Monday, February 6, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Balance The Scale In 2012
President Obama installs Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as Director of the Consurmer Financial Protection Bureau
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
HSBC REFUSED TO ANSWER PA ATTORNEY GENERAL'S INQUIRY
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
IS HSBC DELUSIONAL?
Spokesperson for HSBC: We have not, in Florida or anywhere else, foreclosed on anyone who was not seriously delinquent on their loan," Brazil said. "We obviously regard foreclosure as a last resort."
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Creating FORECLOSURES by way of forced placed flood insurance, returning monthly loan payments and setting the loan as part of a CDO does not sound like "regarding foreclosure as a last resort".
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Creating FORECLOSURES by way of forced placed flood insurance, returning monthly loan payments and setting the loan as part of a CDO does not sound like "regarding foreclosure as a last resort".
Thursday, March 3, 2011
HSBC Mortgage Corp's Fraud
HSBC suspends foreclosure actions
Bank made disclosure in annual SEC report
Updated: March 1, 2011, 6:33 AM
HSBC Bank USA and HSBC Finance Corp. have stopped all home foreclosures until further notice and may face unspecified regulatory actions or fines, after regulators found “certain deficiencies” in servicing and foreclosure procedures, HSBC said in government filings Monday.
The disclosure by HSBC, buried deep within its annual financial report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, marks the first time HSBC has admitted to a foreclosure moratorium in the wake of a legal and paperwork crisis that swept the industry.
That’s a dramatic reversal from its stance just a few months ago, when it said publicly that it would not suspend home seizures because it didn’t feel its procedures were compromised by so-called “robo-signers” and faulty court affidavits.
“Robo-signing” refers to bank or law firm employees signing off on foreclosures without actually being familiar with the cases or reading paperwork.
In the SEC document, known as a 10-K, HSBC said it has “suspended foreclosures until such time as we have substantially addressed the noted deficiencies in our processes.” That suspension took effect in December, said spokesman Neil Brazil.
The company said it is also “reviewing foreclosures where judgment has not yet been entered and will correct deficient documentation and refile affi-
davits where necessary.”
Additionally, the bank said it expects regulators to impose a “consent order” shortly that would mandate certain steps to fix the problems. And it said it couldn’t rule out further government actions, including fines or “civil money penalties.”
About 38.5 percent of HSBC Bank USA’s $17.5 billion mortgage portfolio is in New York State. Currently, the bank has about $1.43 billion in delinquent mortgages, including $150 million in interest-only loans and $454 million in adjustable-rate mortgages.
It has $159 million in foreclosed properties, and Brazil said the average delinquency at foreclosure is 400 days. “We’ve never foreclosed on anyone that isn’t seriously delinquent,” he said.
The Virginia-based subsidiary of London banking giant HSBC Holdings Plc now joins rivals such as Citigroup, Bank of America Corp., and Wells Fargo & Co. in facing an imminent crackdown by regulators for improper mortgage servicing and foreclosures, although it is a smaller player than those three.
Brazil said the bank would be changing its affidavit and notarization procedures, tightening oversight of outside law firms, reviewing how it uses the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems and developing “enhanced foreclosure governance” policies and steps.
He did not elaborate but said the bank still insists that it has “no robo-signing issues.”
“This was a decision we took in response to a number of internal and external reviews,” Brazil said. “Foreclosures are suspended for the time being while we implement some changes to our procedures, and then when we are sure that the correct procedures are in place, we’ll be resuming foreclosures. We expect that to be soon.”
For now, “customers may remain in their homes,” and “we will not be moving forward with foreclosures until this review is complete,” he said.
Major banks and third-party foreclosure law firms, including Amherst-based Steven J. Baum P. C., have been under fire for months, after disclosures by some companies in late summer that they may not have followed all the foreclosure rules.
Some lenders have admitted that employees filed false paperwork with courts, attesting to facts they didn’t personally know because the companies were swamped with work and under pressure to move quickly to process the foreclosures. Critics have also accused some loan servicers and lawyers of falsifying other documents submitted to courts in order to ensure a paper trail of ownership to mortgages.
In response, major lenders suspended foreclosures for weeks or months while they reviewed their procedures and evaluated all or many specific cases. But the companies have insisted that the facts of each situation — that the borrower defaulted on a loan—are not in doubt, so most have restarted home seizures, after fixing the problems and refiling paperwork.
Still, multiple state attorneys general and federal agencies, as well as congressional committees, are investigating industry-wide procedures and a host of companies. And they’re under tremendous public pressure to take action against them.
HSBC Bank USA and HSBC Finance Corp. have stopped all home foreclosures until further notice and may face unspecified regulatory actions or fines, after regulators found “certain deficiencies” in servicing and foreclosure procedures, HSBC said in government filings Monday.The disclosure by HSBC, buried deep within its annual financial report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, marks the first time HSBC has admitted to a foreclosure moratorium in the wake of a legal and paperwork crisis that swept the industry.
That’s a dramatic reversal from its stance just a few months ago, when it said publicly that it would not suspend home seizures because it didn’t feel its procedures were compromised by so-called “robo-signers” and faulty court affidavits.
“Robo-signing” refers to bank or law firm employees signing off on foreclosures without actually being familiar with the cases or reading paperwork.
In the SEC document, known as a 10-K, HSBC said it has “suspended foreclosures until such time as we have substantially addressed the noted deficiencies in our processes.” That suspension took effect in December, said spokesman Neil Brazil.
The company said it is also “reviewing foreclosures where judgment has not yet been entered and will correct deficient documentation and refile affi-
davits where necessary.”
Additionally, the bank said it expects regulators to impose a “consent order” shortly that would mandate certain steps to fix the problems. And it said it couldn’t rule out further government actions, including fines or “civil money penalties.”
About 38.5 percent of HSBC Bank USA’s $17.5 billion mortgage portfolio is in New York State. Currently, the bank has about $1.43 billion in delinquent mortgages, including $150 million in interest-only loans and $454 million in adjustable-rate mortgages.
It has $159 million in foreclosed properties, and Brazil said the average delinquency at foreclosure is 400 days. “We’ve never foreclosed on anyone that isn’t seriously delinquent,” he said.
The Virginia-based subsidiary of London banking giant HSBC Holdings Plc now joins rivals such as Citigroup, Bank of America Corp., and Wells Fargo & Co. in facing an imminent crackdown by regulators for improper mortgage servicing and foreclosures, although it is a smaller player than those three.
Brazil said the bank would be changing its affidavit and notarization procedures, tightening oversight of outside law firms, reviewing how it uses the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems and developing “enhanced foreclosure governance” policies and steps.
He did not elaborate but said the bank still insists that it has “no robo-signing issues.”
“This was a decision we took in response to a number of internal and external reviews,” Brazil said. “Foreclosures are suspended for the time being while we implement some changes to our procedures, and then when we are sure that the correct procedures are in place, we’ll be resuming foreclosures. We expect that to be soon.”
For now, “customers may remain in their homes,” and “we will not be moving forward with foreclosures until this review is complete,” he said.
Major banks and third-party foreclosure law firms, including Amherst-based Steven J. Baum P. C., have been under fire for months, after disclosures by some companies in late summer that they may not have followed all the foreclosure rules.
Some lenders have admitted that employees filed false paperwork with courts, attesting to facts they didn’t personally know because the companies were swamped with work and under pressure to move quickly to process the foreclosures. Critics have also accused some loan servicers and lawyers of falsifying other documents submitted to courts in order to ensure a paper trail of ownership to mortgages.
In response, major lenders suspended foreclosures for weeks or months while they reviewed their procedures and evaluated all or many specific cases. But the companies have insisted that the facts of each situation — that the borrower defaulted on a loan—are not in doubt, so most have restarted home seizures, after fixing the problems and refiling paperwork.
Still, multiple state attorneys general and federal agencies, as well as congressional committees, are investigating industry-wide procedures and a host of companies. And they’re under tremendous public pressure to take action against them.
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