Timmeh Geithner, Campaigner against Injustice

What a load of crap:

Charlie Rose: You’re encouraging banks to declare a moratorium on foreclosures?

Tim Geithner: No, I wouldn’t say it that way. I think that you know what you’re seeing in housing still now is a national tragedy, still very, very difficult. You know, again, this was a crisis caused by a lot of people were taken advantage of, a lot of people were too optimistic about what they could afford in terms of a house, lot of people were speculating in real estate, and a lot of innocent victims got caught up in the consequences of those basic mistakes. You saw, you know, the nation’s largest banks that ran these servicing businesses, not invest anything like what they needed to, to run that business effectively in a downturn like that. And you’re seeing the consequences of all those mistakes play out still across the American economy. Now, you’ve seen some banks suspend temporarily the foreclosure process so they can just make sure that they’re not causing any injustice to the borrowers and that’s very important for that to happen. And we’re going to –

Charlie Rose: So you’re pleased to see that happen.

Tim Geithner: I think where that’s happening again the suspension is to make sure they’re not causing any injustice is very important, but I think it’s important to recognize, Charlie, that if you — a national moratorium would be very damaging to exactly the kind of people we’re trying to protect, because the consequence of that would be in neighborhoods that have been most affected by the foreclosure crisis, where you see lots of houses on the block empty, unoccupied, what it means is those communities will be living longer with houses unoccupied, with more pressure on their house price with the people still in their houses. That would be very damaging, and so again we want to make sure we’re holding these services accountable, that they’re not causing any injustice to people who can afford to stay in their home, and we’re going to make sure we’re careful in doing that. But we also want to make sure that we’re not going to make the problem worse. [my emphasis]

You see, Timmeh and the banks are entirely motivated by an interest in justice. It has nothing to do with protecting the banks (even though Timmeh conveniently leaves out the fraud of the people between the mortgage originators and the servicers, all of whom share the blame in this process, or the liability of the banks selling properties with titles they have to know are flawed). It has nothing to do with protecting the government’s own position with Fannie and Freddie. It’s all about preventing injustice.

Of course, Timmeh seemed fine with letting HAMP continue for a year causing significant injustice to those who could afford to stay in their home.

And Timmeh, tremendous economist that he is, seems not to have thought about what’s going to happen to foreclosures with dubious titles in the market place (and with those foreclosures, the value of property in the neighborhood).

But he sure is pitching this desperate scramble by the banks in the best light!

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  1. allan says:


    To The Media: Stop LYING About Foreclosuregate

    Now why are we filing “lost note” affidavits?

    There are no “lost notes” ladies and gentlemen.

    Either:

    The Trustee never got the notes, in which case he filed this certification and in doing so committed fraud upon the MBS investors,
    OR

    The Trustee has the notes and doesn’t want to produce them because there is something in there that could lead to the foreclosure being dismissed (E.g. TILA violations) or the Trustee being sued (e.g. he took the note even though it violated their representations and warranties relating to loan quality), in which case the fraud is upon the court in the instant case.

    There is of course a third possibility, which is that we all live in Tim Geithner’s world.

  2. phred says:

    Hahahaha, Timmeh wouldn’t be able to spot an injustice three feet in front of him with a magnifying glass.

    Timmeh is covering up fraud, pure and simple. Just another typical day in King Obama’s court.

  3. joanneleon says:

    “What a load of crap” is right.

    The millions of foreclosures during the past three years where families ended up on the street while their homes were left to sit and rot — that wasn’t an injustice to anyone? Banks refusing to work with homeowners on loan changes and then turning around and doing short sales on the steps of municipal halls and courthouses — that wasn’t an injustice?

    What I’d like to know is what brought this to emergency status. What was the tipping point? Was it the title companies refusing to issue title insurance? Was it the upcoming collapse of commercial real estate? Was it Jennifer Brunner or the other members of Congress calling for the moratorium? Was it the sheer number of foreclosed properties on the market? Was it the election?

    This situation didn’t happen overnight. What caused it to be raised to emergency status?

    • phred says:

      Article III courts got a look under the hood and didn’t like what they were seeing. If you remember, the foreclosures initially were only going to be reviewed/suspended in the 23 states requiring judicial review. That was not an accident. Once people understood why that was happening, the lid blew off as it became clear the whole MBS system was fraudulent. And by the way, none of this became an issue because “little people” homeowners were getting screwed, nope, it was big investors realizing big banks have potentially screwed them big time. That’s what will drive the ensuing debacle to come. Good thing banksters have been handing out bonuses early…

  4. Fractal says:

    Such an ass. Why do they let him out on teevee three weeks before the midterms? He needs to shut up & listen to Elizabeth Warren.

  5. Fractal says:

    How convenient for the banksters! Just as they begin to announce their quarterly profits, Timmeh burbles out some jibberish about how their mortgage fraud problems are no big deal.

    Except, not really– Timmeh cannot hide the numbers. Even JPMorganChase, which just announced quarterly net income of $1.01 per share, or $4,420,000,000, admitted that chaos in foreclosures is gonna cost lots:

    However, the bank did set aside about $1 billion to cover faulty mortgages that it is obligated to repurchase from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and private insurers. It also set aside another $1.3 billion to cover future mortgage-related litigation. Together, the charges reduced after-tax earnings by about 33 cents a share.

  6. Fractal says:

    Injustice? Geithner wants to prevent injustice? Liar.

    This is what injustice looks like:

    Nine Million Mortgages

    As many as 9 million U.S. mortgages that have been or are being foreclosed may face challenges over the validity of legal documents, according to a report yesterday by Morgan Stanley.

    About 2.5 million homes have been repossessed since 2005 and another 6.5 million mortgages are in foreclosure or may be soon, the New York-based firm wrote in a note.

    ****************

    Save Her Home

    West, the Jensen Beach homeowner fighting to save her home, has a Nov. 4 hearing in Stuart, Florida, where lender Deutsche Bank AG may seek approval of a foreclosure, she said. Deutsche Bank is the trustee representing holders of mortgage-backed securities, according to court filings.

    She and her husband, Tim, said they plan to seek a postponement of the hearing to give them time to question two individuals who signed relevant affidavits.

    Four employees of Lender Processing Services signed assignments transferring West’s mortgage, according to an affidavit submitted on her behalf by Lynn Szymoniak, a West Palm Beach attorney. They signed the documents as officers of American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc. and Option One Mortgage Corp. even though they were actually employed by Lender Processing Services, according to Szymoniak’s affidavit.

    [edited for fair use]

  7. Stephen says:

    How about a moratorium on the Obama Administration. Still waiting for the Elizabeth Warren element to kick in. I can just imagine the theatrics between her and Timmy right now or in the near future. What would she say to Charlie Rose? Maybe as we speak it’s Barry with the “now calm down Liz” routine.

  8. Surtt says:

    I am sure the Obama Administration knows they are looking at a repeat of the 08 melt down. Only this time on their watch and with another bailout politically impossible. Not that they care about the economy (other then Wall Street), but it would make re-election in 12 impossible. So it is lie, cover for the banks, and pretend it will go away. Not much else they can do (that will not hurt their BFF banks.)