Category Archives: irresponsible lending

Investor Syndicate At Hundreds of Billions And Growing

Heard on this Street this week: the super-secret Syndicate of MBS Investors discussed previously is gaining momentum.  A confidential source has informed me that some of the largest institutional investors in mortgage-backed securities have now joined the group, bringing the amount … Continue reading →

Posted in Countrywide, firing servicers, Investor Syndicate, investors, irresponsible lending, litigation, loan files, MBS, repurchase, servicers | 2 Comments

BlackRock Puts Pressure On Banks To Absorb Losses

BlackRock, a major asset management firm and one of the largest investors in U.S. mortgage bonds, announced last week that banks would have to absorb the losses on their holdings in second-lien mortgages before it would resume purchasing “private-label” mortgage … Continue reading →

Posted in allocation of loss, BlackRock, conflicts of interest, investors, irresponsible lending, junior liens, loan modifications, MBS, securities, toxic assets | 1 Comment

Home Loan Bank Lawsuit May Signal Floodgates Opening For Investor Actions

As reported this week in the Wall Street Journal (article available here, with subscription), the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle has filed separate lawsuits against 11 different Wall Street firms, alleging that it was misled about the quality of … Continue reading →

Posted in Bear Stearns, Federal Home Loan Banks, investors, irresponsible lending, lawsuits, litigation, mark-to-market accounting, RMBS, securities, securitization, servicers, underwriting practices, Wall St. | 2 Comments

New Evidence Shows Loan-to-Value Ratio Contributed Most Heavily to Mortgage Meltdown

An article published in the Wall St. Journal this week by Stan Liebowitz posits a purportedly new take on the causes of the mortgage meltdown. Liebowitz’s analysis of recent data on millions of individual loans published by McDash Analytics, a … Continue reading →

Posted in allocation of loss, foreclosure rate, irresponsible lending, lending guidelines, loan modifications, loss causation, LTV, negative equity, stated income, subprime, toxic assets, Wall St. | Leave a comment

Obama Signs Helping Families Save Their Homes Act Into Law, Complete With Servicer Safe Harbor

On May 21, President Barack Obama signed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act into law (P.L. 111-22), including the controversial “Servicer Safe Harbor” provision that relieves servicers of their contractual liabilities for modifying loans without investor approval. The House … Continue reading →

Posted in Barack Obama, Helping Families Save Homes, incentives, investors, irresponsible lending, legislation, loan modifications, Servicer Safe Harbor, toxic assets | 1 Comment

Amendment to Restrict Servicer Safe Harbor Rejected By Senate

On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate rejected a measure that would have limited the “Servicer Safe Harbor” provision of the “Helping Families Save Their Homes Act,” which aims to protect servicers from lawsuits over their modifications of residential mortgage loans. The … Continue reading →

Posted in costs of the crisis, Helping Families Save Homes, homeowner relief, incentives, investors, irresponsible lending, legislation, Servicer Safe Harbor, William Frey | Leave a comment

Bondholders Battle Back Over Servicer Safe Harbor

Back in early March, without much fanfare, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1106, entitled the “Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009”, which contained a “Servicer Safe Harbor” provision that would allow servicers to disregard bondholders’ contract … Continue reading →

Posted in BofA, Countrywide, Greenwich Financial Services, Helping Families Save Homes, irresponsible lending, legislation, loan modifications, lobbying, Servicer Safe Harbor, William Frey | 2 Comments

Center For Responsible Lending Publishes Report Linking Failures of WaMu and IndyMac to Poor OTS Oversight

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), a non-profit, non-partisan research and policy organization, has released a report that begins to shed some light on the role that lax regulation played in the mortgage meltdown of the last year and a … Continue reading →

Posted in causes of the crisis, Center for Responsible Lending, Greenwich Financial Services, incentives, IndyMac, irresponsible lending, OTS, oversight, Russian MBS, sellers and sponsors, WaMu, William Frey | 1 Comment