Help Is On The Way

I wonder if there loan officers will start calling my clients back and start working instead of playing golf tournaments all the time as well?

Thishas to happen. The tide againt MERS is rising and they are a large holder of MERS loans.  See the comments in this recent blog.  http://www.activerain.com/blogsview/521975/This-MERS-stuff-gets more and more complex.

If they don't start working out more problem loans, they will cause a faster and more legal action from more lawmakers.

Looking forward to my customers and clients getting any ounce of help they need. Nice touch assisting the tenants.

Right. And soon after that they will fix the falling dollar crisis. B of A helping people? What's next-a cure for baldness? B of A is all about helping themselves under the guise of helping others (said the wolf to red riding hood).

Hal, interesting, hadn't heard the news until I read your post. Thanks for sharing. Duane

Hal:  In my market, people don't want to restructure, they want to be forgiven the debt since their home's have lost so much value.  It's pathetic.  Many of them just want to mail the keys back, credit report be damned.  It's silly.  It's like my market is made up of pouting 5 year olds.  They agreed to pay the debt back when they purchased the house, and now they are like: Forget it!  I'm not paying the bank.  My house is worthless.  Those types of owners will kill the banks.

Harold: I'm not sure what they are actually going to do. I have seen in the news where BOA has had second thoughts of the buy out. It will be intersting to see if BOA follows threw and helps these home owners prevent foreclosure.

Good morning Hal. I had not heard that one and I keep an ear to what is happening in the financial community. We'll see if this really happens or if this is smoke and mirrors.

Hal, who do you think's helping Bank of America pay for its $4.1 billion purchase of Countrywide Financial? Answer: The taxpayers of the United States.That's because Bank of America will be able to use Countrywide's losses to offset its own taxable income. The tax break will total about half a billion dollars over the first five years. The losses could be worth considerably more to Bank of America starting in the sixth year of acquisition, depending on how big Countrywide's losses are when Bank of America formally acquires the whole kit and kaboodle. No one really knows how much in losses Countrywide has run up since the junk mortgage market tanked and defaults accelerated. Countrywide probably doesn't know, either. But you can bet it's in the billions.

Bank of America is famous for its 1988 purchase of the busted First Republic Bank of Dallas, which was going to be auctioned off by federal regulators. Bank of America, then known as NCNB Corp., the parent of North Carolina National Bank, figured out a way to work the deal to save $1 billion in taxes, using a complex strategy that none of the other bidders had a hold on. That allowed NCNB to outbid its rivals for the bank, and still come out the winner. The Countrywide tax break is worth a whole lot of money. Bank of America will be able to deduct $270 million of Countrywide's losses annually for the first five years it owns the firm.

That's based on a $6 billion purchase price - $4 billion to Countrywide's common stockholders, plus the $2 billion of preferred stock that Countrywide sold to Bank of America in August 2007. Multiply that $6 billion by 4.49 percent - the so-called "long-term tax-exempt rate" - to calculate how much of Countrywide's losses Bank of America can deduct annually for five years after the purchase. A $270 million annual deduction would save Bank of America something on the order of more than $100 million a year in federal and state income taxes. So over the first five years, Bank of America can use a total of $1.35 billion of Countrywide's losses to shelter its income. That's  a whopping five years of $270 million in annual losses. If Countrywide's losses, when Bank of America buys it, exceed $1.35 billion, the bank can deduct the rest of the losses, without limit, starting in the sixth year because of the long term tax exempt tax rate.

So what's a couple of thousand bucks for the keys???

Hal, I havent  heard of it and I am still not sure if I like it or not, but thanks for the info---Bart

I understand the shareholders concerns.

I sure hope this is correct..  I have seen little help from the banks in helping their cllients weather this storm.  I even had one seller who visited her bank on 4 diferent occasions about her mortgage.  She had a death in the family and just couldn't pay the mortgage much longer at the current terms.  The bank refused to talk with her until she was at least 30 days late.  Oh yes, ruin your credit rating and then get some help?  Does that make sense?

If they really want to help the homeowner why not short sale to the homeowner themselves, refinance and keep them in their homes.