Beware: The Machiavellian Mortgage Scam Continues

In 2008, U.S. foreclosure filings shot up by 81% nationwide, and since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been almost 5 million completed foreclosures across the country, with millions more expected over the next few years. It's easy to conclude that this disaster was merely a result of incompetence but when you add up all of the facts, it becomes clear this calamity was the result of something much more Machiavellian (“Machiavellism” justifies power politics without ethical standards) at work. Moreover these Machiavellian powers are doing everything in their power to continue the biggest financial swindle in history.  And if you think you're in the clear just because you haven't been foreclosed upon, think again.

By design, it's very confusing, so the following is my attempt to clarify matters  for myself as well as for anyone else who might be interested. 

Firstly, we were set up.  Since the early to mid 1990s, in particular, Americans were strongly encouraged to buy their own home...whatever it takes, get yourself a home. Policies and programs (guarantees, tax breaks, etc.) were created to encourage home ownership, to finance the "American Dream".  And it worked.  The government pushed home ownership past 69% in 2004.  Not to mention, the banks opened up the floodgates and made credit available to anyone, regardless of   income. In fact, between 2003-2008, income wasn't even required!   NINJA (No Income No Job No Asset) loans and LIAR loans-loans structured to fail--predominated.

Meanwhile, Wall Street was ready to cash in on the financial ignorance of We, the Suckers. Thanks to the creation of MERS ( Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. a subsidiary of MERSCORP, Inc.), in 1995, and the securitization instruments like SPVs (Special Purpose Vehicle) or SIV (Special Investment Vehicle) they were all set up to track the transfers electronically on Wall Street, obfuscating the chain of title, as our promissory notes, split off from the deed, were securatized-- sliced and diced and sold and resold 30 times over--without our permission.  Hello robo-signing!  Of course, nothing was recorded in the land records, and the counties were not paid their fees.  In other words, the chain of title goes one way and the chain of custody, (the movement and location of physical evidence from the time it is obtained until the time it is presented in court) the other.

Most of us presume the chain of title on our property is clean and in order, however,  you may be shocked to find out otherwise, especially if you brought your home after 1997.  The financial swindlers who created the mortgage loan securitization scam made sure of it. Even if you are current--paying your mortgage on time every month--if you settled anytime over the last two decades, there is a very good chance you have a cloud on your title to the note. 

What is a clouded title? It's an apparent claim or encumbrance, such as a lien, that, if true, impairs the right of the owner to transfer his or her property free and clear of the interests of any other party. In other words, a breach in your chain of title that might jeopardize the conveyance of that title. Obviously this could very well reduce  the value and marketability of your property.

How can you tell?  Well,  it's highly recommended you either do, or get a  COTA (Chain of Title Assessment), a forensic loan audit to to determine if it was properly executed, especially to uncover any of the various misapplications of borrower's payments that generate revenue for the servicer, and/or a securitization audit which is directed at the REMIC process of sponsoring and registering the trust and its issuance of securities (Watch out for scams!). Keep in mind, the information gathered during these audits are just that, information, until it's submitted as evidence and the judge decides that the information is accurate and clearly demonstrates error or wrongdoing on the part of the other party, not to mention the judge's acceptance of the person who conducted the audit as credible.

But before you begin this arduous task, get out your deed of trust and look for a MIN # (MERS Identification Number).  It should be  right next to your document title.  If you see this number, it's almost certain your title has been compromised, as over 70 million homes are affected.  The bottom line is that the homeowner is not obliged to pay the WRONG lender!

Remember, MERS is a shell entity, a bankruptcy remote entity that is basically a computer. It has no employees, no assets, no liabilities, no income, and no expenses. It’s an electronic database managed by MERS Corp Holding, INC It is the brainchild of the Mortgage Bankers Association – Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, land title association and all the major banks, yet it.has essentially destroyed 400 years of recorded property rights in the U.S. And, as admitted in testimony, most of the original notes were destroyed after the scanning, which, according to Carpenter v. Longan - 83 U.S. 271 (1872), the uncoupling of the deed and the note renders the note null and void. Hence, without the original promissory note, any copies used as evidence in court are sure to be counterfeit. So how are the banks getting around this issue? Well, so far, the ignorance of the public, and the supposed ignorance of the attorneys and judges seems to be working out quite well for them.  Nevertheless,  now that people are waking up to their scheme, the banks are doing their utmost to create pro-bankster legislation and there are already plans to legalize these  counterfeit notes, which they will call eNotes and eMortgages.

Let's take the state of Florida as an example. Currently, there is a backlog of 366,250 foreclosure cases just sitting there waiting to be processed, not to mention, they expect another 680,000 foreclosures within the next three years. What are they waiting for? More than likely, Florida's fast-track foreclosure bill,  H.B. 87 to go through.

H.B. 87 is very likely to become law by mid-June unless Governor Rick Scott decides to exercise his veto power, which seems unlikely at this point. This is a gift to the banks and to make matters even worse, they’re using the foreclosure settlement money to run it through. If this bill becomes law, it essentially gives banks that wrongfully foreclose on your property a go pass. They get to keep the house and the homeowner can’t come back and claim they’ve been wronged.

“Significantly, the new legislation will shift the burden of proof in mortgage foreclosure cases from the plaintiff (bank), to the defendant (homeowner). Thus, if H.B. 87 is ratified, the homeowner will now have to prove that the bank lacks the legal right to foreclose at the very onset of the proceedings. This shift will significantly restrict the homeowner’s ability to defend the case as banks will now be able to seek what is being termed an “expedited foreclosure.”

A title agent addressing the subcommittee on this fast-track foreclosure bill warned them not to buy a foreclosed property because it's almost impossible to tell which titles are infected with fraud. Of course, it's not just Florida; it's nationwide.  According to HUD and Fannie and Freddie, the majority of foreclosure inventory that they'll try to sell to unsuspecting people is concentrated in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, Texas. They've even admitted to relying on companies like Fidelity National Financial which has a huge myriad of title companies to whitewash the titles to these properties. In other words, when you buy one of these properties, you're indemnifying them from suit.

Pro Bankster Legislation:

H.R. 992 - This bill exempts broad swathes of trades from new regulation and could authorize bailouts for credit default swaps

H.B. 87 - see above

Washington State Bill SHB 1435 covers up the felonious business practices by covering up reconveyance issues in allowing banks to foreclose without providing official promissary note. All they will have to present is a Declaration of Ownership. These properties are being reconveyed regularly by the large lending institutions with only a “Lost Note Affidavit” and an indemnity agreement between the parties.

“Escrow and title are not bringing the original note to the table. We need a bill that mandates producing the original note, not a copy or an affidavit, before a reconveyance can occur. A homeowner does not know if they are paying off the right bank since the loan is securitized and serviced. This bill will create more red tape for the borrower and cause fraudulent defaults and foreclosure. This is not addressing the real problem, but rather it is
covering it up.“

What about government's role? 

Now,  banks are only part of the equation.  Without the protection of government, in particular, the justice department, this treasonous deception would've failed before it started. To be sure, from the get go, our oh-so-trustworthy politicians and the banksters marched in lockstep. 

From the government encouragement of home ownership to the repeal of Glass-Steagall  to deregulation  to the resignation of Criminal Division Chief, Lanny Breuer  after a Frontline documentary aired, exposing his role--and Eric Holder's role-- in allowing the banksters to bury their crimes to Breuer's return to Covington and Burling, one of Washington's biggest white shoe law firms to represent MERS in court, to the persecution, silencing and yes, even death of whistleblowers, such as Dr. Joseph H. Zernik, Ph.D. and now deceased notary, Tracy Lawrence, Lynn Szymoniak, Kyle Lagow, amongst many others, the banks and government ensure its progression.

It’s important to emphasize that the whistleblowers whose actions were False Claims Act cases involving fraud against the federal government have legal protection whereas if your whistleblowing case does NOT fall within the narrow confines of this law, you have NO legal protections and it is practically impossible to get media attention and/or legal representation even if you have money to pay attorneys.

“I believe that the level of corruption in Los Angeles increased, but also diversified. The collapse of the housing market is a huge court corruption scandal, where the judges and the bankers are acting as a racket.

And Los Angeles was identified already in the early 2000s in FBI reports as ‘the epicenter of the epidemic of real estate and mortgage fraud.’ In my reports I documented that at least as early as 1998 they had a routine for real estate fraud in the court in collusion with a straw purchaser.

The fraud being perpetrated on the people of the United States in recent years through the financial crisis is unprecedented in human history, and it results in dispossession of the people on a scale typically seen only in war.” --  Dr. Joseph H. Zernik, in hiding since 2010

Links:

Landmark National Bank v. Kesler

How Bad Can It Be for SEC Whistle-Blowers?

What is a REMIC (Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit)? They are a form of IRS tax shelter sold to investors as part of the mortgage-backed securities package (Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit (“REMIC”) pursuant to I.R.C. §§860A-G). The documents that killed the REMICs may actually help save your home.



MERS – TOO MANY DEAD DUCKS

“Actually, the banks patented nearly every single move they made – even the behavioral aspects of dealing with the customers, judges, politicians, etc. as if to legitimize their scheme...The patent extensively outlines the legal requirements for the magical change of the negotiable promissory note into securities instruments chopped up into pieces for distribution to numerous investors who were to become the “Certificate-holders” of securitized REMIC trusts."

Clouded Titles (Who really owns your home?)


Banks’ Lobbyists Help in Drafting Financial Bills

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Bank Forecloses on Elderly Woman Over $49 She Already Paid

An elderly Texas woman, Aron Ezilla Ridge, 75, is being thrown out the home she's lived in for 47 years--the home that she raised six children--over $49 in property taxes, taxes that she paid early. Ms. Ridge is confined to a wheelchair, and is for the most part, housebound as she is partly blind, has diabetes, congestive heart failure and had surgery for colon cancer several years ago.

Ridge paid off the mortgage for her 900-square-foot home about 20 years ago. In 2007, her home needed major roof, kitchen and bathroom repairs, so she signed a reverse mortgage with James B. Nutter & Co. which provided her with $39,000 for the repairs. In 2011, she received a property tax bill for $20.31, which she said she paid in full and on time. In April 2012, the assessor's office informed her that her home was valued at $60,743 and that her taxes were estimated at $46.87. Ridge says she did not receive a tax bill, but later received a receipt stating that $49 in taxes were paid in late 2012.

Here's the thing. Ridge says she was told by the Travis County Tax Assessor's office in 2000 that she did not need to pay property taxes because the value of her home was below homestead and senior exemption caps, so she assumed that the receipt meant she was exempt from property taxes.

Fast forward to January 2013, and Nutter's attorneys told Ridge her reverse mortgage had been accelerated (see acceleration clause), and that she had to pay off the entire loan "or the lender would exercise its right to enforce the lien on her home. Ms. Ridge does not remember receiving this letter," the complaint states.

Her home was foreclosed on on Jan. 30, and she received notice on Feb. 6.

According to the complaint:

"The application [for foreclosure] stated that Ms. Ridge was in default 'for failure to pay property taxes.' The only property to which the application could possibly refer were the taxes for 2012 - which were not due until January 31, 2013. Yet defendant intended to enforce its right to foreclose on Ms. Ridge's home because she had not paid $49.00, which at the time the application was filed, was not due yet."

After Ridge was served, she tried to pay the taxes again at the assessor's office. They told her they could not accept payment because the taxes had been paid by the defendant before they were due. In other words, the taxes were already paid!

Ridge lives on $641 in monthly disability payments, therefore, is unable to pay the accelerated reverse mortgage. She has no other source of income. Meanwhile, Nutter is demanding more than $66,700, plus attorneys' fees - double the amount she was paid in 2007 and more than the appraised value of her home in 2012.

Links:

Reverse Mortgage Foreclosures On The Rise, Seniors Targeted For Scams

A Risky Lifeline for the Elderly Is Costing Some Their Homes

5 Reverse Mortgage Scams

Banks hit new low – Wells Fargo evicts homeowner undergoing cancer treatment

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Operation Mindfuck?

If there ever was a mindfuck--something that intentionally destabilizes, confuses or manipulates the mind of another person--this is it. Because nothing adds up, and maybe that's the point...I don't know. It involves a lawsuit (first press release supposedly April 23, 2012, but that link is no longer valid) alleged to involve the largest money laundering network in U.S. history, $43 trillion dollars taken from American taxpayers in banking schemes, a major news outlet, and murdered children.  Read on and see if you can make sense of this mindfuckery.

Not even one day after the mainstream news organization, CNBC published "Major Banks, Governmental Officials and Their Comrade Capitalists Targets of Spire Law Group, LLP's Racketeering and Money Laundering Lawsuit Seeking Return of $43 Trillion to the United States Treasury," CNBC executive Kevin Krim's two children were found murdered. viciously stabbed to death, supposedly, by the Krim family's 50-year old nanny Yoselyn Ortega, who was also found with what is being reported as "self-inflicted" stab wounds.  The mainstream story goes, she slit her own throat right after she stabbed the Krim children. 

Now, despite the mainstream reporting of the largest money laundering and racketeering lawsuit in US history, said to involve the most powerful people in the world, it could very well be a "frivolous law suit," that will fizzle out before it even gets started because the law firm, "Spire Law Group" may not be on the up and up. Perhaps this is an intentional effort to smear legitimate grievances against banks and their predatory lending practices. Who knows?  But then we have the murdered children of the  senior vice president of the mainstream news source occurring within hours of the press release.

Although, I certainly can't commit to a conspiracy here, as correlation does not necessarily indicate causality--granted the correlation here is very thin-- the inconsistencies and anomalies in this story alone, abound. Such as, why did the corporate-owned media automatically assume the nanny stabbed herself from the start? Suicide by slitting ones own throat is extremely rare, less than one percent of all suicides, primarily committed by men with military experience.  And as far as women are concerned, it's almost unheard of.

As for inconsistency, check out the conflicting reports from the NY Times:

10/25/12

"When Ms. Krim returned around 5:30 p.m., the commissioner said, she found a dark apartment. She went back down to the lobby to ask the doorman if he had seen the nanny and her children. When told that they had not left the building, she returned to the apartment. She looked around in the quiet rooms. Finally, she turned the lights on in the bathroom — and discovered her two children in the bathtub and the nanny unconscious on the floor.

10/26/12

"On Thursday evening around 5:30, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said, Marina Krim returned to her Upper West Side apartment with her 3-year-old daughter to discover her two other children, a 2-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl, dead of knife wounds in the bathtub and Ms. Ortega slashing herself with the same bloodied kitchen knife used on the children.

Of course, police have released very little information other than they have no idea why the nanny did this as she was reported to be a "caring nanny."

"The superintendent of the building where Ortega lives said that the nanny is “a very nice woman” and “very religious,” continuing, “To me, she has always been very, very stable.”

Then, there's this: Three hours before these murders were reported, there were NYPD reports of a HOSTAGE SITUATION at the Krim's address involving at least two adults and three children.

NYCityAlerts @NYCityAlerts
Manhattan: *Hostage* 57 West 75 St Barricaded perp stabbed holding hostage 3 adults  2 kids, ESU enroute Level 1 mobilization called.NY03
2:42 PM - 25 Oct 12 ·

NYCityAlerts @NYCityAlerts
Manhattan: *Multiple Stabbing* 57 West 75 St. NYPD advising perp stabbed 4 victims   then stabbed himself, EMS requested on a rush. NY03
2:50 PM - 25 Oct 12 ·

NYCityAlerts @NYCityAlerts
Manhattan: *Multiple Stabbing* 57 West 75 St & Central Park West. EMS o/s advising 2 pediatrics in traumatic arrest. NY03
2:55 PM - 25 Oct 12 ·

Here is some more information about the lawsuit from the Wall Street: Journal (linked above):

"NEW YORK, Oct. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Spire Law Group, LLP's national home owners' lawsuit, pending in the venue where the "Banksters" control their $43 trillion racketeering scheme (New York) - known as the largest money laundering and racketeering lawsuit in United States History and identifying $43 trillion ($43,000,000,000,000.00) of laundered money by the "Banksters" and their U.S. racketeering partners and joint venturers - now pinpoints the identities of the key racketeering partners of the "Banksters" located in the highest offices of government and acting for their own self-interests.

In connection with the federal lawsuit now impending in the United States District Court in Brooklyn, New York (Case No. 12-cv-04269-JBW-RML) - involving, among other things, a request that the District Court enjoin all mortgage foreclosures by the Banksters nationwide, unless and until the entire $43 trillion is repaid to a court-appointed receiver - Plaintiffs now establish the location of the $43 trillion ($43,000,000,000,000.00) of laundered money in a racketeering enterprise participated in by the following individuals (without limitation): Attorney General Holder acting in his individual capacity, Assistant Attorney General Tony West, the brother in law of Defendant California Attorney General Kamala Harris (both acting in their individual capacities), Jon Corzine (former New Jersey Governor), Robert Rubin (former Treasury Secretary and Bankster), Timothy Geitner, Treasury Secretary (acting in his individual capacity), Vikram Pandit (recently resigned and disgraced Chairman of the Board of Citigroup), Valerie Jarrett (a Senior White House Advisor), Anita Dunn (a former "communications director" for the Obama Administration), Robert Bauer (husband of Anita Dunn and Chief Legal Counsel for the Obama Re-election Campaign), as well as the "Banksters" themselves, and their affiliates and conduits. The lawsuit alleges serial violations of the United States Patriot Act, the Policy of Embargo Against Iran and Countries Hostile to the Foreign Policy of the United States, and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (commonly known as the RICO statute) and other State and Federal laws.

In the District Court lawsuit, Spire Law Group, LLP -- on behalf of home owner across the Country and New York taxpayers, as well as under other taxpayer recompense laws -- has expanded its mass tort action into federal court in Brooklyn, New York, seeking to halt all foreclosures nationwide pending the return of the $43 trillion ($43,000,000,000.00) by the "Banksters" and their co-conspirators, seeking an audit of the Fed and audits of all the "bailout programs" by an independent receiver such as Neil Barofsky, former Inspector General of the TARP program who has stated that none of the TARP money and other "bailout money" advanced from the Treasury has ever been repaid despite protestations to the contrary by the Defendants as well as similar protestations by President Obama and the Obama Administration both publicly on national television and more privately to the United States Congress. Because the Obama Administration has failed to pursue any of the "Banksters" criminally, and indeed is actively borrowing monies for Mr. Obama's campaign from these same "Banksters" to finance its political aspirations, the national group of plaintiff home owners has been forced to now expand its lawsuit to include racketeering, money laundering and intentional violations of the Iranian Nations Sanctions and Embargo Act by the national banks included among the "Bankster" Defendants.

The complaint - which has now been fully served on thousands of the "Banksters and their Co-Conspirators" - makes it irrefutable that the epicenter of this laundering and racketeering enterprise has been and continues to be Wall Street and continues to involve the very "Banksters" located there who have repeatedly asked in the past to be "bailed out" and to be "bailed out" in the future.

The Havens for the money laundering schemes - and certain of the names and places of these entities - are located in such venues as Switzerland, the Isle of Man, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Cypress and entities controlled by governments adverse to the interests of the United States Sanctions and Embargo Act against Iran, and are also identified in both the United Nations and the U.S. Senate's recent reports on international money laundering. Many of these entities have already been personally served with summons and process of the complaint during the last six months. It is now beyond dispute that, while the Obama Administration was publicly encouraging loan modifications for home owners by "Banksters", it was privately ratifying the formation of these shell companies in violation of the United States Patriot Act, and State and Federal law. The case further alleges that through these obscure foreign companies, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo Bank, Citibank, Citigroup, One West Bank, and numerous other federally chartered banks stole trillions of dollars of home owners' and taxpayers' money during the last decade and then laundered it through offshore companies.

This District Court Complaint - maintained by Spire Law Group, LLP -- is the only lawsuit in the world listing as Defendants the Banksters, let alone serving all of such Banksters with legal process and therefore forcing them to finally answer the charges in court. Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission, nor the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, nor the Office of the Attorney General, nor any State Attorney General has sued the Banksters and thereby legally chased them worldwide to recover-back the $43 trillion ($43,000,000,000,000.00) and other lawful damages, injunctive relief and other legal remedies.

James N. Fiedler, Managing Partner of Spire Law Group, LLP, stated: "It is hard for me to believe as a 47-year lawyer that our nation's guardians have been unwilling to stop this theft. Spire Law Group, LLP stands for the elimination of corruption and implementation of lawful strategies, and that is what we're doing here. Spire Law Group, LLP's charter is to not allow such corruption to go unanswered."

Comments were requested from the Attorney Generals' offices in NY, CA, NV, NH , OH, MA and the White House, but no comment was provided.

Links:

Derivatives: The $600 Trillion Time Bomb That's Set to Explode

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QE3 and the Global Land Grab

You can't create wealth out of thin air; therefore it's plain to see that money is not wealth, it's the mechanism used to transfer wealth from we the taxpayers to the ruling class. For instance, when Ben Bernanke prints new money (QE3), who gets first dibs on that money? His wealthy friends, of course. And then, in turn, they lend it out at quadruple the price and/or purchase up all of the finite resources--especially land, farmland, that is. Why? He who controls the food controls the world.

That's right, the global tycoons, especially since the financial crisis in 2008, have been buying up farmland all over the planet at an alarming rate, while subsistence farmers are losing their land and their way of life. They're being priced out of existence as the New World Agricultural Order unfolds.



Meanwhile, the Fed is quietly acquiring massive amounts of property in the US through their purchase of mortgage-backed securities. There are an estimated 1.5 million homes currently in the foreclosure process. Under the current QE3, Bernanke will own those properties once the foreclosure is complete. The point? To create a huge land-grab within the US where the Fed owns massive amounts of land and can leverage this acquisition against the American public as the transition becomes apparent.

Oh, and the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) recently announced that “strategic defaulters”, i.e. those homeowners who have abandoned their mortgage because they could not afford to make the monthly payments will be jailed for this “crime”.

So what we have here are banks, agencies and government "manipulating" the market toward their own agenda at the expense of we the people. Nothing new here.

Links:

'Shadow REO': As Many as 90% of Foreclosed Properties Held Off the Market, Estimates Suggest

Supposedly, these homes are being released in bulk to major conglomerates who have billions of dollars to buy them for pennies on the dollar and fix and sell them or lease them out. The banks are selling in bulk to them with the understanding that they are not to be sold within a certain amount of time

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Elderly African Americans/Hispanics Hit Hardest by Foreclosure Crisis.

Home "ownership" does not equal security later in life anymore, as older minorities - especially for those over 80-years old - are facing foreclosure rates that are almost double those faced by white borrowers of the same age, mirroring a nationwide trend seen in other age groups as well.

According to AARP:

• About 600,000 people who are 50 years or older are in foreclosure.
• About 625,000 in the same age group are at least three months behind on their mortgages.
• About 3.5 million — 16 percent of older homeowners — are underwater, meaning their home values have gone down and they now owe more than their homes are worth.

The mortgage crisis has slammed every age group—especially the oldest Americans 75-plus—and has hit Latino and African American seniors and their families the hardest, according to a study being released today by AARP.

About 1.5 million people ages 50 or older lost their homes to foreclosure from 2007 to 2011, and another 3.5 million aging boomers and seniors in the United States “are at risk of losing their homes,” says the report, “Nightmare on Main Street: Older Americans an the Mortgage Market Crisis.”

“Despite the perception that older Americans are more housing secure than younger people, millions of older Americans are carrying more mortgage debt than ever before,” the report says.

Trouble Rising Fastest for Seniors

For instance, during the five years covered by the study, seriously delinquent mortgage loans—those in the verge of foreclosure -- for people age 50 or older rose faster than delinquencies for people younger than 50. These loan payments, 90 days or more late, swelled for the 50-plus group by 456 percent from 2007-2011, compared with the also disturbing jump by 361 percent for those under 50.

AARP’s analysis included 17.4 million home loans tracked by CoreLogic, a leading data base on home equity. The report reveals that at the end of 2011, more than 600,000 home loans by people 50-plus were in foreclosure. Additionally, 625,000 older homeowners were 90 or more days delinquent—a least three mortgage payments behind, a common trigger for foreclosures.

Furthermore, the research found, by last December 3.5 million loans by older people were “underwater.” That is, they owed more than the value of their property.

The AARP analysis found that middle-income mortgage holders “have borne the brunt of the foreclosure crisis.” Although those with incomes at less than $50,000 held one-quarter of the home loans in the study — but accounted for one-third of the foreclosures.

Most Age 75-Plus Have No Savings Left

“The biggest problem we found is for the oldest of the old, those age 75 or more,” stated Debra Whitman, AARP executive vice president for policy, in a call-in press briefing on Wednesday.

She noted that two-thirds of those ages 75 or more “have no retirement savings left to make up these differences.” They can’t refinance or sell their homes, even to have enough to move into assisted living or a nursing home when they become frail.

“Older homeowners often rely on their home equity to finance their needs in retirement – things like health care, home maintenance and other unexpected needs. The fact that so many older Americans have no equity at all is troubling,” Whitman said.

Although four out of five Americans older Americans own their homes, many tapped their home equity before the recession struck for such customary needs as home repairs or rising health care costs. Once the housing bubble burst, millions of seniors depleted their retirement savings and other accounts hoping to save their home.

Even though retirement income is fixed or declining for many, says the study, their costs have escalated.

The report reveals that from 2007-2010 “average expenditures for mortgage interest and charges increased 16.3 percent; average property tax expenditures increased 4.9 percent; average expenditures for utilities increased 5.2 percent; and average health care expenditures increased 5.7 percent.”

Ironically, another factor for the added financial jeopardy confronting many seniors is longevity. “We’re seeing more and more people today over 100 and over 90,” Whitman observed. The combination of more people than ever living beyond age 75, and the dramatic economic downturn means fewer elders have even the modest resources they need to keep a roof over their heads.

Older people face more difficult challenges recovering from a foreclosure as a result of having fewer working years remaining to rebuild their financial security, Whitman said. In addition, seniors who have lost their jobs face longer periods of unemployment. When they do find a job, it is often at a lower pay level than their previous position, and offers little or no benefits.

Foreclosures Double for Older Blacks, Latinos

The report, conducted by Lori A. Trawinski of AARP’s Public Policy Institute, shows that Hispanic and black elders suffered “double the foreclosure rate” of older white borrowers. While Latinos and African Americans 50-plus with prime loans saw foreclosure rates of 3.9 percent and 3.5 percent, the level for whites was 1.9 percent in the five-year height of the crisis.

For the more troubling subprime loans, foreclosure levels were sharply higher for everyone 50-plus, the study shows, but particularly for ethnic elders. Overall, subprime mortgages accounted for 6.8 percent of home loans for 50-plus whites in 2011, who tended to have more of the standard prime loans. Blacks, though, had more than three times that percentage of subprime loans, 21.8 percent, and it was 12.9 percent for 50-plus Latino borrowers.

AARP’s report adds, “A recent settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Bank of America supports the allegation that lenders unfairly targeted African American and Hispanic borrowers for subprime loans.”

Stating that “the housing crisis is far from over,” the report calls for a range of policy solutions. It urges more help be provided to seniors with loan modification and reduction of principals, especially where housing prices have plunged well below the original principal used as the basis for the mortgage. The report also recommends increased mediation programs; more access to housing counseling and legal assistance programs; and development of short-term financial assistance programs.

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America's Wealth Fell Nearly 40% in Three Years!

A strong middle class has been what sets America apart from the rest of the world.  If you believe in the reality of the "American Dream", then you must believe in a strong middle-class, as this is what makes the "American Dream" possible.

However, for many, if they were not living the American Dream, came awfully close. That is, until the 2008 financial crisis, which crushed the middle class, in particular, waking an ever increasing many to an evolving nightmare.

According to the Fed's Survey of Consumer Finance : " Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2007 to 2010: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances.", US median household net worth plunged 40% from 2007-2010, "wiping almost two decades of asset accumulation off the books". Specifically, from $77,300 in 2007 to $126,400 in 2010. Moreover, real  income fell as well, from $49,600 in 2007 to $45,800 in 2010, which amounts to a 7.7% decline.

Families in the top 10% of income actually saw their net worth increase over the period, rising from a median of $1.17 million in 2007 to $1.19 million in 2010.

Meanwhile, middle-class families who ranked in the 40th to 60th percentile of income earners reported that their median income fell from $92,300 to $65,900 over the same time period.”

Of course, it was, and continues to be the housing sector that contributed to the bulk of the huge loss. Wages and income in real terms have been stagnating for decades, while the purchasing power of the dollar continues to deteriorate, which also played a part in the recent massive transfer of wealth.  Prior to this time, the many were living far beyond their means.  Because prior to 2008,   your pet snake could, at the very least, obtain a credit card, and more than likely, a mortgage to boot..

The NINJA Loan - No Income No Job No Assets - has lead to the NINJA generation, who not only are drowning in student loan debt, but can't get a decent job, and it only follows that their chances of accumulating assets is slim to none..

From the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, health and home aides, who earn approximately $20,000 per year, are the fastest growing occupations in the nation. Need I say more.

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Generation Homeless

Roughly one-third of our population, 70 million people, are directly effected by the ongoing housing crisis, whether they are current on their note, or not. Why? Because their mortgages were funneled into a system, created by the banks, called Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc (MERS). In fact, of the 70 million people, 80% are not in default, yet, due to MERS, if they were to investigate their chain of title, the "owners" would more than likely find their title, clouded. In other words, uncertain of who really owns the debt.

What is this elaborate shell game that is MERS? Well, it was set up in the early 1990s to circumvent the land records in order to securitize mortgage loans on Wall Street; therefore, speeding up the process, without paying the recording fee. You see, MERS splits the deed from the note, takes the note to Wall Street, pledging it multiple times over numerous and various trusts without notifying the homeowner. However, due to sloppy procedure, most of the notes never even made the trust pool, leaving homeowners, and everyone else involved uncertain of who owns the note.

Moreover, as home values continue to decline, more home-owners are steadily pushed underwater. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 11% of houses are now empty, that’s 18.4 million! And projections show millions more in the foreclosure pipeline. This avalanche of  defaulted properties will take decades to unload, driving down the value of all homes.  Not to mention, it keeps home-builders from starting new projects, and encourages qualified buyers to wait until values hit bottom. 

Meanwhile, outstanding education debt surpassed credit-card debt last year for the first time, according to Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org, and Bloomberg reports that student loan debt is near $1 trillion.  This - the exponential student debt curve –that began with Ronald Reagan is now heading vertically - combined with much tighter credit standards is sure to keep potential young home-buyers out of the housing market, perhaps, forever.

Despite home prices  in free fall while, rents are skyrocketing; monthly rents surpassed a monthly mortgage payment a few years back.

“Potential first-time homebuyers have been disproportionately affected by the very tight conditions in mortgage markets. First-time homebuyers are typically an important source of incremental housing demand, so their smaller presence in the market affects house prices and construction quite broadly.” -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said at a homebuilders conference last week.

Has a college education become a curse?  A method to enslave?  Because the government banking student loan cartel has ensured - especially with no jobs available - that this generation of college graduates will never "own" a home. 

“Despotic government supports itself by abject civilization, in which debasement of the human mind, and wretchedness in the mass of the people, are the chief criterions. Such governments consider man merely as an animal; that the exercise of intellectual faculty is not his privilege; that he has nothing to do with the laws but to obey them; and they politically depend more upon breaking the spirit of the people by poverty, than they fear enraging it by desperation.” Thomas Paine, Agrarian Justice

Related Links:

Marine makes last stand in foreclosed home

Stop Foreclosure Fraud

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Notary who blew whistle on foreclosure fraud found dead

Whistleblower, Tracy Lawrence, was, indeed, a threat to some very wealthy and influential people. Why? After she already pleaded guilty?

Well, Nevada Attorney General, Catherine Cortez Masto, handed down 606 counts of felony or gross misdemeanor indictments on robo-signing against two employees of  bank subcontractor Lender Processing Services. In other words, it appears Masto's strategy is to build a case from the bottom up, by flipping people all the way up the chain. If Tracy Lawrence remained alive, she could've provided corroborating testimony to future cases that could prove a conspiracy, which could trigger the Rico laws. So, yeah, the bankster/ corporate thugs wouldn't like that very much.

The notary who signed tens of thousands of false documents in a massive case was found dead in her home on Monday.

The notary, 43-year-old Tracy Lawrence, was supposed to be in court at 8:30 Monday morning for her sentencing hearing. When her attorney did not hear from her for more than an hour, Sr. Deputy Attorney General Robert Giunta asked for a bench warrant to be issued for Lawrence. The judge denied the request.

Police were sent to Lawrence's house to check on her after her lawyer expressed concern for her client's well-being. They found her body inside her home.

Metro Homicide Detectives are working currently the case. It is unclear if her death was due to natural causes, or if it was a suicide.

Detectives said this afternoon that they have ruled out homicide as a cause of death.

Last Monday, Lawrence pled guilty to only one criminal charge of notary fraud.

Lawrence came forward earlier this month and admitted that she had notarized around 25,000 fraudulent documents as part of a foreclosure fraud scheme.

Title officers Gary Trafford and Geraldine Sheppard of California are allegedly behind the fraud that involved forging signatures on tens of thousands of notices of default between 2005 and 2008. The two were indicted on more than 600 charges in a 439-page indictment filed on November 16.

The Nevada Attorney General is negotiating the terms of surrender for the pair. Both are expected to surrender sometime in December.

Links:

Nevada Files First Criminal Charges in Robo-Signing Case

The Robo-Signing Foreclosure Scandal Was Predicable and Is Not News

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Foreclosure Crisis: The Bankster Creation of a System to Subvert the Law

If you think this foreclosure crisis, just happened due to ignorance, stupidity, and/or sloppiness, think again. It was deliberately created.

How can we know that the groundwork was laid for this crisis, brought about by fraudulent practices - that continues on, despite the bankster's promise to halt their illegal activities - far in advance of the rampant predatory lending that date back to 1998, possibly even further?

Well, the banking industry decided long ago that people's homes could be and would be treated like a stock or bond transaction. So, in 1993, they set up an index, MISMO - which maintains voluntary electronic commerce standards for the mortgage industry - in such a way that the data files could be manipulated by Wall Street.

At the same time, the electronic system that would facilitate high-speed transactions, Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS) started to come to life, and went into action in 1995. There are over 3,000 counties in the US and MERS has infiltrated all of them. Due to MERS, the chain of title of 100 million properties established in the county land records has been circumvented, convoluted, and irretrievably broken.  Thus, without the the creation of MISMO/ MERS by the big banks, a foreclosure crisis of this magnitude is not possible. 

What is MERS? 

MERS is an entity that operates an electronic database.  It records your deed, your mortgage, your note, etc., electronically, but does not record the interest in the property at the courthouse, which is required (every conveyance of the property should have a separate document placed in your record, and it should be in a,b,c,d order) by law.  Moreover, it has a very bizarre corporate structure. It is almost a virtual company with 47-48 members   (they outsource through EDS). In addition to the 47 MERS members, there are approximately 20,000 signing officers authorized on its behalf, who have never received a dime from MERS, and who work full time for another company - sometimes a bankrupt company.

Now, MERS enabled lenders to buy and sell securities on Wall Street with nothing but an electronic handshake. Even though MERS was supposed to ensure a transfer can’t happen without both parties in agreement, almost all of the documents have the signature of the same person as representative of both parties (poorly paid robo-signers, which is still going on, despite the bank's promise to stop were/are used to sign/stamp affidavits). So, this accelerated process greatly increased the quantity of transactions, which, in turn, greatly increased the bottom line of the greedy banksters. In other words, this entity was set up so they could play with our money on Wall Street! 



However, because almost all of the intervening assignees, who bought and sold these securities, did not bother to record their interest in the land records at the courthouse, it produced breaks in the chain of title. Not only that, the counties lost/lose tens of millions of dollars in fees that MERS never paid!  In total, across the US, that's $60 billion! MERS even states that it's  not a substitute for the land records. 

And if you closed on a property, especially after 2003 (dates back to 1998), most assuredly, there was an 18-digit MERSmin located in the top right-hand corner of the title, indicating that an electronic file was already set up and waiting for you.

In a nutshell, MERS enabled the banksters to avoid fees, sped up the mortgage securitization process to allow for countless transactions, all the while, obscuring their activity.

Registrars like Thigpen in North Carolina and John O'Brien in Massachusetts say they have taken their findings to federal authorities. Except for a call from the North Carolina attorney general's office, though, Thigpen says he has been ignored for months.

What happens if you do have MERS on your mortgage?

Even if you avoid foreclosure, with MERS on your mortgage, you still may have a problem.  Eventually, the title companies will start to deny homeowners with clouded titles (MERS), coverage. So, when you go to refinance or sell the property, the title company (many of whom are owned by the big banks who created this disaster) could refuse to insure MERS properties, fearing exposure to lawsuits for a defect in the title. The title company only inusres defects previous to the issue of the warranty deed.

Meanwhile, the banks are going to court with forged and fabricated evidence (documents are backdated, include descriptions of events and actions that did not take place, are executed by individuals under titles they do not hold, and signed by someone else's name) to support their claims, in order to foreclose!

As William Galvin from Southern Essex District Register of Deeds - Salem Deeds - said, there should be a mortgage forensic auditor involved in all foreclosure court actions to ensure the information presented to judges by the banks is, indeed, accurate. Unfortunately, you cannot do this yourself as one needs access to the ABSNET Loan system, and/or the Bloomberg Terminal that actually determines where the note/ mortgage came from and who owns the note/ mortgage...the cost is $200,000 per year.

Step by Step:

Step One: Check on the status of your title.  Get out your mortgage paperwork. You should have a copy of a grant deed, warranty deed (anything with deed on it) that establishes your rights to ownership in the land and lists your name as the grantee.  There should be a legal description that is specific to that piece of property. this document gives you the right to convey, sell the property to whomever you want because you are lawfully seized of the estate which means you have it to hold in fee simple freehold.

Step One: Check Protect America's Dream to find out if you have MERS on your mortgage.

Step Two: If it is, go to your county recorder's office, and, ascertain, through the recorder of deeds how their system of recordation is set up. Go through your file and ensure that every conveyance on your property has a separately filed document or assignment. If not, your chain of title is clouded, which simply means an adverse situation that creates a break in the chain of ownership assignment in a title to real property, thus making it unmarketable.

Step Three: If you have a clouded title, if you want to know who has a potential claim on your property,get an attorney to file a Quiet Title Action,   and/or a Declaratory Judgment Action which gives the court the right to determines the interest  of the parties coming before it with a claim or disclaim

Get the book, Clouded Titles, by Dave Krieger is an excellent reference that will guide you step by step through the process.

Links:

States offer big banks deal over Robo-signing Lawsuit.

Claim that banks conspired to Fix interest rates before and after financial crisis

Goldman, Litton, Ocwen sign New York robo-signing deal

Merscorp Mortgage Registry Has Civil Racketeering Suit Dropped in New York

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The Overwhelming Foreclosure Swindle.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the top 35 financial institutions are set to pay a record $144 billion in compensation and benefits in 2010.

Meanwhile,  one in seven Americans exist in poverty; one in five American "homeowners" are in serious trouble, and 14 million Americans remain unemployed.  Not to mention, the foreclosure horror show that spans all 50 states, and includes almost every single lender, in particular, the largest banks and servicers. Flawed and lost paperwork, mishandled mortgages, foreclosure documents, and failure to follow proper procedure resulted in hundreds of thousands of improperly foreclosed on homes. Yet, as these large institutions claim, we're supposed to believe this is merely the result of  a bad case of "overwhelm"?

If this is true, why not take all that cash (thanks to we the taxpayers) they're sitting on and hire the overwhelming number of unemployed? People need jobs! Or haven't they heard? JPMorgan Chase third-quarter profit rose 23%! Yep, Wall Street swims in the money while we the people drown in debt.  At the same time that JPMorgan reported their windfall profits, they said that "it expanded its initial review from 23 states to 41, and to about 115,000 homes."

Here's the thing.  "Overwhelmed" does not lead to  fabricated and forged documents, thousands of cases of lost paperwork that would have revealed to investors that they had been scammed, several reports of a single employee signing off on 8-10,000 foreclosure papers a month without checking the information, signing off on two documents that stated conflicting amounts of mortgage, misrepresentations of fact (such as who actually owns the mortgage) ...all of this from Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and GMAC Mortgage, and more.

“In foreclosure controversy, problems run deeper than flawed paperwork...Millions of US mortgages have been shuttled around the global financial system – sold and resold by firms – without the documents (to) prove who legally owns” them. With millions now in default and homes seized, “judges around the country have increasingly ruled that lenders had no right to foreclose, because they lacked clear title.”

Once again, another "crisis" that punishes the "little" guy while lining the pockets of the banksters and the wealthy. Federal officials are not forcing the banks to clean up the paperwork. Instead, President Obama is backing state investigations while rejecting a nationwide freeze on such seizures because of potential “unintended consequences.”

What about cram-downs? Banks have no excuse but to agree to principal writedowns.

Over 20% of households are upside down on their loans. likely to require some sort of federal response.

“From the beginning, mass modifications would have been better and I still think they’d be cost-saving. Doing new paperwork and doing it right is still a better choice.” - Harvard Law School Professor, Katherine Porter, whose 2007 research examined practices of mortgage lenders and servicers foreclosing on bankrupt borrowers.

Links:

Confusion Roils HARP Program for Refinancing

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