Big banks might actually be looking at some trouble. And not the kind of trouble that the government will pay for with tax payer dollars. This is the kind of trouble that could slow down their 24/7 harvest of money from people trying to live the American Dream. They might have to stop foreclosures for a while.
Chase And Others Freeze Foreclosures
In a move that seems to signal that something is really wrong, Chase (NYSE: JPM), and GMAC Mortgage have temporarily put a freeze on foreclosure proceedings of private residences, and said that they will amend paperwork in cases they feel have been improperly done. Bank of America said they are going to amend all affidavits in all foreclosure cases that haven’t yet gone to judgment. A spokesman for Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) said that they didn’t know how many cases were currently pending, but that after review, they would all be resubmitted.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Bloomenthal, and California Attorney General Jerry Brown have both voiced opinions that foreclosure proceedings should be frozen in their states. The way it looks now, tens of thousands of foreclosure cases could be postponed for months or even years. Read more in Us Financial Post.
What about Citibank?
”Only in America” John Paulson made $3.5 billion in 2007 shorting stocks of companies that
sold subprime mortgages to those with less-than-perfect credit.
Banks set these payments up so they would make money, they didn’t care if people lost there homes. In the last 3 years how many families lost there homes and didn’t have to.
Why should the bank be concerned about the borrower? The bank’s responsibility lies in maximizing profit for their shareholders not in molly-coddling borrowers who purchased homes that they couldn’t afford (often with inflated income statements and little or no verification). Many of those borrowers are fortunate that they don’t face fraud charges in addition to losing their homes.