Not that I actually understand any of this

[footfootfoot]

Nothing speaks more to the current climate than the foreclosure scandal. We have wealthy sophisticated entities that: i) created tens of millions of legally invalid mortgages; ii)sold billions in securitized instruments not as warranted; iii) escaped financial catastrophe by off-loading large quantities of those obligations on the taxpayer and otherwiss obtaining government largess; iv) cheated local governments out of billions in recordation taxes; v) resorted to fraud, subornation, perjury, thuggery and intimidation to protect and further their interests; and vi) have created a legal and political landscape where the only thing that appears to stand in their way are a handful of judges sickened by the lies and illegality and sundry civil lawsuits by affected private parties and state level governments.
We are looking at one of the largest transfers of wealth in history to the wealthy, cheered on by an Administration, indifferent to what can only be described as organized crime.

—dcflaneur Read dcflaneur's other letters
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[BigV]

*cough*

I respectfully suggest that you *DO* understand it, likely all of it.

It is awful. It's the BIG LIE. So big I don't know how to even rail against it. I'm reminded of the image that an individual that steals some small thing gets a big punishment but an organization that steals enormous amounts is unpunishable.

[classicman]

My newest hero.

[Griff]

The beauty of the rip-off is that what at the core was a simple crime has through the complexity of the methods created so much chaff that the criminals can be easily protected by sheer volume, Byzantine laws, the press, and complicit politicians. The best stings use regular peoples' greed to create blind spots. [OT]I hope we are not headed the same way with gas in PA.[/OT]

[Lamplighter]

Is it true that "what goes around comes around" ?

I'm not into higher finance at all, but this article was a interesting read to me (I'm not a fan of BofA),
and it at least sounds like a serious problem for BofA.

Daily Finance article
Countrywide's Mortgage Document Errors May Doom Bank of America
By ABIGAIL FIELD Posted 1:30 PM 11/22/10

Testimony in a New Jersey foreclosure case decided last week may spell big trouble for Bank of America (BAC).
If what one bank employee said on the stand proves to be accurate, paperwork problems it acquired when it purchased
the failing mortgage provider Countrywide in 2008 could leave BofA on the hook for billions of dollars.

As first reported by Kate Berry for American Banker, Linda DiMartini, a supervisor and operational team leader
for the Litigation Management Department of BAC Home Loans Servicing, testified in the foreclosure case of John T. Kemp
that it was "customary for Countrywide to maintain possession of the original note and related documents."

If that's true, then Bank of America may discover that it has millions of loans on its books
that it thought it had transferred to trusts that issued mortgage backed securities,
because 96% of Countrywide loans were ostensibly securitized.

BofA agreed the testimony of Linda DiMartini was accurate
I've skipped through what was interesting to me...
the parts about what BoA tried to do before the trial to avoid/solve the problem,
and how the judge ruled against them in each of their arguments.
Judge: simple fact --- the documents were not transferred

Assuming the case follows the normal course going forward, that will mean
that neither bank will be able to foreclose on Kemp's house, and his mortgage debt will become unsecured debt --
the banks will have to stand in line with the credit card issuers and get paid only a portion of the principal.

If it's true the securitization trusts routinely didn't get notes delivered from Countrywide, then all those properties --
millions of properties -- could have clouded titles.
That hurts many people outside of the bank, because clouded title makes selling those properties much harder,
and leaves the current owners in a kind of legal limbo.

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by BigV

*cough*

I respectfully suggest that you *DO* understand it, likely all of it.

It is awful. It's the BIG LIE. So big I don't know how to even rail against it. I'm reminded of the image that an individual that steals some small thing gets a big punishment but an organization that steals enormous amounts is unpunishable.

I misplaced my sarcasm smiley. Yes, it is so big that it makes us feel powerless. My sole consolation these days is: Eventually, these people will die. No one lives forever and nothing they do will prevent the great equalizer from taking them down. It's their choice to be scum.

[busterb]

BAC has fucked me at ever turn about my credit card. You put up a short-cut to log on, then one day this no longer works. So you spend hours with online chat. Ha. Then the phone. punch one if you don't have a clue why you should have to hear Spanish and all the other crap. Then a few days later all works as before. But some asshole tells you to go somewhere and type in every number that you ever heard, then they loan you the amount that you tried to pay, plus late charges. A few days later the website works.
How damn much money did they make in that time????? I have a credit line of $14,400 and I owe the SOB's nothing.

[fo0hzy]

I don't get any of this.

[TheMercenary]

Well stated footx3.

[Lamplighter]

When someone offers you something for pennies on the dollar, maybe you should tread carefully.

Washington Post
Sari Horwitz and Danielle Douglas
10/19/13
JPMorgan Chase close to $13 billion deal with Justice Department over mortgage securities

JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, has reached a tentative agreement
with the Justice Department to pay a record $13 billion to resolve allegations
that it knowingly sold faulty mortgage securities that contributed to the financial crisis,
a person familiar with the talks said Saturday.

If finalized, the deal would be the largest penalty ever paid by a single company,
representing a tremendous win for the government after years of public criticism
over its struggle to hold Wall Street accountable for its crisis-era misdeeds.

It would also leave JPMorgan and its executives still at risk of criminal prosecution, a humbling concession.
<snip>

[Happy Monkey]

That's good, but unfortunately they've got $2.5 trillion in assets, speaking of pennies on the dollar.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

...Eventually, these people will die...

Corporations that large do not die.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

Corporations that large do not die.

I call plagiarism ... my signature line has not changed in many months.