-------- Original Message --------
| Subject: |
Predatory
Lending: No Relief - Banks Facilitate Foreclosure not Modification
[Edited] |
| Date: |
Tue,
19 May 2009 07:45:02 -0700 |
| From: |
"Stephen
M. Apatow" <s.m.apatow@humanitarian.net> |
| To: |
Emergency
Food and Shelter National Board Program
<efsp.email@uwa.unitedway.org> |
Dear Colleagues:
The stories are the same across America, victims of criminal predatory
lending, mortgage and appraisal fraud, appealing for help, going
through
the steps outlined by the White House emergency actions, that included
mortgage
modifications.
The story takes place in the State of Connecticut, middle class family
in Fairfield County, two predatory loans:
My wife and I feel that we were the unfortunate
borrowers from a predatory lender. At the time, I was self-employed and
my wife a school teacher. We had the opportunity to buy the
property where my business was located. The down payment
money for this purchase was obtained by doing a
refinancing of our house through Country Wide Mortgage. It was done
with a no doc loan four years ago. We have since had to sell
that property at a loss due to the failing economy. Country Wide
has sold
my mortgage to US Bank. Due to the economy, business is at the
point
now where I am now seeking full time employment and I am most likely
going
to close my business. We are having a very difficult time making
payments
on our refinanced mortgage. Prior to the government's starting of
the
Making Home Affordable Program, US Bank would not work with me or want
to
hear of any payments being late. There was the constant threat
of
foreclosure. They would call me constantly and request that
I
borrow money from family members or put the payment on a credit card.
I have now applied for loan modification with them under the new
government program. It has been three months since applying.
They keep telling me to fax documents to them, which I do, and I then
call to make sure that they receive them. Weeks will go by and I will
get an email saying that they never received those documents. They will
not let me speak to anyone in the loan modification department. All
contact is done through email and it takes weeks to get a response. For
the last three months I have been told to make the full payment and
that it should be the last one before the new modified amount comes in.
In April I was told to make the payment and that by May I should have
the results of my modification. I have not heard anything from them
other than a representative calling wanting to set up to take the full
payment out of my account. I asked the representative to check on my
loan modification status, and all that they could tell me was that it
was in the review department. I emailed this department two weeks ago
and have still not heard anything from them. I feel that they are just
stonewalling the process to keep getting payments from my wife and I.
We are having a very
difficult time making ends meet right now. Please see if anything can
be
done about this.
This story, represents the state of our crisis on the household level
across America. Is anyone listening, does anyone care. The
story
represents another chapter in a scam, that is being milked as long as
possible.
These are the families in cities like Milford, CT where the Mayor brags
to the press that the cities financial situation is in good shape,
while
citizens who have been victims of a systemic fraud, will be responsible
for
the third phase in of a property tax valuation that was purposely
conducted
just before the collapse of the U.S. housing market. The
mentality
of leaders, is as delusional as the banks... exhaust all savings,
retirement
accounts, loans from families, credit limits on credit cards, and then
bankruptcy... we could care less about your crisis or resultant
bankruptcy.
The United States is in the midst of an economic crisis, far larger
than the Great Depression due to the unregulated OTC
derivatives market
and shadow banking system that was allowed to grow to over $1.2
Quadrillion
($1,200 Trillion). The valuation of everything (goods and
services)
were damaged by hyperinflation that was caused by leveraged central
bank
financing, not in the FDIC regulated banks, but the OTC
derivatives/shadow
banking system, the same variable that was omitted from inclusion
in recent
bank stress tests. Now that the FDIC has complete oversight
of
these financial institutions (that would not be in existence without
taxpayer
bailout money), there is an immediate call for a stress test based
on
the OTC derivatives holdings of the financial institutions
(derivatives
that are based on the same predatory loans in the above story that
represent
the underlying asset), takeover in the event of insolvency,
restructuring
and clearing of all interments that are directly tied to the
mortgage/appraisal
fraud variable.
The systemic damage caused by hyperinflation, based on money that was
leveraged and never existed, must be addressed. Valuations for
all products and
services must be readjusted to their true non-leveraged value so that
our
federal, state and municipal budgets, once again return to
sustainability,
based on market reality.
Humanitarian Resource Institute was striving to address the challenge
of predatory lending, since the Year 2000 transition. Appeals to
elected
officials on all levels fell on deaf ears, leaving a systemic collapse
(that
took down the entire global financial system) as our only crisis
responsive
option. Today, the exhaust all savings, retirement
accounts,
loans from families, credit limits on credit cards, and then
bankruptcy...
approach seems to be leading us into a deeper collapse and
another
crisis responsive scenario.
- The
economic
collapse of the household level, 800,000 foreclosures to date (2009),
2.4
million projected for the full year and 8.1 million over the next 4
years (CRL Congressional District Foreclosure Projections -
2-17-09). We are calling for
immediate
emergency action 8.1 million loan modifications.
- Real
unemployment,
currently at 15.8 percent (5.8.2009: Common Dreams), nearly 7
points
higher than the rate officially reported. ADA’s Real Rate of
Unemployment
represents a staggering 23 million people who are unemployed or
underemployed,
with 1 out of 6 now unemployed or underemployed.
- 1
out
of 5 mortgages that are upside down (due to predatory lending, mortgage
and appraisal fraud) with negative equity and 40% of all mortgages
eligible
for a loan modification. -- Zillow: 22 percent of mortgages underwater: Phoenix
Business Journal, 6 May 2009.
- Predatory
municipal property taxation based on hyperinflated appraisals, across
the
United States, in some cases locked in for upwards of 5 years (Rell Appeal - Emergency Contingency - Loan
Modifications: Humanitarian Resource Institute, 11 March
2009).
- Bankruptcies at 6000 a day in March or one every
13 seconds (The New York Times ( 3 April 2009).
- A
homeless
crisis that has prompted a call for FEMA and the Red Cross to activate
disaster shelters. -- 'Evening News' Correlates Foreclosure Crisis with
Homeless Epidemic: News Busters, 24 April 2009.
- I
will
leave the Pandemic Influenza: 12-24 month international surveillance,
containment,
control and stabilization variable for another discussion.
The needs
in
our communities, based on the household level, is the only true
perspective
of the size and scope of needs that exist.... considered to be the most
important
variable associated with economic stabilization and recovery.
Stephen M. Apatow
Founder, Director of Research & Development
Humanitarian Resource Institute
Humanitarian University Consortium Graduate Studies
Center for Medicine, Veterinary Medicine & Law
Phone: 203-668-0282
Email: s.m.apatow@humanitarian.net
Internet: www.humanitarian.net
----------------------------------------
Humanitarian Resource Institute
Legal Resource and Assistance Center
The Humanitarian Resource Institute Legal Resource and
Assistance Center provides access to initiatives that include the
Consumer's Guide to Legal Help on the Internet (American Bar
Association - Free Legal Help, Self Help, Legal Aid), Pro Bono Legal
Assistance (United States and International), and online tools for
legal research.
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