Thursday, September 23, 2010

Bank gets caught lying in court filing.

let's take a look

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Saving Americans Requires Sticking It to Them: Jonathan Weil

The banks were saved by the American people. Now who will save the people from the banks?

Last week, in a rare and possibly fleeting victory for the little guy, Ally Financial Inc.’s mortgage-servicing unit temporarily halted evictions tied to foreclosures in 23 states. This came after some attorneys for homeowners caught the company saying things that weren’t true in its court filings.

There’s no sense complaining to the federal government about Ally’s conduct, though. That’s because the Treasury Department is the company’s majority shareholder, after spending $17.2 billion of bailout money on Ally under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-23/saving-americans-requires-sticking-it-to-them-jonathan-weil.html

Monday, September 20, 2010

Fort Worth Pension "trending toward Insolvency"

We are all California. let's take a look

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Fort Worth pension bubble will blow up in our faces

You don't have to be an actuary to know that this pension plan will end badly. The technical phrase is "trending toward insolvency."

Except that the city is on the hook for all the promised benefits. Taxpayers will have to pony up hefty contributions for years, even generations, and the city may have to cut services to afford it. The pension for city employees is currently projected to pay out $432 million more than it brings in over the next 30 years.

And that's the optimistic scenario. If investment returns average 7 percent, rather than the dreamy 8.5 percent in the assumptions, the unfunded liability could approach $1 billion.

The pension will require $60 million in city funds next year, and it's already a drag on a strapped city budget that has to close swimming pools and libraries and impose furloughs. Every year, the pension hole grows, because the benefits keep piling up.

"This is the elephant in the room," Mayor Mike Moncrief told the council in late July. "Not only for this budget, but for all the budgets to come."

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Shadow Housing Inventory Weighs on Market

let's take a look

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U.S. Home Prices Face 3-Year Drop as Inventory Surge Looms

The slide in U.S. home prices may have another three years to go as sellers add as many as 12 million more properties to the market.

Shadow inventory -- the supply of homes in default or foreclosure that may be offered for sale -- is preventing prices from bottoming after a 28 percent plunge from 2006, according to analysts from Moody’s Analytics Inc., Fannie Mae, Morgan Stanley and Barclays Plc. Those properties are in addition to houses that are vacant or that may soon be put on the market by owners.

“Whether it’s the sidelined, shadow or current inventory, the issue is there’s more supply than demand,” said Oliver Chang, a U.S. housing strategist with Morgan Stanley in San Francisco. “Once you reach a bottom, it will take three or four years for prices to begin to rise 1 or 2 percent a year.”



States cutting Pension benifits

let's take a look

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States cutting benefits for public-sector retirees

snip

Since 2008, New Jersey and at least 19 other states from Wyoming to Rhode Island have rolled back pension benefits or seriously considered doing do — and not just for new hires, but for current employees and people already retired.

It's not just a U.S. phenomenon. In France on Wednesday, lawmakers voted to raise the retirement age from 62 to 65. If the measure wins final approval, France will become the latest European Union country to require workers to stay on the job longer because of a deficit-plagued pension system.

New Jersey's governor spelled out the details of his proposal Tuesday after telegraphing his intentions for months. They include: repealing an increase in benefits approved years ago; eliminating automatic cost-of-living adjustments; raising the retirement age to 65 from 60 in many cases; reducing pension payouts for many future retirees; and requiring some employees to contribute more to their pensions.

"We must reverse the damage caused by fairy-tale promises that have fattened benefits and pensions to unsustainable levels," Christie said.

snip

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Housing Crisis

EXCLUSIVE: Fannie and Freddie's Foreclosure Barons

How the federal housing agencies—and some of the biggest bailed-out banks—are helping shady lawyers make millions by pushing families out of their homes.





http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/07/david-stern-djsp-foreclosure-fannie-freddie?page=1


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Home Buyer tax credit really a loan

lets take a look:


More than 2.6 million have claimed the first-time home-buyer tax credit since it was enacted in July 2008, for a total of $19 billion in tax breaks.

At first, the credit was structured like a no-interest loan of up to $7,500, and required taxpayers to pay it back over a 15-year period.

Congress later eliminated the repayment requirement for homes purchased after 2008. But taxpayers who claimed the credit for homes purchased in 2008 will still be required to repay it in 15 equal installments, beginning when they file their 2010 income tax return. That will apply to about 950,000 taxpayers, TIGTA said.

snip


New Bank Fees Coming

let's take a look
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Bank of America will charge clients new monthly fees if their accounts do not meet a minimum balance, the bank's CEO Brian Moynihan said on Tuesday.
"We will increase the account balance minimums or charge monthly fees in lieu thereof, which is the choice of the customer," Moynihan said at a Barclays Capital conference in New York.

These and other measures will allow the bank to compensate for revenue lost due to new regulations put in place following the 2008 financial crisis that led the US government to salvage many bank with massive bailouts, he said.

"Over the next 12 months, we will reset the entire product line."


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