Month: November 2011

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Nevada Makes Illegal Foreclosures Felony | Housing Predictor

By Mike Colpitts

Responding to homeowner complaints, Nevada has become the first state in the nation to make illegally repossessing a home a felony, and  may send bankers to jail for doing such. The new law was enacted after tens of thousands of homeowners complained to lawmakers about their homes being foreclosed without proof of ownership.

The outcry of consumer complaints over illegal robo-signing tactics has produced a series of lawsuits against mortgage servicing companies and banks in Nevada, which has led the U.S. in foreclosures six straight years.

The Nevada law makes it a felony for a mortgage servicer or trustee of a mortgage to make false representations concerning a title such as claiming that they are an executive of a bank or mortgage servicer, which was the case in at least hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of robo-signings. A $5,000 fine will also be assessed if fraud is found. The law requires mortgage companies to provide a new affidavit with the amount owed on the loan, the person who is in possession of the note and the individual with the authority to foreclose on the property.

Some 26 U.S. states conduct foreclosures through the courts, but the new law does not make Nevada a judicial foreclosure state. Foreclosures have been delayed in many cases since the law went into effect Oct. 1 st.

Cathe Cole, vice president of default for Trustee Corps., and foreclosure counsel in Nevada for Freddie Mac said as long as trustees can show a clear chain of title, including the named servicer of the mortgage there would be nothing for companies carrying out foreclosures to fear. “They just want to make sure we’re doing things correctly,” said Cole.

Nevada’s state attorney general is attempting to halt illegal foreclosure practices such as robo-signing with the new law, which they believe are still taking place. Proof of ownership title is critical to the chain of title. If the proof has been lost or never forwarded to a mortgage servicing company the foreclosing party may have no right to formally foreclose and take the real estate.

The Nevada law could provide an example for other states to follow implementing the new law. Homeowners throughout the U.S. have filed lawsuits against mortgage servicing companies alleging fraud in foreclosure proceedings used to formally repossess their homes after Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) reportedly failed to provide the physical documents on foreclosures their electronic system was used for to provide foreclosures through. MERS ordered mortgage servicers and banks to halt foreclosures in its name earlier this year.

Source: Housing Predictor

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A Banking Model That Works In The Badlands | The Daily Bail

By Wil Martindale

What’s The Big Deal About State Banks?  North Dakota Has The Answers

The only State in the Union chartered to be the primary depositor and guarantor of the deposits of its own bank is North Dakota.  All state funds are deposited into this bank (by law) and its deposit base becomes the capital reserve from which to create credit.

Our system of hopelessly insolvent mega banks across the nation has leveraged, gambled and lost it all in the insane derivatives casino.  Despite more than six months of massive taxpayer bailouts, credit markets are still frozen, the economy continues to collapse and 2.3 million more Americans have lost their jobs since Obama took office.

But North Dakota’s GNP has grown 56%, personal income has grown 43%, and wages have grown 34%.  The state not only has no funding issues, but this year it actually has a budget surplus of $1.2 billion, the largest it has ever had.

Why? Because of sound fiduciary oversight and proper management.

You see, the Bank of North Dakota does not employ 20,000 people at an average wage of $90,000 per year.  Employees do not receive $60,000 annual bonuses and executives do not take home $40,000,000 in compensation, bonuses and options.  The State Bank of North Dakota does not wager 1000 times it’s deposit base (as Goldman Sachs does with a credit exposure risk of 1056% to capital ratio) on the speculative derivatives casino in order to grossly reward the risk that brought down the world’s economies.

In point of fact:

The Bank of North Dakota (BND) was established by the state legislature in 1919 specifically to free farmers and small businessmen from the clutches of out-of-state bankers and railroad Barons.  By law, the State deposits all its funds in the bank, which pays a competitive interest rate to the State treasurer.  The State, rather than the FDIC, guarantees the bank’s deposits, which are re-invested back into the State in the form of loans.  The bank’s return on equity is about 25%, and it pays a hefty dividend to the State, which is expected to exceed $60 million this year.  In the last decade, the BND has turned back a third of a billion dollars to the State’s general fund, offsetting taxes.  The former president of the BND is now the State’s governor.

The BND avoids rivalry with private banks by partnering with them.  Most private sector lending is originated by a local bank.  The BND then comes in to participate in the loan, share risk, and buy down the interest rate.  The BND provides a secondary market for real estate loans, which it buys from local banks.  Its residential loan portfolio is now $500 billion to $600 billion.  Guarantees are also provided for entrepreneurial startups, and the BND has ample money to lend to students (over 184,000 outstanding loans).  It purchases municipal bonds from public institutions, and it backs loans at 1% interest.  The BND also has a well-funded disaster loan program, which helps explain how Fargo, when struck by a disastrous flood recently, managed to avoid the devastation suffered by New Orleans in hurricane Katrina.

North Dakota has also managed to avoid the credit freeze, through the simple expedient of creating its own credit.  It has led the nation in establishing state economic sovereignty.

That is the key — establishing economic sovereignty at the level of the States -that is the last vestige of hope for this country.  TAKE ACTION in your state to be part of the solution.

It truly must be obvious to anyone in America able to read and think for themselves that this federal government, bought and paid for by the economic Imperialists, with its ranks completely infiltrated by former Wall Street executives, simply DOES NOT HAVE the best interests of the average taxpayer in mind.

Not when we are being sucked dry by the continuing bailouts, which do nothing but place the middle class backbone of this country into a debtor’s prison of taxation, reduced social services, pay cuts, lost jobs, tighter credit, and with no end in sight to the greed and excess of the profit-obsessed, predatory money changers they serve.

This is why it’s so important to TAKE ACTION now.  Let the rest of the world deal with the White House.  Trust me, they will.  We the People must collectively take action at the level of the States, where politicians are still accessible and many still remember what it’s like to be true public servants.

If the pressure comes from the American taxpayer at the level of the States and the international pressure comes from the developed nation’s foreign governments, together, the real, hard – working people of the world can correct the problems on Capitol Hill, where neither body alone could.

TAKE ACTION in your state to be part of the solution now.

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14,000 Coloradans move $100M into credit unions | The Colorado Independent

By Jon Collins

As the social media-sparked Bank Transfer Day approaches, the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) reports that over 650,000 people have joined credit unions in the last four weeks. In Colorado, the group reports 14,000 new accounts and $100 million in new deposits.

Credit unions nationally have added $4.5 billion in new accounts since the end of September, CUNA says, reporting that four out of every five credit unions affiliated with the group report that the increase is due to attempts by big banks to raise fees on customers or Bank Transfer Day, a movement birthed by social media that will take place tomorrow.

Bank Transfer Day organizer Kristen Christian explained the logic behind the movement on the group’s Facebook page.

“I started this because I felt like many of you do. I was tired—tired of the fee increases, tired of not being able to access my money when I need to, tired of them using what little money I have to oppress my brothers & sisters. So I stood up. I’ve been shocked at how many people have stood up alongside me.” Christian wrote. “Me closing my account all on my lonesome wouldn’t have made a difference to these fat cats. But each of you standing up with me…they can’t drown out the noise we’ll make.”

Big banks like Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank have also taken flak for attempting to impose additions fees on customers who use debt cards, although many of the banks have withdrawn their plans due to public outcry.

Credit unions are member-owned and non-profit; they typically have fewer fees than corporate banks. Credit unions across the country, including some in Minnesota, have been offering special promotions and extending hours in preparation for Bank Transfer Day, CUNA said. Minnesota’s Affinity Plus launched the aggressive “ditch your bank” campaign in early October,

“Our struggling economy is not the disease, it’s the symptom,” according to Affinity Plus’ campaign. ”There is mounting evidence to prove that big banks with their profit-at-all-costs agenda are actually making our collective disease worse by systematically making choices that undermine the efforts of regulators and ordinary people like us to make changes and get back to a state of health.”

Occupy Wall Street has also helped cement the focus on banks. In Minnesota, Occupy Wall Street has targeted big banks for a series of demonstrations focused largely on the banks’ role in the foreclosure crisis.

“We’re focused more on the needs of our clients and less on the bottom line,” said Joy Audet, director of corporate communications for the credit union association in Colorado.

Scot Kersgaard contributed to this article.

Source: The Colorado Independent