Like the news media, statisticians are catching up to what we all have known for months: The number of new foreclosures filed in that last 12 months have increased nationally by at least 75%. In the State of Connecticut, that number is 100% meaning that new cases have doubled and in the inner cities, [...]

January 28, 2008 – The Florida Times-Union reported today that the subprime mortgage collapse “could be turning into a foreclosure crisis.” I checked the date on my paper to be sure that I had not travelled back in time during my sleep because that bit of prognostication would have been more impressive a year ago.
The [...]

First time homebuyers and other borrowers taking out new home loans in 2008 may get an additional tax deduction.  If their lender requires mortgage insurance (a type of insurance often found in subprime home loans that protects the lender from a default and not the borrower from loss) then it may be possible to deduct [...]

Who really owns the mortgage? Do you really know? How many times has it been sold? How many times have its servicing rights been sold? Where is the underlying note? Is it perfected?
If a Bankruptcy is filed, who is the proper party in the Bankruptcy? Who really is the real [...]

So many times I see clients seeking a loan modification or loan workout for their mortgage(s).  In most cases, these are very dangerous, and usually only put off the inevitable fact that the borrower can not maintain payments on the property.  The workout/modification is just a temporary bandaid in most cases.
If you liked that post, [...]

In today’s Los Angeles Times, Jack Kemp gives his support to the NACBA endorsed legislation to deal with the massive increase in foreclosures, as a result of the sub-prime mortgage crisis.
Consumer law attorneys have been calling for bankruptcy law reform for some time.

Would you be surprised to learn that your mortgage company changed your mortgage payment and added fees during your Chapter 13 bankruptcy without telling you.  Apparently that’s what happened to a Mrs.  Hill, a resident of Pennsylvania.
After completing her five year Chapter 13 plan successfully and receiving a discharge, Mrs. Hill received a letter from [...]

In 1993 accountants changed the rules for lenders to try to protect us all from another savings & loan disaster. But bankers were not concerned. Now they would like us all to forget the rules so they can use “better” numbers in their books.
It turns out that the banks never really thought they [...]

     The New York Attorney General is looking at the ratings agencies whose input allowed the sub-prime mortgage market to flourish.
As I have blogged previously, the ratings agencies effectively assisted the selling of securities backed by sub-prime mortgages that were junk, or toxic, as they say on Wall Street.
Without the ratings, there is no market [...]

Courtesy of Freddie Mac:

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