Perhaps Obama stood now so low in the public’s approval-ratings, so that he politically couldn’t afford to fire her. A rebellion was now afoot, and Obama needed to strain hard in order to keep on with his war against the public, on behalf of the aristocracy.
And without this subsidy, the biggest banks would be in serious trouble.” The Administration was hoping to get the cooperation of Schneiderman and the other recalcitrant Democratic state AGs, so as to enable the big banks to offload as much as possible of their real-estate losses onto outside investors, while providing only token assistance to stressed-out mortgagees and former homeowners.
That's why advice from a housing counselor at the right point in the process can make all the difference. Nonprofit organizations can help prospective homeowners assess their readiness to purchase. And, by providing useful information about how to search for a home, apply for financing, handle home maintenance, and prevent delinquency, these nonprofits can help aspiring homebuyers find the right home and maintain their mortgage payments.
Homeownership rates fall when existing homeowners lose or leave their properties, when barriers to homeownership increase, or both. In recent years, both factors have been important. As I mentioned, home loss through foreclosure, though down from its peaks, remains an important problem, with lower-income and minority homeowners often being the hardest hit.
The idea that guilt was collective, not individual, hadn’t been accepted at the Nuremberg International War Crimes Tribunal, but it was being accepted now by Barack Obama and his stooge Eric Holder, though only for white-collar crimes like this, not for crimes committed by lower-class crooks (whose guilt Obama readily accepted as being individual).
For example, among all income groups, between 2007 and 2010, homeownership rates fell the most for households with income of $20,000 or less, according to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances.4 Data from the Census Bureau show that, over the period from 2004 to 2012, the homeownership rate fell about 5 percentage points for African Americans, compared with about 2 percentage points for other groups.5
As I have noted, vacant foreclosed homes lose value and create problems for neighborhoods. The overhang of empty homes also slows the recovery of the housing market by keeping prices low and limiting the need for new construction. To explore ways to address the number of foreclosed homes standing empty, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which supervises the GSEs, undertook a pilot initiative that made it easier for qualified investors to purchase pools of foreclosed properties from Fannie Mae; the acquired properties would then be rented for a specified number of years.
The Federal Reserve has been vigilant in identifying and stopping such abuses, and we remain committed to vigorous enforcement of the nation's fair lending laws. We currently co-chair, with the Department of Justice, an interagency task force to promote robust fair lending supervision and enforcement.
Dr. King's legacy to our society is strong and enduring, and the new center is very much in the spirit of his work.
The past few years have been difficult for many Americans and their communities. At the Federal Reserve, we understand the depth of the problem and the need for action, and we will continue to use the policy tools that we have to help support economic recovery. We also know that the burdens of a weak economy and the benefits of economic growth often are not equally shared, and that, to be truly effective, policymakers must take into account how their decisions affect the least advantaged, not just the economy as a whole.
More generally, community organizations like Operation HOPE have played an important role in helping low-income and minority communities weather the storm of the past few years. Besides promoting financial literacy and providing counseling (and sometimes credit) for homebuyers, community organizations have helped build small businesses through investment and technical assistance.
10. See Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Division of Banking Supervision and Regulation (2012), "Policy Statement on Rental of Residential Other Real Estate Owned (OREO) Properties," Supervision and Regulation Letter SR 12-5 (April 5). Return to text
11. See U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2012), Pre-Purchase Counseling Outcome Study: Research Brief Housing Counseling Outcome Evaluation (Washington: HUD). Return to text
For our part, the Federal Reserve is encouraging the institutions we supervise to manage their inventories of foreclosed homes in ways that do not exacerbate problems in local neighborhoods, including renting them out, where appropriate, rather than leaving the properties vacant.10
Policymakers have also taken steps to remove barriers to the flow of mortgage credit. The Federal Housing Finance Agency recently announced new rules that will provide mortgage lenders greater clarity about the conditions under which they will be required to buy back defaulted mortgages from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or otherwise address origination problems.This would cheat outside investors, who had been defrauded by those aristocrats’ rotten mortgage-backed securities (MBS), and it would also cheat people whose homes had been foreclosed despite their having been current on their mortgage payments, and (in some cases) despite their home not even having any mortgage on it at all - just fraudulent foreclosures, which were rampant.
This “settement” was actually announced on 9 February 2012. Obama’s “Justice” Department headlined “Federal Government and State Attorneys General Reach $25 Billion Settlement with Five Largest Mortgage Servicers.” Yves Smith headlined that day, “The Top Twelve Reasons Why You Should Hate the Mortgage Settlement,” and she described the capitulation of Schneiderman, Harris, and the other recalcitrant Democratic state AGs.
My remarks today will focus on an important part of our economy, the housing sector. Housing and housing finance played a central role in touching off the financial crisis and the associated recession, and the ensuing wave of foreclosures wreaked great damage on communities across the country.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the broader economic challenges we face, it now seems to be a time of creativity and innovation in this field. We are seeing experimentation, knowledge sharing, public-private collaborations, "bottom up" community-driven approaches, and state- and local-government efforts to promote family financial security and opportunity.
I am reminded here that fair treatment in housing was a significant focus of Dr. King's, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968--still one of the nation's cornerstone laws to prohibit discrimination--was passed only a week after his assassination and stands among his legacies.
Financial Preparedness and Homeownership
One lesson of the past few years is that the desire to own a home is not enough. Although many foreclosures resulted from job loss or other economic hardships, others occurred because people bought more of a house than they could afford, took out a loan that was not appropriate to their circumstances, or did not manage their resources well.
Republicans simply condemned the deal, because supposed deadbeat borrowers would be receiving its benefits. On 9 February 2012,businessinsider.com bannered “Dick Bove Goes Ballistic Over The ‘Mortgage Deal From Hell’,” and reported that, on CNBC, this “banking analyst” had complained that, “These people were not making payments on these houses in the first place,” and yet “the government has decided to pay everyone who cheated on their mortgage 2,000 bucks.” Conservatives were simply furious that people who had been illegally foreclosed (or, in some cases, who were even dispossessed without there evenbeing any mortgage), would be receiving even this token payment.
Rolling Stone wasn’t considered a major news medium, but merely an entertainment magazine, so aristocrats had little interest in controlling it. The 3 March 2011 issue headlined, “Why Isn’t Wall Street In Jail? ... The Feds Are Doing More to Protect Them than to Prosecute Them.” Matt Taibbi presented there a succession of stories about obstruction of justice by the Obama Administration, at least as bad as during the Bush Administration. “In the past few years, the administration has allocated massive amounts of federal resources to catching wrongdoers - of a certain type.
Last year, the government deported 393,000 people, at a cost of $5 billion. ... Illegal immigrants: 393,000. ... Bankers: zero. ... You want to win elections, you bang on the jailable class. You build prisons and fill them with people for selling dime bags and stealing CD players.
But for stealing a billion dollars. For fraud that puts a million people into foreclosure? Pass.” Taibbi told stories of federal prosecutors who had been fired for wanting to investigate top executives of Morgan Stanley, etc., and of other federal prosecutors who had quit the federal service to work for Morgan Stanley, etc.
This greater clarity may result in reduced concern about putback risk, which in turn should increase the willingness of lenders to make new loans. In its rulemakings and supervision, the Federal Reserve, along with other bank supervisors, has worked with lenders to try to achieve an appropriate balance between reasonable prudence and ensuring that qualified borrowers are not denied access to credit.
6. Data on home-purchase lending are from annual filings pursuant to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. Data are available at Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, "Home Mortgage Disclosure Act," webpage. Return to text
7. The Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices is available on the Board's website. Return to text
Two types of discrimination continue to have particular significance to mortgage markets: One is redlining, in which mortgage lenders discriminate against minority neighborhoods, and the other is pricing discrimination, in which lenders charge minorities higher loan prices than they would to comparable nonminority borrowers.By contrast, more than 1,100 bankers went to jail after the savings-and-loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Because regulatory fines [such as Obama was pushing for, to substitute for criminal prosecutions of individuals] are typically levied against institutions rather than key decision-makers accused of wrongdoing, consumer advocates view them as a relatively weak deterrent against future abuses.” Obama, and also the conservative Democrat Tom Miller, who was the chief state Atorney General on this matter, were looking to protect the aristocracy.
Bush.” On 12 June 2007, Khuzami contributed the maximum, $2,300, to John McCain’s Presidential campaign against Obama. Of course, the “Democratic” candidate won that “election.”
Here’s a typical example of the liberals’ praise for this action by Obama: Justin Ruben of moveon.org said, “This is a huge deal for the American people, and the biggest victory yet for the 99%.” It was anything but.
Importantly, foreclosures can inflict economic damage beyond the personal suffering and dislocation that accompany them. Foreclosed properties that sit vacant for months (or years) often deteriorate from neglect, adversely affecting not only the value of the individual property but the values of nearby homes as well.
And financially informed households will have a better chance to build wealth, reducing--in the case of minority households--the large wealth gap that exists between minorities and other groups.
At the Federal Reserve, we appreciate the benefits to families of acquiring basic information and skills about managing their money. But we see another important advantage of financial education, which is that an economy with financially knowledgeable households is likely to be stronger, more equal, and more stable.
Lower-income and minority communities are often disproportionately affected by problems in the national economy, and the effects of the housing bust have followed that unfortunate pattern. Indeed, as a result of the crisis, most or all of the hard-won gains in homeownership made by low-income and minority communities in the past 15 years or so have been reversed.
On 3 February 2012, Edward Wyatt bannered in The New York Times, “S.E.C. Is Avoiding Tough Sanctions for Large Banks,” and he reported that, “Even as the Securities and Exchange Commission has stepped up its investigations of Wall Street in the last decade, the agency has repeatedly allowed the biggest firms to avoid punishments specifically meant to apply to fraud cases.
By granting exemptions to laws and regulations that act as a deterrent to securities fraud, the S.E.C. has let financial giants like JPMorganChase, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America continue to have advantages reserved for the most dependable companies, making it easier for them to raise money from investors, for example, and to avoid liability.
... An analysis by The New York Times of S.E.C. investigations over the last decade found nearly 350 instances where the agency has given big Wall Street institutions and other financial companies a pass on those or other sanctions.” Obama’s entire Presidency (like Bush’s before him) was functioning with the aim to pump up the stocks and bonds in the Wall Street firms that had funnelled trillions into the pockets of the aristocracy, and that had vaccuumed out the wealth of the public.
It is the wage earners $200,000 and over that are the drivers of the economy and that is the group that Kerry has stated he will attack.” Obama was thus not doing a favor for a friend here, but rather a favor for a very conservative Republican, whose business-model was to exploit the non-rich, and whose basic economic belief was that the richest 1.8% of Americans “are the drivers of the economy.” Obama was a closeted conservative.)
Home-purchase originations in lower-income neighborhoods have fallen about 75 percent, compared with around 50 percent for middle- and upper-income neighborhoods.
To be clear, the reduction in mortgage originations and home purchases for all groups relative to the pre-crisis period partly reflects weakness in the effective demand for housing rather than the unavailability of mortgage credit. Unemployment, income loss, and income insecurity prevent many households from purchasing homes, and concerns about the future direction of the labor market, housing prices, and the economy more generally keep other potential buyers on the sidelines.
Another member of this Unit was the brother-in-law of Kamala Harris - the California A.G. who had joined Schneiderman’s break away from the Obama-led effort to reach a 50-state wrist-slap settlement of all claims against the banks. Obama was thus setting Ms. Harris against her brother-in-law, in an attempt to separate, from her-and-Schneiderman’s prosecute-the-banksters brigade, its most potent single member (Harris being the A.G.
The Federal Reserve will continue to do what we can to support the housing recovery, both through our monetary policy and our regulatory and supervisory actions. But, as I have discussed, not all of the responsibility lies with the government; households, the financial services industry, and those in the nonprofit sector must play their part as well.Furthermore, Bernanke said that tight lenders may be thwarting creditworthy borrowers.
The full text of Bernanke's speech is reproduced in its entirety below:
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke
At the Operation HOPE Global Financial Dignity Summit, Atlanta, Georgia
November 15, 2012
Challenges in Housing and Mortgage Markets
Good afternoon. I'd like to thank John Bryant and Operation HOPE for inviting me to speak today. I'd also like to congratulate Operation HOPE and the Ebenezer Baptist Church on the grand opening of the HOPE Financial Dignity Center, which holds the promise of becoming a tremendous resource for the people of Atlanta and sits next to Martin Luther King's home church.
Although the decline in the number of willing and qualified potential homebuyers explains some of the contraction in mortgage lending of the past few years, I believe that tight credit nevertheless remains an important factor as well. The Federal Reserve's Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices indicates that lenders began tightening mortgage credit standards in 2007 and have not significantly eased standards since.7 Terms and standards have tightened most for borrowers with lower credit scores and with less money available for a down payment.
It was gross. It was government via a criminal gang of centi-millionaires, and billionaires.
Reuters headlined on 24 February 2012, “SEC Chief Resists Pressure on Global Accounting,” and reported that Mary Schapiro was refusing to cooperate with the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in setting up International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to facilitate international trade by establishing accounting standards that investors worldwide would have sound reason to trust.
For example, in April nearly 60 percent of lenders reported that they would be much less likely, relative to 2006, to originate a conforming home-purchase mortgage to a borrower with a 10 percent down payment and a credit score of 620--a traditional marker for those with weaker credit histories.8 As a result, the share of home-purchase borrowers with credit scores below 620 has fallen from about 17 percent of borrowers at the end of 2006 to about 5 percent more recently.9 Lenders also appear to have pulled back on offering these borrowers loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).
Government policies, both microeconomic and macroeconomic, have an important role to play in restoring the health of the housing sector. However, government can only be part of the solution; in the remainder of my remarks I will discuss what others can do, including potential homeowners themselves.
It seemed that Schneiderman and the other disaffected Democratic state AGs might not be willing to sign onto Obama’s deal, after all; but the public wouldn’t know it. This is how Barack Obama was aiming to win re-election, by making suckersout of faithful liberals - seeking liberals’ votes by means of shams like this.
He exhibited as much respect for his followers, as did Gingrich, Romney, and other Republican conservatives, for theirfollowers. And the major “news” media served as scribes, or stenographers, for those in power. Even liberal media did, by being “bipartisan” about the truth.
At the Federal Reserve, we have sought to support the economic recovery and maintain price stability--the two goals given to us by the Congress--by keeping both short-term and longer-term interest rates historically low. Low interest rates reduce the cost to households of buying homes, cars, and other consumer durables while increasing the attractiveness of new capital investments by firms.
The degree to which that challenge is met will help determine the strength and sustainability of the economic recovery and the extent to which its benefits are broadly felt.
Developments in Housing and Housing Finance
The multiyear boom and bust in housing prices of the past decade, together with the sharp increase in mortgage delinquencies and defaults that followed, were among the principal causes of the financial crisis and the ensuing deep recession--a recession that cost some 8 million jobs.
The real reason the Mozilo investigation was dropped is that Obama didn’t want his Wall Street friends to be prosecuted, and there would be no way of preventing their prosecutions if Mozilo’s case went to court. Obama didn’t necessarily care about Mozilo.
Increased demand in turn leads to faster economic growth and more jobs. My colleagues and I have been and remain quite concerned about the stubbornly high level of unemployment--particularly long-term unemployment. We have taken strong actions throughout the financial crisis and recovery to help stabilize the economy.
In September, we took the added step of stating that we will continue actions to put downward pressure on longer-term interest rates until the outlook for the job market improves substantially in a context of price stability. Our hope is that our statement provides individuals, families, businesses, and financial markets greater confidence about the Federal Reserve's commitment to promoting a sustainable recovery with price stability and that, as a result, they will become more willing to invest, hire and spend.In order to understand what was happening here, one needs to know first this relevant background, the back-story:
Huffingtonpost.com headlined on 25 February 2011, “Homeowners Demand Criminal Prosecutions,” and Zach Carter reported that 50 state attorneys general were “currently hashing out plans for a multibillion-dollar settlement with some of the nation’s largest banks over alleged mortgage abuses,” but, “There is no indication that [criminal] charges will be filed under the deal currently being negotiated.
Policy Responses
The factors contributing to reduced mortgage lending and lower rates of homeownership are varied and complex; no simple solutions exist that can, on their own, restore the housing market to health. Since the extent of the crisis became apparent, a range of initiatives has been undertaken. For example, a number of public and private efforts have been made to help avoid unnecessary foreclosures and to enable underwater and other borrowers to refinance at lower interest rates.
Fox “News” could then cite such “liberal” sources to back up their charges that Obama was here stealing from the banks in order to give to rank deadbeats. The idea was that if the supposed mortgagees hadn’t been “irresponsible,” there wouldn’t have been any problem at all.
Organizations such as NeighborWorks America (and as an aside, Federal Reserve Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin currently chairs its board) have been leaders in fighting the blight in neighborhoods with high rates of foreclosure. Unfortunately, just as families have been hurt by the financial crisis and recession, so have many community-based organizations.
(Just a year more, and America’s banksters would have immunity for all of their crimes that had brought the world economy down.) Although a few bones (this $2,000) would be thrown to the illegally dispossessed homeowners in order to get investigations stopped, Obama wouldn’t stop the few remaining state investigations that might benefit the defrauded MBS investors; however, the statute of limitations would soon make those prosecutions moot anyway.
For example, at huffingtonpost.com, columnist Marty Robins, headlined on February 12th, “Mortgage Settlement: Really? For Whose Benefit?” and he said that the supposed “settlement” was “manifestly unfair to those who did not take on unaffordable mortgages, and a thinly disguised attempt to buy votes (with banks’ money),” or in other words: he said that the mortgagees - and even the individuals who didn’thave mortgages but who were dispossessed by entirely fraudulent documents - should be socked with all of the losses, and the banksters shouldn’t face any penalties or fines or give-backs at all, in any of these outrageous cases.
As such, we all gain from efforts to increase financial literacy.
Although basic knowledge about money management and decisionmaking is extremely useful, it is not practical, of course, for everyone to be a financial expert. Sometimes a professional can help, and people should not be afraid to seek advice at appropriate times. For example, an individual may be involved in buying a home--a complex and intimidating experience for many people--only once or twice in a lifetime.
She insisted instead on maintaining the existing U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), in order to continue facilitating elite theft from outside investors. Obama didn’t talk top-down, but all of his personnel and policies were operating strictly top-down: trickle-down, never bottom-up, never progressive.
His actions showed the reality of whom he was.
On 5 February 2012, Yves Smith bannered at her nakedcapitalism.com, “Schneiderman MERS Suit and HUD’s Donovan Remarks Confirm That Mortgage ‘Settlement’ Is a Stealth Bank Bailout,” and she reported that a mortgage “settlement” that the Administration was planning to make public the next day was actually going to be just PR for the big banks, “to create the impression that they are Doing Something for Homeowners,” while actually “the settlement amounts to a transfer from retirement accounts (pension funds ...) and insurers to the banks.
of the biggest state, and of the state that had suffered the most from banksters’ crimes). Dayen thus explained how Obama was relying upon the faith of liberals, so as to destroy what had been the effort by Schneiderman, Harris, and the few other Democratic state A.G.’s who were trying to resist Obama’s bankster-protection push.
Obama was a juggernaut for the plutocrats.
Khuzami, by the way, was one of the George W. Bush holdovers. As the Wall Street Journal had said on 20 February 2009, headlining “Khuzami Will Lead SEC Enforcement”: “Mr. Khuzami, a Republican, spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention on behalf of then-President George W.
A strengthening housing market will help to gradually undo that damage, but the process has only begun.
Homeownership rates have also declined because fewer households have chosen, or have been able, to become new homeowners in recent years. Buying a home usually means obtaining a mortgage, and the data show that the pace of mortgage lending has fallen considerably on a national basis; the extension of first-lien mortgages to purchase homes fell by more than half from 2006 to 2011 and now stands at the lowest level since 1995.6 Again, the contraction in mortgage originations has been particularly severe for minority groups and those with lower incomes: Since the peak in mortgage lending in 2006, the number of home-purchase loans extended to African Americans and Hispanics has fallen more than 65 percent, whereas lending to non-Hispanic whites has fallen less than 50 percent.Court documents also show federal tax liens totaling more than $355,000 and other debts. The church had until April 2015 to pay back $1.02 million to creditors, according to court documents.
Manning insisted that the sale will not go forward.
"I don't plan to pay up, but if I had to, I could," he said. "I wouldn't give this building up."
An attorney representing the church, Daniel S. LoPresti of the firm Shaw & Binder, said the firm is taking "all necessary legal steps to protect the church from the foreclosure sale of its property."
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
James Manning, pastor of the Atlah Church, talks to a reporter in his offices in the Harlem section of New York, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016. Two groups that serve gay New Yorkers are hoping to get the last word on the Atlah World Missionary Church. They want to buy its headquarters at a foreclosure auction. One wants to turn it into housing for gay homeless youth.
Last month, the European Central Bank said Greece's banks need 14.4 billion euros in fresh money to get back on their feet and resume normal business. The banks are unlikely to go back to business as usual immediately after the cash injection: limits on money transfers can take a long time - even years - to be lifted completely.
98 (February), pp. 1-80. Return to text
5. The homeownership rate for each year is calculated as the average of the quarters displayed in table 16 of "Housing Vacancies and Homeownership." See U.S. Census Bureau, "Housing Vacancies," table 16, in note 3. Return to text
Separately, the New York Fed said that Americans are ramping up borrowing to purchase new cars. New auto loans rose to a 10-year high of $119 billion. That pushed total outstanding auto loans above $1 trillion for the first time.
Overall household debt - which includes mortgages, student loans, auto loans and credit cards - stood at $11.85 trillion in the second quarter, little changed from the first. That is 6.5 percent below its peak in the third quarter of 2008, when it reached $1.268 trillion.
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
James Manning, pastor of the Atlah Church, talks to a reporter in his offices in the Harlem section of New York, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016. Two groups that serve gay New Yorkers are hoping to get the last word on the Atlah World Missionary Church. They want to buy its headquarters at a foreclosure auction. One wants to turn it into housing for gay homeless youth.
And continued weakness in housing--reflected in falling prices, low rates of new construction, and historic levels of foreclosure--has proved a powerful headwind to recovery. It is encouraging, therefore, that we are seeing signs of improvement in the housing market in most parts of the country.
House prices nationally have increased for nine consecutive months, residential investment has risen about 15 percent from its low point, and sales of both new and existing homes have edged up.1 Homebuilder sentiment has improved considerably over the past year, and real estate agents report a substantial rise in homebuyer traffic.
The mortgage protection scheme is expected to remain in effect for three years, by which time Greece and its creditors hope the economy will be steadily healing.
"It was a difficult negotiation that was held under a lot of time pressure," Tsakalotos said. "The pressing issue was the bank recapitalization ... We want banks that will not just keep their heads above water but will start giving loans."
With Tuesday's deal, Greece should get 2 billion euros in loans as well as 10 billion euros for its banks, which are reeling from limits on money transfers and another likely recession.
(Though on 4 March 2011, Matt Stoller had headlined “Angelo Mozilo, Tea Partier?” and revealed a 1 September 2004 e-mail from Mozilo to other executives at Countrywide, in which Mozilo had said, “The upcoming election has exacerbated my concerns in that a Kerry win could cause a serious disruption in the economy if he is successful in rolling back a substantial portion of the tax breaks initiated by Bush.
Bumped from 50-State Foreclosure Committee,” and reported: “Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who is leading foreclosure settlement negotiations with the nation’s largest banks on behalf of all 50 states, abruptly removed New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman from the coalition’s executive committee.”
Nothing was said here about the Obama Administration’s desperate efforts against Schneiderman on this matter. The idea in this news report was instead to cover up for the aristocracy, and for its agents. Then, on 29 August 2011, Yves Smith headlined at her nakedcapitalism.com, “FDIC Objects to $8.5 Billion BofA Settlement,” and posted the courageous Sheila Bair’s repudiation of her boss’s, Barack Obama’s, deal with BOA.
These groups face the daunting task of finding new sources of capital and investment in a constrained financial environment. Some organizations have begun to retool their operations and develop new markets, products, and strategies to better serve the financial needs of consumers and communities.
Among other goals, they are developing strategies to foster responsible homeownership, which they see as an important building block for stronger communities.The gunman killed one deputy and wounded two others before dying in a shootout Wednesday in a forested mountain community.
In 2013, Martin Wirth sued Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, the state attorney general and a judge, claiming state foreclosure laws are unconstitutional.
The federal lawsuit also said Wirth was "in imminent danger of being wrongfully deprived of home and property."
(AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
Greece is under pressure to lower the income and wealth criteria based on which non-compliant borrowers' primary residences enjoy protection.
Dombrovskis and the Greek government officials he met in Athens at the start of a two-day visit agreed that differences remain on the issue of foreclosures.
About 40 percent of all Greek bank loans are now in serious arrears, as successive income cuts over more than five years have left borrowers struggling to repay. At the heart of the issue are housing loans.
A call to the group, whose website says it is part of the Occupy movement, was not immediately returned.
Tim Holland, who was involved in the Occupy Denver movement with Wirth, struggled to reconcile the shooting with his memories of Wirth as a "sweet, quirky, kindhearted guy."
"It seems to me that he was just pushed to the end of his rope, and he tried every single approach to addressing his grievances, and at the end, he chose to not let them take his house away from him," Holland said. "It's the middle of winter in the mountains. Where was he going to go?"
Overall, the New York Fed's report indicates that there is little sign of a return to bubble-era excesses in mortgage financing, even as the housing market rebounds. Would-be buyers are bidding up prices on a scarce supply of available homes. Sales of existing houses climbed to an eight-year high in June.
Bartlett Naylor, a financial policy advocate at Public Citizen, a watchdog and advocacy group, said a "strongly written press release is no substitute for true justice."
"There must be human beings involved," said Naylor, who argued that the Justice Department was overinflating the impact and public benefit of the HSBC deal. "This can't be yet another immaculate fine, where the government alleges widespread fraud and yet no individual was responsible."
Manning, who is black, also rails against "sodomites" on the Manning Report, his three-hour daily radio broadcast, and in YouTube videos laced with gay slurs.
So, when the news broke that the church owed $1 million to creditors and was facing a foreclosure auction Feb. 24, some quarters received it with glee.
One nonprofit group, the Ali Forney Center, has raised $175,000 on its website as part of an effort to buy the church and convert the building into transitional housing for homeless gay youths - the very population, its leaders say, that is most harmed by the Atlah church's message.
The scale of the problems facing Greek banks is most evident in the fact that the government is still limiting cash withdrawals to a mere 60 euros a day or 420 euros a week. The limits were imposed in late June to head off a bank run.
They want to buy the Atlah World Missionary Church at a foreclosure auction. One wants to turn it into housing for gay homeless youth.
The congregation's pastor has vowed not to let that happen.
The outside of the Atlah Church is seen in the Harlem section of New York, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016. Two groups that serve gay New Yorkers are hoping to get the last word on the Atlah World Missionary Church. They want to buy its headquarters at a foreclosure auction. One wants to turn it into housing for gay homeless youth.
"We'd like this corner to be no longer a corner of hatred, but a corner of compassion," said Stacy Parker Le Melle, who lives across the street and is helping to raise funds for the Ali Forney Center's bid.
Le Melle said the church's signs are hurtful to the community, especially the ones that advocate violence.
"It's not just words," she said. "There are people who are affected by this language. The hate speech creates a climate of terrible possibility."
James Manning, pastor of the Atlah Church, talks to a reporter in his offices in the Harlem section of New York, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016. Two groups that serve gay New Yorkers are hoping to get the last word on the Atlah World Missionary Church. They want to buy its headquarters at a foreclosure auction. One wants to turn it into housing for gay homeless youth.
And home prices rose nearly 5 percent in May from a year earlier, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index. They jumped 10 percent in Denver, 9.7 percent in San Francisco and 8.4 percent in Dallas - big increases that are making homeownership increasingly unaffordable for the typical family.
Importantly, however, restrictive mortgage lending conditions do not seem to be linked to any insufficiency of bank capital or to a general unwillingness to lend.
Certainly, some tightening of credit standards was an appropriate response to the lax lending conditions that prevailed in the years leading up to the peak in house prices. Mortgage loans that were poorly underwritten or inappropriate for the borrower's circumstances ultimately had devastating consequences for many families and communities, as well as for the financial institutions themselves and the broader economy.NEW YORK (AP) - The end may be nigh for a Harlem church known for hateful public messages condemning gays and President Barack Obama to eternal damnation, and two groups that serve gay New Yorkers are hoping to get an ironic last word on the matter.
The deal also requires the bank to improve standards for how it services loans and handles foreclosures.
Officials say those changes are intended to discourage past banking practices, such as robosigning and poor-quality loans, that exacerbated a financial crisis starting in 2007 in which millions of Americans lost their homes to foreclosure. HSBC had already agreed in a separate 2013 deal with Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to pay $249 million to settle federal complaints that its U.S.
On 25 January 2012, David Dayen atfiredoglake.com bannered “The Schneiderman Gambit: Financial Fraud Unit Appears Designed to Fail,” and he quoted from the praises that liberals had just heaped upon Obama for his appointing N.Y. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to be the co-chair of a new Unit on Mortgage Origination and Securitization Abuses, under the President’s existing Financial Fraud Task Force, which was under Lanny Breuer, under Eric Holder, in Obama’s bankster-protecting “Justice” Department.
BAILEY, Colo. (AP) - The Latest on the shooting of three deputies in Colorado (all times local):
6:50 p.m.
A vigil is underway for a sheriff's corporal who was shot and killed while authorities were trying to evict a man from his foreclosed home in the Colorado mountains.
The Obama-Miller deal included immunity from other claims and prosecutions. However, the New York State AG, Eric Schneiderman (with an assist from Delaware’s AG, Beau Biden, son of the VP), was blocking the aristocrats’ settlement; and, on 23 August 2011, theWashington Post headlined “N.Y.
More generally, the decision to buy a home must be consistent with a family's longer-term objectives, needs, and resources. Good financial planning--including effective budgeting, adequate saving, and sensible investing--can help families maintain homeownership while also pursuing other important objectives, such as preparing for retirement or financial emergencies.
Rivers of Living Water shares space with other congregations in an Upper West Side church and needs its own home, said pastor Vanessa Brown, adding that Manning's anti-gay message "causes trauma."
"It's a trigger for people that have been thrown out by churches because of their sexuality and their gender identity," she said.
Manning is vowing to fight what he sees as a politically motivated effort to oust him from the neighborhood he has served for more than 30 years.
In an interview, he said the $1 million he has been told the church owes is nothing but a water bill. "A million-dollar water bill? Imagine that!" he said.
Neighbor Terry Rogers, a counselor and pastor at Platte Canyon Community Church, said he did not know Wirth well and believes no one in the area did.
"He was pretty reclusive," said Rogers, who could see law enforcement vehicles responding to the shooting across a snow-covered pasture from his driveway.
The area of rocky, pine-covered hills is about 45 miles southwest of Denver where several camps host Girl Scouts and other youth during the summer. The neighborhood is several miles outside Bailey, a hamlet of just a few restaurants and shops.
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
James Manning, pastor of the Atlah Church, talks to a reporter in his offices in the Harlem section of New York, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016. Two groups that serve gay New Yorkers are hoping to get the last word on the Atlah World Missionary Church. They want to buy its headquarters at a foreclosure auction. One wants to turn it into housing for gay homeless youth.
A website for the Colorado Foreclosure Resistance Coalition includes undated posts that Wirth had lost a legal fight against foreclosure and was facing eviction. The website calls for supporters to join Wirth in "non-violent eviction resistance."
It wasn't possible to immediately verify the website's claims. A call to the Colorado Foreclosure Resistance Coalition wasn't immediately returned.
The crowd at the church included football players from Platte Canyon High School, where Carrigan served as an assistant coach.
People wrote prayers and messages on sheets of paper on the church walls. One note recalled Carrigan comforting a young girl after a chimney fire at her home and sending a firefighter to the house to retrieve her dolls. "Rest in peace, Cpl. Carrigan. We love you," the note said.
No matter how brazen the aristocrats’ crimes had been, Obama and Tom Miller were evidently determined to protect them, not to prosecute them. Obama had thought that a mere $8.5 billion settlement with Bank of America (which had absorbed Angelo Mozilo’s corrupt Countrywide Mortgage) would satisfy outside investors who had been robbed of hundreds of billions.Two of the three billion outstanding is contingent on Athens finalising a mechanism on dealing with soured loans which mainly affect mortgage holders. An additional concern is how the country can find 300 million in revenue Greece initially said it would receive from taxing private education, but then relented.
12. See J. Michael Collins and Maximilian D. Schmeiser (forthcoming), "The Effects of Foreclosure Counseling for Distressed Homeowners," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. Return to text
MORE: DEUTSCHE BANK: The Fed Is Looking 'Very Exposed' Right Now >
Illegally foreclosed former homeowners would receive about $2,000, in return for which the state investigations into those foreclosures would be halted. This would make more difficult the recalcitrant state AGs’ still-ongoing investigations into the securities frauds that had tanked the economy.
The statute of limitations for prosecuting those securities frauds was only five years (the aristocrats who write our laws love statutes of limitations, as the best protective device for such white-collar crooks, but there are no such statutes protecting lower-class crooks), and Bush/Obama had already successfully blocked prosecutions for all of those crimes that occurred prior to 2008, so that only the very tail end of the banksters’ MBS crime-orgy remained still in play for prosecutors, even in the few instances where a prosecutor was honest and sincerely wanted to fulfill his or her oath of office.
A law enforcement officer works at the scene where a man opened fire on several sheriff's deputies before the officers returned fire, killing the man, outside Bailey, Colo., Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. Authorities say the man, who lost ownership of his home two years ago, opened fire on the officers trying to serve an eviction notice.
(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
Jefferson County SWAT officers work at the scene where a man opened fire on sheriff's deputies before the officers returned fire, killing the man, outside Bailey, Colo., Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. Authorities say the man, who lost ownership of his home two years ago, opened fire on the officers trying to serve an eviction notice.
"The household insolvency law is top of the list ... and it is difficult," a source close to the talks told Reuters.
Greece is trying to juggle the need of banks to come up with a framework to deal with bad loans weighing on their books with assurances that any action should not compromise thousands of homeowners who are late with mortgages.
Tsipras's office said he had told his cabinet it was a "priority" to conclude negotiations this week to allow the disbursement of 2 billion euros in aid, and another 10 billion to be released towards the recapitalisation of Greece's four big banks.
A European Central Bank stress test last month showed Greek banks needed a total of 14.4 billion euros in additional capital to survive a scenario of adverse economic conditions.
Some of the amount is likely to come from private investors with the rest from the 10 billion euros now held in account for that purpose.
The agreement requires the bank to pay $100 million and to provide an additional $370 million in consumer relief to borrowers and homeowners, including by reducing mortgage interest rates as well as the principal on mortgages for homeowners who are at risk of default.
Wirth appeared on the deck of his home when the officers arrived, then went back inside, according to the sheriff's office account of the shooting.
Officers followed him in, and Wirth fired on them, prompting them to return fire, sheriff's officials said.
The shooting killed Corporal Nate Carrigan, a 13-year veteran of the sheriff's office. One of the wounded officers underwent surgery for life-threatening injuries and was in critical condition at a Denver hospital.
Healing the banks is perhaps the most pressing concern for Greece. The lenders remain badly hobbled by this year's crisis, which put the country on the brink of falling out of the euro. They need cash quickly so they can start operating normally, a necessary condition for any modern economy.
Medina declined to say why the sheriff's office considered it a risk to serve Wirth with the eviction notice.
"They had background information about the suspect in this case, but we're just not going to talk about it at this time," she said.
Wirth owned the home until March 2014, when Fannie Mae, the government-controlled mortgage company, took ownership after he lost a court battle over his foreclosure.
After Wirth lost his case in state court, he sued Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, the state attorney general and a judge in 2013. The federal lawsuit claimed that state foreclosure laws were unconstitutional and that Wirth and his unnamed guests were "in imminent danger of being wrongfully deprived of home and property while also being threatened with an armed and forcible entry onto the property and into the home."
The left-led government says it wants protection for borrowers whose homes are worth up to 300,000 euros, and who earn up to 35,000 euros a year - about 75 percent of those affected. It says the creditors' counter-proposal - protection for homes worth up to 120,000 euros - would expose nearly 80 percent of borrowers to the threat of foreclosure.Though the government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had already made many of the reforms required by its third international bailout, it has balked at a few.
Those included introducing a law that would have scrapped mortgage protections - and raised the prospect of mass evictions and property selloffs. Instead, a compromise appears to have been reached that will protect many in arrears on their mortgages.
People losing their houses is a particularly sensitive issue at the moment as Greece prepares to find shelter and food for thousands of refugees and migrants entering the country.
A government source said that negotiations with lenders were continuing, and there appeared to be a level of convergence emerging. (Reporting By Renee Maltezou, Lefteris Papadimas and George Georgiopoulos, Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
Besides Breuer, another member of this fraudulent Financial Fraud Unit was Robert Khuzami, of the SEC, who had already been condemned by Judge Jed Rakoff and others for trying to settle “slap on the wrist” fines against Citibank, B of A, and Goldman Sachs, for bankster crimes.
By Renee Maltezou and Lefteris Papadimas
ATHENS, Nov 3 (Reuters) - European Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Tuesday bailed-out Greece was showing signs of progress in its reform efforts, but said 'three or four' issues would need to be resolved in talks with Athens.
He fought back in court and, in a ruling that could change how law firms handle debt collection, a federal judge held last month that the firm representing the debt collector could be liable for damages even if it didn't know its client was relying on incorrect information.
Some experts see the ruling as a game-changer in foreclosure actions, which by their nature target people who are under emotional and financial stress.
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
James Manning, pastor of the Atlah Church, talks to a reporter in his offices in the Harlem section of New York, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016. Two groups that serve gay New Yorkers are hoping to get the last word on the Atlah World Missionary Church. They want to buy its headquarters at a foreclosure auction. One wants to turn it into housing for gay homeless youth.
division wrongfully foreclosed on homeowners who should have been allowed to stay in their homes.
"This settlement illustrates the department's continuing commitment to ensure responsible mortgage servicing," Benjamin Mizer, head of the Justice Department's Civil Division, said in a statement. "The agreement is part of our ongoing effort to address root causes of the financial crisis."
The settlement involves the departments of Justice and Housing and Urban Development, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Attorneys general from 49 states plus the District of Columbia signed on.
Bank of Cyprus CEO John Patrick Hourican speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at his office in the bank of Cyprus headquarters in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. The outgoing chief executive of bailed-out Cyprus¿ largest bank says lawmakers¿ ¿shenanigans¿ in delaying passage of key laws aimed at helping banks collect on a huge number of bad loans have left him disappointed.
Pierre Moscovici, the European Union's top economy official, said Greece and the creditors had reached a deal on all outstanding issues, a development that also brings promised discussions on reducing Greece's debt burden one step nearer.
"I am happy to confirm that agreement has been reached on the remaining measures needed to complete the first set of milestones," he told a press briefing in Brussels.
"We expect finalization of the process to take place shortly following the swift adoption of necessary legislation by the Greek Parliament on Thursday," he added.
Greece's Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, left, speaks during a news conference as Economy Minister Giorgos Sathakis listens, in Athens on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015. Greece reached an agreement with European creditors Tuesday on economic measures it needs to introduce so it can get its next batch of bailout money, including a 10 billion-euro ($10.7 billion) cash injection for its crippled banks.
(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Greece's left-wing government, which has abandoned its earlier promises to scrap budget austerity, has imposed drastic new tax hikes since reaching an agreement with lenders in July over a new bailout deal. The latest austerity measures also include road tax increases as well as tougher rules for tax settlements.
The property could be snapped up by a developer, which might also be seen as an ironic end. Much of Manning's rhetoric is aimed at white gentrification of historically black Harlem.
At least one Harlem neighbor said she'd love to see the church go.
"Think of the psychological state of people going through foreclosure," said Seton Hall law school professor Charles Sullivan, who specializes in contracts and employment law. "They can't pay their mortgage and they think they're going to be in foreclosure. They're not looking at the papers, and if they are, whether it's $360,000 or $370,000, neither is a sum they can pay. They may not even seek an attorney. But attorneys in the past didn't have the tools this this decision now gives them."Some of the key points, via Bloomberg:
Bernanke said the Fed will do what it can to back the housing recovery and reiterated that the Fed would use its policy tools to aid the economy.
The Fed chairman also said that the U.S. housing revival faces significant challenges, and that weak housing is a powerful headwind to the recovery.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) - Lawmakers have let bailed-out Cyprus down at times, the outgoing chief executive of the country's biggest bank said Wednesday, adding that "shenanigans" which delayed key laws aimed at helping banks collect on a huge number of bad loans have left him disappointed.
Despite marked improvements in overall credit quality, 7 percent of mortgages are either more than 90 days overdue or in the process of foreclosure.2 And, although the number of homes in foreclosure has edged down since cresting in 2010, that number remains in excess of 2 million, three times the historical norm.
Meanwhile, the national homeownership rate has slipped nearly 4 percentage points from its 2004 high of 69 percent, and it now stands at a 15-year low.3 So, although there are good reasons to be encouraged by the recent direction of the housing market, we should not be satisfied with the progress we have seen so far.
"Now we can provide credit to the economy ... but it will be turbo-charged by people meeting their obligations," Hourican said.
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This story has been corrected to show that outgoing Bank of Cyprus CEO took the job in October 2013, not 2014.
Bank of Cyprus CEO John Patrick Hourican speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at his office in the bank of Cyprus headquarters in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. The outgoing chief executive of bailed-out Cyprus¿ largest bank says lawmakers¿ ¿shenanigans¿ in delaying passage of key laws aimed at helping banks collect on a huge number of bad loans have left him disappointed.
The $100 million payment will mostly be distributed among the federal government and an escrow fund administered by the states to make payments to borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure between 2008 and 2012. The $370 million in relief to homeowners already is underway, the Justice Department said.
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Pylas contributed from London. Lorne Cook contributed from Brussels.
Greece's Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos arrives for a news conference in Athens on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015. Greece reached an agreement with European creditors Tuesday on economic measures it needs to introduce so it can get its next batch of bailout money, including a 10 billion-euro ($10.7 billion) cash injection for its crippled banks.
(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Greece's Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos arrives for a news conference in Athens on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015. Greece reached an agreement with European creditors Tuesday on economic measures it needs to introduce so it can get its next batch of bailout money, including a 10 billion-euro ($10.7 billion) cash injection for its crippled banks.
"RRS is one of the few companies to still generate earnings growth, while its investment discipline has left it well placed to withstand the current environment," analysts at Investec said in a note. (Reporting by Kit Rees; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Valdis Dombrovskis, a European Commission vice-president for the euro, said Greece has already done many reforms, quickly. But he warned "there is no time to lose. There is a need to work very actively to modernize the Greek state and economy."
This is an undated photograph provided by the Park County, Colo., Sheriff's Department of Nate Carrigan, a corporal with the department who was shot and killed while serving an eviction notice with two other officers to a man in Bailey, Colo., early on Wednesday, Feb.
24, 2016. Authorities say the man, who lost ownership of the home two years ago, opened fire on the law officers as they entered the home and tried to serve the notice near the Colorado mountain community. (Park County, Colo., Sheriff's Department via AP)
8. A conforming mortgage is one that is eligible for purchase or credit guarantee by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Return to text
9. These data are staff calculations based on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Consumer Credit Panel. The 10th percentile of credit scores on mortgage originations rose from 585 in 2006 to 635 at the end of 2011. Return to text
Carrigan is the second law enforcement officer to be killed on duty in Colorado in as many weeks. He was of many officers from around the country who attended the funeral for Mesa County Deputy Derek Geer last week.
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The man officials say opened fire on three Colorado deputies who were serving an eviction notice had sued the governor and others after losing a court battle over his home's foreclosure.
Among the gainers, investors were cheered by precious metals miner Randgold Resources' strong set of full-year earnings, with the shares rallying 2.6 percent.
The company said its full-year profit from mining fell by 11 percent, as gold prices continued their decline, a better-than-expected result. The stock is up around 30 percent this year as investors flocked to safe-haven investmentsAthens signed up to a new aid programme worth up to 86 billion euros ($92 billion) earlier this summer, but payment of part of an initial tranche had been held up over disagreement on regulations on home foreclosures and handling tax arrears owed to the state.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Banking giant HSBC has reached a $470 million settlement with the federal government and nearly all states over mortgage lending and foreclosure abuses that officials say helped intensify the country's economic meltdown, the Justice Department announced Friday.
The bill approved on Thursday provides foreclosure protection for primary homes to about 60 percent of mortgages among an estimated 400,000 homeowners whose loans have soured during the financial crisis.
About a quarter of them - families with incomes below the poverty line - were accorded full protection from foreclosure. The rest were given protection for a three-year period provided they restructured their debts with their banks.
The Bank of Cyprus was at the center of a March, 2013 multibillion euro rescue deal that forced a seizure of uninsured deposits in the country¿s two largest lenders. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
The Bank of Cyprus was at the center of a March 2013 multibillion euro rescue deal that forced a seizure of uninsured deposits in the country's two largest lenders and shuttered the smaller bank.
Although Cyprus has earned plaudits for sticking to its rescue program's terms, creditors point out that bad loans remain the country's No. 1 priority. Around half of Bank of Cyprus' 24 billion euros ($25.6 billion) worth of loans are sour, Hourican said.
HAWTHORNE, N.J. (AP) - Ever had a debt collector on your back for money you knew you didn't owe?
Listen to the story of Steven Psaros and take heart.
The Great Recession forced Psaros into foreclosure on the house he had bought in this northern New Jersey town in 1999.
Then, another blow. A debt collector demanded about $11,000 in homeowners' insurance, money Psaros claimed he didn't owe under terms of a mortgage refinance signed several years earlier.
Athens said the deal reached overnight provided foreclosure protection for primary homes for about 60 percent of mortgages among an estimated 400,000 homeowners whose loans had soured.
About a quarter of them - families with incomes below the poverty line - were accorded full protection from foreclosure. The rest were given protection for a three-year period provided they restructured their debts with their banks.
The two sides also agreed to introduce a new gambling tax, which will affect Greece's biggest betting company OPAP , to replace an unpopular value added tax on education.
(AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
Pharmacists take part in a rally outside the Greek health ministry during their first day of a strike to protest against new reforms in their sector on Athens, on Monday, Oct. 26, 2015. A leading European Union official said Monday that Greece's bailout talks with its international creditors are broadly on track, but the country still has much work to do, in little time.
(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A successful review will also allow the start of talks on easing the country's crushing debt mountain, now at about 170 percent of GDP, through longer and laxer repayment terms on the bailout loans.
The government has already agreed to a series of tough measures, including hiking taxation on farmers and deregulating pharmacy licenses - sparking considerable resentment. Greek pharmacists launched rolling 24-hour strikes Monday, while farmers' associations are planning protests.
In a scathing critique of Cypriot legislators, Bank of Cyprus CEO John Patrick Hourican said it's been "embarrassing" for him to explain abroad actions that had delayed and diluted a key foreclosure law that was passed last year.
The amount would supplement attempts now underway by Greece's four big banks to plug up to 4.4 billion euros of their capital shortfall through private investors.
Although banks said they were confident their efforts to lure investors would be successful, they fretted about the timing of the wrangle with Greece's lenders.
"The newsflow on foreclosures created noise and is on the mind of some investors, but overall there is interest in the offerings," a banker at one of the four lenders said.
The other was treated and released from a hospital after a bullet grazed his ear, Colorado Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Susan Medina said.
Scores of people attended a vigil Wednesday night for Carrigan at Platte Canyon Community Church. Some wrote remembrances and prayers on sheets of paper lining the church walls
One note recalled Carrigan comforting a young girl after a chimney fire at her home and sending a firefighter to the house to retrieve her dolls. "Rest in peace, Cpl. Carrigan. We love you," the note said.
Authorities representing the local sheriff's office, FBI and other agencies interrupted the group's proceedings in February and seized computers, phones and other material from about 20 people participating in the meeting at the VFW.
Cammack's attorney, Deborah Perry, told the Express-News during the trial earlier this week that prosecutors were overreaching.By Renee Maltezou
ATHENS, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told his cabinet on Tuesday to wrap up talks with lenders swiftly this week to get a new disbursement of international aid now held up in a dispute over home foreclosures and non-performing loans.
Cammack at one point during the trial was asked whether she is a citizen of Texas, and responded that she was born in Texas and calls herself a "Texian."
"I believe my good name has been besmirched . my inalienable rights have been trampled on by the system," Cammack said.
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Information from: San Antonio Express-News, website guilty of serving papers on behalf of sovereign Texas
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
"We're not going to be pushed like this," said Dr. James David Manning, who literally thumped a leather-bound Bible during an interview at his church this week. "I'm tired of people ramming their ideas down one's throat."
A fixture in Harlem for more than 30 years, The Atlah World Missionary Church has never been shy about expressing its own blunt ideas.
The large red billboard in front of the church is emblazoned with rotating messages like one that said to gays "cursed be thou with cancer, HIV, syphilis, stroke, madness, the itch, then Hell." Others have gone after Obama, calling him "a Taliban Muslim illegally elected president."
Paul, Minnesota-based Green Tree Servicing.
Through a deal he negotiated when he refinanced his mortgage in 2008, Psaros was paying property insurance and real estate taxes directly, rather than through an escrow account managed by the lender. Last April, however, Green Tree allegedly sent him a letter telling him he owed $10,974.37 for insurance premiums.
She was fined and placed on probation. A co-defendant pleaded guilty in August and testified against her.
Cammack and other members of a group called the Republic of Texas believe Texas never legally became part of the U.S. and remains a separate nation.
The papers she issued had ordered a state district judge and a lawyer involved in foreclosure proceedings against her to appear before the group's court, held at a VFW hall in Bryan.
Greece has relied on bailout funds from its eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund since the spring of 2010 and is flirting with another recession.
Once the promised reforms have been passed and the bank recapitalization has taken place, discussions between Greece and its creditors can move on to how to lighten Greece's public debt load, which could rise to around 190 percent of gross domestic product.
Though creditors have ruled out outright cuts to Greece's debts, the country could get longer grace periods on its loans and lower interest rates.
The group said it will spend millions "restoring the landmark venue to its former glory as a Broadway playhouse." In a statement, it said: "The venue will receive significant front-of-house improvements to better serve its patrons including all new state-of-the-art seating."
It will have just under 1,000 seats, making it one of the smaller theaters on Broadway but above the 500-seat requirement for inclusion as a Broadway theater and for Tony Awards.
The Hudson sits just off Times Square - east of Broadway on 44th Street. The theater opened in 1903 with a production of "Cousin Kate" starring Ethel Barrymore. It was built by producer Henry B. Harris, who died aboard the Titanic.
As I will discuss, for the first time in a number of years, the housing sector is improving, adding to growth and jobs. But the housing revival still faces significant obstacles, and the benefits of that revival remain quite uneven. Strengthening and broadening the housing recovery remain a critical challenge for policymakers, lenders, and community leaders.
In addition, of course, the historically low mortgage rates that have resulted from the Federal Reserve's policies are directly supporting the housing market by putting homeownership within the reach of more people.
While the economic recovery and regulatory policy affect access to credit for all households, some potential borrowers may face the added burden of discrimination. In our role as a banking regulator, the Federal Reserve strives to ensure that the banks we supervise obey laws that prohibit illegal discrimination in lending.
The amount of new mortgages has risen for four straight quarters, the New York Fed said, after falling to a 14-year low of $286 billion in last year's second quarter.
Several trends have offset those increases to keep overall mortgage debt mostly unchanged, according to economists at the New York Fed. A wave of refinancing has lowered borrowing rates, allowing homeowners to pay down more principal each month and less interest.
He said in an interview with The Associated Press that the law is neither strong enough nor its implementation swift enough, hampering the bank's ability to boost lending and getting the economy growing faster. Legislative gaps - like where auctions on foreclosed property will be held - remain a stumbling block.The second quarter's decline occurred even as Americans took out more new mortgages, either to refinance old loans or purchase homes. New mortgages totaled $466 billion in the second quarter, the most in almost two years.
Those trends suggest Americans are paying down mortgage debt at roughly the same pace as new loans are made, evidence that homeowners remain wary of housing-related debt. Total mortgage debt peaked at $9.29 trillion in the third quarter of 2008.
In response to a letter from Nader decrying the plight of savers who are suffering from years of exceptionally low interest rates, Yellen noted that Americans would have been worse off if the Fed had not taken drastic action to counter the severe financial crisis in 2007 and 2008 and the ensuing recession.
When asked whether he supported the death penalty, Wirth wrote, "Killing people to show that killing people is wrong is a piece of idiotic hypocrisy."
He wrote disparagingly of police, the federal government and corporations on his candidate page on Facebook and praised former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked millions of documents about government surveillance. He made regular posts criticizing leading presidential candidates from both parties.
Hourican said Cyprus was "poorly treated" by its European Union partners and called the deposit grab a "cardiac arrest" of such scope that confidence in the Cypriot banking system will take many years to fully restore.
Hourican, who took the job in October 2013 and helped put the deeply ailing bank on a firmer footing, conceded that lawmakers have done their bit to satisfy creditors' demands. But "populist" rhetoric is prompting some borrowers to hold back from repaying what they owe on the impression they can get a "better deal."
The Bank of Cyprus was at the center of a March, 2013 multibillion euro rescue deal that forced a seizure of uninsured deposits in the country¿s two largest lenders. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
Bank of Cyprus CEO John Patrick Hourican, photograaphed through books on a table, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at his office in the bank of Cyprus headquarters in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. The outgoing chief executive of bailed-out Cyprus¿ largest bank says lawmakers¿ "shenanigans" in delaying passage of key laws aimed at helping banks collect on a huge number of bad loans have left him disappointed.
The agreement does not prevent state or federal authorities from pursuing criminal action in the future.
An independent monitor will be appointed to oversee the bank's compliance with the settlement terms.
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Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at website reaches $470M deal with US, states over banking abuses
Psaros sued Green Tree and Stern Lavinthal in federal court last June, and in the fall the law firm asked U.S. District Judge Jose Linares to dismiss Psaros' claim because it hadn't demonstrated "any false or misleading representation by Stern Lavinthal that might give rise to liability" under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Adam Deutsch, an attorney representing Psaros for the Westwood-based Denbeaux and Denbeaux law firm, said the ruling "sends a message to people on the collection side that you can't just assume the information you're being provided by your client is accurate."
An attorney representing Stern Lavinthal declined to comment, and an attorney for Green Tree didn't respond to a request for comment.
"The government had said they would not confiscate a single home but today they crushed all our rights," said Giorgos Tzifonios, a retired steelmaker who was demonstrating outside the Bank of Greece.
Earlier on Thursday, leftist lawmaker and former government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis resigned from parliament saying he could no longer support the bailout measures. However, his resignation will have no impact on the government's parliamentary majority since he was replaced by State Reform Minister Christoforos Vernardakis.
But it managed to endure as other private clubs closed around Connecticut and the U.S. With finances on better footing, the club decided to begin advertising.
The campaign, including ads on several Connecticut television stations, casts the club as a place for young professionals to socialize and network with one another.
Hartford's new mayor, Luke Bronin, celebrated the club's comeback at an event Wednesday to unveil the new campaign.
After weeks of talks between the government and representatives from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, a deal was reached overnight over a first set of demanded reforms, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said.
"It was a difficult negotiation," Tsakalotos said. "Over the summer the pressure to reach a deal came from the spectre of Grexit, this time it was the need to recapitalise banks," he said.
"The agreement covers all 48 demanded reforms and some extra milestones on financial issues."ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greece struck a deal with European creditors Tuesday on economic measures it needs to make to get its next batch of bailout money, including a 10 billion-euro ($10.7 billion) cash injection for its crippled banks.
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A sheriff's corporal shot and killed by a Colorado man authorities were trying to evict from his foreclosed home was a 13-year veteran of the department well known in his mountain community.
The Park County Sheriff's Office says Corporal Nate Carrigan was one of three officers wounded after entering the home of Martin Wirth near Bailey, about 45 miles west of Denver. He died at the scene. Another wounded officer is in critical condition, and the other has been released from the hospital.
Greece has committed to broad reforms, savings and tax hikes to secure its third bailout package from its European partners. Bailout creditors are currently reviewing the government's compliance with the measures they had agreed upon before paying the country a 2 billion euro loan installment.
"Americans generally have benefited, most particularly lower- and middle-income people affected disproportionately during the downturn," Yellen wrote.
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, pictured November 4, 2015, said that Americans would have been worse off if the Fed had not taken drastic action to counter the severe financial crisis in 2007 and 2008 and the ensuing recession ©Jim Watson (AFP/File)
The Bank of Cyprus was at the center of a March, 2013 multibillion euro rescue deal that forced a seizure of uninsured deposits in the country¿s two largest lenders. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
Bank of Cyprus CEO John Patrick Hourican speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at his office in the bank of Cyprus headquarters in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. The outgoing chief executive of bailed-out Cyprus¿ largest bank says lawmakers¿ ¿shenanigans¿ in delaying passage of key laws aimed at helping banks collect on a huge number of bad loans have left him disappointed.
It was lost to foreclosure in 1933 and sold at auction for $100,000.
The Hudson changed hands many times and was a studio for CBS radio. It was the home for the first nationwide broadcast of "The Tonight Show" starring Steve Allen. It later became a house for burlesque and then a movie house in 1968.
In recent years, the theater has been operated by the Millennium Hotels and Resorts and was an elegant special events space. The building was granted landmark status in 1987.
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The outside of the Atlah Church is seen in the Harlem section of New York, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016. Two groups that serve gay New Yorkers are hoping to get the last word on the Atlah World Missionary Church. They want to buy its headquarters at a foreclosure auction. One wants to turn it into housing for gay homeless youth.
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
James Manning, pastor of the Atlah Church, talks to a reporter in his offices in the Harlem section of New York, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016. Two groups that serve gay New Yorkers are hoping to get the last word on the Atlah World Missionary Church. They want to buy its headquarters at a foreclosure auction. One wants to turn it into housing for gay homeless youth.
Nikolopoulos voted against the bailout bill, while Panagoulis abstained. Both were expelled from the ruling coalition's parliamentary group, meaning the government can now count on 153 votes in the 300-seat chamber.
That is exactly the number of "yes" votes obtained by the bill on Thursday.
A senior government official said the government was determined to carry on implementing the bailout programme.
Officers had stopped by to check on Lucie McNulty several times over the years but never went inside her mobile home even if there was no answer at her door. It wasn't until Friday that they entered her home and found her body.
"It is a sad situation," police Lt. Gerald Congdon told the Portland Press Herald website "She was the type of person to always have her shades down and her curtains drawn. She was very much a loner."
In addition, the fall in home prices means that many current homeowners cannot rely as much as they could in the past on tapping their existing home equity to trade up to larger or better homes, while underwater homeowners may be financially unable to move from their current homes.
About 100 people gathered at Platte Canyon Community Church in Park County Wednesday night to remember Nate Carrigan. Authorities say Carrigan was killed earlier Wednesday by Martin Wirth, the man who was being evicted. Wirth was also shot and killed.
(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Greece's Economy Minister Giorgos Sathakis, right, speaks as Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos gestures during a news conference in Athens on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015. Greece reached an agreement with European creditors Tuesday on economic measures it needs to introduce so it can get its next batch of bailout money, including a 10 billion-euro ($10.7 billion) cash injection for its crippled banks.
(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said his state and the US Justice Department had reached agreement with the large US bank in the longstanding probe on abuses in residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) that suffered trillions of dollars in losses in the crisis.
"If there is a fast compromise, it will help."
Discussions have stumbled on the level of protection Greek mortgage holders should have if they fail to repay their debt.
Athens insists resolving the issue should not result in thousands of Greeks at risk of losing their homes. At present, mortgage holders can apply for foreclosure protection if the value of their home is 300,000 euros; the Greek government is now discussing protection based on a home valuation of between 180,000 and 200,000 euros, buffered by a series of income-based criteria.
By emulating the bad-boy swagger of his own bullies, Jesse was putting on a suit of armor. Though his parents were a little concerned - and irritated with all his unnecessary posing - they saw it as a phase and, in that regard, not unlike other powerful antagonistic personae Jesse had identified with in the past. "There was a period of time when he was really obsessed with the Undertaker, the wrestler," says Doug. "And in fourth grade, he was obsessed with Bowser in Super Mario."
taxpayers furthermore absorbing the resulting losses, in the form of taxpayers needing to pay off the federal debt for the massive bailouts of Wall Street and its “counter-parties,” losses which were being absorbed by Timothy Geithner’s U.S. Treasury, and by Ben Bernanke’s U.S.
Federal Reserve.
There would be no prosecutions of mega-bank executives for any of the frauds those mega-bank executives had planned and overseen, which had led to these enormous crimes, and thus to the 2008 crash. Those mega-bank executives were permitted to keep their millions of dollars in pay and bonuses, which they had earned from these frauds.
The Ambassador Theatre Group said Wednesday it will reopen and operate Broadway's Hudson Theatre, slated to happen by the 2016-2017 Broadway season. It comes as producers enjoy record profits and grumble about a lack of Broadway stages.
It's the second Broadway theater for the Ambassador Theatre Group, which bought The Lyric Theatre in 2013. The company, co-founded by Sir Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire, has 46 venues in Britain, the United States and Australia.
The judge disagreed, writing last month that the firm "cannot evade its responsibilities as a debt collector by blaming its client for providing it with factually inaccurate information used in the process of collecting a debt."
Sullivan predicted the ruling will lead to fewer mistakes as law firms become more vigilant in checking their clients' claims when seeking to collect debts.
"This is a good day," the EU's Economics Commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, told a news conference in Brussels.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' leftist government is keen to complete the first review under the new bailout package, Greece's third since 2010, so it can start talks with lenders on debt relief. Tsipras is hoping to begin the debt negotiations before year-end.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greece and its bailout creditors remain divided over how to toughen foreclosure laws, a European Union official said Monday, though the overall talks on getting the country the next batch of loans are on track.
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The outside of the Atlah Church is seen in the Harlem section of New York, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016. Two groups that serve gay New Yorkers are hoping to get the last word on the Atlah World Missionary Church. They want to buy its headquarters at a foreclosure auction. One wants to turn it into housing for gay homeless youth.
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A picture of James Manning, the pastor of Atlah Church, adorns the outside of the building in the Harlem section of New York, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016. Two groups that serve gay New Yorkers are hoping to get the last word on the Atlah World Missionary Church. They want to buy its headquarters at a foreclosure auction. One wants to turn it into housing for gay homeless youth.
Those disagreements are standing in the way of Greece receiving a three-billion-euro sum outstanding from an initial tranche of aid worth 26 billion euros. Greece's total bailout amount is up to 86 billion euros.
"I can confirm three or four issues that are still on the table," Moscovici said after talks with Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos. "We are confident that in the spirit of a compromise the euro group meeting on Monday is a success," he added, referring to a meeting of euro zone finance ministers who will vet whether Greece has met conditions to unlock the outstanding amount.
The reforms were agreed by Tsipras' government and its lenders on Tuesday after weeks of negotiations and are key for it to complete the first review of a new aid programme worth up to 86 billion euros which Greece signed up to this summer.
However the defections of Nikos Nikolopoulos of the right-wing Independent Greeks party and Stathis Panagoulis of Tsipras' Syriza party further weakened the left-right coalition.BAILEY, Colo. (AP) - A man who spent years fighting the foreclosure of his Colorado home and ranted online about police and corporate corruption shot three law enforcement officers trying to serve an eviction notice Wednesday, killing one and wounding the others, authorities said.
The collapse of the market for RMBS and other mortgage-based securities exacerbated the collapse of housing prices that began in 2006, leading directly to the crisis that devastated the financial industry in 2008 and plunged the United States into deep recession.
The $3.2 billion includes $550 million specifically for New York state, including $400 million worth of consumer relief and $150 million in cash.
"Today's agreement is another victory in our efforts to help New Yorkers rebuild in the wake of the financial devastation caused by major banks," Schneiderman said in the statement.
In a health check of Greece's four systemic lenders last weekend, the European Central Bank said the banks needed to plug a 14.4-billion-euro capital shortfall under an adverse economic performance scenario, and 4.4 billion under a baseline scenario.
The problem is partly caused by its high level of non-performing loans.
The sum that the banks will get is lower than many had anticipated. Up to 25 billion euros was made available in the bailout program. As a result, the size of Greece's third bailout should turn out to be smaller than the 86 billion euros envisioned in the summer.
There, a gunman took several girls hostage in a high school classroom a decade ago, killing one before himself.
Sam Lung, who lives nearby, said he often hears gunshots in the area, which has a target practice site.
He said people often shoot in their backyards, "practicing their Second Amendment rights." He said he did not hear the gunshots Wednesday.
"It is a dark day," Medina said.
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Volz reported from Helena, Montana. Associated Press writers Sadie Gurman and Colleen Slevin contributed to this report from Denver.
People walk past a shuttered pharmacy during the first day of a strike by the pharmacy owners association in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, Monday, Oct. 26, 2015. Pharmacists are on strike to protest against new reforms in their sector. A leading European Union official said Monday that Greece's bailout talks with its international creditors are broadly on track, but the country still has much work to do, in little time.
By pegging the benchmark federal funds rate between zero and 0.25 percent point in December 2008, the Fed lowered borrowing costs for millions of American families and businesses, in turn supporting the housing market and job growth, she argued.
"We all hope and expect that the economy will continue to expand, that the jobs market will continue to make progress, and that inflation will move toward our two percent price stability objective," Yellen wrote.
Wirth ran for the state Senate in 2014 as a Green Party candidate, but he lost to an incumbent Republican. In a candidate questionnaire he completed for The Denver Post, Wirth wrote of corruption in the political system, his support for Colorado's marijuana laws and the plight of the poor.
A two billion euro cash disbursement and 10 billion euros to recapitalise four systemic banks was delayed this week amid disagreement over the level of protection homeowners should have from foreclosures for non-payment of debts.
Athens insists resolving the issue should not result in thousands of Greeks at risk of losing their homes.
At present, mortgage holders can apply for foreclosure protection if the value of their home is 300,000 euros; the Greek government is now discussing protection based on a home valuation of between 180,000 and 200,000 euros, buffered by a series of income-based criteria.
Representatives of the country's lenders, assessing compliance with the terms of the 86 billion euro bailout, were scheduled to discuss the matter with Greek officials later Wednesday, a finance ministry official said. (Reporting By Lefteris Papadimas, writing by Michele Kambas Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
The stockholders in the five big banks - BOA, JPM, WF, Citi, and Ally Financial (the previous GMAC) - would now be paying this wrist-slap fine, to the abused former homeowners, on behalf of those banks’ own executives and former executives, who had actually driven, and made billions from, these massive, world-wrecking, financial crimes.
Yves Smith also noted: “The various news services are touting this pact,” by serving as stenographers for the Administration on it. Such was “journalism” in Amerika’s “democracy.”
In 2012, five big US banks -- JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Ally Financial -- paid a combined $25 billion to settle their alleged abusive mortgage and foreclosure dealings.
- From Associated Press writer Sadie Gurman
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12:50 p.m.
Authorities say three sheriff's deputies were shot as they served an eviction notice in a Colorado mountain community, leaving one deputy and the attacker dead.
Susan Medina, spokeswoman for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, says the shooter fired at the deputies with a rifle. One had life-threatening injuries and was undergoing surgery, while the other deputy's injuries were not life-threatening.In Tennessee last year, a 22-year-old policewoman emerging from 10 months undercover credited her mom's job as an acting coach as key to her performance as a drug-seeking student, which was convincing enough to have 14 people arrested. Other operations go even further to establish veracity, like a San Diego-area sting last year that practically elevated policing to performance art, in which three undercover deputies had "parents" who attended back-to-school nights; announcing the first of the sting's 19 arrests, Sheriff Bill Gore boasted this method of snaring teens was "almost too easy."
The practice was first pioneered in 1974 by the LAPD, which soon staged annual undercover busts that most years arrested scores of high schoolers; by the Eighties, it had spread as a favored strategy in the War on Drugs. Communities loved it: Each bust generated headlines and reassured citizens that police were proactively combating drugs.
The bill, outlining regulation on tax arrears and home foreclosures, paves the way for the disbursement of 2 billion euros ($2.15 billion) to pay state arrears and a further 10 billion euro to recapitalise Greece's top four banks.
Contrary to its upbeat marketing of the mortgage bonds, "Morgan Stanley securitized and sold RMBS with underlying mortgage loans that it knew had material defects," the New York attorney general's office said.
The announcement cited internal Morgan Stanley communications which showed the staff knew of the deep risks in the securities and deliberately masked and misreported them.
In the settlement, Morgan Stanley acknowledged that it had misrepresented the quality of the products it sold to RMBS investors.
"On Monday all issues will be finalised ... and at the Euro Working Group there will be a decision to release the installment and the funds for the banks," Government Spokeswoman Olga Gerovasili told state broadcaster ERT, referring to deputy finance ministers of the euro zone.
Many homebuyers are making larger down payments. And the proportion of investors and other buyers paying cash has been elevated for most of the economic recovery.
Still, the New York Fed's report also revealed some of downsides to recent housing trends. It's still very difficult for those without sterling credit to get mortgages.
And a smaller proportion of Americans own homes, even as sales have ticked up. Just 63.4 percent of Americans are homeowners, down from 69 percent in 2007 and the lowest level in more than four decades.
"We want to know why the Federal Reserve, funded and heavily run by the banks, is keeping interest rates so low that we receive virtually no income for our hard-earned savings while the Fed lets the big banks borrow money for virtually no interest," Nader wrote.
In her response, Yellen acknowledged the frustration of savers caused by their very low returns, which have "caused hardship for some of them, particularly seniors on fixed incomes."
He asked a federal judge to block Park County from selling his home, evicting him or forcibly entering the house and to strike down several state laws. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit last September.
A website by a group called the Colorado Foreclosure Resistance Coalition includes undated posts that called for supporters to join Wirth in "non-violent eviction resistance." The website includes a video of a man identified as Wirth railing against mortgage companies as criminals.
Under the settlement agreement, HSBC will pay $370 million in consumer relief by July to help homeowners struggling with their mortgages. Part of the amount will be used to reduce the amount of principal owed by homeowners at risk of default.
The bank also will pay $100 million, including $59.3 million that will go into a fund run by the states to help borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure between 2008 and 2012.
"They're after the Republic of Texas, and Suzie just is the pawn to get there," Perry said.
Republic of Texas President John Jarnecke testified that he supports the group's common law court and said Cammack is a member of his group's house of representatives.
"Like it or not, we're living in two different worlds," Jarnecke said. "The free and independent nation of Texas, where we want to be ... and the corporate world of Texas and the United States."
Athens is also trying to extricate itself from a 23 percent tax on private education, a move it signed up to with lenders but later found was highly controversial in a country where parents supplement perceived shortcomings in the state education system with extra tuition.
"We are considering, but its not final, to impose a small tax on gaming which will burden the players," a government official said. (Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Lois Martin, who lives nearby, told the newspaper she called police at least once and said she knows of two other calls for checks on McNulty.
Martin said she doesn't fault police.
"It's just so sad to think that with all the people in this town, no one was concerned enough. No human being deserves to die like that," she said.
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Information from: Portland Press Herald, website Maine woman's body found 2½ years after her deathFlickr /scad_loOn November 19th, the core of the Obama “Justice” Department’s “49 State Settlement,” of the millions of fraud claims by the suing mortgagees against the mega-banks who were trying to foreclose on robo-signed and other dubious mortgages, was finally announced, and it basically gave the mega-banks what they wanted: all of the money they could possibly get out of those mortgagees, and with future U.S.
HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, will pay $470 million to settle the allegations by the US government, 49 states and the District of Columbia, the Justice Department said in a statement.
"This agreement is the result of a coordinated effort between federal and state partners to hold HSBC accountable for abusive mortgage practices," said Stuart Delery, acting associate attorney general, in the statement.
(AP Photo/Michael Melia)
"The other night we had a cigar dinner. We had about 50 guys smoking cigars, playing pool. There were women there as well," Beakey said. "It's a fun place. It's not a stuffy place anymore."
The Hartford Club, which was founded in 1873, offers dining, concierge-style services and other benefits to its roughly 520 members. Annual membership fees are around $1,380.
The club had seen its membership drop from well over 1,000 in the 1990s and was facing foreclosure before it resolved a bank loan last year. As rumors swirled about its financial situation, Beakey said people had been reluctant to book weddings or other events.
"Unemployment would have risen to even higher levels, home prices would have collapsed further, even more businesses and individuals would have faced bankruptcy and foreclosure, and the stock market would not have recovered."
In an open letter to Yellen posted online October 30 by The Huffington Post, Nader said he was writing as one of millions of "frustrated" Americans who are getting near zero percent on their traditional bank savings and money market accounts.
The gunman was killed in the shooting.
A law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation says Martin Wirth was the shooter Wednesday. The Park County Assessor's Office says Wirth owned the home in the town of Bailey until March 2014, when Fannie Mae took ownership.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to release information about the investigation.
The debt collection industry is a top source of complaints from consumers, according to the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Formed in 2011, the bureau began collecting complaints in its system in mid-2013; by the end of that year, it had received more than 30,000 complaints about debt collectors.
Talks continued over how much the new tax would raise. More negotiations will take place in Athens until Friday over a second set of reforms that include changes to the pension system and income tax. ($1 = 0.9394 euros) (Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
Concerns regarding a slowdown in the the U.S. tech sector after Apple forecast its first revenue drop in 13 years at the end of January have hit shares of ARM Holdings, whose technology powers Apple's iPhone.
A downgrade to "hold" from Investec put pressure on shares of WPP, the world's largest advertising company, which slid 3.5 percent, on track for its sixth straight session of losses.
"We ask our kids why they weren't safe in their homes. ... The No. 1 reason is because of the hostile religious beliefs of their parents," said the center's executive director, Carl Siciliano.
He added that the church location, just a few blocks from the Ali Forney Center's Harlem drop-in center, would be ideal "even if it didn't have the Rev. Manning angle to it."
A second effort to buy the four-story brick and terra cotta church building been organized by the Rivers of Living Water Ministries, which serves mainly African-American LGBT worshippers. The church's GoFundMe drive had raised more than $23,000 as of Friday morning.
He asked a judge to block Park County from selling his home, evicting him or forcibly entering the house and to strike down several state laws. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit last September.
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2:20 p.m.
Officials say a man who lost ownership of his Colorado home two years ago opened fire on three deputies serving an eviction notice, killing one and wounding the others.
Schneiderman's office said in a statement that Morgan Stanley had misrepresented the strength of the RMBS it sold investors, pitching them as higher quality when it knew the securities carried substantial risks from the low-quality home loans which underpinned them.
Greece says foreclosure protection should apply in cases of a property value of at least 200,000 euros. Creditors want it to kick in at a value of about 120,000 euros.
It should have that solvency framework in place before banks start a recapitalisation process expected to wrap up by the end of the year, one banker, who requested anonymity, said. "It would not be attractive to private investors' otherwise."By Renee Maltezou
ATHENS, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Greece reached an agreement with its lenders on financial reforms early on Tuesday, removing a major obstacle holding up fresh bailout loans for the cash-starved country.
The review had previously stalled on disagreement over the level of protection for primary residences of homeowners unable to pay their mortgages, the repayment of tax and pension fund arrears and revenues from value-added tax.
In a selfie posted on Facebook, the goateed Dumont wears a watch-cap emblazoned with "ARMY." Behind him is the corner of a tent and a table laden with pantry stocks and a microwave oven. Not pictured: the portable toilet he is using, like campers do.
"Last night was a cold one, not gonna lie," he wrote.
In another post, he thanks friends for pizza, beer and company and asks if anyone knows how to contact presidential candidates who've been blanketing the state.
Investec cautioned that there was an increased risk to global GDP expectations and agencies could de-rate quite aggressively in tougher times.
Worries over a dividend cut weighed on the shares of British aero-engine company Rolls-Royce, which fell 3.7 percent ahead of its full-year results due on Friday.
In November the company warned it could cut its dividend, when it issued its fourth profit warning in just over a year after taking a hit from low oil prices and a slowdown in aero-engine servicing.
In addition, HSBC will be required to implement new standards aimed in part to prevent the foreclosure abuses of the past, including robo-signing, the practice of approving mortgage applications with minimal to no vetting.
Abusive lending practices were a key factor in the sub-prime crisis that led to the collapse of the US housing market in 2006, which in turn led to the 2008 financial crisis and global recession.
(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
A law enforcement officer works at the scene where a man opened fire on several sheriff's deputies before the officers returned fire, killing the man, outside Bailey, Colo., Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. Authorities say the man, who lost ownership of his home two years ago, opened fire on the officers trying to serve an eviction notice.
(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
A law enforcement officer blocks a road at the scene where a man opened fire on several sheriff's deputies before the officers returned fire, killing the man, outside Bailey, Colo., Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. Authorities say the man, who lost ownership of his home two years ago, opened fire on the officers trying to serve an eviction notice.
In the first major standoff with lenders since their being re-elected to office in September, Greek officials were told by euro zone finance ministers on Monday Athens would not get any more aid until it implemented a series of reforms, foremost among them being a tighter foreclosures law on problem mortgages.
The issue has been a major sticking point in talks with lenders. Tsipras had told Greeks no one would seize their homes.
"I refuse to throw onto the street borrowers fighting for their lives, leaving them to the mercy of the banks that became richer during the years of corruption," Panagoulis, a leftist, said in a statement as parliament voted.
Dozens of people protested in central Athens on Thursday.
ATHENS, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Greece said on Wednesday it was close to a deal with international lenders on regulating non-performing loans, a thorny issue which has delayed a disbursement of aid under its latest multi-billion euro bailout.
Moscovici, visiting Greece, did not identify the issues but Greece and its creditors are known to be at odds over how to resolve non-performing loans weighing on the banks and on finding additional sources of revenue.
After the market closed on Friday, it was announced that HSBC was going to pay $470 million to settle parallel U.S. federal and state civil charges alleging the bank's mortgage servicing arm engaged in abusive foreclosure and loan origination practices.
Chip maker ARM Holdings was down 5.4 percent after several brokers reiterated their "neutral" ratings for the company ahead of its full-year earnings release on Wednesday.
British banking giant HSBC is to pay more than $600 million to US authorities for its abusive mortgage lending and foreclosure practices in the housing market ©Lionel Bonaventure (AFP/File)
Separately, the Federal Reserve announced it had fined HSBC $131 million, the maximum allowable by law, for "deficiencies in residential mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing."
Talks between the government and its lenders will continue in Athens through Friday on an additional set of reforms. Athens has said it wants to complete the first bailout review swiftly, to start negotiations on debt relief. ($1 = 0.9317 euros) (Additional reporting by Gina Kalovyrna, editing by Silvia Aloisi/Ruth Pitchford)
Yet there are many signs in the New York Fed's report that housing finance is much healthier than before the recession. Just 95,000 people received new foreclosure notices in the second quarter, the fewest in the 16-year history of the data. And total
And in another sign of caution, total borrowing on home-equity lines of credit fell $11 billion in the second quarter, to $499 billion. That's far below the peak of $714 billion six years ago.DETROIT (AP) - A spokeswoman for the owner of Detroit's Packard Plant says photographers brought a tiger, bobcat and two wolves to the property without permission.
Kari Smith says the animals were trucked in cages to the site Monday morning.
Dumont plans to read books and keep up with emails and Facebook once the visits by friends, family and the media taper off.
"It's not comfortable, but I'm making in through and it's worthwhile to try to save this," he said.
If the sale does take place as scheduled, there's far from any guarantee that either the Ali Forney Center or the Rivers of Living Water Ministries would have enough for a winning bid. Harlem real estate, like the rest of New York, has been hot in recent years.
The state Medical Examiner's Office ruled that McNulty died from ischemic cardiovascular disease. She would have been 69 today.
Neighbors said she moved to Wells from Buffalo, New York, in 2000. Property taxes on the home were unpaid to the point where foreclosure was imminent.
Congdon said police first went to check on McNulty in July 2013 after she returned home from a hospital stay. Police knocked on McNulty's door, but no one answered. "We never had any legitimate reason to force our way into the house," Congdon said.
"Today's settlement will deliver resources to the families and communities that need them the most, while helping New Yorkers avoid foreclosure, and spurring the construction of more affordable housing units statewide."
Morgan Stanley shares fell 4.6 percent to $21.66 in morning trade.
Three large US banks, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup, have already agreed to pay nearly $37 billion dollars to resolve probes into their abuses of mortgage-related bonds and other toxic securities that led to the crisis.
The most frequent complaints were about debt collectors attempting to gather money that wasn't owed. And according to Psaros' lawsuit, his case falls under that category.
In an email, he said he suffered economic losses during the recession in 2009. According to his suit, BAC Home Loans Servicing, through the law firm Stern, Lavinthal and Frankenberg, filed a debt collection foreclosure action in September 2010. Servicing for the mortgage was later taken over by St.
Jesse felt a familiar surge of panic. He was new to Chaparral High School and still hadn't figured out how to navigate the sprawling Southern California campus with its outdoor maze of identical courtyards studded with baby palm trees.
"This is a downtrending market so, for the time being, that 5900.00 level for the FTSE - we seem to be leaving it behind us now," said Brenda Kelly, head analyst at London Capital Group.
HSBC Holdings fell 3.8 percent, taking around 13 points off the index and touching its lowest point since April 2009.
Traders said concerns over bank margins in a negative interest rate environment were hurting the bank sector after central banks in Europe and Japan delivered dovish messages in January. Worries over a possible British vote to leave the European Union later this year were also weighing.
"But there is a clear willingness (on) both sides to find a compromise," he added.
Government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili said Athens will fight "all the way" to prevent an explosion in foreclosures.
"Greeks have reached the limits of their endurance - and many have exceeded them - after six years of austerity, and we can't now be discussing taking their homes away," she told Parapolitika Radio.
While Greece has no urgent need for the latest rescue loan installment, the review must be swiftly concluded. That will open the way for bailout money to recapitalize its battered banks by the end of this year. Otherwise, depositors with over 100,000 euros in the bank will be forced to take losses on their savings.
Two animal trainers were part of the photo crew.
Smith says the photo "shoot was authorized ... the animals were not authorized." The photo shoot was canceled.
The plant has long been a symbol of Detroit's decline. Developer Fernando Palazuelo bought it during a 2013 tax foreclosure auction. He is planning to bring homes and retail to the blighted 40-acre property.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Thursday that outstanding U.S. mortgage debt slipped 0.7 percent in the April-June quarter to $8.12 trillion. That is up slightly from a year ago and about the same level as three years ago when the housing market bottomed.
It's not clear if deputies killed the shooter.
The violence happened at a hillside home in the town of Bailey, about 45 miles southwest of Denver.
Medina didn't know whether there were other suspects but said there's no danger to the community.
She confirms that a bomb squad and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had been called in to assist.
The officers fired back in this forested mountain community, killing the gunman, identified by police as 58-year-old Martin Wirth.
Eight officers from the Park County Sheriff's Office went to the snow-covered two-story home in a hillside neighborhood north of the town of Bailey to serve what authorities described as a "high-risk" eviction notice. The well-maintained houses sit on big lots, with room for horses to graze in an area popular with hunters and anglers.