DISQUS

This is good for the banks..so long as they keep brokers out of the equation...these changes will again entice those that failed their duty to provide the borrower with the loan best suited will try to again bring fraud into the equation...

Fannie also needs to broaded the loan amount to consider the larger loan balance for higher cost cities..

The best thing for the rest of the big banks is to leave wholesale behind...

Great coupon. Used them both today at Target...every little bit helps especially when you have 3 dogs!

Had to call Corporate on this one at Starbucks..went to the one ATTACHED to my B and N and they told me that I could not use the coupon there...so I was like..hey..you are the ONLY starbucks with a B an N attached to it, all your Starbucks are corporate owned and you have a pass through door that slides open and remains open that connects the B and N customers to you!

Any way called Corporate who said that the Starbucks was right so I said OK..where in my area is there a starbucks I can use this coupon..Well after a 30 second pause..the customer service person says the address of the Starbucks that she just told me I couldn't use it at...

End result..Starbucks is sending me free coupons!

Morgan you are right in your calculations. Maybe the powers that be read the aricle this week that stated that America is far behind in its maths skills.. However, I don't think that BASIC addition is a problem...

That 700 billion wasn't even icing on the cake it was more like the finger full taste that your mother would let you have BEFORE the cake was iced....I expect that this weekend will give us more great global news...

Watched the debate last night..and finally one of the candidates gets it...IT WAS MCCAIN...he said it right..we need to fix the mortgages of the people who are in trouble to stop the bleeding...I was not sure who I was going to vote for yet..but if McCain can push his "plan" for hitting the ROOT of the problem..I will be casting my vote for him!

Wow....a rate cute..doesn't Benanke get it..you could cut the rate to .05 and what would that do if the bank doesn't want to lend money and people can't refi out of the nightmare loans they got into...why doesn't he TELL the financial market that hey if you want our help and money from the taxpayer then you HAVE to refi all the junk loans that you want to sell us. Thus, reducing the risk of us getting the taxpayers getting "stuck" with the junk...

Gee..let me guess..it helps the finanicial market!...

The problem that I have with this administration is that their tactics have been the same since the begining - FEAR and PANIC..From the"Weapons of Mass Destruction" to Bernanke's "Subprime is Contained" to "Buying Fannie and Freddie will solve everything" to Pauson's "This economy is sound" to "the bailout of wall street with AIG" to "the economy will collapse in 7 days(funny isn't that how long it took God to create the earth! Where did they get that orignal idea from) if we don't get this $ 700 billion STARTER blank check"

This adminstration was been built on lies...and I find it interesing that the Harvard Mafia(Washington and Wall Street) didn't give a damn about the shareholders of these companies they let down ...but instead are arguing about the Golden Parachutes of their Buddies!

I hope that congress doesn't follow the same path they always do..argue for a few days trying to look like the good guys and in the end be the bad guys and let the Bush Administraion have their way...

As Benanke let slip today..this is "STEP 2"...why hasn't anyone in congress ask him how many steps does he think there will be? 14?

According to WSJ the secret talks have begun..no suprise there..with FED, FDIC and key wall street executives..sure the topic will be 1)WAMU and 2)Leman...love to be that fly on the way!

I agree Keith, the private jets are taking off as we speak for the secret meeting...

But wasn't it only a few days ago..Sunday...the cure all was the FED take over of Fannie and Freddie..how quickly that has faded away...didn't even take a week...

More to come in this industry and none of it will be pretty for at least another year...between bank failures and the wave of Option ARMS that will hit soon..

Best thing that could happen is the take over by the FDIC...who will be more proactive in working with these Option Arm people who will topple what we saw in subprime and will discover what is REALLY on the books.

This only goes to show that the top 1% of the company didn't give a damn about the stockholders and will instead bail with ton$ of moneyand future postions provided by the good ole boy club...Sad to see the days of proactive boards and attitudes of saving companies have become extinct..as the movie Wall Street proclaimed GREED IS GOOD...but it depends on which side of fence you are...

Ok..so what are the lenders who have these time bombs of NEG AMS going to do? It seems that this country is always playing catch up on our problems rather than dealing with them on the smaller level...these lenders should start to be proactive and protect their shareholders by contacting these borrowers, especially the ones that are current, and make efforts to transfer these high risk loans to fixed low interest ones..forget trying to do the whole..lets see if you qualify..we already know most of these borrowers WON'T qualify under today's guidelines and these lenders should eat their own crow with the days of easy lending..but the time has come to deal with the storm before it hits the American economy...

I understand banks tightening up..as if they are left with a choice..however that only helps "half" the equation..the other half would be to stop the bleeding from those that will or are about to bleed..

Leaving someone in a loan that was a bad loan to begin with spells trouble..banks need to start working with people to determine if they are able to be refinanced OUT of the bad loan..by tightening up the credit on a borrower that they freely lended to 24 months ago, that leaves limited options to REFI that borrower out of a time bomb waiting to go off..(example 24 months ago Mr Smith was able to secure a OPTION ARM from Wachovia with little trouble..now 24 months later..Mr. Smith wants to do the right thing and REFI out of it but CAN'T..he hasn't been late but lets say he is self employed and can't PROVE the income the way the bank would like...is it better to just deal with this borrower and keep him in the home or to take back the liability of the property, a write down, the hit to shareholders and on its balance sheet and of course the bank will not be able to sell the home for what it is worth since it is now labeled a "foreclosure" "as is" property...

Lenders need to take responsibility in both sides of the equation for the future and current health of the economy and the housing market..

I am seeing to many communities, in especially South Florida(expected to be a declining market for 2 more years) destroyed by lenders lack of responsibility.

That is true to some extent CML..however..I don't think that this country...other than the great depression..has suffered such a blow to its economic fiber..and each of thos instances you have described there has always been a "V" answer..meaning something has always pulled us out of the crisis.. ex..moved from the dot.com bust to the housing boom, from the great depression to the new deal....today..there is not "V' but instead a "\" with nothing on the other side to pull us up...

Want to get a blow by blow recap of the housing bubble..utube Peter Schiffs part 1 through 8 of his 2006 speech to mortgage brokers....the man hit dead center on everything he said was going to happen up to present time....

Josh there are two more items buried in there 1)Credit card transactions will now be reported to the IRS and 2)It call for a increase in the ceiling for the national debt by 800 billion..meaning the blank check that Paulson wants is going to have alot of zeros on it..it will push our debt to 10.6 trillion...

I know someone right now who has $5 million dollars in option arms..imagine that explosion..oh by the way..80% of it is in properties that are in declining markets..

The attraction for the bank with the neg ams is that they got to book the difference between what the collected on the lowest tier payment and the added balance each month to the loans as INCOME...or course this income never existed and as they have had to write down the values of this loans they are now de-booking the fake income..it only goes to show you that this company was NEVER a 40 dollar stock but is now at what it should be and even lower for value..

I love your pryamid..and yes..I too am listed on that chain.and like you Morgan I reaped the benefits of the good ole days but I can say that I sleep well at night knowing I did what was right, or advised my clients, who in the end..did what they wanted to anyway..that brings me to the point that you bring up in one simple word..GREED...

Most of the clients that I worked with are ok..but others are in trouble...why?..bad investment properties that were gobbled up when I told them not to buy(everybody wanted to be the next star of Flip This House), people who moved from nice modest homes, to grand McMansions(now I know how they got them...mostly with the toxic Neg Ams) and others who used one the equity in their main home to purchase additional properties for vacations..., they can't take, can't afford, or can't find a renter...but they were all motivated by GREED..more, more and more...

But all along the food chain..from these people..ridiculous amounts of money were made...by everybody...and now unfortunately...we are are going to give it all back...and then some..and as taxpayers, its going to hit us ALL in the wallet..

The problem with the Faninie and Freddie "rescue" is that the American public is unaware that the reasons behind this is not saving the American public but saving the foreign investors, like France, China and Japan from taking their money that we depend on and running for the hills...this plan is being served to us on a platter as if it were to help each of us out...it isnt..it is a plan to "save" the American Financial system..that like our precious Bud Light..was already sold out to foreign entities...the average American just doesn't have the comprehension to understand the true workings of what is actually happening....

I agree...with Peter Schiff and Rogers...this situation is just a bandaid..the system should be allowed to fail so as to allow us to create a better and sound one..the only thing the Fed has done is delay the inevitable future...and to use our "tax dollars" as a chip on the poker table...this bluff isn't going to work and we will lose it all...It is no different than the builder who put up his "house" as collateral to secure a loan...

If anyone else is feeling that chill going up your spine..please feel free to know..you are not alone...

The Iranian president said it best..he doesn't need to fire one rocket towards the United States..we are going to collapse economically all on our own...due to our love of debt and our inability to handle our own finances...

Be ready people..I am not normally a doom and gloom kind of person..but the idea that the goverment wants to "buy" toxic debt to add to our already overwhelming deficit make the rants of a great depression in our future seem all to real...

Goodbye ...democracy and hello ...socialism....

If the goverment becomes the major "stockholder" in Fannie and Freddie..rest assure the rules of the game are going to change dramatically for all involved...

NOt surprised since CW "dumped" their MTA/Neg Am loans already before the BofA merger..everyone that I know who has one got the "we are your new mortgage holder" letter about 2 months ago...

I think we should email them a list of the statements of the companies of the past who SWORE they too were in good financial shape..or did they totally forget about the past 6 months, 9 months, 12 months..and so on..

I look at the Fannie and Freddie as the same as sellers who refused to accept the truth and follow the market down as they continue to lower and lower their price HOPING the bottom is hear...The goverment could have put a permanent fix on this problem and instead chose to handle it like a finger stuck in the face of a dam breaking. 2 years ago, when the dam started to crack the goverment should have ORDERED lending institutions to fix the problem. NOT ASKED BUT ORDERED. Convert all your borrower to a fixed rate that was affordable and deal with it. Although this would have been a issue for investors receiving less profits it would have saved TRILLIONS and given over time, like assumable non qualifying loans, would have worked through the system and disappeared(Think of rent controled housing in NY..how many are really left compared to where they started. Not much.)

Again our goverment..a day late and a dollar short and yet they still don't get it..

Just a FIY it it comes to CW Option ARMS..many, upon many were quietly sold off before the acquistion...already know of three people whose CW option arms are now with other much less known lenders...