SAN FRANCISCO — The cost to obtain a home loan may go up due to a recent California Supreme Court decision that paves the way for homeowners in default to challenge the validity of their foreclosure, according to a financial industry attorney specializing in lending disputes and real estate.

The California Supreme Court ruled earlier this year in Yvanova v. New Century Mortgage Corporation that “a home loan borrower has standing to claim a non-judicial foreclosure was wrongful” if the foreclosing party does not have the authority to order a trustee‘s sale.

In 2006, New Century granted Tsvetana Yvanova a $483,000 mortgage. The lender went bankrupt the following year. New Century is said to have pooled, securitized and transferred Yvanova’s mortgage to trustee Western Progressive in 2011. Yvanova subsequently defaulted on her loan, and Western Progressive auctioned her home in 2012.

Yvanova’s lawsuit argues the foreclosure was illegal and void…

By William Hudson
Ocwen Financial, one of the largest subprime mortgage servicers in America, has big problems. Analysts predict that Ocwen will be forced to file bankruptcy as the SEC opens up two more investigations into the loan servicers business practices while the stock goes into free-fall.

A further hurdle will befall homeowners if Ocwen files for bankruptcy protection because another shield is placed between the homeowners and the banks who are the culprits- but just happen to control all of the “loan” information. As Neil Garfield would say, “They have plenty of bodies to throw under the bus.” To date, homeowners and their attorneys in litigation have been frustrated by attempts to discover who the true creditor is especially when the servicer hides behind bankruptcy, mergers and receivership (Fannie and Freddie).

Ocwen reported a $247 million annual loss while revenues tumbled 17.5% last week at the same time the…

By William Hudson
You can choose your sexual orientation and even your ethnicity but you can’t change your loan servicer. Mortage “servicing” is the ultimate misnomer. Modern loan servicing has nothing to do with service but instead provides a “disservice” in order to boost profits or engineer a default if at all possible. Being forced to contract with a sketchy loan servicer is like being forced to stay married to a spouse who lies, cheats and steals all your money.

The servicer’s job is to collect payments and manage the day to day operations of the loan, but servicers have taken on the new role of “default engineer” and “disinformation agent”. The servicers have found a new way of increasing profits and it is at the expense of a customer who has no choice in regards to who services their mortgage.

It is likely that the servicing rights to your…

In re LJBV Ltd., 544 B.R. 401 (Bankr. N.D. Ill 2016) –

The debtor filed a Chapter 11 case immediately after a receiver was appointed in a state foreclosure proceeding. The mortgagee filed a motion to dismiss the bankruptcy case for cause.

Yesterday, I stated that I didn’t find JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America in the ICIJ Panama Papers database. I only search only in the US and never expanded into other countries. Well, those two banks are found in the database. In fact, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are among the American banks in the database. In addition, the database also named foreign banks with a strong presence in the U.S., including HSBC, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Société Générale, ABN Amro, Credit Suisse and UBS. Here are the list:

Slate:

Hillary Clinton is consolidating her support among Wall Street donors and other businesses ahead of a general-election battle with Donald Trump, winning more campaign contributions from financial-services executives in the most recent fundraising period than all other candidates combined.

The Democratic front-runner has raised $4.2 million in total from Wall Street, $344,000 of which was contributed in March alone. According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of fundraising data provided by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, the former secretary of state received 53% of the donations from Wall Street in March, up from 32% last year and 33% in January through February, as the nominating contests began.

The analysis of campaign-finance reports shows that some Wall Street donors have shifted their financial support from Republican candidates who dropped out of the race, such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, to Clinton in recent months.

Held Hostage by a Home

By Anonymous

Depending on reader response- this column may become an ongoing Sunday feature on LivingLies. Let us know what you think.
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Although Neil Garfield eloquently describes the legal dynamics of foreclosure, there is also a human battle waged in millions of homes nationwide that remains hidden behind walls of shame, fear and anger. Families are torn apart by the stress and uncertainty that financial burdens bring. A home, no matter how modest or grand, is a foundation of family life- and when it is torn away by companies without legal standing to do so- the pain is compounded because of the injustice.

Most families who fall behind on their debts, do not do so deliberately. Usually financial debt is caused by job loss, illness, divorce, or simply being induced into obtaining more credit than the family can service-by companies who carry no risk…

International Business Times:

Days after Trump’s decisive primary win in Indiana, his campaign indicated that it was growing. Team Trump has added a finance chair: Steven Mnuchin, the founder of a private equity firm that received a government-funded jackpot after the 2008 housing collapse.

Mnuchin, a former partner at Goldman Sachs, heads up Dune Capital. The investment firm put together a holding company in 2008  — attracting investors like J.C. Flowers, a George Soros investment fund and Paulson & Co. — that then bought up $32 billion worth of IndyMac bank assets for the cut-rate price of $13.9 billion. Renaming the bank OneWest, Mnuchin’s consortium invested $1.3 billion and got the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to assume responsibility for the majority of future losses. The FDIC lost an estimated $8.5 billion to $9.4 billion in the deal — while the holding company made money with the taxpayer-subsidized set-up.

“Steven is a professional at…