Category Archives: Way Too Big to Fail

Investor End Games: All Is Not Well in the Garden

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Isaac Gradman

“As long as the roots are not severed, all is well.  And all will be well in the garden.” – Chance the Gardener, Being There (1979) With Judge Barbara Kapnick announcing earlier this month that the approval hearing in Bank … Continue reading →

Posted in AIG, allocation of loss, ASF, Attorneys General, Bank of New York, banks, BlackRock, Bloomberg, BofA, bondholder actions, causes of the crisis, conflicts of interest, consitutionality, contract rights, costs of the crisis, Countrywide, damages, Deutsche Bank, discovery, eminent domain, fiduciary duties, foreclosure crisis, fraud, global settlement, Grais and Ellsworth, impact of the crisis, incentives, investors, irresponsible lending, Judge Barbara Kapnick, Judge Eileen Bransten, junior liens, Kathy Patrick, lawsuits, lenders, lending guidelines, liabilities, LIBOR manipulation, liquidity, litigation, litigation costs, lobbying, MBIA, MBS, misrespresentation, monoline actions, monolines, mortgage fraud, mortgage insurers, mortgage market, negative equity, Neil Barofsky, private label MBS, procedural hurdles, putbacks, recession, rep and warranty, repurchase, Residential Capital, responsibility, restructuring, RMBS, securities, securitization, sellers and sponsors, settlements, standing, statistical sampling, statutes of limitations, successor liability, summary judgment, The Subprime Shakeout, too big to fail, toxic assets, Treasury, Trustees, underwriting guidelines, underwriting practices, US Bank, vicarious liability, waiver of rights to sue, Wall St., Walnut Place, Way Too Big to Fail, Wells Fargo, William Frey | 2 Comments

Why Mortgage Loan Servicers Behave as They Do

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Isaac Gradman

Editor’s Note: It seems that we can’t go three months without hearing about yet another species of misconduct by mortgage servicers that shifts losses onto the lienholders they are supposed to protect.  We’ve read reports about force-placed insurance, inflated appraisal … Continue reading →

Posted in accounting fraud, allocation of loss, appraisals, auditing, banks, broader credit crisis, causes of the crisis, conflicts of interest, contract rights, costs of the crisis, firing servicers, foreclosure crisis, improper documentation, incentives, investigations, junior liens, lending guidelines, loan modifications, MBIA, MBS, monolines, mortgage fraud, private label MBS, RMBS, robo-signers, securitization, servicer defaults, servicers, settlements, subprime, underwriting guidelines, underwriting practices, Way Too Big to Fail | 4 Comments

The Inside Story on PIMCO’s Defection from ASF

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Isaac Gradman

As first reported by Bloomberg yesterday, bond king Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO) has quit the American Securitization Forum (ASF) after the trade group refused to issue a statement reflecting investors’ views of the announced settlement between the five largest … Continue reading →

Posted in allocation of loss, ASF, Attorneys General, banks, Bloomberg, conflicts of interest, contract rights, global settlement, incentives, investors, junior liens, loan modifications, lobbying, mark-to-market accounting, MBS, PIMCO, pooling agreements, private label MBS, securitization, servicers, The Subprime Shakeout, Way Too Big to Fail, William Frey | 1 Comment

Is Foreclosure Settlement Déjà Vu All Over Again?

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Isaac Gradman

Today, the Attorneys General of 49 states (with Oklahoma being the lone holdout) announced a record $26 billion settlement with the nation’s five largest servicers over false and fraudulent foreclosure practices like robosigning.  That big number looks great on paper, … Continue reading →

Posted in allocation of loss, Attorneys General, bailout, banks, BofA, consitutionality, contract rights, costs of the crisis, Countrywide, education, foreclosure crisis, global settlement, Government bailout, Greenwich Financial Services, Helping Families Save Homes, homeowner relief, improper documentation, incentives, investigations, investors, irresponsible lending, junior liens, lenders, liabilities, loan modifications, lobbying, MBS, media coverage, moral hazard, mortgage market, predatory lending, press, private label MBS, probes, public perceptions, Regulators, RMBS, robo-signers, securitization, Servicer Safe Harbor, servicers, settlements, sophistication, subprime, Takings Clause, The Subprime Shakeout, Way Too Big to Fail, William Frey, workouts | 13 Comments

Way Too Big to Fail Goes to Washington (Book Tour Day 3)

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Isaac Gradman

After a hiatus over the holidays, I return with Part IV of this five-part series on my experiences during a recent book tour to promote the release of Way Too Big to Fail: How Government and Private Industry Can Build … Continue reading →

Posted in Adam Levitin, bailout, balance sheets, banks, BofA, book tour, chain of title, Citigroup, conflicts of interest, Congress, foreclosure crisis, Government bailout, improper documentation, legislation, lobbying, MBS, mortgage market, negligence and recklessness, pooling agreements, regulation, Regulators, RMBS, robo-signers, Senate staffers, Servicer Safe Harbor, Timothy Geithner, too big to fail, Treasury, Way Too Big to Fail, William Frey | Leave a comment

WTBTF Book Tour Day 2: Meeting, Marketing and Mentoring in Manhattan

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Isaac Gradman

I woke Tuesday morning, Nov. 8 on the second day of the Way Too Big to Fail book tour to the news that Kathy Patrick, legal architect of Bank of America’s Hail Mary Countrywide settlement (background here and here), had … Continue reading →

Posted in BlackRock, Bloomberg, BofA, book tour, Countrywide, foreclosure rate, Fox News, Greenwich Financial Services, investors, Kathy Patrick, litigation, loan modifications, loss causation, MBIA, MBS, media coverage, Morgan Stanley, mortgage market, MSNBC, PIMCO, Presentations, Regulators, The Subprime Shakeout, Uncategorized, Way Too Big to Fail, William Frey | Leave a comment

Book Tour Day 1: Pessimism, Hope and Note Cards

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Isaac Gradman

My first day in New York City to promote the release of Way Too Big to Fail was a whirlwind, as expected.  I arrived into JFK at 6:00 AM and headed into Manhattan for my first stop at the Cornell … Continue reading →

Posted in Attorneys General, bailout, Dan Rather, due diligence firms, Government bailout, hedge funds, mortgage market, Neil Barofsky, putbacks, re-underwriting, Regulators, RMBS, securities, securities laws, securitization, TARP, The Subprime Shakeout, Timothy Geithner, too big to fail, Treasury, Wall St., Way Too Big to Fail, William Frey | Leave a comment

Release of “Way Too Big to Fail” Simply Opening Salvo in Efforts to Reform Mortgage Finance

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Isaac Gradman

It’s tempting when you have an enormous task before you to focus all of your attention on completing that task while blocking out any thoughts of what comes next.  For me, that enormous task has been the publication of a … Continue reading →

Posted in allocation of loss, appeals, Bank of New York, banks, BofA, bondholder actions, causes of the crisis, contract rights, Countrywide, discovery, FHFA, global settlement, investors, irresponsible lending, lawsuits, liabilities, litigation, lobbying, loss causation, MBIA, monoline actions, mortgage market, pooling agreements, private label MBS, putbacks, regulation, Regulators, remand, repurchase, RMBS, securitization, settlements, statistical sampling, successor liability, The Subprime Shakeout, Uncategorized, Way Too Big to Fail, William Frey | 1 Comment

Originator Business Models Led Inevitably to Housing Crash

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Isaac Gradman

by Steve Ruterman, guest blogger It has been four years since the onset of the epic economic and capital markets fiasco known as the housing crash, and this crisis is far from over.  Because the housing and mortgage finance industries … Continue reading →

Posted in AIG, banks, broader credit crisis, causes of the crisis, Complaints, Countrywide, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, guest posts, incentives, interest rates, irresponsible lending, lawsuits, lenders, lending guidelines, MBIA, MBS, mortgage market, private label MBS, research, RMBS, securitization, The Subprime Shakeout, Uncategorized, Way Too Big to Fail, William Frey | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment