Category Archives: mortgage market

Is Foreclosure Settlement Déjà Vu All Over Again?

Posted on February 9, 2012 by igradman

Today, the Attorneys General of 49 states (with Oklahoma being the lone holdout) announced a record $26 billion settlement with the nation’s five largest servicers over false and fraudulent foreclosure practices like robosigning.  That big number looks great on paper, … Continue reading →

Posted in allocation of loss, Attorneys General, bailout, banks, BofA, consitutionality, contract rights, costs of the crisis, Countrywide, education, foreclosure crisis, global settlement, Government bailout, Greenwich Financial Services, Helping Families Save Homes, homeowner relief, improper documentation, incentives, investigations, investors, irresponsible lending, junior liens, lenders, liabilities, loan modifications, lobbying, MBS, media coverage, moral hazard, mortgage market, predatory lending, press, private label MBS, probes, public perceptions, Regulators, RMBS, robo-signers, securitization, Servicer Safe Harbor, servicers, settlements, sophistication, subprime, Takings Clause, The Subprime Shakeout, Way Too Big to Fail, William Frey, workouts | 13 Comments

Way Too Big to Fail Goes to Washington (Book Tour Day 3)

Posted on January 23, 2012 by igradman

After a hiatus over the holidays, I return with Part IV of this five-part series on my experiences during a recent book tour to promote the release of Way Too Big to Fail: How Government and Private Industry Can Build … Continue reading →

Posted in Adam Levitin, bailout, balance sheets, banks, BofA, book tour, chain of title, Citigroup, conflicts of interest, Congress, foreclosure crisis, Government bailout, improper documentation, legislation, lobbying, MBS, mortgage market, negligence and recklessness, pooling agreements, regulation, Regulators, RMBS, robo-signers, Senate staffers, Servicer Safe Harbor, Timothy Geithner, too big to fail, Treasury, Way Too Big to Fail, William Frey | Leave a comment

WTBTF Book Tour Day 2: Meeting, Marketing and Mentoring in Manhattan

Posted on November 15, 2011 by igradman

I woke Tuesday morning, Nov. 8 on the second day of the Way Too Big to Fail book tour to the news that Kathy Patrick, legal architect of Bank of America’s Hail Mary Countrywide settlement (background here and here), had … Continue reading →

Posted in BlackRock, Bloomberg, BofA, book tour, Countrywide, foreclosure rate, Fox News, Greenwich Financial Services, investors, Kathy Patrick, litigation, loan modifications, loss causation, MBIA, MBS, media coverage, Morgan Stanley, mortgage market, MSNBC, PIMCO, Presentations, Regulators, The Subprime Shakeout, Uncategorized, Way Too Big to Fail, William Frey | Leave a comment

Book Tour Day 1: Pessimism, Hope and Note Cards

Posted on November 8, 2011 by igradman

My first day in New York City to promote the release of Way Too Big to Fail was a whirlwind, as expected.  I arrived into JFK at 6:00 AM and headed into Manhattan for my first stop at the Cornell … Continue reading →

Posted in Attorneys General, bailout, Dan Rather, due diligence firms, Government bailout, hedge funds, mortgage market, Neil Barofsky, putbacks, re-underwriting, Regulators, RMBS, securities, securities laws, securitization, TARP, The Subprime Shakeout, Timothy Geithner, too big to fail, Treasury, Wall St., Way Too Big to Fail, William Frey | Leave a comment

Release of “Way Too Big to Fail” Simply Opening Salvo in Efforts to Reform Mortgage Finance

Posted on November 7, 2011 by igradman

It’s tempting when you have an enormous task before you to focus all of your attention on completing that task while blocking out any thoughts of what comes next.  For me, that enormous task has been the publication of a … Continue reading →

Posted in allocation of loss, appeals, Bank of New York, banks, BofA, bondholder actions, causes of the crisis, contract rights, Countrywide, discovery, FHFA, global settlement, investors, irresponsible lending, lawsuits, liabilities, litigation, lobbying, loss causation, MBIA, monoline actions, mortgage market, pooling agreements, private label MBS, putbacks, regulation, Regulators, remand, repurchase, RMBS, securitization, settlements, statistical sampling, successor liability, The Subprime Shakeout, Uncategorized, Way Too Big to Fail, William Frey | 1 Comment