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Is your mortgage signed by someone named Linda Green?
Repeating a story that has been in the press for several months, with continued investigative research, easy to understand delivery, and access to millions of American viewers, 60 Minutes - helps millions discover valuable information about mortgage fraud.
Who cares how many times this story is in the news? This poster's does - hence is loading it on Current! Read on, and repost folks!!
60Mins - grew up with'm - still seek them out from time to time - glad to see this piece, will be hitting a huge market tonight!
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/01/60minutes/main20049646_page2.shtml
Produced by Robert Anderson and Daniel Ruetenik
(CBS News) If there was a question about whether we're headed for a second housing shock, that was settled last week with news that home prices have fallen a sixth consecutive month. Values are nearly back to levels of the Great Recession. One thing weighing on the economy is the huge number of foreclosed houses.
Many are stuck on the market for a reason you wouldn't expect: banks can't find the ownership documents.
Who really owns your mortgage?
Scott Pelley explains a bizarre aftershock of the U.S. financial collapse: An epidemic of forged and missing mortgage documents.
It's bizarre but, it turns out, Wall Street cut corners when it created those mortgage-backed investments that triggered the financial collapse. Now that banks want to evict people, they're unwinding these exotic investments to find, that often, the legal documents behind the mortgages aren't there. Caught in a jam of their own making, some companies appear to be resorting to forgery and phony paperwork to throw people - down on their luck - out of their homes.
In the 1930s we had breadlines; venture out before dawn in America today and you'll find mortgage lines. This past January in Los Angeles, 37,000 homeowners facing foreclosure showed up to an event to beg their bank for lower payments on their mortgage. Some people even slept on the sidewalk to get in line.
So many in the country are desperate now that they have to meet in convention centers coast to coast.
In February in Miami, 12,000 people showed up to a similar event. The line went down the block and doubled back twice.
Video: The next housing shock
Extra: Eviction reprieve
Extra: "Save the Dream" events
Dale DeFreitas lost her job and now fears her home is next. "It's very emotional because I just think about it. I don't wanna lose my home. I really don't," she told "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley.
"It's your American dream," he remarked.
"It was. And still is," she replied.
These convention center events are put on by the non-profit Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, which helps people figure what they can afford, and then walks them across the hall to bank representatives to ask for lower payments. More than half will get their mortgages adjusted, but the rest discover that they just can't keep their home.
For many that's when the real surprise comes in: these same banks have fouled up all of their own paperwork to a historic degree.
"In my mind this is an absolute, intentional fraud," Lynn Szymoniak, who is fighting foreclosure, told Pelley.
While trying to save her house, she discovered something we did not know: back when Wall Street was using algorithms and computers to engineer those disastrous mortgage-backed securities, it appears they didn't want old fashioned paperwork slowing down the profits.
"This was back when it was a white hot fevered pitch to move as many of these as possible," Pelley remarked.
"Exactly. When you could make a whole lotta money through securitization. And every other aspect of it could be done electronically, you know, key strokes. This was the only piece where somebody was supposed to actually go get documents, transfer the documents from one entity to the other. And it looks very much like they just eliminated that stuff all together," Szymoniak said.
Szymoniak's mortgage had been bundled with thousands of others into one of those Wall Street securities traded from investor to investor. When the bank took her to court, it first said it had lost her documents, including the critical assignment of mortgage which transfers ownership. But then, there was a courthouse surprise.
"They found all of your paperwork more than a year after they initially said that they had lost it?" Pelley asked.
"Yes," she replied.
Asked if that seemed suspicious to her, Szymoniak said, "Yes, absolutely. What do you imagine? It fell behind the file cabinet? Where was all of this? 'We had it, we own it, we lost it.' And then more recently, everyone is coming in saying, 'Hey we found it. Isn't that wonderful?'"
But what the bank may not have known is that Szymoniak is a lawyer and fraud investigator with a specialty in forged documents. She has trained FBI agents.
She told Pelley she asked for copies of those documents.
Asked what she found, Szymoniak told Pelley, "When I looked at the assignment of my mortgage, and this is the assignment: it looked that even the date they put in, which was 10/17/08, was several months after they sued me for foreclosure. So, what they were saying to the court was, 'We sued her in July of 2008 and we acquired this mortgage in October of 2008.' It made absolutely no sense."
Curious, she used her legal training to go online and research 10,000 mortgages.
"I often, because of my training, look for patterns. And then I began to find the strange signatures," she explained.
One of the strangest signatures belonged to the bank vice president who had signed Szymoniak's newly discovered mortgage documents. The name is Linda Green. But, on thousands of other mortgages, the style of Green's signature changed a lot.
And, even more remarkable, Szymoniak found Green was vice president of 20 banks - all at the same time.
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READ ON REST of PAGE 2, + PAGES 3 & 4 - at LINK
##Is your mortgage signed by someone named Linda Green?
Repeating a story that has... more
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For two years, politicians have danced around the nationalization issue, but ForeclosureGate may be the last straw. The megabanks are too big to fail, but they aren’t too big to reorganize as federal institutions serving the public interest.
In January 2009, only a week into Obama’s presidency, David Sanger reported in The New York Times that nationalizing the banks was being discussed. Privately, the Obama economic team was conceding that more taxpayer money was going to be needed to shore up the banks. When asked whether nationalization was a good idea, House speaker Nancy Pelosi replied:
“Well, whatever you want to call it . . . . If we are strengthening them, then the American people should get some of the upside of that strengthening. Some people call that nationalization.
“I’m not talking about total ownership,” she quickly cautioned — stopping herself by posing a question: “Would we have ever thought we would see the day when we’d be using that terminology? ‘Nationalization of the banks?’ ”
Read More: http://globalpoliticalawakening.blogspot.com/2010/11/foreclosuregate-could-force-bank.htmlFor two years, politicians have danced around the nationalization issue, but... more
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Government regulators closed four more banks Friday, which makes the total failures in 2010 to 143. It is the most in a single year since the savings-and-loan crisis. There were only three bank failures in 2007, twenty-five in 2008, before 2009 exploded with 140 closings.
The increasing number of failed banks is causing an already bleeding FDIC to go deeper into the red. Last year the deficit for the FDIC stood at $15.2 billion as of June 30, while the FDIC predicts the cost of bank fails from 2010 through 2014 to be around $52 billion. However, the deposit insurance fund may suffer a milder loss in 2010, which has reached about $21 billion so far this year, compared with $36 billion in 2009.
Read More: http://globalpoliticalawakening.blogspot.com/2010/11/most-bank-fails-in-one-year-since-s.htmlGovernment regulators closed four more banks Friday, which makes the total failures in... more
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Bank of America, Wachovia Bank, SunTrust and Regions — the biggest banks operating in Florida — have all made a new list of large banks considered "vulnerable to financial difficulties or even possible failure."
The new ratings released by Weiss Ratings of Jupiter indicate that almost half of the country's banks are still in a precarious position 20 months after the $700 billion federal bailout. It rates banks based on such measures as capital, asset quality and earnings.
Overall, Weiss Ratings gave 2,259 banks and savings institutions controlling $5.8 trillion (or 44 percent of all assets nationwide) a rating of D+ ("weak") or worse. Only 962 institutions — accounting for less than a combined 4 percent of all assets — were recommended to consumers with a rating of B+ ("good") or higher.
"Major U.S. banks continue to be plagued by toxic assets and an inability to raise capital," said Martin Weiss, chairman of Weiss Ratings and longtime harbinger of problem loans in banks.
Weiss said that the "severity of this situation" and the growing difficulty consumers have in finding a safe place to put their money have persuaded his company to stop charging consumers for its ratings.
Bank of America, Wachovia (which is now part of Wells Fargo), SunTrust and Region have a combined market share that totals nearly half of all banking deposits in Florida. Each, along with other top players like Citibank and HSBC, was rated "D" by Weiss.
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End Of ArticleBank of America, Wachovia Bank, SunTrust and Regions — the biggest banks... more
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WASHINGTON — Regulators on Friday shut down four California banks, a big community bank based in Chicago, and banks in Florida and Virginia. The closures boosted to 118 the number of U.S. bank failures this year.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday took over the California banks: Butte Community Bank, based in Chico; Pacific State Bank, based in Stockton; Los Padres Bank, in Solvang; and Sonoma Valley Bank, in Sonoma.
The FDIC also seized Chicago-based ShoreBank; Imperial Savings and Loan Association of Martinsville, Va., and two Florida banks: Community National Bank at Bartow and Independent National Bank, in Ocala.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38792233WASHINGTON — Regulators on Friday shut down four California banks, a big... more
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Health insurer sued Maine to increase profits
Healthcare Watch is taking on WellCare, the health insurance provider that recently made headlines for alleged illegal actions such as coercing employees to lobby against healthcare reform. The put this video together to tell their side of the story. You can weigh in here.
Should Obama meet with the Dalai Lama?
Over on the Current News blog, Andrew posed the titular question in response to news that the White House asked the Tibetans to 'postpone' a meeting with the President. My take? I don't know what you're complaining about, Andrew. Obama's decision to postpone his meeting with the Dalai Lama only opens the door for you to spend more time with his Holiness. What are you waiting for? Weigh in on this story here.
California mulls legalizing marijuana
In a shocking change of pace, this legalization story is picking up some steam on Current.com, this time from a UK perspective (e.g. the source article comes to us from the BBC). These days California is either seen as a trailblazer (as this article points out, should we adopt a legalization plan to profit off the legal sale of the plant), or a ripe candidate for the title of "America's first failed state." Tell us what you think here.
‘Too big to fail’ must end for all, FDIC chief says
F.D.I.C. Chairman Sheila Bair told the Institute of International Finance:
"I believe that the new regime should apply to all bank holding companies that are more than just shells and their affiliates regardless or not whether they are considered to be systemic risks."
Bair's comments are striking a chord with community members who are tired of the "rewarded failure" approach, but we want to hear your thoughts, too. Add to the conversation here.
Apple sues someone because their logo looks like fruit
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="It's Woolworths, not *that* Woolworths"][/caption]
Okay, I agree with all of the unjustified lawsuit claims on the basis that Woolworths and Apple couldn't be further from each other. On an unrelated note, whenever I read word "Woolworths" I can't help but think of John McConnell's mispronunciation of the store's name in the Coen Brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou?, "And stay outta the Woolsworth!"
But, I have to say, if I were Woolworths I'd have to be loving this lawsuit. I mean, what better way to announce the five-and-dime's return? Oh wait, this is an unaffiliated Australian supermarket named after the original Woolworths. Nevermind. WTF Apple? Let Apple know how off-base they are over here. jh6wcyrsf5
Health insurer sued Maine to increase profits
Healthcare Watch is taking on... more
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Excerpt from Chapter 3:
Sea-level rise will extend areas of salinisation of
groundwater and estuaries, resulting in a decrease in freshwater
availability for humans and ecosystems in coastal areas (very
high confidence) [3.2, 3.4.2]. Increased precipitation intensity
and variability is projected to increase the risks of flooding and
drought in many areas (high confidence) [3.3.1].
Semi-arid and arid areas are particularly exposed to the
impacts of climate change on freshwater (high confidence).
Many of these areas (e.g., Mediterranean basin, western USA,
southern Africa, and north-eastern Brazil) will suffer a decrease
in water resources due to climate change (very high confidence)
[3.4, 3.7]. Efforts to offset declining surface water availability
due to increasing precipitation variability will be hampered by
the fact that groundwater recharge will decrease considerably in
some already water-stressed regions (high confidence) [3.2,
3.4.2], where vulnerability is often exacerbated by the rapid
increase in population and water demand (very high confidence)
[3.5.1].
The Time for Action is NOW. Wake UP!!!!!!! The Time for Faith is NOW!!! Wake Up!!!!!
The first step to figuring out how to stop poisoning the world is to stop poisoning our bodies and our minds! Stop eating the flesh from physically and emotionally abused animals and artificially flavored, processed foods. Learn about natural food, stop making waste, spend time with your loved ones, and most of all, have faith. The time for action is NOW!! Remember the Golden Rule!
Clear your mind, clean out your body, and the world will begin to change around you...that change must begin inside you!Excerpt from Chapter 3:
Sea-level rise will extend areas of salinisation of... more
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Monday, February 22, 2010
A new advisory being sent by America’s third largest bank to its account holders has stoked fears that major financial institutions could be preparing for old fashioned bank runs if the economy takes a turn for the worse.
Originally reported by John Carney over at the Business Insider website, Citigroup is sending the following information to customers along with their bank statements.
See The Full Story.. 7 Days to Get YOUR Money!!!..http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/update-citigroup-says-feds-ordered-7-day-restriction-on-bank-withdrawals/
“Effective April 1, 2010, we reserve the right to require (7) days advance notice before permitting a withdrawal from all checking accounts. While we do not currently exercise this right and have not exercised it in the past, we are required by law to notify you of this change.”Monday, February 22, 2010
A new advisory being sent by America’s third... more
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Last week, over a pre-Christmas dinner, the two of us, along with political strategist Alexis McGill, filmmaker/author Eugene Jarecki, and Nick Penniman of the HuffPost Investigative Fund, began talking about the huge, growing chasm between the fortunes of Wall Street banks and Main Street banks, and started discussing what concrete steps individuals could take to help create a better financial system. Before long, the conversation turned practical, and with some help from friends in the world of bank analysis, a video and website were produced devoted to a simple idea: Move Your Money.
The big banks on Wall Street, propped up by taxpayer money and government guarantees, have had a record year, making record profits while returning to the highly leveraged activities that brought our economy to the brink of disaster. In a slap in the face to taxpayers, they have also cut back on the money they are lending, even though the need to get credit flowing again was one of the main points used in selling the public the bank bailout. But since April, the Big Four banks -- JP Morgan/Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo -- all of which took billions in taxpayer money, have cut lending to businesses by $100 billion.
Meanwhile, America's Main Street community banks -- the vast majority of which avoided the banquet of greed and corruption that created the toxic economic swamp we are still fighting to get ourselves out of -- are struggling. Many of them have closed down (or been taken over by the FDIC) over the last 12 months. The government policy of protecting the Too Big and Politically Connected to Fail is badly hurting the small banks, which are having a much harder time competing in the financial marketplace. As a result, a system which was already dangerously concentrated at the top has only become more so.
We talked about the outrage of big, bailed-out banks turning around and spending millions of dollars on lobbying to gut or kill financial reform -- including "too big to fail" legislation and regulation of the derivatives that played such a huge part in the meltdown. And as we contrasted that with the efforts of local banks to show that you can both be profitable and have a positive impact on the community, an idea took hold: why don't we take our money out of these big banks and put them into community banks? And what, we asked ourselves, would happen if lots of people around America decided to do the same thing? Our money has been used to make the system worse -- what if we used it to make the system better?
Everyone around the table quickly got excited (granted we are an excitable group), and began tossing out suggestions for how to get this idea circulating.
Eugene, the filmmaker among us, remarked that the contrast between the big banks and the community banks we were talking about was very much like the story in the classic Frank Capra film It's a Wonderful Life, where community banker George Bailey helps the people of Bedford Falls escape the grip of the rapacious and predatory banker Mr. Potter.
It was a lightbulb moment. And, unlike the vast majority of dinner conversations, the excitement over this idea didn't end with dessert. It actually led to something -- thanks in great part to Eugene and his remarkable team, who got to work and, in record time, created a brilliant, powerful, and inspiring video playing off the It's a Wonderful Life concept. Watch it below.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/move-your-money-a-new-yea_b_406022.htmlLast week, over a pre-Christmas dinner, the two of us, along with political strategist... more
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Identity theft is preventable. As with any other crime, the risk will always be there. But there are many things people can do to minimize that risk, both online and offline. The National Foundation for Credit Counselors, which sponsors Protect Your Identity Week, has compiled a number of identity theft myths.
http://information-security-resources.com/2009/11/09/ten-common-identity-theft-myths-dispelled/Identity theft is preventable. As with any other crime, the risk will always be there.... more
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With the threat of aftershocks in the US Stock market, continued bank closings and takeovers by the FDIC, serious consideration needs to be given to changing the current reporting, auditing and oversight regulations, and the public needs to pressure elected officials into action before our entire country is taken off financial life support.
http://information-security-resources.com/2009/11/03/top-five-financial-sector-security-threats/With the threat of aftershocks in the US Stock market, continued bank closings and... more
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Via National People's Action, here is some footage from the protesters at the ABA conference. From the footage, it's clear there are some strong emotions from the protesters.
At one point a protester grabs a megaphone and says:
"The American Bankers Association has helped loosen the rules that protect us, allowing the unfettered greed that has brought us to the brink of a recession. And for those bankers who are members and support the ABA's war against the working and middle class, shame on you!"
The crowd soon begins chanting "Shame On You!" in unison.
Via Progress Illinois' Twitter feed, here's more video of Sen. Durbin's speech. In this section, he calls for a "showdown" with Wall Street.
According to the Twitter feeds of National People's Action and the SEIU, the protesters are headed to the ABA's "Roaring '20s"-themed cocktail party. (Perhaps the ABA is not aware of the irony of having such an event.)
Sen. Dick Durbin spoke in front of the protesters earlier today. Here's a clip from the video, in which Durbin tells the story of homeowner who was struggling to stay in her home -- and was apparently talked into agreeing to a seemingly atrocious mortgage. The woman's mortgage was riddled with hidden fees and by, "the types of things even a Wall Street lawyer couldn't explain to anyone," Durbin said.
The American Bankers Association's annual convention in Chicago has become the scene for a series of major protests, which are set to continue through Tuesday. Dubbed "the Showdown in Chicago." (http://www.showdowninchicago.org/index.html) (Check back here frequently for updates on the protests.)
Groups like the National People's Action, the Service Employees International Union, Americans For Financial Reform and the AFL-CIO are expected to turn out with thousands of protesters. Sen. Richard Durbin (D - Illinois) is scheduled to address the protesters Sunday evening. Conference speakers include Newt Gingrich, conservative columnist George Will and FDIC chairman Sheila Bair.
Check out these photographs of the "Showdown in Chicago," taken by organizers of the protest.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/25/showdown-in-chicago-prote_n_333245.htmlVia National People's Action, here is some footage from the protesters at the ABA... more
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In the latest sign of the lasting effects of the financial crisis, federal regulators today closed down the 100th bank this year.
The Office of Thrift Supervision Friday afternoon shut down Partners Bank of Naples, Florida.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was appointed as the bank's receiver and the FDIC then entered into an agreement with Stonegate Bank of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to assume the deposits of Partners Bank. When the two branches of Partners Bank open on Monday, they will be branches of Stonegate Bank. As of Sept. 30, Partners Bank had assets worth $65.5 million, the FDIC said, and total deposits of approximately $64.9 million.
Shortly after closing Partners Bank, federal regulators also shuttered American United Bank in Lawrenceville, Ga., the 101st bank to collapse this year.
The Hillcrest Bank, another financial institution in Naples, Fla. has closed as well as the Flagship National Bank, Bradenton, Fla. to bring the number to 103.
Last week, regulators closed San Joaquin Bank in Bakersfield, Calif., the 99th bank to fail.
In all of 2008, federal regulators only shut down 25 banks. This year has already seen four times as many banks go down. Thus far banks have collapsed at an average of about 10 per month.
FDIC chief Sheila Bair today attempted to ease the concerns of bank customers.
"I want to take this opportunity to reassure consumers that their insured deposits are absolutely safe," she said in a video posted on YouTube. (See video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BxiEJcOoo0 )
...More...In the latest sign of the lasting effects of the financial crisis, federal regulators... more
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S&P 500 index has lost about 4.3% in the midst of job loss reports that top a 26 year high: The unemployment rate reached 9.8 percent. Analysts say the economy is on the road to recovery, but making the transition from recession to stabilization is not an easy change. Investors prepare themselves for difficult times in the near future.
Difficult times for Warren Bank in Warren, Michigan and two other small banks increasing the number of failed banks in the U.S.
Some good news, The Mexican brewer and beverage maker Femsa has stocks on the rise and may enter into a $9 billion merger with its beer business.
Irene Rosenfeld ranked an impressive number 2 in the Wall Street Journal’s 50 Women to Watch in 2008.
To view more from the ladies please visit,
www.greenstocksrock.com
www.hotchicksstockpicks.comS&P 500 index has lost about 4.3% in the midst of job loss reports that top a 26... more
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