Mortgage and Note voided, cancelled and nullified by the court because lender had acted in bad faith, refusing to negotiate a reasonable loan modification. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Indymac Bank F.S.B. v Yano-Horoski 2009 NY Slip Op 52333(U) Decided on November 19, 2009 Supreme Court, Suffolk County Spinner, J. Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. This opinion is uncorrected and w... Read Full Story

The federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies issued a final rule that mortgage loans modified under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) retain the risk weight appropriate to the loan before modification. Under HAMP, the US Treasury Department allocates funds to participating servicers for the modification of loans on the verge of foreclosure. The final rule (available to download here) clarifies loans currently in the HAMP three-month trial period before reaching permanency qua... Read Full Story

Fannie Mae to rent out homes instead foreclosing By ALAN ZIBEL (AP) – 4 hours ago WASHINGTON — Thousands of borrowers on the verge of foreclosure will soon have the option of renting their homes from Fannie Mae, under a policy announced Thursday. The government-controlled company, through its new “Deed for Lease” program, will allow borrowers to transfer ownership to Fannie Mae and sign a one-year lease, with month-to-month extensions after that. The program will “eliminate ... Read Full Story

In bankruptcy and government takeovers of financial institutions, missing collateral is a major obstacle for trustees and regulators to overcome. The missing assignment problem is an extension of not carelessness or sloppiness as many have claimed, but of overt acts of fraud. Skilled attorneys and forensic accounting experts could expose this fraud and as such, the effects and implications are more far reaching than a borrower, simply having their debt extinguished. Debt extinguishment or dis... Read Full Story

By GRETCHEN MORGENSON Published: October 24, 2009 FOR decades, when troubled homeowners and banks battled over delinquent mortgages, it wasn’t a contest. Homes went into foreclosure, and lenders took control of the property. On top of that, courts rubber-stamped the array of foreclosure charges that lenders heaped onto borrowers and took banks at their word when the lenders said they owned the mortgage notes underlying troubled properties. In other words, with lenders in the driver’s seat, bo... Read Full Story

Sheridan_decision In this Chapter 7 case, the trustee, Ford Elsaesser (“Trustee”), objects to amotion under § 362(d) for relief from the § 362(a) automatic stay.1 Motions under § 362(d) are common in bankruptcy cases.2 Most stay relief requests proceed promptly to entry of an order, after proper notice, without any objection. However, changes in mortgage practices over the past several years have created a number of new issues. The one highlighted in this case is the standing of the moving cr... Read Full Story

Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, AS TRUSTEE FOR THE CERTIFICATE HOLDERS OF CARRINGTON MORTGAGE LOAN TRUST 2005-OPT2, ASSET-BACKED CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2005-OPT2, Plaintiff against Debra Abbate, CARMELA ABBATE, KIM FIORENTINO, BOCCE COURT HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., NEW YORK CITY ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL BOARD, NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT ADJUDICATION BUREAU, NEW YORK CITY PARKING VIOLATIONS BUREAU, and “JOHN DOE No. 1″ through “JOHN DOE #10,” the last ten names being fictitious and unknown to t... Read Full Story

Mortgage companies are more likely to foreclose on homeowners than modify their loans because they make more money off foreclosures, argues a new report by a consumer advocacy group. While homeowners, lenders and investors typically lose money on a foreclosure, mortgage servicers do not, says report author Diane E. Thompson, of counsel at the National Consumer Law Center. Servicers are the companies that manage the mortgages and collect payments. “Servicers may even make money on a fore... Read Full Story

By PAM MARTENS The financial tsunami unleashed by Wall Street’s esurient alchemy of spinning toxic home mortgages into triple-A bonds, a process known as securitization, has set off its second round of financial tremors. After leaving mortgage investors, bank shareholders, and pension fiduciaries awash in losses and a large chunk of Wall Street feeding at the public trough, the full threat of this vast securitization machine and its unseen masters who push the levers behind a tightly drawn c... Read Full Story

California has a new law on the books that bans collection of advance fees from firms that provide loan modification services to people struggling to avoid foreclosure. Other real estate related bills signed into law this month by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger aim to crack down on abusive lending practices by mortgage brokers; provide more safeguards for seniors taking out reverse mortgages; and require lenders to provide a summary translation of loan papers to non-English speakers. Effective Oc... Read Full Story