FBI to Focus On Area Mortgage Loan Fraud

The Washington Post ^ | 06-Dec-2007 | Carrie Johnson and Tomoeh Murakami Tse

[VxH]

The FBI today will launch a mortgage fraud task force in its Washington field office, joining a widening net of state and local investigators digging into the market crisis.

Investigators are seeking to uncover evidence of overvalued home appraisals, shoddy lending practices and alleged irregularities in the packaging and sale of groups of loans that were marketed to ordinary investors, state investment funds and big Wall Street banks.

[VxH]

Got FICO?

[AnimalLover]

ping

[DB]

They should start here:

http://bubbletracking.blogspot.com/2007/02/fraudera-ranch-its-family-affair.html

[seacapn]

A big investigation like this might have had some positive impact back in 2004/5. It just seems a bit... late... at this point, though it still needs to be done.

[Herakles]

“Investigators are seeking to uncover evidence of overvalued home appraisals”

Just like the federal government, once again asleep at the switch! They are about 5 years late for this party; just in time to slam the barn door shut after all the horses got out. But I can understand, I’m sure they were all resting back in their offices in DC so as not to get in the way of the streams of illegals coming into the country waiting for the day they could go out and jump on something important after coffee and croissant, the three martini government servant lunch, and half day full pay go home at two o’clock long day.

Ever have the filling that the federal government employees are already retired and couldn’t get out of their own way if their own lives depended on it? If not, come on up to Pennsylvania where we have the most worthless government on the planet.

[ConservativeJen]

Mortgage loans, nooses, don’t they have terrorists to keep an eye on? If we get hit again by terrorists, it is because the FBI is wasting its time on this type of garbage instead of keeping tabs on potential terrorists

[VxH]

[A big investigation like this might have had some positive impact back in 2004/5. ]

 

I suspect the associated investigatory agencies got out flanked by criminals who were gaming the system. The resulting mortgage backed securities were being rated using traditional models.  Unfortunately, it appears those models were not effective when applied to subprime.  In addition to that was an unknown amount of criminal, fraudulent, and insider activity. 

 

None of the parties involved were going to call the FBI and tell them what they were up to.

 

I think the gamers knew that scarce resources were being redirected to prevent terrorism after 9/11 and they took advantage of the situation. 

 

[though it still needs to be done.]

 

Hopefully, among other things, it will result in the subprime carny game being shut down permanently.

[VxH]

[it is because the FBI is wasting its time on this type of garbage instead of keeping tabs on potential terrorists]

That’s probably what the criminals have been counting on to keep the investigative eye off of their activities.

Kinda like robbing the bank while the barn down the street is burning.

Bottom line is that we are only a Republic if the laws providing the framework for that Republic are enforced. 

Republic, Anarchy, or Oligarchy: which do you choose?

[jer33 3]

***Mortgage loans, nooses, don’t they have terrorists to keep an eye on? If we get hit again by terrorists, it is because the FBI is wasting its time on this type of garbage instead of keeping tabs on potential terrorists***

Terrorists aim to keep our focus off running a healthy socio-economic country. The alphabets are working diligently; however, our lives must continue and we must not allow the enemy to instill fear into our hearts thereby crippling us. We have enough talent in our country to cover all of the above issues.

[VxH]

[They are about 5 years late for this party]

 

Thank Osama... and Jimmuh Carter.

 

 

[ex-Texan]

Housing to slump thru 2009, prices to fall 30 pct: Moodys.com

Excerpts:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Housing markets from Punta Gorda, Florida, to Stockton, California, will crash and suffer price drops of more than 30 percent before the housing crisis is over, a report from Moody's Economy.com said on Thursday.

On a national level, the housing market recession will continue through early 2009, said the report, co-authored by Mark Zandi, chief economist, and Celia Chen, director of housing economics.

The report paints a worsening picture of the hard-hit housing sector, which is in the midst of its worst downturn since World War II.

While activity will stabilize in 2009, it will not be until 2010 before a measurable improvement in sales, construction and pricing will emerge, the report said. * * *

This article is a masterpiece of disingenuous AP writing. It does not spell out in detail whether the 30% decline is based on the high water level of late 2005 or whether it's based on current prices. Since housing prices have already come down about 25% in La La Land from the peak of 2005 - - -

Look like more home equity misery is ahead to me. But that is just my own private view. Oh well. Nothing to see here. Time to move on.

Read my older posts if you are so inclined.

[meyer]

Do you suppose that they’ll also investigate falsified documentation on the part of the borrower who forged his or her way into a loan that costs much more than they can afford?

[Racer1]

Even people that were not involved in a scam like the one mentioned in the article, new that there payments were too big, and disaster loomed just around the corner. If you don't know what a ARM is you don't deserve to own a home. Its just that simple.

[EVO X]

For your amusement

http://www.mortgagefraudblog.com/

[RSmithOpt]

All those in the finance area and those on ‘The Hill’ knew exactly what was going on. The housing bubble was fueled by the feds not enforcing immigration law (fuel the retail market), a badly needed domestic market sector to perform well (home construction) to avert recession and fraudulent book keeping to push the markets up while in the meantime, a select few raked in the dough.

[Calpernia]

I heard the interest rates on these mortgages were going to be frozen.

[VxH]

[Do you suppose that they’ll also investigate falsified documentation]

 

Fraud is Fraud.

 

Falsification of documents should be investigated regardless of whether the act was committed by the lender, the borrower, or as the result of collusion between the two.

 

Giving folks a pass by freezing their payments at the teaser rate is certainly NOT a solution for a Republic of Law and Order.

 

I suppose it largely depends on whether or not the LAW dogs have had their teeth removed by the politicians.

[VxH]

[The housing bubble was fueled by the feds not enforcing immigration law]

 

That seems to be a popular perception.  Do you have any evidence to back it up? 

 

While I certainly agree that illegal immigration is a problem;  I'm not sure illegal aliens, as convenient a scapegoat as they may be, are responsible for creating the subprime situation.

 

Folks who have just escaped hell and entered a relative paradise are likely to do everything in their power to prevent their homes from being foreclosed - Including having multiple generations of income generating family members live in, and pay for, the same house.

 

The bubble was largely fueled by flipper investors, many of whom were committing fraud - and most of whom, I suspect, were U.S. citizens.

[Badeye]

Did they change their ROE?

Just wondering.....

[VxH]

[Did they change their ROE?]

 

They didn't just change it, they revolutionized it.  

 

Different game when the E belongs to somebody else.

 

Usus Fructus.