This breaking news from DS News…

Bank of America is “testing” a short sale “test and learn” program in Florida with payments up to $20,000 to the succesful sale of a property sold via the Bank of America Short Sale program payable to the seller at close of sale…great news!

Bank of America Launches ‘Test-and-Learn’ Short Sale Program in Florida

By: Carrie Bay 10/11/2011

Angelo Mozillo: Countrywide Founder

The FTC is sending out 450.000+ checks for a whopping $240…yes…$240.

 

The FTC is mailing out 450,177 checks worth nearly $108 million to homeowners who were allegedly overcharged by former mortgage giant Countrywide.

Unfortunately, that means the average check an overcharged homeowner will receive is a paltry $240, though some will get checks worth as much as several thousand dollars.

Apparently homeowners behind on mortgage payments were charged excessive fees for services such as property inspections and lawn mowing, meant to protect the mortgage lender’s interest in the property.

But instead of hiring third-party vendors, Countrywide used subsidiaries to hire the vendors who often marked up the price of the services by 100 percent or more.

Additionally, Countrywide hit borrowers with fees and escrow charges without notice while they were trying to save their homes in Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceedings.

“It’s astonishing that a single company could be responsible for overcharging more than 450,000 homeowners,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a release.

“Countrywide’s unconscionable behavior harmed American consumers on a massive scale and we are proud to be getting every single dollar back to hundreds of thousands of struggling consumers who can least afford to lose the money.”

The FTC complaint alleges that Countrywide’s strategy was to increase profits from default-related services during rough economic times.

Checks are being distributed to consumers whose loans were serviced by Countrywide between January 1, 2005 and and July 1, 2008.

Bank of America purchased Countrywide back in 2008, but the company continues to make negative headlines.

“It’s sad,” he said. “The grapefruit tree in front is dead, the grass has turned brown, and the shutters are starting to fall.”

Ken Lewis...Thief, Cheat, Scoundrel...Hog! This Slob actually stated that "Countrywide was a Good Deal for Bank of America"!

This is breaking news from Huffington Post…

This only affirms what we, Kim and I have been “preaching” for the last 2 years…

The greedy “B?+%&@^*!” from BofA…Ken Lewis (just retried with a $100Million Platinum Parachute)

These are the real thieves…may they burn in hell!…Wow…do I get passionate about these thieves, cheats and scoundrels!

This is a Must Read!

(Reuters) – The FBI raided three hedge funds in connection with a widening probe into insider trading, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday.

Diamondback Capital Management LLC and Level Global Investors LP, two Connecticut funds run by former managers of Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, were among those raided, according to the report.

Also raided was Boston-based Loch Capital Management, according to the report. Loch has had close ties with a witness who pleaded guilty in a separate insider trading probe centered on the Galleon Group hedge fund.

The raids come as federal prosecutors prepare to unveil a series of new insider trading cases against hedge fund traders, consultants and Wall Street bankers, several lawyers familiar with the investigation said.

This is on top of what prosecutors have described as the largest U.S. hedge fund insider trading case ever. That case is centered on Raj Rajaratnam’s hedge fund Galleon Group, and has led to criminal or civil charges against at least 23 people since being announced just over one year ago.

“The Justice Department promised a more muscular approach to white-collar crime, and is delivering,” said Eugene O’Donnell, a professor at the City University of New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

My Armor

Wow…I’m gonna catch flack on this one…however…my armor is suited and I’m prepared for battle.

I am prepared to take on even the largest of foes…Top CEO’s, Senior VP’s….bring it on!

We as Americans, must unite and place demands on President Obama to shut down the top 4 banks in these United States.

1. Bank of America
2. JP Morgan Chase
3. Wells Fargo/Wachovia
4. Citibank

You’re thinking this guy has lost it…you can’t do that…we’d fail as a country.

Actually…if we don’t shut down the banks…we will fail as a country.

Why?  Banks are cheating us each and every way they can and are

• Banks are currently operating on a “false” accounting method…
  • Under “approved” accounting methods, these Banks don’t have to account borrowers that are not paying their mortgages.
  • Banks are counting the failed mortgages not as debt…but as assets…because the home is an asset…make sense?  It shouldn’t!
• Banks are openly committing fraud!
  • Why?
    • Under FDIC and Securities laws…any banking entity must report a loss as soon as it is recognized…it cannot be hidden or overlooked.
  • What do you mean by this Kris?
    • Simple…banks are not “stating” their losses in their quarterly reports…the vacant homes, the non paying “dead beat” borrowers, the fact that these banks hold billions of 2nd liens or HELOC’s that are worthless…(the moment the value of the item used to secure a loan (a home) drops in value below the entire amount of the 2nd lien amount…the loan takes on a new status…Unsecured!)
  • Bank of America states that of their 1.3 Million customers that are 60 days or more late on their mortgage payment, 195,000 have not made a payment in over 2 years.
  • Of these…56,000 homes….the ones Bank of America states as “assets” are vacant!

Think about this…Bank of America just admitted to fraud in this simple reporting. Bank of America…on behalf of it’s shareholders has a duty and responsibility according to the FDIC to foreclose on a empty, deserted, non occupied building that has not benefited by it’s monthly payments  …no if’s, and’s or but’s…Bank of America must report this as it pertains to FDIC laws. Bank of America has not!

I can go on and on…but to keep this short…

These banks are taking Americans down a path of destruction and economic collapse not unlike that of the great depression.   What’s real scary, is that we’re no longer the most powerful nation in the world!  That title is held by China…and that’s another post.

The Big 4′s false methods of accounting are inspiring Americans to invest in their shams…their shams of  liquidity and solvency… when in fact they are broke!  Deadbeats!  Frauds!

I want to challenge each and every one of you that read this post…reach into your pocket, billfold or purse….if you have 1 penny or more in your hand…you have more money than the 4 major banks together.  Do you realize what I am saying? All 4 of these banks are so deep in the red that they will never be profitable again.  These 4 banks need to be shut down.

These 4 banks are not institutions representing America’s Capitalism…they are representing socialism…government funded entities.  The Big 4 are the greatest scammers of Social Security on record.

OK…that being said…are you nuts?  Close down the banks?  Bankrupt the Big 4?  What about all the jobs?  We’re in enough trouble as it is.

Yes…you are correct…this shutting down of banks would create a huge burden on all Americans.  However, from the “wreckage” will come gleaming towers of resurgence. Innovation comes from devastation…look at the Gulf oil disaster…how much innovation was created to overcome this disaster…how many new jobs? I don’t know…but we heard of new innovation almost daily…Actor Kevin Costner even spent millions of his own money on innovation to assist in the oil spill pandemic.

Many new banks will take the place of the Big 4. Banks that are not involved in this fraud will rise above the fallen to become the new norm. New banks will need employees…etc…we must however, watch these 4 banks fall under the ax of the executioner. Close their doors…fire their leaders and cut off their fiscal rewards and the cords to their Golden Parachutes.  Rid Americans of the likes of Ken Lewis (former President of BofA), Angelo Mozillo (Former CEO of Countrywide) and their lecherous gang of marauders.

Most importantly, we as Americans will have the truth.  It may be painful, however, we are headed to certain disaster under the current course.

You may think I’m crazy…however, we can’t continue to hide our heads in the sand…we have to hold the banks accountable…

This really comes as no surprise as BofA assumed Countrywide and Countrywide’s shoddy practices… BofA shareholders are left “holding the bag” in this mess.

Bank of America found these errors in the first 1% of the over 100,000 foreclosure re-submittal’s….that’s basically 2.5% to 5% average mistakes that should be expected…or about 2,500 to 5,000+ mortgages with errors…or 5,000+ Americans that were improperly served foreclosure notices.

That is a high amount and the likely hood of past foreclosures filed in error is at the same rate…this could be an epidemic of legal filings in courts by Attorney’s seeking damages for their clients who were foreclosed on illegally.

It just goes to show that money talks get’s you to walk from what is tantamount to nothing more than fraud and stealing.

The full story is available here

The co-founder and former CEO of what was once the largest, most lucrative subprime lender in the country has agreed to pay a total of $67.5 million to settle fraud charges brought against him.

Countrywide chief Angelo Mozilo will pay the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a $22.5 million penalty to settle charges that he and two other former executives misled investors about the risk associated with Countrywide’s business as the subprime mortgage crisis began to snowball. The SEC says Mozilo’s financial penalty is the largest ever paid by a public company’s senior executive in an SEC settlement.

Mozilo also agreed to $45 million in disgorgement of ill-gotten gains to settle the SEC’s disclosure violation and insider trading charges against him. The settlement also permanently bars Mozilo from ever again serving as an officer or director of a publicly traded company.

Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC’s division of enforcement, commented, “Mozilo’s record penalty is the fitting outcome for a corporate executive who deliberately disregarded his duties to investors by concealing what he

saw from inside the executive suite – a looming disaster in which Countrywide was buckling under the weight of increasing risky mortgage underwriting, mounting defaults and delinquencies, and a deteriorating business model.”

The SEC filed charges against Mozilo, as well as former Countrywide COO David Sambol and CFO Eric Sieracki, on June 4, 2009, alleging that the trio failed to disclose to investors the significant credit risk that Countrywide was taking on as a result of its efforts to build and maintain market share.

The SEC says investors were misled by representations assuring them that Countrywide was primarily a prime quality mortgage lender that had avoided the excesses of its competitors. In reality, Countrywide was writing increasingly risky loans and its senior executives knew that defaults and delinquencies in its servicing portfolio, as well as the loans it packaged and sold as mortgage-backed securities (MBS) would rise as a result, according to the federal agency.

The SEC’s complaint further alleged that Mozilo engaged in insider trading in the securities of Countrywide by selling off his stock in the company, worth an estimated $140 million, while he was aware of material, non-public information concerning the company’s increasingly risky lending habits and the poor performance of its loans.

Sambol also agreed to a settlement with the SEC, in which he is liable for $5 million in disgorgement and a $520,000 penalty, and a three-year officer and director bar. Sieracki agreed to pay a $130,000 penalty and a one-year bar from practicing before the SEC.

All penalties and disgorgement paid by the three will be returned to harmed investors. The SEC says in settling the charges, the former Countrywide executives neither admit nor deny the allegations against them.

Bank of America, JPM Chase, Citi and Wells Fargo are having to repurchase their bad loans back from Freddie and Fannie.

It’s about time!

These banks bilked billions from us…the tax payers and they have not been held accountable.

What does all this mean?

Fannie and Freddie are “Government Sponsored Entities” or “GSE’s” that are in place to lend money and “shore up” the institutions or banks.

Another role or GSE’s is to buy “Performing” loans so that the banks will have money to lend. If the loans default or “not -perform” the banks must buy it back…pretty simple.

Why do Fannie and Freddie offer this service?

Pretty simple…to keep money in the hands of the banks and free them banks up to lend more money…makes sense.

We’ll…the banks loans are defaulting at a huge rates…and they are not buying them back or living up to their end of the deal.  Instead, the banks are spending these dollars on their infrastructure and lending very little money.  The money the Top 4 are lending is insured by FHA…another GSE that, as long as borrowers meet their stringent guidelines…will insure the loan if it defaults…and the bank collects interest to keep them running and pay their Management ridiculous sums of money for screwing the government out of more money!….)Sorry about that…I’m such a skeptic when it comes to these banks)

We’ll to cut it short…these banks may be in trouble!

More to come!

Best,

Kris

Bank of America pushed its total number of permanent mortgage workouts under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) to 76,300 in July, a 5.9% increase from June.

The Treasury Department launched HAMP in March 2009 to provide incentives to servicers for the modification of loans on the verge of foreclosure. BofA converted 4,300 trial modifications into permanent ones in July, about half of the amount done in June. In order for a borrower to receive a permanent modification, he or she must make three monthly payments in the trial stage of the program and submit all documentation.

But BofA has completed nearly 100,000 permanent modifications through its own programs outside of HAMP this year. Some of these loans were given second looks after falling out or not qualifying for the government’s program.

Early problems with collecting necessary documentation for those in the trial stages of HAMP led to thousands of loans spending more than three months there. After the Treasury required a borrower to submit all documentation before entering the trial, servicers began working through this overflow.

BofA has trimmed its active trial modifications from 221,395 loans in January to under 85,000 in July, according to the Treasury.

According to the bank, the slower pace of new trial modifications follows a transition from accepting verbal financial information to requiring full documentation and underwriting before putting a borrower into a trial.

“When a customer is found to be ineligible for HAMP or falls out of a trial modification, we consider an alternative home retention program, and if no viable solution is available, a dignified exit from homeownership,” said Rebecca Mairone, default servicing executive for Bank of America Home Loans.

While HAMP guidelines outline specific debt-to-income ratios, owner-occupancy and trial payment performance, Mairone reiterated that BofA continues to find other ways to avoid foreclosure either through other modification programs or the government’s Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program, which urges servicers to do short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure.

Last week, BofA announced it was testing its own co-op short sale program for borrowers who do not qualify for either HAMP or HAFA.

Thanks to Jon Prior for this information