Why Can't We Trust The Big Banks?

Not only did the government bailout some larger banks by simply handing over millions of dollars and then not even making the banks accountable for it (since a percentage of it went for executive bonuses), but now more and more keeps coming out about the mess these banks have caused. And continue to cause:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/26/us-usa-housing-mortgage-reincarnation-idUSTRE80P0SJ20120126

However, those in the real estate community can't afford to sit back and wait and wait and wait to see if these banks, such as Bank of America, ever decide to get their act together.

Agents, mortgage brokers, and others who have regular contact with clients, should be alerting their current and potential clients about what can be done to keep on top of a home owner and potential home buyer's current mortgage situation.

If it were me, I would want my clients to know that I would help them to be certain that nothing like what is happening to the people profiled in the above linked article could happen to them. Then, I would make potential clients aware that I would be on the lookout for them.

Consumers need to start seeing that those within the industry are making an effort to improve current conditions regarding financing. Yet, a percentage of realty agents seem to forget about keeping in touch with past clients on matters such as this.

Paint the picture, if you are a realty agent. Suppose you do some digging, and find out a home owner is in trouble over an expired mortgage (such as happened in the article), and you alert your client and help him/her/them straighten the mess out. Can you imagine the referrals you would gain from that? Rather than imagine, start checking around.

Everyone needs to evaluate what bank or banks they do business with, mortgage or not. If the likes of Bank of America and Wells Fargo are struggling with 6 figure transactions, how much attention are they paying to your $5,000 checking account?

While HUD Has "no comment"?

After commenting earlier this month about the reduction of reverse mortgages, this article points out even more evidence of my point that seniors are looking at even fewer financial options in an effort to not outlive their savings:


http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/ct-mre-0626-podmolik-homefront-20110624,0,6324717.column


The truly disturbing part of this article actually comes at the end, where the writer points out that HUD "had no comment". To me, this is an even bigger story than a large bank putting the stop on future reverse mortgages.

HUD is a government agency. The same government which appears to have practically wasted millions of dollars with its bank bailout program a couple years back. All that seems to have done is to bail out the coffers of some of the executives who may have helped to create this mess.

Having a government agency with "no comment" about this situation and its possible to probable negative impact on seniors is not a good sign.

Add this to the growing list of matters your local politicians should be discussing, but are not doing anything about.

Not that reverse mortgages are mass appeal or even ideal for every senior citizen. Without them, it is one less option for seniors. Here's hoping these seniors remember this when those same local politicans, who are now not helping them, come up for re-election.

VA Loan Mess Exposed

It's bad enough that even the largest of banks have added to the mortgage mess. Now the word comes out that Wells Fargo, Wachovia, and SouthTrust caused problems on some VA Loans resulting in a settlement just announced for veterans:



http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/02/military-wells-fargo-mortgage-refunds-022111w/


It turns out this settlement was from a class action suit filed 2 years ago. So the veterans who have served our country get some money back, finally. That's the only good news out of this story.

But hold on. This raises some important questions:

1) How does the government, consisting of people we elected, let this happen? Why did the bank executives receive their millions of dollars in bonuses from the government "bailout" more than one year before veterans who have served received a settlement pittance?

2) Why is this story not all over the media? How come I found out about this via an article in the Army Times?

3) If this lawsuit was filed 2 years ago, how much did the law firm receive from this settlement or via other means? Sorry, but my hunch is that the amount they were paid took away from the pittance the veterans are getting.

4) Are you, the reader, outraged over the quote from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Co-President Cara Heiden of “We hope that by settling this matter, we can demonstrate to veterans our steadfast commitment to doing right by them.”?

Some commitment. Two years later, a class action suit gets settled. If Wells Fargo was "commited to doing right", why did it take this LONG to pay out?

Time to say this still again. The next time the banks mess up the mortgage industry, let the government pay back the outstanding loans. Let the banks struggle for themselves. Please don't make the same mistake again. They penalized the mortgage holders and helped those who screwed them. Keep this in mind the next time you vote to elect someone to office.

A new low for Baltimore

I'd be the last person to defend a big bank, but this week's news brought out one instance where I need to do that. (Sorry, but I still contend that instead of the government handing out millions to the banks that screwed up the economy, they should have only repaid as many of the defaulted loans as possible.)

Again, the city of Baltimore filed a lawsuit against Wells Fargo, as if one bank had something to do with parts of Baltimore still being as dumpy and depressing as they were 25 years ago:

http://www.mortgageorb.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.6671


Instead of spending money on cleanup and development efforts, the city chooses to pay a law firm to file these lawsuits so they can be thrown out.

This leads to another way to help with the banking crisis around the country. Let's ask all of the banks serving Baltimore to only lend on properties located in other cities and towns.

Baltimore officials won't mind. If there are no commerical or residential loans within the city limits over the next few years, the city won't have any reason to sue any of the banks!