Shopping at Amazon?
Wait! If you click on the Amazon banner link at the top of the page first, HCN will get a percentage of anything you purchase for 24 hours!
Open predictions
Our local book authors
User login
Who's online
There are currently 13 members and 149 guests online.
WOW, incredible how stupid these people are. I understand that you have to pay to have documents destroyed but at least have a backyard fire and burn them.
Well if you ask me, the problem is that you can't sue the people who are claiming to the credit reporting that you stiffed them for libel. They gave a credit card to somebody on the mere basis that somebody knew your name and SSN, and now the burden is on YOU to prove that you didn't borrow from them? It's simply impossible for an SSN to be both a universal identifier given out routinely AND a secure password that establishs your identtity.
I understand that you have to pay to have documents destroyed
You put your finger on the "barrier to entry" problem with independent mortgage brokers. Every regulated depository and mortgage banker pays for locked shredder bins in their offices and secure access-controlled storage.
The other side of the problem is that having a bonfire would probably violate record-retention laws. In most cases these documents need to be retained for 7-10 years, then destroyed, unless they are duplicates of secured originals. Brokers don't keep secured originals; the wholesalers do. If the brokers destroy their copies of your loan file, they have nothing to work with in the event of a transaction being challenged by you or the wholesaler or a regulator. If they don't pony up for secure storage of their copies, they expose you to identity theft.
One more nail in the coffin of the "independent mortgage broker." The lawsuits will cost enough to prove that the math of that business model doesn't work when the costs are fully loaded.
were you waiting until exactly 10am to post this?
Jim, good point.
Also, it shows what utter contempt the lenders and bundlers have for the underlying borrower.
He is treated like garbage ... literally!
Cash-strapped Americans raiding their 401(k)s
Cash-strapped Americans raiding their 401(k)s - Chicago Tribune
The biggest reason to have "Independent" mortgage brokers was plausible deniability..."we had no idea there was so much fraud" and of course "don't worry about these loans,If we find a problem our contract requires the broker to buyback the loan".the spin will be fun...will it be "somebody sole these records" or " geez,don't worry NO ONE is going to steal the identity of deadbeats like this"
Any upcoming post on the big work-out announcement from Countrywide? I've got the distinct feeling that there's more hype than reality behind it all, but it would help to have some additional insights to verify that . . .
Well - who'd want to steal the credit identity of an Ameriquest customer?
kind of OT, but I can't help to notice how much the Generation "Y" is conditioned to being open about their sensitive data. Maybe it is the whole MySpace thing - they've just given up on the concept of secure information and instead embraced broadcasting as much information about themselves for anyone and everyone.
I was at a Circuit City recently, and while I was being rung up, a 20-something was completing a credit app BY SAYING ALOUD his ssn, income, etc. to the clerk who was then typing each bit of information into the computer. I could have written down or memorized every detail to steal this kid's identity. Not that I'd want it.
Maybe that's the thing - people with crap credit (of any age) just don't care.
Lets not forget all the liberated computer equipment with the potential for electronic copies of personal identification in emails, documents, and databases. Someone has to purge this stuff properly before the PCs are surplussed. If there is no one to shred, there is definitely no one to purge electronic data.
Speaking of Dumpster Diving:
Countrywide to Modify $16B in Loans
Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage lender, said Tuesday it will begin calling borrowers to offer refinancing or modifications on $16 billion in loans whose interest rate is set to adjust by the end of 2008.
Countrywide to Modify $16B in Loans
Interesting how some of these subprime borrowers now qualify for prime.
"Countrywide said borrowers currently in a subprime loan with a strong payment history it will offer options to refinance into prime or Federal Housing Administration loans."
This is a violation of the current Federal Privacy law - Gramm-Leach-Biley "Safegaurds rules"
If your state allows it, lock your credit reports. Private data isn't private in today's wintel mobile device world.
Simple as that.
Truth -
I don't know how interesting that is - after all, that is a goal of most subprime borrowers - to improve their credit and become prime borrowers.
What inquiring minds would like to know -- is Punkinhead going to waive dem prepay penalties for these folks? Otherwise, this isn't much of an offer.
--
OT, but...
SoCal home prices by zip codes are out:
DQNews - DataQuick Real Estate Headlines and Statistics
99 zip codes in LA Co. had YoY price gains and 150 had price declines. Sales in zip codes with gains were 998 versus 1,823 sales in zip codes with declines.
Other counties are much worse, of course.
Jas
has anyone figured out if this is accurate? if so, how could this be possible?
Countrywide Foreclosures (REO) Blog
Your private information has always been easy to obtain, today it is even more so. Mostly because of consumers' own willful ignorance.
Everyone plays with fire until they get burned, even if they have been forewarned. Pain is usually the best internalizer of risk.
I just saw that 195 k reo number to on the other blog if its not a fat finger error Lucy's got sum splaining to do.
"99 zip codes in LA Co. had YoY price gains and 150 had price declines. Sales in zip codes with gains were 998 versus 1,823 sales in zip codes with declines.
Other counties are much worse, of course."
If that is the median price, then it is even worse than what raw statistic implies.
Hmmmmmm.... I wonder if CFC's sudden willingness to "help out" 82,000 borrowers with $16B in loans has anything to do with the overnight astronomical jump in REO's from 13,326 to 195,495?
CFC's official REO site Bank of America
Where have these 182,000 REO's been hiding and why. Maybe a disgruntled employee inadvertently (or intentionally) uploaded this data and we're really not supposed to know the true magnitude of their problem.
I am shocked that there hasn't been a mass data leak from CFC yet. The safeguards around their data is mostly for show and with all the layoffs, there is bound to be a disgruntled employee making off with a big list.
According to the new Countrywide Reo page they own 1100 properties in Cleveland proper alone. Thats 1 out of every 160 housing units including rentals and owned units according to the 2006 Acs survey.
--"If that is the median price, then it is even worse than what raw statistic implies."
Yes, the YoY price change reported is in median prices for various zip codes. You are right about the fact that the reality is much worse than these data suggest.
Jas
195000 times 100k 19,500,000,000 wait thats 19B. Yoikes Scoob! 19,500,000,000 I had to run it through the calculator again.
Uhhh . . . good luck with that.
Tanta: "the math of that business model doesn't work when the costs are fully loaded"
Isn't that the problem with most business models, and the implied (and often enough explicit) rationale against "overregulation"?
radman
where on that linked page are the 195K REO's we see on the CFC blog page?
a word of caution: the blogspot page is not an official CFC site as far as i can tell.
Those Countrywide numbers are unbelievable. As cynical as I am, I thought Countrywide was hiding something, but not this. For the last few months the FC's in CA on the blog went up about 100 a week. I thought it was how fast they could processes in the back office. Now that they have the big
layoffs did some one do a quick dump?
From 3342 homes at an average asking of 355K, 1.18B total to 28,136 homes. If the asking numbers stay similar wow.
I was just looking at the official CFC page with 3300+ for WA, I selected "next page" and "poof" now there are only 68 listed. I suspect someone ran the wrong database script. None of the ones listed now have the "no broker assigned" status, so perhaps they are holding all of those back? I think we just got a peek into the reality at CFC, and we were not supposed to see it.
Just looked at Countrywide's available list for Hawaii, they only list 30 not 811 so what numbers are real?
Banker
We are one step away from getting the Fed window access for M-LEC.
- Bloomberg.com
stdfs said: "Those Countrywide numbers are unbelievable."
Precisely. They're unbelievable because they aren't right. According to the Countrywide foreclosures blogspot, my state (NC) is ninth in the nation for Countrywide REO at 7,294. That didn't seem anywhere near right, so I did a search on the Countrywide REO site. There were only 158 entries for the entire state.
Michigan is listed on the foreclosure blogspot as being #2 in the nation for Countrywide REO, at 17,319. But a search of the Countrywide REO site only turns up about 1,611 results.
Sebastia
idoc,
There is something very bogus going on at CFC. I think what was previously on their site was confidential proprietary information, and clearly not meant for public consumption. I had a suspicion that this was the case so I saved a web page to my documents which show Mississippi REO's (my area of interest)and that number is 1414. Now mysteriously back to 115. I'll bet some heads are going to roll over THAT leak. Just really sleazy folks they are. FWIW, the numbers on the blog are exactly the same numbers that were briefly up on CFC's OFFICIAL REO site. Looks like they are hiding well over 100,000 REO's.
Sebastian,
If you had gotten to CFC's REO site a little sooner you would have gotten exactly the same numbers that are up on the blog. NC was indeed 7294 and MI 17419. Something very strange going on.
radman
who is responsible for maintaining the blogsite?
If this is a double post please forgive...
I to was wondering about the increase.
The listings were available about 0900 on the CFC homepage...Now they are gone.
I picked ten random listings and just got back from looking at them...
EVERY LISTING FROM THIS A.M. IS A FREAKING EMPTY HOUSE!!!!
These are not listed in the mls,the yards are mowed but the homes were totally vacant(no curtains).
This is for Port Charlotte,Florida.
I have a feeling this info was NOT supposed to be made public...
Chris
"If you had gotten to CFC's REO site a little sooner you would have gotten exactly the same numbers that are up on the blog. NC was indeed 7294 and MI 17419. Something very strange going on.
radman | 10.23.07 - 1:37 pm | # "
Radman...Yep i saw em and couldn't believe it. Thats why i checked 10 random listings...
This could get very interesting...
Chris
Cobradriver
do u mean u physically visited the empty homes for verification?
Something is messed up, for whatever reason. Tempe, AZ only has 1 REO. That can't be right.
idoc
I don't have a clue. The blogsite is one of about 20 real estate oriented sites I follow daily. This I am fairly certain of; the blogsite information is extracted directly from CFC's REO site and re-formatted. The numbers from both sites have been identical for months. I think that somehow what was available for a few hours on CFC's REO site was never intended to be posted. Its either a bunch of old data mixed in with current data, OR its valid real data that should have remained hidden from the public (and regulators and stockholders and Wall Street) If real its a plausible explanation for the massive sell off of a certain CEO's stock.
Idoc,
Not all 100+ listed for Port Charlotte but the ten i picked out...
I SURE DID...
A couple i walked around. You couldn't see they were empty until you got around the rear door /windows. I only checked out a couple like that. There were signs at all that they were empty but ya really had to look...
Chris
Cobradriver
sorry to bang u about the details but this is fascinating. were the 10 u visited part of the large subset of REO's that have since disappeared off of CFC's official site?
BTW,
i expect the worst out of CFC and opened up new shorts just now.
What do you all think are the ramifications of Countrywide having 180,000 "secret" REO's waiting to be dumped on the curent real estate market, if in fact those "disappearing" numbers that were briefly posted are real
idoc,
Yes,they were from the now defunct listings. Every one of the ten...
Like i said...I honestly think we were not supposed to see that set of listings.
Chris
Cobradriver
at least i think u should get the Pulitzer w/o any further work if this turns out to be true.
I know of a similar case in Spain. Somebody found cases and cases of job applications, which included sensitive information and photographs. To make matters worse, the company's staff had written comments on the documents, in many cases racist, insulting or denigratory.
Somehow one of applicants learned about this and sued the company.
She won.
Glad I jotted down the addresses of the Countrywide REO's in my area before they took 'em down.
These numbers don't surprise me one bit. In fact it's the old numbers that made me go "hmmmm...".
CFC's just been stupid like everyone else in this RE fiasco- from individual sellers to investment banks to lenders to Wall Street- noone, NO ONE wanted to mark anything to market. Now they're going to have to start waking up from their mass delusion.
Can't wait for the WAMU REO's to start hitting the market.
"Next time you talk to a mortgage broker, you might want to ask about their file retention/destruction policies. As a general rule, "I keep them in cardboard boxes in my basement until I take them to the dumpster of some condo project" is not the right answer."
Just to add a a bit of accuracy; Ameriquest is/was a lender, not a broker.