"Other" category: In large part, the loans were result of acquisitions of loan portfolios from third parties where borrower credit scores at the origination of the loans were not available."
"About 53 percent of mortgages modified in the first quarter of 2008 were 30 or more days delinquent after six months, and increased to a 63 percent default rate after a year. "
They better get that green bar (FCs completed) up in a hurry or the red bar (FCs in process) is going to go off the screen.
Someone linked a story yesterday about the nightmares debtor representatives are having trying to get modifications processed. Doesn't look like that is going to be getting any easier in the near term.
This is what prime is: (This is a house that I gasped when I saw it)
Owner bought in 1994, for 100,000.
Foreclosed in 2009, for 810,000.
Over 16 years of owning the house, instead of paying down the 100,000 initial mortgage; the owner has refi-ed until he owes 890K; almost 7 times more than his initial mortgage. Now he goes foreclosure and the bank suffers (which mean taxpayers due to TARP)
I can only imagine the lifestyle that this financed.
This is what I think about when someone says the coming PRIME tsunami. To me, these are the worst of the worst. People who've flaunted their "prime" status and layered on the risk. Their behavior guarantees that either they'll lever to crazy richness, like Donald Trump, or (more likely) crash spectacularly.
June 30 (Bloomberg) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission today accused Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based Prime Capital Services over their alleged roles in fraudulent and unsuitable sales of variable annuities to senior citizens who were lured through free-lunch seminars at restaurants in Florida.
When several seniors were interviewed about this; it was found that most had this to say: "Huh? What did you say?"
"About 53 percent of mortgages modified in the first quarter of 2008 were 30 or more days delinquent after six months, and increased to a 63 percent default rate after a year. "
The important thing is the taxpayers paid fees to the bankers to shuffle paper for almost no economic benefit.
That house was one of many. There are others with 199K in 1994, and foreclosing in 2009 now with 650K ish first mortgage (God knows how much in HELOC or seconds); etc.
Prime Capital Services spokeperson Shelli Cashmere had only the following comment "Do you know how hard it is to come up with a menu the features only gummable food?"
I have a SIL working at one of those Refi/MortgageMod centers that Wells Fargo setup - this office has hundreds of workers sitting around for last two days with "no files" (no work). She thinks they will be closing the office very soon.
Another thing I've heard conversations in gyms, etc; that have two moms talking to each other about how their husbands have lost their jobs, and how one of the husband have been on-and-off jobs for 5 years now. The tone was pretty non-nonchalant about it. As if they were discussing that their husbands got a cold.
Their next topic:
When's their kids' next birthday (usually $500-600 a pop) and what summer camp program is best (usually $1200 a summer).
Both happily living in 3000+ sqft locales and both pretty upbeat about their finances. Full memberships in expensive gyms and childcare, Gucci and Fendi bags, etc.
"Full memberships in expensive gyms and childcare, Gucci and Fendi bags, etc."
Sounds like west LA. Folks here are outwardly still very optimistic. Went to look at a rental recently (90048) and was told by the realtor that escrows are up, land values are near 1 million $ for 6k sq ft lots, cash buyers abound, everyone wants to live here, etc. Houses still get listed at a premium to 2007 purchases, everyone (who's buying or selling) says we're at the bottom. In-freaking-sane.
Are Mortgage Companies Sabotaging Obama’s Anti-Foreclosure Plan?
A $75 billion plan to prevent millions of families from losing their homes has become bogged down as a result of mortgage lenders reacting too slowly to the crisis, leading some experts to wonder if banks are deliberately undermining President Barack Obama’s effort. Joel Naroff, of Naroff Economic Advisors, told USA Today, “Some lenders may not be turning (homeowners) down right away because it might be politically easier to push them off and delay. No one will admit they’re doing this.”
@BSR - No kidding! Where are the files? What's the inside scuttlebutt: is this due to WF not wanting to book the losses on toxic garbage or are that many truly strategically defaulting and deliberately not attempting to get a mod?
OT / Firefox 3.5 ... here's what PC mag said:
After four beta versions and three release candidates, Firefox 3.5 has finally been released into the world as the latest version of the second most popular Web browser on the planet. The new version brings a private browsing mode, faster JavaScript performance, and support for emerging HTML 5 standards such as plug-in-free video and audio playing.
.....
some of your add-ons may not work in 3.5 (my Evernote is not )
.....
also, bar charts are ok but when the data points don't visually scale I prefer a stack bar chart...
Soon, a totally predictable black swan will appear--and the 9, and then the 8, and then the 7 handle will disappear. Not sure which swan it will be--my bet is we send US troops back into Baghdad, but something has got to trigger a correction. The market's recent rise is hysterical--and gravity never fails. When the dollar always goes up on bad news, when good means not as bad, when there are no green shoots---the shit does hit the fan. The mattress is looking safer than any bank--it's a perfect sleeper.
BSR....Back in the day this happened in S&L's when they knew they had been bonged....The owners came in after hours and boxed all the files and flew town.
@CCB - I've been running 3.5 for a while now...on Ubuntu (Ibex and Heron) and I've been pretty pleased with stability, etc. On the HH box I've had some issues with SWF (flash) but a restart (of just the browser) clears things up.
bearly (profile) wrote on Tue, 6/30/2009 - 9:17 am
Suggestion for Ahnold to fix budget - default/walk away !
Just how would that work? Stop issuing retirement checks?
Someday people are going to get this. California does not have a revenue, debt or liabilities problem. California has a spending problem. There is no level of taxation or indebtedness that can fix California's spending problem. It would be nice to roll back and cap some benefits streams but that isn't vital.
The problem is systemic. The State government is so distant from the people that all their spending looks like OPM. It appears that the State model fails someplace more than 25 million people. Florida and New York might argue for even lower.
CR for example:
if not the Stack Bar then float % of aggregate above each bar... perhaps not easy to do with your toolkit
because the human eye can't really get a read of 4 data points of such smallness and largeness
This Mover group was not well equipped for what they were trying to do. Nor were they in shape to do it. Then again, none, at least so far, had been. The kid who spotted Night was the only one who looked like she was enjoying herself. Like most kids her age, my guess was 7, she walked, skipped, and hopped her way down the trail. Her “Hello Kitty” backpack not much of an encumberance. The stuffed rabbit that looked out from the backpack was hopefully the heaviest thing she was packing.
The adults, especially the females, looked very unhappy. It was hot, they were carrying extra weight in the form of rolls of fat around their waists an asses. So were the men, one of whom looked like a prime candidate for a heart attack. They weren’t walking as much as doing a heads down, sullen trudge to the promised land.
The monetization will not be right back after a message
about a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The monetization will not go better with Coke.
The monetization will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The monetization will not put you in the driver's seat.
The monetization will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The monetization will be no re-run brothers;
The monetization will be live.
"It appears that the State model fails someplace more than 25 million people."
As a resident of Texas, I have to question that. Not to say we're perfect, but we don't overpromise and underdeliver like I've seen with many other states.
Great anecdote...this is CA(and America's) problem in a nutshell...extracting RE appreciation and never taking the chips off the table but doubling down until going bust.
I've been on a CONsumption strike for almost two years. And I REALLY cut back after the TARP ripoff. Who knows, it could be a permanent change in behavior.
I consciously refuse to play Bernanke's games.
Although part of it was a "prisoners dilema" thing. Sorry all, I dimed you out immediately.
"I know so many young 'women' and 'men' who can't cook to save their lives. What will they do when they can't afford to eat out anymore?"
What will they do when they can't afford a place to refrigerate and cook food?
Your choice, mr. or ms. landlord or bank: accept a tax break from the city to run a soup kitchen, or accept whatever rent the Chinese person will give you to operate a kitchen that sells food at a price that beats home cooking (do the math).
A "hotel" in New York City housing law does not mean what you think it means.
I agree I cut back in a big way across the board, not that I was a big spender, My wife and I are fugal, and we teach our teenage children the same values.....
Save for what you want...otherwise go with out....easy really once you get use to it.
My only major purchases these days is Physical Gold and Silver....and that is for insurance, nothing more.
Comrade Scott said: "@CCB - I've been running 3.5 for a while now...on Ubuntu (Ibex and Heron) and I've been pretty pleased with stability, etc. On the HH box I've had some issues with SWF (flash) but a restart (of just the browser) clears things up.
Egregiously (OT): I've been using Jaunty on my desktop for several weeks now, tried the open-source swf.dec out of solidarity with the "movement" but went back to Adobe's version, as it just worked better for my system.
Sebastian
p.s. Anyone who's been thinking about migrating to Linux, Ubuntu 9.04 makes it incredibly easy. S.
The second chart suggests, among other things, that there aren't enough completed foreclosures and short sales to support the proposition that they account for 45% (or even 33%) of existing home sales.
Gosh, all those people who warned that Prime would be a bigger issue than Subprime way back when Ben Bernanke said everything was contained - they were RIGHT.
The reality of numbers just ground its way right through all the BS and hype.
Obamma,s policies may not be working as well as many had hoped:
1st 100 days - There are 2.9 million more people unemployed in May than there were unemployed in January. The unemployment rate went from 7.6% to 9.4%. Since May 2008, we have lost 5.5 million jobs. The biggest losers were: Manufacturing 1.5 million lost Finance & Prof Serv 1.5 million lost Construction 1.1 million lost Retail & Leisure 1.3 million lost
What difference does it make to the Office of Thrift Supervision if their federally chartered bank like the AmTrust Bank in Cleveland Ohio has a delinquency of 7%. The Office of Thrift Supervision does not enforce the rules as it is. This regulatory agency is a tool of the wealthy and the powerful, The Congress. Other wise something would have been done.
April 24 ,2009 the Wall Street Journal in their article”, Regulators Fell One Bank, Spare a Rival” stated that Ohio Senator Voinovich and Ohio Representative LaTourette both Republicans told the OTS Hands off of AmTrust Bank, in other wards this bank that operates outside the rules has political protection from being shut down..
The OTS did issue a Cease and Desist order against AmTrust Bank in November 2008 for Unsafe and Unsound Banking Practices; this was for poor financial ratios. On March 17 2009 Bill Dedman of MSNBC reported that AmTrust Bank had 30 % more troubled loans than capital and reserves. Last year the Plain Dealer reported AmTrust bank with a 7 % delinquency in loans. This by the way is the largest bank to have a ratio over a 100.
AmTrust bank was sued in January 30, 1985 (Cleveland Ohio Case # 85-86378)for the manipulation of mortgage interest calculation which they settled in September 2007 for a cash payment of 14 million dollars which involved some 27,000 borrowers. I cannot find where the OTS ever cited the AmTrust Bank for this Truth in Lending Violation and in March 2009 the OTS refused to answer if they ever cited this bank. The Government has publically stated that the OTS is lax in their enforcement of the rules.
The OTS has no credibility, but with out a doubt has culpability. A better way to describe the Office of Thrift Supervision is the Congressional regulatory agency that has made misfeasance an art form.
The second graph CLEARLY reveals what we've all known for some time now: Lenders are intentionally stalling the foreclosure process because foreclosures require losses to be entered onto their books.
Foreclosures initiated: Stable
Foreclosures in process: Way up
Foreclosures complete: Down
We're talking about a ~200,000 gap, every quarter, between foreclosures initiated and foreclosures completed. Too bad this graph doesn't have a longer timeline, because it would be a great indicator as to the size of the Shadow Inventory. My estimate, looking at this graph, is 1.5 to 2 million houses, and will reach towards 3 million by the end of the year.
These delinquency figures are frightening. For example on January 6, 2009 the Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland Ohio reported that the AmTrust Bank which has been under a Cease and Desist order from the Office of Thrift Supervision since November 2008 had a mortgage loan delinquency rate of 7% which is 2 to 3 times the national average.
The AmTrust Bank still operates today. The OTS has done nothing. So what does a rise in delinquency really mean?
It must not be that important if the Federal Regulator, The Office of Thrift Supervision which is supposedly monitored by the Congress does nothing about it.
Why even track delinquency?
This AMTrust Bank with sub standard financial ratios does not have to worry about the OTS closing them. The reason was in the article by the Wall Street Journal on April 24,2009 “Regulators Fell One Bank, Spare a Rival “. This article said that Ohio Senator Voinovich and Ohio Representative La Tourette told the OTS in essence to back off the AmTrust Bank.
Well if you are a politically protected Bank, you can do anything you want, just like Wall Street.
It's PRIME TIME!
In memory of Nemo
The surge is working.
JD,
I was going to post the exact same thing. Group think.
Ain't you heard....Prime is the new Subprime(pre-prime) and Super-Duper® AAA is the new Prime(pre-Super Duper AAA®).
Hard not to love whack-a-mole ratings/ratings inflation.
"Other" category: In large part, the loans were result of acquisitions of loan portfolios from third parties where borrower credit scores at the origination of the loans were not available."
Is that like a grab bag or a Secret Santa?
"About 53 percent of mortgages modified in the first quarter of 2008 were 30 or more days delinquent after six months, and increased to a 63 percent default rate after a year. "
.....nice.......
The surge is working.
General Repayus?
Don't know if this was already posted but... from the "This is inflationary, right?" file:
Euro Zone CPI LT Zero.
Looks to me like the "prime" borrowers have decided to stop defending the fort and get out of dodge.
The compunction to "keep the house" is waning.
They better get that green bar (FCs completed) up in a hurry or the red bar (FCs in process) is going to go off the screen.
Someone linked a story yesterday about the nightmares debtor representatives are having trying to get modifications processed. Doesn't look like that is going to be getting any easier in the near term.
I think this says it all:
Yahoo! - 404 Not Found
"This sucker is going down" is about the only thing the Chimp got right before leaving office.
This is what prime is: (This is a house that I gasped when I saw it)
Owner bought in 1994, for 100,000.
Foreclosed in 2009, for 810,000.
Over 16 years of owning the house, instead of paying down the 100,000 initial mortgage; the owner has refi-ed until he owes 890K; almost 7 times more than his initial mortgage. Now he goes foreclosure and the bank suffers (which mean taxpayers due to TARP)
I can only imagine the lifestyle that this financed.
This is what I think about when someone says the coming PRIME tsunami. To me, these are the worst of the worst. People who've flaunted their "prime" status and layered on the risk. Their behavior guarantees that either they'll lever to crazy richness, like Donald Trump, or (more likely) crash spectacularly.
June 30 (Bloomberg) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission today accused Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based Prime Capital Services over their alleged roles in fraudulent and unsuitable sales of variable annuities to senior citizens who were lured through free-lunch seminars at restaurants in Florida.
When several seniors were interviewed about this; it was found that most had this to say: "Huh? What did you say?"
Nowotny Expects ECB to Keep Rates Steady Into 2010 (Update2) - Bloomberg.com
At least they are showing more concern about the next step after all of the liquidity moves from banking system to everything else.
Should I hold my breath waiting for the MSM to link increasing delinquincies with the consumer's ability to maintain PCE?
"About 53 percent of mortgages modified in the first quarter of 2008 were 30 or more days delinquent after six months, and increased to a 63 percent default rate after a year. "
The important thing is the taxpayers paid fees to the bankers to shuffle paper for almost no economic benefit.
That house was one of many. There are others with 199K in 1994, and foreclosing in 2009 now with 650K ish first mortgage (God knows how much in HELOC or seconds); etc.
Prime Capital Services spokeperson Shelli Cashmere had only the following comment "Do you know how hard it is to come up with a menu the features only gummable food?"
One of my co-worker had a "Burn the Mortgage" party. I asked him why he hated America. I learned that here.
Tapioca FTW!
my parents go to those free lunch seminars about twice a month. never bought anything though. pretty soon they're going to be blacklisted.
Is he dead?
...Or maybe just restin'
...Pinin' for the fjiords.
I have a SIL working at one of those Refi/MortgageMod centers that Wells Fargo setup - this office has hundreds of workers sitting around for last two days with "no files" (no work). She thinks they will be closing the office very soon.
My guess is that investors are just starting to read the Waxman-Malarkey bill and are horrified by what they see.
One of my co-worker had a "Burn the Mortgage" party. I asked him why he hated America
Dang, didn't Archie burn his mortgage? And I always pegged Meathead as the household terrorist.
Another thing I've heard conversations in gyms, etc; that have two moms talking to each other about how their husbands have lost their jobs, and how one of the husband have been on-and-off jobs for 5 years now. The tone was pretty non-nonchalant about it. As if they were discussing that their husbands got a cold.
Their next topic:
When's their kids' next birthday (usually $500-600 a pop) and what summer camp program is best (usually $1200 a summer).
Both happily living in 3000+ sqft locales and both pretty upbeat about their finances. Full memberships in expensive gyms and childcare, Gucci and Fendi bags, etc.
This is Prime.
This is big.
Suggestion for Ahnold to fix budget - default/walk away !
"Full memberships in expensive gyms and childcare, Gucci and Fendi bags, etc."
Sounds like west LA. Folks here are outwardly still very optimistic. Went to look at a rental recently (90048) and was told by the realtor that escrows are up, land values are near 1 million $ for 6k sq ft lots, cash buyers abound, everyone wants to live here, etc. Houses still get listed at a premium to 2007 purchases, everyone (who's buying or selling) says we're at the bottom. In-freaking-sane.
bearly (profile) wrote on Tue, 6/30/2009 - 4:17 pm
Suggestion for Ahnold to fix budget - default/walk away !
Jingle mail for the Governator's mansion.
Are Mortgage Companies Sabotaging Obama’s Anti-Foreclosure Plan?
A $75 billion plan to prevent millions of families from losing their homes has become bogged down as a result of mortgage lenders reacting too slowly to the crisis, leading some experts to wonder if banks are deliberately undermining President Barack Obama’s effort. Joel Naroff, of Naroff Economic Advisors, told USA Today, “Some lenders may not be turning (homeowners) down right away because it might be politically easier to push them off and delay. No one will admit they’re doing this.”
AllGov - News - Are Mortgage Companies Sabotaging Obama’s Anti-Foreclosure Plan?
@BSR - No kidding! Where are the files? What's the inside scuttlebutt: is this due to WF not wanting to book the losses on toxic garbage or are that many truly strategically defaulting and deliberately not attempting to get a mod?
OT / Firefox 3.5 ... here's what PC mag said:
After four beta versions and three release candidates, Firefox 3.5 has finally been released into the world as the latest version of the second most popular Web browser on the planet. The new version brings a private browsing mode, faster JavaScript performance, and support for emerging HTML 5 standards such as plug-in-free video and audio playing.
.....
some of your add-ons may not work in 3.5 (my Evernote is not )
.....
also, bar charts are ok but when the data points don't visually scale I prefer a stack bar chart...
Soon, a totally predictable black swan will appear--and the 9, and then the 8, and then the 7 handle will disappear. Not sure which swan it will be--my bet is we send US troops back into Baghdad, but something has got to trigger a correction. The market's recent rise is hysterical--and gravity never fails. When the dollar always goes up on bad news, when good means not as bad, when there are no green shoots---the shit does hit the fan. The mattress is looking safer than any bank--it's a perfect sleeper.
Update on California mess, 15 hours and counting....
No sign of budget with deadline approaching
BSR....Back in the day this happened in S&L's when they knew they had been bonged....The owners came in after hours and boxed all the files and flew town.
@CCB - I've been running 3.5 for a while now...on Ubuntu (Ibex and Heron) and I've been pretty pleased with stability, etc. On the HH box I've had some issues with SWF (flash) but a restart (of just the browser) clears things up.
bearly (profile) wrote on Tue, 6/30/2009 - 9:17 am
Suggestion for Ahnold to fix budget - default/walk away !
Just how would that work? Stop issuing retirement checks?
Someday people are going to get this. California does not have a revenue, debt or liabilities problem. California has a spending problem. There is no level of taxation or indebtedness that can fix California's spending problem. It would be nice to roll back and cap some benefits streams but that isn't vital.
The problem is systemic. The State government is so distant from the people that all their spending looks like OPM. It appears that the State model fails someplace more than 25 million people. Florida and New York might argue for even lower.
CR for example:
if not the Stack Bar then float % of aggregate above each bar... perhaps not easy to do with your toolkit
because the human eye can't really get a read of 4 data points of such smallness and largeness
OK, maybe doom porn will make a come back now.
my latest - a sample
This Mover group was not well equipped for what they were trying to do. Nor were they in shape to do it. Then again, none, at least so far, had been. The kid who spotted Night was the only one who looked like she was enjoying herself. Like most kids her age, my guess was 7, she walked, skipped, and hopped her way down the trail. Her “Hello Kitty” backpack not much of an encumberance. The stuffed rabbit that looked out from the backpack was hopefully the heaviest thing she was packing.
The adults, especially the females, looked very unhappy. It was hot, they were carrying extra weight in the form of rolls of fat around their waists an asses. So were the men, one of whom looked like a prime candidate for a heart attack. They weren’t walking as much as doing a heads down, sullen trudge to the promised land.
site: afterthecrash.net
The monetization will not be right back after a message
about a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The monetization will not go better with Coke.
The monetization will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The monetization will not put you in the driver's seat.
The monetization will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The monetization will be no re-run brothers;
The monetization will be live.
"Starve The Beast" - July 4th, 2009 - The Market Ticker
All in favor of a consumption strike " say I "
" I "
All in favor of education reform say "aye."
Fundamentally, I wish people would concentrate more on quality of life, and less on quantity of stuff.
"It appears that the State model fails someplace more than 25 million people."
As a resident of Texas, I have to question that. Not to say we're perfect, but we don't overpromise and underdeliver like I've seen with many other states.
Adobe doesn't give the penguin love as it should.
flash has always sucked in *NIX.
hc,
"This is what prime is:..."
Great anecdote...this is CA(and America's) problem in a nutshell...extracting RE appreciation and never taking the chips off the table but doubling down until going bust.
All in favor of a consumption strike " say I "
I've been on a CONsumption strike for almost two years. And I REALLY cut back after the TARP ripoff. Who knows, it could be a permanent change in behavior.
I consciously refuse to play Bernanke's games.
Although part of it was a "prisoners dilema" thing. Sorry all, I dimed you out immediately.
last thread pig, then I'm out:
"I know so many young 'women' and 'men' who can't cook to save their lives. What will they do when they can't afford to eat out anymore?"
What will they do when they can't afford a place to refrigerate and cook food?
Your choice, mr. or ms. landlord or bank: accept a tax break from the city to run a soup kitchen, or accept whatever rent the Chinese person will give you to operate a kitchen that sells food at a price that beats home cooking (do the math).
A "hotel" in New York City housing law does not mean what you think it means.
An eye for an aye leaves everybody blindsided financially...
I agree I cut back in a big way across the board, not that I was a big spender, My wife and I are fugal, and we teach our teenage children the same values.....
Save for what you want...otherwise go with out....easy really once you get use to it.
My only major purchases these days is Physical Gold and Silver....and that is for insurance, nothing more.
Comrade Scott said: "@CCB - I've been running 3.5 for a while now...on Ubuntu (Ibex and Heron) and I've been pretty pleased with stability, etc. On the HH box I've had some issues with SWF (flash) but a restart (of just the browser) clears things up.
Egregiously (OT): I've been using Jaunty on my desktop for several weeks now, tried the open-source swf.dec out of solidarity with the "movement" but went back to Adobe's version, as it just worked better for my system.
Sebastian
p.s. Anyone who's been thinking about migrating to Linux, Ubuntu 9.04 makes it incredibly easy. S.
The second chart suggests, among other things, that there aren't enough completed foreclosures and short sales to support the proposition that they account for 45% (or even 33%) of existing home sales.
Gosh, all those people who warned that Prime would be a bigger issue than Subprime way back when Ben Bernanke said everything was contained - they were RIGHT.
The reality of numbers just ground its way right through all the BS and hype.
Has anyone said We're all subprime now......yet
yes, @ 9:52
We need to stop the corruption by Goldman, bank of Amerika, and Jp Morgan. Stop the Geithner and bernanke. .
Financial Opinions Updated Daily iamned.com
read the full Rolling Stone [Taibbi] The Great American Bubble Machine article.
Obamma,s policies may not be working as well as many had hoped:
1st 100 days - There are 2.9 million more people unemployed in May than there were unemployed in January. The unemployment rate went from 7.6% to 9.4%. Since May 2008, we have lost 5.5 million jobs. The biggest losers were: Manufacturing 1.5 million lost Finance & Prof Serv 1.5 million lost Construction 1.1 million lost Retail & Leisure 1.3 million lost
good articles Financial Opinions Updated Daily iamned.com
recommended reading
Why isnt the stock market falling when the economy is sinking? Why cant we get change in Washington that we really need? Why vote?
What difference does it make to the Office of Thrift Supervision if their federally chartered bank like the AmTrust Bank in Cleveland Ohio has a delinquency of 7%. The Office of Thrift Supervision does not enforce the rules as it is. This regulatory agency is a tool of the wealthy and the powerful, The Congress. Other wise something would have been done.
April 24 ,2009 the Wall Street Journal in their article”, Regulators Fell One Bank, Spare a Rival” stated that Ohio Senator Voinovich and Ohio Representative LaTourette both Republicans told the OTS Hands off of AmTrust Bank, in other wards this bank that operates outside the rules has political protection from being shut down..
The OTS did issue a Cease and Desist order against AmTrust Bank in November 2008 for Unsafe and Unsound Banking Practices; this was for poor financial ratios. On March 17 2009 Bill Dedman of MSNBC reported that AmTrust Bank had 30 % more troubled loans than capital and reserves. Last year the Plain Dealer reported AmTrust bank with a 7 % delinquency in loans. This by the way is the largest bank to have a ratio over a 100.
AmTrust bank was sued in January 30, 1985 (Cleveland Ohio Case # 85-86378)for the manipulation of mortgage interest calculation which they settled in September 2007 for a cash payment of 14 million dollars which involved some 27,000 borrowers. I cannot find where the OTS ever cited the AmTrust Bank for this Truth in Lending Violation and in March 2009 the OTS refused to answer if they ever cited this bank. The Government has publically stated that the OTS is lax in their enforcement of the rules.
The OTS has no credibility, but with out a doubt has culpability. A better way to describe the Office of Thrift Supervision is the Congressional regulatory agency that has made misfeasance an art form.
Michael LittleBig
Cleveland Ohio
6-30-09
The second graph CLEARLY reveals what we've all known for some time now: Lenders are intentionally stalling the foreclosure process because foreclosures require losses to be entered onto their books.
Foreclosures initiated: Stable
Foreclosures in process: Way up
Foreclosures complete: Down
We're talking about a ~200,000 gap, every quarter, between foreclosures initiated and foreclosures completed. Too bad this graph doesn't have a longer timeline, because it would be a great indicator as to the size of the Shadow Inventory. My estimate, looking at this graph, is 1.5 to 2 million houses, and will reach towards 3 million by the end of the year.
These delinquency figures are frightening. For example on January 6, 2009 the Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland Ohio reported that the AmTrust Bank which has been under a Cease and Desist order from the Office of Thrift Supervision since November 2008 had a mortgage loan delinquency rate of 7% which is 2 to 3 times the national average.
The AmTrust Bank still operates today. The OTS has done nothing. So what does a rise in delinquency really mean?
It must not be that important if the Federal Regulator, The Office of Thrift Supervision which is supposedly monitored by the Congress does nothing about it.
Why even track delinquency?
This AMTrust Bank with sub standard financial ratios does not have to worry about the OTS closing them. The reason was in the article by the Wall Street Journal on April 24,2009 “Regulators Fell One Bank, Spare a Rival “. This article said that Ohio Senator Voinovich and Ohio Representative La Tourette told the OTS in essence to back off the AmTrust Bank.
Well if you are a politically protected Bank, you can do anything you want, just like Wall Street.