I have been writing about this on other social networking sites.
It's payback time - The Wall Street Journal is reporting that mortgage
lenders are now facing the music, as loose lending practices are coming back
to them in the form of buy-backs.
These loan disputes, according to Journal reports, are centering on bogus
appraisals, inflated borrower incomes and other misrepresentations made
during the loan originations. "Some of the disputes are spilling into the
courtroom, and the potential liability is likely to hang over lenders for
years."
In a recent conference call, Fannie Mae told analysts that it is reviewing
every loan that defaults and triggering buy back provisions on those that
did not meet quality guidelines when originated.
Bond insurers are also weighing in. According to the Journal, MBIA and
Ambac Financial Group are examining mortgage pools that were supposedly
composed of home equity loans and credit lines made to borrowers with good
credit. An MBIA official said, "there are a significant number of loans that
should not have been in these pools to begin with."
Countrywide Mortgage represents a slice of what's to come. It is reported
that in a May securities filing, Countrywide estimated its liability for
investor's claims approached $935 million as of the end of March. They took
a 1Q 08 charge of $133 million for claims paid.
The mortgage crisis is an economic iceberg just exposing its tip.
.
Last week, Boston Fed President Erich Rosengren said, while the U.S.
housing market is a small part of the GDP it has substantial impact, which
may last longer than anticipated. "Previous periods of real estate problems
have taken significant time to be worked out; with foreclosures remaining
elevated well after their peak... The current foreclosure problem has been
exacerbated by the difficulties related to many of the problem loans being
held in securities."
Commenting on the Fed's monetary actions, Rosengren said, "These policies will likely result in some pick up in the economy activity in the second half of this year, which should help stabilize the housing market."
I'm now starting to hear stories about people losing their cars too. The entire economy just sucks. People are losing everything.