Mortgage scams still rampant By Eric T. Campbell
The Michigan Citizen
DETROIT — After being forcibly evicted in January, Eugene Moore is fighting to recover his home.
His ongoing battle began in 2004 when he and others in his Northend community signed on with a Birmingham, Michigan, based company called Rym Technologies. Most of the participants were not in foreclosure but many, like Moore, were underemployed and had fallen behind on mortgage payments.
Moore says that he was given $1,500 by Rym Tech to participate in the program and was promised comparable sums for each homeowner he brought in to sign up. What he didn’t know was that Rym Tech was perpetrating a mortgage scam now known as "equity stripping." By 2006 Moore had lost all equity in his home through Rym Tech's "Mortgage Reduction" program and was in a court battle to keep possession of it.
Victims of the deception were promised a free and clear house in five years. Rym Tech promised to invest the equity in their homes in "low-risk" ventures, like apartment conversions in New York and China. Those returns would, in theory, cover fees and back mortgage payments.
more
Monday, February 16, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Minnesota People's Bailout Act introduced in legislature
St. Paul, MN - The Minnesota People’s Bailout legislation was introduced in the Minnesota State Senate and House, Feb. 9. Authored by Senator David J. Tomassoni (D-Chisholm), and Representative David Bly (D-Northfield) the Minnesota People’s Bailout Act is a legislative attempt to protect the interests of low-income and working Minnesotans from the worst effects of the deepening economic crisis in Minnesota and the nation.
from fightbacknews
MN Coalition for a People's Bailout
Deb Konechne, a leader of the Minnesota People’s Bailout Coalition and a member Welfare Rights Committee said, “The introduction of this legislation is an important step in the effort to protect low-income and working Minnesotans from the ever-growing economic crisis. The act will provide protection from most damaging affects of unemployment, mortgage foreclosures and evictions.”
The bill would extend and expand eligibility for unemployment benefits, create a new public works program to put people to work and put a moratorium on the five-year lifetime limit for public assistance. The act would also prevent the legislature from mandating layoffs of state workers, including workers at the University of Minnesota.
The bill calls for a 2-year moratorium on housing foreclosures. It also would change Minnesota law so that banks and mortgage companies that have foreclosed on rental property be required to honor the existing tenants’ leases.
“Thousands of Minnesota tenants have been made homeless because their landlord was forced into foreclosure. The bank or mortgage company ended the leases of these tenants when reclaiming the building. This is unfair to tenants who, due to no fault of their own, find themselves suddenly homeless,” said Mick Kelly, of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout.
“Many of the foreclosed properties in Minneapolis and Saint Paul had supplied affordable rents to low-income Minnesotans. These units must be kept open and available. Banks and mortgage companies that give loans to buyers of these rental properties must accept the responsibility of those landlords. Tenants should not be victimized, first by financially failing landlords and then by the banks and mortgage companies that initiate foreclosures,” said Kelly.
The Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout came together to push for support for the bill in the Minnesota state legislature. The Coalition includes members of AFSCME Local 3800, the Welfare Rights Committee, the Minnesota Tenants Union and others.
“No one in Minnesota should be cold, hungry or homeless as a result of this economic crisis,” said Phyllis Walker, of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout and president of AFSCME Local 3800.
“The banks and corporations are getting billions of dollars to survive the economic crisis. Meanwhile, working people are being laid off in massive numbers. The People’s Bailout legislation will take basic steps in the interests of the people of Minnesota,” said Walker. “The Minnesota legislature must show that it represents the people of this state by passing this act and taking other concrete steps to protect Minnesotans from the worst effects of this crisis.”from fightbacknews
MN Coalition for a People's Bailout
Monday, February 2, 2009
Wayne County's Sheriff Evans Stops sheriff's sales
Statement from Sheriff Warren Evans
Watch it on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv9_TII3bXo
Today I will be stopping all mortgage foreclosure sales in Wayne
County, beginning with the sale that was scheduled for this Wednesday.
I am doing so because its my opinion that recently enacted federal laws
provide protections for homeowners facing foreclosure.
To proceed with sales without assuring that homeowners have been able
to avail themselves of those protections would put me in a position of
violating federal law.
The Troubled Asset Relief Program known as TARP that was approved by
Congress last fall requires the Secretary of the Treasury to implement a
plan to mitigate foreclosures.
That includes encouraging servicers of mortgages to modify loans to
enable homeowners to stay in their homes.
Federal law preempts state law, which means the TARP provision preempts
Michigans foreclosure law.
That, in turn, means foreclosures cannot move forward until efforts to
modify the mortgages of homes covered by TARP have been exhausted.
As a result, I have determined there are sufficient legal grounds for
me and for other sheriffs in Michigan to halt mortgage foreclosure
sales.
I cannot in clear conscience allow any more families to lose their home
through foreclosure sale until Im satisfied they have been afforded
every option they are entitled to under the law to avoid foreclosure.
There is no way to immediately determine which of the approximately
300-400 homes that come up for sale each week in Wayne County are
covered by TARP protections and which are not.
As a Constitutional officer & officer of the court, I have both a legal
and moral obligation to make sure that all legal remedies have been
exhausted before a homeowner loses their home.
Since homeowners lose their rights to a property once a foreclosure
sale is complete, the only fair course of action is to halt the
foreclosure sales. As a result, the foreclosure sales that have been
held every Wednesday and Thursday are being discontinued.
My office will work with lenders and with homeowners facing the threat
of foreclosure to make sure that homeowners are being provided every
option they are entitled to under the law to avoid foreclosure.
Mortgage modifications could include acquiring a lower interest rate,
forgiveness of past defaulted payments, reduction of the monthly loan
payment or perhaps the lowering of the loan principle, to give just a
few examples.
Any of these modifications could mean the difference between families
keeping their homes or being forced out of them.
After speaking to and meeting with lawyers who represent foreclosed
homeowners and mortgage lenders, I have come to understand that very few
homeowners have been able to avail themselves of this financial life
raft.
In other words, many of the properties that come to the Sheriffs sale
each week likely are covered by the TARP. But we have no way of knowing
which ones. And we have no way of knowing which of those covered by the
TARP actually have been provided any assistance under the program.
As a result, I am halting all foreclosure sales. And I am urging all
Michigan sheriffs to join me in implementing this moratorium on
foreclosure sales.
In doing so, they will assure that Michigan homeowners have every
opportunity to renegotiate their mortgages before they are subjected to
foreclosure proceedings.
Watch it on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv9_TII3bXo
Today I will be stopping all mortgage foreclosure sales in Wayne
County, beginning with the sale that was scheduled for this Wednesday.
I am doing so because its my opinion that recently enacted federal laws
provide protections for homeowners facing foreclosure.
To proceed with sales without assuring that homeowners have been able
to avail themselves of those protections would put me in a position of
violating federal law.
The Troubled Asset Relief Program known as TARP that was approved by
Congress last fall requires the Secretary of the Treasury to implement a
plan to mitigate foreclosures.
That includes encouraging servicers of mortgages to modify loans to
enable homeowners to stay in their homes.
Federal law preempts state law, which means the TARP provision preempts
Michigans foreclosure law.
That, in turn, means foreclosures cannot move forward until efforts to
modify the mortgages of homes covered by TARP have been exhausted.
As a result, I have determined there are sufficient legal grounds for
me and for other sheriffs in Michigan to halt mortgage foreclosure
sales.
I cannot in clear conscience allow any more families to lose their home
through foreclosure sale until Im satisfied they have been afforded
every option they are entitled to under the law to avoid foreclosure.
There is no way to immediately determine which of the approximately
300-400 homes that come up for sale each week in Wayne County are
covered by TARP protections and which are not.
As a Constitutional officer & officer of the court, I have both a legal
and moral obligation to make sure that all legal remedies have been
exhausted before a homeowner loses their home.
Since homeowners lose their rights to a property once a foreclosure
sale is complete, the only fair course of action is to halt the
foreclosure sales. As a result, the foreclosure sales that have been
held every Wednesday and Thursday are being discontinued.
My office will work with lenders and with homeowners facing the threat
of foreclosure to make sure that homeowners are being provided every
option they are entitled to under the law to avoid foreclosure.
Mortgage modifications could include acquiring a lower interest rate,
forgiveness of past defaulted payments, reduction of the monthly loan
payment or perhaps the lowering of the loan principle, to give just a
few examples.
Any of these modifications could mean the difference between families
keeping their homes or being forced out of them.
After speaking to and meeting with lawyers who represent foreclosed
homeowners and mortgage lenders, I have come to understand that very few
homeowners have been able to avail themselves of this financial life
raft.
In other words, many of the properties that come to the Sheriffs sale
each week likely are covered by the TARP. But we have no way of knowing
which ones. And we have no way of knowing which of those covered by the
TARP actually have been provided any assistance under the program.
As a result, I am halting all foreclosure sales. And I am urging all
Michigan sheriffs to join me in implementing this moratorium on
foreclosure sales.
In doing so, they will assure that Michigan homeowners have every
opportunity to renegotiate their mortgages before they are subjected to
foreclosure proceedings.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
MORATORIUM NOW COALITION SUPPORTS WAYNE COUNTY SHERIFF WARREN EVANS’ APPLICATION FOR GOVERNOR GRANHOLM TO DECLARE MORATORIUM ON FORECLOSURES IN WAYNE
Press Release
MORATORIUM NOW! COALITION TO STOP FORECLOSURES AND EVICTIONS
23 East Adams, 4th Floor, Detroit, MI 48226
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 27, 2009
Contact: 313-319-0870
MORATORIUM NOW! COALITION SUPPORTS WAYNE COUNTY SHERIFF WARREN EVANS’ APPLICATION FOR GOVERNOR GRANHOLM TO DECLARE MORATORIUM ON FORECLOSURES IN WAYNE COUNTY
DENOUNCES GRANHOLM’S REJECTION OF APPLICATION AS LEGALLY INDEFENSIBLE AND AN AFFRONT TO POOR AND WORKING PEOPLE
ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR DEMONSTRATION AT STATE OF STATE ADDRESS,
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2009, 6:00 PM AT THE STATE CAPITOL
The Moratorium Now Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions fully supports Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans’ effort in applying to Gov. Jennifer Granholm for a Declaration of a State of Emergency in Wayne County and the imposition of a six-month on Moratorium on Foreclosures in Wayne County to meet the crisis.
Governor Granholm’s summary rejection of this request is an affront to the poor and working people in Wayne County suffering every day from the foreclosure epidemic that is destroying our communities. Last week the Detroit News, citing Realcomp, reported that the median sale prices of homes in Metro Detroit due to foreclosures fell to $57,000 in 2008, a 46.3% decline from 2007’s median sale price of $108,100. In the City of Detroit, the median sale price for homes dropped to an astonishing $7,500. Despite the false pronouncements of “loan modification programs” by many banks and mortgage companies, foreclosures and evictions are continuing unabated in Wayne County. Every day seniors as well as unemployed workers are being thrown out of their homes.
Jerry Goldberg, an attorney who defends individuals facing foreclosure, and a member of the Coalition, stated: “Governor Granholm’s statement that she does not have the legal authority to declare a moratorium is absolutely incorrect. In fact, under Michigan law pursuant to MCL 10.31, the governor is invested by Michigan law with the power to declare a State of Emergency in times of great public crisis either in a particular locale on application of a mayor or Sheriff, or statewide; and to promulgate reasonable rules, orders and regulations ‘necessary to protect life and property or to bring the emergency situation within the affected area under control.’ In Walsh v City of River Rouge, 385 Mich 623 (1971), the Michigan Supreme Court held that the emergency powers to invoke and act on a State of Emergency were exclusive to the governor.
“In Russell v Battle Creek Lumber Co., 265 Mich 649 (1934), the Michigan Supreme Court upheld the emergency moratorium statute, Act No. 98, Pub. Acts 1933, which with subsequent amendments placed a five (5) year Moratorium on foreclosures in Michigan during the 1930’s depression.
“The Michigan Supreme Court adopted the ruling of U.S. Supreme Court in Home Loan & Building Loan Ass’n v Blaisdell, 290 US 398 (1934). In that case, in upholding a Minnesota Moratorium on Foreclosures, the U.S. Supreme Court held that upon a declaration of a State of Emergency and pursuant to a state’s police power during an emergency economic crisis, a moratorium on foreclosures was constitutional, and that a state’s power to protect the health and welfare of the people during crises essentially superseded the contract clause of the constitution. In Makar v Peoples Wayne County Bank of Dearborn, 284 Mich 489 (1938), the Michigan Supreme Court again upheld the constitutionality of the Michigan Moratorium Act, which had been in effect for four years when this case was decided. The Court noted in upholding this Act that one of its purposes was ‘to prevent valuable property from being sold at distress prices occasioned by an economic emergency and to give mortgagors a chance to preserve their equities.’ ”
The Moratorium Now Coalition will be demonstrating in Lansing at the State Capitol on Tuesday February 3, 2009, at 6:00 p.m. when Governor Granholm gives her State of the State address. For transportation information call 313-887-4344. Coalition website is moratorium-mi.org.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Draft Emergency Bail Out the People Program
Bail Out the
People Movement
FIGHBACK CONFERENCE
Draft Working Paper
Realizing the Fightback—Some Perspective and Plans
People Movement
FIGHBACK CONFERENCE
Draft Working Paper
Realizing the Fightback—Some Perspective and Plans
The following was adopted at the Jan. 17 Fightback Conference in NYC. It is a work in progress.
Contents
Phase 1: Establishing a fightback program
Phase 2: May Day— a possible turning point in the fightback
Phase 3: March on Washington, D.C. for Jobs
Convening a People’s Assembly
Proposed Campaigns •Mobilizations •Draft Fightback Program
1. Campaigns
A. Organizing the unemployed on a mass basis
B. A People’s Assembly
C. Support and expand Moratorium Now!
D. Solidarity with immigrant workers
E. Recruiting an army of volunteer organizers
Link to Draft Emergency Bail Out the People Program
Contents
Phase 1: Establishing a fightback program
Phase 2: May Day— a possible turning point in the fightback
Phase 3: March on Washington, D.C. for Jobs
Convening a People’s Assembly
Proposed Campaigns •Mobilizations •Draft Fightback Program
1. Campaigns
A. Organizing the unemployed on a mass basis
B. A People’s Assembly
C. Support and expand Moratorium Now!
D. Solidarity with immigrant workers
E. Recruiting an army of volunteer organizers
Link to Draft Emergency Bail Out the People Program
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Housing is a Universal Right - Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 25.
- (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
- (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
The United States of America refuses to comply with the International Bill of Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - no surprise here.
From Wikipedia:
The International Bill of Human Rights is an informal name given to two international treaties and one General Assembly resolution established by the United Nations. It consists of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted in 1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) with its two Optional Protocols and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966).1 The two covenants entered into force in 1976, after a sufficient number of countries had ratified them.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Cook County Board votes for a 1-year moratorium on home foreclosures in Illinois.
from http://www.co.cook.il.us/
October 11, 2008
Support President Stroger's Proposal for a One-Year Statewide Moratorium on Home Foreclosures
On September 17, the Cook County Board voted to support President Stroger’s resolution calling for a moratorium on home foreclosures in Illinois. The resolution also empowers Cook County to divest its funds from financial institutions that do not supportOn September 17, the Cook County Board voted to support President Stroger’s resolution calling for a moratorium on home foreclosures in Illinois. The resolution also empowers Cook County to divest its funds from financial institutions that do not support homeowner relief.
- County Board Resolution
Read the September 17, 2008 County Board Resolution, supporting the moratorium. - Press Release - September 17, 2008
Link to the press release regarding the proposal and County support. - Online Petition – show your support now online.
Click to sign the online petition in support of the Mortgage Moratorium. - Print Petition – Help collect signatures to support the Mortgage Moratorium.
Download a printable copy of the moratorium petition.
Read more!
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