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Mortgage Fraud News
DANGER: Homebuilding Industry Look for Bailout
Sunday, 07 December 2008

A Multi-Billion Dollar Bailout for Those at Fault
Corporate Homebuilders, the Housing Crash and the Mortgage Crisis. Corporate Homebuilders, the Housing Crash and the Mortgage Crisis. The housing market crash and meltdown of the mortgage industry has cost more than 200,000 construction workers their jobs, put 3 million American families in danger of foreclosure and gutted the value of what was the financial security net for most working men and women: their homes. ... 
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National Association of Home Builder (NAHB) looks at the industry’s part in Mortgage Fraud
Sunday, 30 November 2008

Housing Giants Magazine - Mortgage Check
“As many builders begin to feel the pressure to liquidate their inventories to meet the demands of their construction contracts and loan terms some revert to decretive practices and fraudulent measures….Fraud has become the tool of desperation that companies individuals use to maintain lifestyles, livelihoods and bottom lines, says a recent fraud report. Since the housing bubble has burst, the number of fraudulent loans issues during the first three months of 2008 skyrocketed 42 percent compared to the same period in 2007, according to the same August report from the Mortgage Asset Research Institute (MARI).”  â€œIt becomes almost like racketeering because everybody went along with it, even the small builders,” says Janet Ahmad, president of Homeowners for Better Building. Read more Mortgage Check

 
Homebuilder expecting a handout? Home Builders Hammer FDIC
Wednesday, 26 November 2008

Agency Is Accused of Curbing Credit From Seized Banks
Home builders from Florida to Texas are railing against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., saying the agency is cutting off construction financing from seized banks and demanding early repayment of current loans. The FDIC, which has become a leading advocate for modifying mortgages of financially strapped homeowners, isn't extending that same tolerance to the housing industry, the builders said.

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FOX 4 Special Report: Mortgage Scheme Exposed
Wednesday, 26 November 2008

6 Sentenced in Mortgage Scheme Exposed by FOX 4
The ring leader of a north Texas mortgage fraud scheme is heading to federal prison along with seven others. Becky Oliver broke the story back in 2005 exposing a real estate scam that left investors with over-priced homes they couldn’t afford. The scheme was detailed in a 49-page federal indictment. After three years, Steve Lucky is finally hearing the word he’s been waiting for: prison. "They are going to pay their dues and pay for what they did," said Lucky. “I wish it could’ve happened faster but it did happen and that is what’s important. These guys were caught.” Lucky told FOX 4.  Related Story: Becky Oliver broke the story back in 2005

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Mortgage Fraud Soap Opera Intrigue
Saturday, 22 November 2008

BusinessWeek: Sex, Lies, and Subprime Mortgages
It may seem like ancient history now, but not long ago the mortgage industry was turning ordinary people into millionaires. One of them was Sharmen Lane, a high school dropout who, like many other young women during the boom, found her way into an obscure banking job with the clunky title "mortgage wholesaler." Her experience—and the experiences of other wholesalers like her—offers a glimpse into the recklessness and indulgence that drove the industry to ruin.  Related articles: Henry Cisneros on the Hot Seat - Editorial: Recipe for profits, defects and foreclosures

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HUD Leaders Cisneros & Martinez and Bad Poicy
Thursday, 13 November 2008

Kenric Ward: Homewreckers Cisneros & Martinez
Touting his Cuban heritage, Martinez continues to hype homeownership for lower-income minorities. By 2007, Hispanic homeownership hits an all-time high of 50 percent. The Federal Reserve reports that roughly half of these mortgages are higher-cost or subprime loans to buyers with impaired credit. So there you have it: The guy who was in on the ground floor of this country’s housing collapse comes calling with a half-billion of your tax dollars to save the day. Thanks a lot, Mel. Unfortunately, this is a bipartisan scheme.

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New York Times: Predatory Lending Fair Game
Saturday, 01 November 2008

Was There a Loan It Didn’t Like?
...senior mortgage underwriter at Washington Mutual during the late, great mortgage boom, Ms. Cooper says she found herself in a vise. Brokers squeezed her from one side, her superiors from the other, she says, and both pressured her to approve loans, no matter what. “At WaMu it wasn’t about the quality of the loans; it was about the numbers,” Ms. Cooper says. “They didn’t care if we were giving loans to people that didn’t qualify. Instead, it was how many loans did you guys close and fund?” ...After WaMu’s mortgage lending unit laid her off, she applied for work in its retail banking division. She was turned down, she suspects, because of the critical letters in her personnel file. Ms. Cooper’s biggest regret, she says, is that she did not reject more loans. “I swear 60 percent of the loans I approved I was made to,” she says. “If I could get everyone’s name, I would write them apology letters.”

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Housing Bubbbe Gone Bust
Saturday, 01 November 2008

Predatory Lending, Foreclosures, Housing Crisis & Bailouts
Much of America continues to steam about the bailout of Wall Street. But before Wall Street made billions from subprime mortgages, people in North Texas made millions.Wall Street is taking the heat, Main Street and maybe even people you know, may deserve part of the blame...The answer may be right there in your own neighborhood if there are foreclosed homes nearby. Featured News Reports

 
Henry Cisneros Responds to New York Times Article - Its Not My Fault
Friday, 31 October 2008

Cisneros: Many share blame for economic crisis
Many things share blame for the nation's current economic crisis, including Asian- and oil-fueled liquidity, interest rates kept low too long by the Fed, corporate borrowing binge, speculation in the housing market, and an unusual splitting of housing as shelter to housing as an investment opportunity, former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros said Sunday...In the context of such activities, Cisneros said, he and others were being blamed for pressing home ownership too far. "Frankly, I don't accept that," Cisneros said. Though he didn't mention it, Cisneros seemed to refer to an Oct. 19 New York Times series on people who helped cause the economic crisis in which his Lago Vista housing project on the South Side was used as an example of a housing project gone bad. Lago Vista was a partnership with KB Home, which built the troubled Mirasol Homes project on the West Side.

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In his zeal, Cisneros forgot the little guy
Tuesday, 28 October 2008

Genesis of “Affordable” Homeownership at What Price?
Policies Mr. Cisneros authorized while at HUD shaped the agenda of an unchecked industry that encouraged builders to carelessly throw up shoddily constructed homes overnight in the name of “affordable” housing... Forgotten was the lack of respect for those who were to live in these homes...The sad part is that Cisneros carried the water for some of the worst giants of the industry, giants like Countrywide and KB Homes. He facilitated federal policies that became the bread and butter of the building industry; a market made up of young first-time homebuyers and families that could not afford homes that were venerable to the deceptions of predatory lending... Overcompensated greedy CEO ' s and the building industry are the sole beneficiaries of the failed policies of Henry Cisneros. In his zeal, Cisneros forgot the little guy. See: New York Times Article -  Building Flawed American Dreams

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Cisneros Best Quality of housing in the World?
Thursday, 23 October 2008

Henry Cisneros: Fannie and Freddie won’t need Treasury’s help
Henry Cisneros, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary under President Bill Clinton, flat-out tells our viewers the taxpayer should not– and will not– be on the hook for propping up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two mortgage giants with major government connections. See FOX News  interview: Henry Cisneros…we have not only the strongest homeownership but the Best Quality of housing in the world.

Read more...
 
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