consumer financial regulation. Existing institutions could adequately take care of things. Thus, among other things, the hearing focused on what specific tasks the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) could undertake.

[more]

The Mortgage Settlement's Big Day

10/02/12

Today, October 2, is the last day for the nation's five largest mortgage companies to implement the servicing reforms in the National Mortgage Settlement. As California Monitor, I issued my first report to highlight one of the most important changes--restricting dual tracking.

[more]

NYAG MBS Suit

10/01/12

A few very quick impressions about the NYAG's suit against JPMorgan.  

[more]

Foreclosure Crisis Year Six

09/28/12

While industry and government news releases emphasize the
declining rates of delinquency and foreclosure, the declines remain agonizingly
slow.  Yes, serious defaults on
mortgages are down from their peak in 2010.  On the other hand, there have been 4.5 million completed
foreclosure sales since 2007 and there are still between 4 and 5 million
mortgages delinquent

[more]

Did Scott Brown Facilitate Predatory Loans?

09/27/12

There's no question that we at the Slips take a particular interest in the Massachusetts Senate race. But usually we don't have much to say about it. Still, something Scott Brown said today struck me as rather significant--much more so than a lot of the things that have been covered in the media about the Senate race. 

[more]

FHFA punishes states

09/26/12

My comments on the FHFA mortgage fee increase for NY, NJ, FL, IL and CT, here at Consumer Law & Policy.

[more]