JPMorgan CEO says foreclosure deal threatened
Reuters
4:56 AM PST, January 26, 2012

(Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said President Barack Obama's decision to expand investigations into home lending and sales of mortgage securities could stop settlement talks with the states over foreclosure practices.

"It has a pretty good chance of derailing it," Dimon said in a televised interview with CNBC from Davos, Switzerland on Thursday.

Obama, in his State of the Union address Tuesday, said he has asked his attorney general to create a special unit of prosecutors to expand investigations into home lending and packaging of mortgage-backed securities. It is not clear how the new unit will be different from earlier investigations.

JPMorgan is the largest U.S. bank and one of the larger servicers of mortgage loans. JPMorgan, Bank of America , Wells Fargo & Co , Citigroup and Ally Financial Inc have been in talks with state attorneys general for months about settling allegations of foreclosure abuses.

The banks and states have been discussing a plan that would have the banks pay $25 billion to homeowners through reductions in principal on mortgage loans.

"I think it would be better for America if that settlement took place," Dimon said. "If this thing derails that, so be it."

(Reporting by David Henry; editing by John Wallace)


Source: http://www.ivpressonline.com/business/sns-rt-us-jpmorgan-foreclosuretre80p0uc-20120126,0,1893647.story

Bloomberg: Procurador de California niega propuesta de acuerdo de BoA y JPMorgan

BofA, JPMorgan Proposed Accord Rejected by California’s Harris

By David McLaughlin - Oct 1, 2011

A proposed nationwide settlement with banks including Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. is being rejected by California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who will pursue her own mortgage investigation in the state that had the second-highest foreclosure rate in August.

The proposed agreement is “inadequate” and would allow too few California homeowners to stay in their homes, Harris said in a letter yesterday obtained by Bloomberg News.

“After much consideration, I have concluded that this is not the deal California homeowners have been waiting for,” Harris, a Democrat who took office in January, said in the letter to the U.S. Justice Department and the Iowa attorney general, who is leading talks for the states.

All 50 state attorneys general last year announced they were investigating bank foreclosure procedures following complaints that the companies were using faulty documents in seizing homes.

State attorneys general and federal agencies have been negotiating a settlement with the five largest mortgage servicers, including Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America and New York-based JPMorgan. They have sought a settlement that would fund loan modifications and set requirements for how the banks conduct foreclosures and interact with borrowers. Harris’s office has been negotiating directly with the banks on behalf of the states. One in every 226 California housing units had a foreclosure filing during August, more than twice the national average and second only to Nevada, according to a RealtyTrac Inc. report. Harris said 2.2 million Californians are underwater in their mortgages.

JPMorgan fue demandado por Sealink por hipotecas compradas entre 2005 y 2007

Bank of America’s Countrywide Sued by Sealink Funding

By Chris Dolmetsch and David McLaughlin - Sep 30, 2011

Bank of America Corp. (BAC)’s Countrywide unit was sued by Sealink Funding Ltd. in New York over $1.6 billion of residential mortgage-backed securities the fund purchased between 2005 and 2007.

Sealink filed the suit against Countrywide in New York State Supreme Court yesterday, seeking unspecified compensatory, rescissory and punitive damages. Sealink is a fund created to manage Landesbank Sachsen AG’s riskiest assets after the German lender almost collapsed.

“Countrywide was an entity driven by only one purpose --to originate and securitize as many mortgage loans as possible into” mortgage-backed securities “to generate profits for the Countrywide defendants, without regard to the investors that relied on the critical, false information provided to them with respect to the related certificates,” lawyers for Sealink said in the lawsuit.

Sealink filed a similar suit yesterday in the same court against JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) over $2.4 billion worth of residential mortgage-backed securities purchased between 2005 and 2007.

“This appears to be another sophisticated investor looking for someone to blame for investment losses suffered due to a downturn in the economy,” Lawrence Grayson, a spokesman for Bank of America, said in an e-mail. “We will vigorously defend this lawsuit.”

La FTC reintegra $108 millones a propietarios sobrecargados por Countrywide

Para Su Difusión: 07/20/2011

La FTC reintegra aproximadamente $108 millones de dólares a 450,000 propietarios de vivienda que fueron sujetos de sobrecargos por servicios de administración de préstamo de parte de Countrywide

La Comisión Federal de Comercio (Federal Trade Commission, FTC) está enviando por correo 450,177 cheques de reintegro por un valor total aproximado de $108 millones de dólares a los propietarios de vivienda que fueron sujetos de sobrecargos aplicados por la compañía Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. Como parte de los esfuerzos de la FTC para proteger a los propietarios de vivienda que atraviesan dificultades financieras, el año pasado la FTC estableció un acuerdo resolutorio con Countrywide para resolver las alegaciones que le imputaban cargos excesivos a los prestatarios que estaban luchando por conservar sus casas.

Bloomberg: Denuncian a EMC de JPMorgan sobre documentos de prestamos hipotecarios

JPMorgan’s EMC Mortgage Sued Over Home Loan Documents

By Sophia Pearson - Jan 18, 2011

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s EMC Mortgage, facing homeowner lawsuits over foreclosures, was sued by the trustee of a mortgage portfolio for refusing to turn over documents detailing the quality of loans bought by the trust.

Wells Fargo & Co., the trustee, is seeking access to files for more than 2,000 underlying mortgages in the Bear Stearns Mortgage Funding Trust 2007-AR2, according to the complaint filed today in Delaware Chancery Court in Wilmington.


“The trustee has repeatedly requested that EMC provide access to the subject documents,” Wells Fargo said in the complaint. “EMC has played proverbial ‘rope a dope’ and otherwise continued to drag its feet, and has produced nothing.”

Claims of wrongdoing by banks and loan servicers triggered a 50-state investigation last year into whether hundreds of thousands of foreclosures were properly documented as the housing market collapsed. Lending practices have also pitted mortgage-bond investors against banks over misrepresentations such as overstatements of borrowers’ income and inflated appraisals.

Christine Holevas, a spokeswoman for New York-based JPMorgan, declined to comment.

Wells Fargo said it needs access to the documents to answer “serious” questions raised by investors in the trust about whether EMC breached representations and warranties regarding the quality of option-adjustable rate mortgage loans the trust bought.

New Jersey Court Decision May Be Unique, but Still Bad for BofA and RMBS



Written by
David Fanger
Senior Vice President
David.Fanger@moodys.com
and

Yehudah Forster
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Yehudah.Forster@moodys.com
For:
MOODY ’S  RESI   LANDSCAPE, Dec. 9, 2010 Issue

On 16 November, a bankruptcy court in New Jersey dismissed Bank of America’s (BofA, Aa3 negative, C-/Baa2 stable) claim for standing to enforce a mortgage originated and securitized by Countrywide in 2006. The judge concluded Countrywide had failed to properly endorse and transfer possession of the mortgage note to the securitization’s trustee, leaving it unenforceable under New Jersey law. Last week BofA was reported in the press as saying that the facts upon which the judge based her conclusion may not have been correct.

We believe the case will lead to increased litigation, higher servicing costs, and more foreclosure delays. This will pressure BofA’s earnings. Increased foreclosure timelines and costs associated with potentially defective loans will also increase losses for Countrywide-sponsored RMBS. This is negative for both BofA and Countrywide-sponsored RMBS.

Miles de demandas de ejecuciones hipotecarias resueltas en 3 meses

65,830 foreclosure cases in Florida cleared in three months

11/02/2010 © Palm Beach Post
By Kimberly Miller

Florida's courts cleared 65,830 foreclosure cases in a three-month period beginning July 1, with 71 percent being decided in quickie hearings before the judge sometimes called "rocket dockets."
According to a report released today by the Office of State Courts Administration, only 23 foreclosure cases went to trial statewide during the same time period.

Estiman que mercado inmobiliario sufre por congelamiento de ejecuciones hipotecarias

Freeze souring house deals

10/23/2010 © Daytona Beach News-Journal

DAYTONA BEACH -- So far, major banks freezing parts of the foreclosure process have caused some lost or delayed house sales in the Volusia-Flagler market, real-estate officials said this week.
"It's a strong knee-jerk reaction by the lenders, and it's too strong," said Aswin Suri, owner of Exit Realty of Daytona. "We had a deal with a bank that's not even among the ones freezing foreclosures, and it was about to close when it was held up because of the freeze."
Still, investigations of mishandled foreclosures are continuing across the country.

Problemas de documentación detiene casos de ejecución hipotecaria

Mortgage document troubles holding up foreclosures
10/02/2010 © Palm Beach Post
Posted: 1:52 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 2, 2010

The technical glitch that Ally Financial is citing for freezing portions of its foreclosure machine could keep Susan Carlsen in her million-dollar Jupiter home for another year. Or, even win her the court case all together. Carlsen's attorney, no doubt like many foreclosure defenders nationwide, plans to take full advantage of the acknowledgments by Ally, JPMorgan Chase and now Bank of America, that legal documents used to repossess people's homes were flawed.

Attorneys for Ally, formerly GMAC, withdrew an affidavit stating how much Carlsen owes on the house last month as it was revealed bank employees swore to personal knowledge of foreclosure documents when they had no such knowledge. The unexpected reprieve for tens of thousands of delinquent borrowers opens legal avenues to slow Florida's so-called "rocket docket" - a blur of quickie foreclosure judgments aided by a summer infusion of $9.6 million to hire additional judges and court employees.

Bank of America detiene las ejecuciónes hipotecarias mientras Fannie Mae interviene

Bank of America slows foreclosures as Fannie Mae steps in
10/02/2010 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Bank of America announced it is delaying foreclosures in 23 states – including Florida - - after the Associated Press reported that a bank official acknowledged in a legal proceeding that she signed up to 8,000 foreclosure documents a month and typically didn't read them. 

Bank of America said late Friday it is delaying foreclosures in 23 states, becoming the third major lending institution to acknowledge mortgage documentation problems. Meanwhile, Fannie Mae stepped up efforts to hold lenders accountable, saying it will warn loan servicers to report problems with cases that may violate financial laws.

Bank of America -- one of the largest mortgage lenders in Florida and the nation's largest bank -- did not give an estimate for how many homeowners' cases will be affected in South Florida and elsewhere.
Bank of America spokesman Dan Frahm said the institution was "assessing our existing processes" and would be delaying some actions.

The Federal National Mortgage Association – commonly known as Fannie Mae -- said it is alerting 1,400 loan servicers nationwide that they would be in violation of their contracts on federally-backed Fannie Mae loans if their foreclosure processes don't comply with state and local laws.