By Maya Jackson Randall, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Bank of America Corp. (BAC) unit's appeal of a ruling that allowed a California consumer to sue the company for allegedly reporting inaccurate information to credit bureaus.................................
.....................The case grew out of a consumer's 2002 quarrel over a television purchase. John Gorman bought a satellite TV using a Visa credit card issued by MBNA, the Bank of America subsidiary now known as FIA. But the TV was defective, according to Gorman. He disputed the charges, which amounted to several hundred dollars and, according to court documents, vowed to never pay the disputed charge. In 2004, MBNA reported his delinquencies to the credit bureaus. Later that year, Gorman sued MBNA, alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. By not alerting the credit bureaus that the debt was part of an ongoing dispute, the information MBNA provided was inaccurate, Gorman argued.................
........... because the bank still did not point out the dispute even after Gorman challenged the information and the bank conducted its own investigation, Gorman could proceed with a lawsuit, the court said. The Supreme Court let that ruling stand without comment. Read more here at the link: And Here
"Verizon Wireless to Pay Millions in Refunds
By EDWARD WYATT
WASHINGTON — Verizon Wireless said on Sunday that it would pay up to $90 million in refunds to 15 million cellphone customers who were wrongly charged for data sessions or Internet use, one of the largest customer refunds by a telecommunications company.
The announcement came in a statement from Verizon Wireless as the company held talks with the Federal Communications Commission about complaints of unauthorized charges and in response to questions about a possible settlement of an F.C.C. investigation into the issue."
We’ve said for some time that document fabrication is widespread in foreclosures. The reason is that the note, which is the borrower IOU, is the critical instrument to establishing the right to foreclose in 45 states (in those states, the mortgage, which is the lien on the property, is a mere “accessory” to the note)..................
................Evidence is mounting that for cost reasons, starting in the 2004-2005 time frame, originators like Countrywide simply quit conveying the note. We are told this practice was widespread, probably endemic. The notes are apparently are still in originator warehouses. That means the trust does not have them (the legalese is it is not the real party of interest), therefore it is not in a position to foreclose on behalf of the RMBS investors. So various ruses have been used to finesse this rather large problem.
If you have been caught up in the housing mess give credit repair houston a call for a free evaluation.
WASHINGTON — Bank of America says it is delaying foreclosures in 23 states as it examines whether it rushed the foreclosure process for thousands of homeowners without reading the documents.
Bank of America is not yet able to estimate how many homeowners cases will be affected, a spokesman for the nation's largest bank says.
A bank official acknowledged in a legal proceeding in February that she signed up to 8,000 foreclosure documents a month and typically didn't read them. The Associated Press obtained the document Friday.
The executive's admission adds the nation's largest bank to a growing list of mortgage companies whose employees signed documents in foreclosure cases without verifying the information in them.
After helping corporations issue over $1 trillion of debt a record-low yields, the Fed is now turning its attention to consumers' balance sheets, says John Lekas, senior portfolio manager at Leader Capital where he runs theLeader Short-Term Bond Fund.
"They're going to continue to buy" Treasuries until the yield on the 30-year bond hits 2.75%, Lekas predicts. That, in turn, will drive 30-year fixed rate mortgages to around 3.75%, which "reloads the consumer with a 30-year stream of income," he says, estimating savings of about $400 per month for the average U.S. household.
