-------- 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
----------------------------------------
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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