1. LPS | Lender Processing Services’ 10K Lists DOCX as Subsidiary as of January 31, 2011
2. Nevada Attorney General Masto Files 606 Count Criminal Indictment Against Two Lender Processing Services Officers
3. Pot Meet Kettle | American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc. Files Lawsuit – Seeks Recovery from Lender Processing Services, Inc. and DocX, LLC

1. Par for the Course | Floriduh Attorney General, Pam Bondi, Bashes States that Rejected Nationwide Foreclosure Settlement
2. Press Release | Nadler and NY Delegation Assail Iowa Attorney General for Excluding NY Attorney General from Mortgage Settlement Talks
3. Michigan – Conyers and Kilpatrick Demand Lenders Extend Housing Foreclosure Moratorium to Michigan; No More Foreclosures Until Fraudulent Paperwork is Resolved

1. Bloomberg | Proposed 50-State Fraudclosure Accord Deadline Set for Feb. 3
2. Fraudclosure | As Government Nears Accord With Banks, Questions Swirl Over Scope Of Investigation
3. New York Investigating BofA’s $8.5 Billion Mortgage-Securitization Accord

1. Back Off Banksters! NY AG Eric Schneiderman Fights Back After Being Kicked Off 50 State Robo-signing Investigation
2. “Stunned” | AG Eric Schneiderman Opposes Fraudclosure Deal
3. David Dayen FDL | Miller, Franken Assail Banks for Continuing Robo-Signing

"I think it's difficult to find a fraud of this size on the U.S. court system in U.S. history."

For years, the Left has asked why the Obama administration hasn’t pursued prosecutions against lenders who arguably engaged in fraud when foreclosing on mortgages in the wake of the housing-bubble collapse.  It turns out that these lenders had friends in high places in the Department of Justice.  Reuters reports that both Attorney General Eric Holder [...]

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1. Florida 4th DCA Reverses Final Judgement Ruling – Elliott v. Aurora Loan Services
2. Wells Fargo Home Occupancy Inspector Beats Homeowner With Sledge Hammer – Inspector Tells Beaten Man He Was His “Judge, Jury and Executioner” Claims Homeowner
3. Despite Arizona Military Vet’s Proof of Loan Pay-Off, Bank of America Forecloses Anyway and Schedules Auction of His Home of 26 Years

1. Lisa’s Letter to the Editor Makes the PB Post | Letters: Two lawyers who left look good, not Bondi
2. Palm Beach Post Editorial Board “Bondi Picks the Wrong Side” (BANKS)
3. PB Post | Pam Bondi has Wrong Priority RE Fraudclosures

1. William Black – Lenders Put the Lies in Liar’s Loans
2. William K. Black | 2011 Will Bring More de Facto Decriminalization of Elite Financial Fraud
3. MBS – Lisa Epstein of Foreclosure Hamlet on with Dylan Ratigan and William Black

1. Trashed Out – Foreclosures Go Wrong as Lenders, Cleanup Crews Cut Legal Corners
2. Bank of America has Stopped Foreclosing, Apparently Waiting for a Legal Resolution, No New Trustee Sales Advertised
3. Daily Finance | Why the Foreclosure Mess Settlement Proposal Can’t Fix the Damage

1. Rep. Grayson Asks the Financial Stability Oversight Council to Require a Special Capital Buffer to Large Banks Due to Foreclosuregate
2. NY AG | Investment Firms Tailwind Capital and Ares Capital Corp, Tied to Steven Baum, Pillar, Get Subpoena
3. Obama | “One of the biggest problems” of the financial crisis is that “a lot of that stuff wasn’t necessarily illegal; it was just immoral or inappropriate or reckless.”

1. Can Public Nuisance Law Protect Your Neighborhood from Big Banks?
2. NFHA Report | Here Comes the Bank, There Goes Our Neighborhood – How “Lenders” Discriminate in the Treatment of Foreclosed Homes
3. 60 Minutes | Fraudclosure – The Next Housing Shock Re-Airing this Weekend Aug 7th 2011

1. Can Public Nuisance Law Protect Your Neighborhood from Big Banks?
2. NFHA Report | Here Comes the Bank, There Goes Our Neighborhood – How “Lenders” Discriminate in the Treatment of Foreclosed Homes
3. 60 Minutes | Fraudclosure – The Next Housing Shock Re-Airing this Weekend Aug 7th 2011

1. Principal reduction plan for struggling homeowners could be part of settlement between lenders and states
2. Elijah Cummings | Oversight Committee Democrats Urge FHFA Director to Produce Documents on Principal Reduction
3. The Seductive but Flawed Logic of Principal Reduction

Foreclosure statistics obviously vary from local jurisdiction to jurisdiction, as well as from one time period to the next. For example, sometime back in 2008, New Mexico was 36th in the nation in the number of foreclosures, obviously lower than average. Now it is 11th in the nation. Right now, one in every 452 Santa Fe homes and one in every 550 Albuquerque homes is in foreclosure, and about 15,000 cases are filed each year, about half in Albuquerque. The lack of lawyers reported by the New York Times in February of 2011 is still palpable. Attorney Angelica Anaya-Allen, from the United South Broadway Corporation, which defends foreclosures in New Mexico, did an analysis of the reported decisions in all foreclosure cases in Santa Fe over a two year period. She found that of the 828 reported decisions that favored lenders during the one-year period in which she looked, 600 were default judgments. Ms. Anaya-Allen reports that out of the 15,000 cases filed per year, she’d be surprised if more than 500 borrowers, or roughly 3%, were represented. 

1. The Jackbooted Thug Bill | Florida Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Eliminate the Fourth Amendment. Will Legalize Bank Break Ins
2. California | Action Alert – AB935 Foreclosure Mitigation Fee Bill Would Prohibit a Trustee’s Sale from being Accepted Until Servicer Pays a Foreclosure Mitigation Charge of $20,000
3. Action Alert | Hawaii Legislators Wimped Out! Banks Got ‘Em.

1. Proposed AG Settlement Helps Big Banks, Hurts Homeowners
2. Michael T. Pines, Esq | THE STATE BAR HELPS THE BANKS STEAL PEOPLE’S HOMES
3. PB Post | Florida Legislature Trying to Bust Foreclosure Backlog – Again – The Florida (un)Fair Foreclosure Act

1. Scripps | Treasure Coast Residents, along with 4closureFraud & ForeclosureHamlet, Exchange Sad Stories at Foreclosure Happy Hour
2. NYC Event | We Shall Not Be Moved – Stories from the Grassroots Struggle Against Foreclosure
3. Rally in Tally WEAR 3 News Top Stories Video – Home Owners Facing Foreclosure came to the Capitol Wednesday to Drive a Stake in the Heart of the Bill

You can’t fully understand the economic meltdown and foreclosure crisis

without reading this book…

“The Monster,” by Michael Hudson

I’m not kidding about that.  I don’t think it’s possible to fully understand what’s going on today economically… politically… socially… legally… it’s just not possible.  I don’t care what else you’ve read either.  There’s simply not another book related to the meltdown that replaces this one.

Why?  Well, for one thing… it’s the historical perspective Mike Hudson provides.  Wall Street’s sub-prime lending binge of 2003-2006 had it’s roots in the Savings & Loans of the 1970s.  If you don’t understand the linkage there, you need to read this book… and listen to this podcast.

If you’ve wondered how the banking and financial services industry amassed so much political power over the last 30 years… how all the different pieces of litigation came together to create today’s situation, you need to read this book… and listen to this podcast.

Is sub-prime lending a good thing or a bad thing?  How did securitization change the world forever in ways we couldn’t see?  Who were the “sub-prime” lenders, like Ameriquest and First Alliance?  What was it really like to work inside the sub-prime industry?  And how did the sub-prime industry seduce Wall Street, and impact everyone, no matter the credit score?  The history is fascinating and once you understand all of the pieces, you find that not only does everything today makes more sense, but you’ll also see clearly what we’re up against… and what we have to do to push back against the banking lobby.

Did Wall Street’s executives know what they were doing?  Did they see all of this coming?  Whose really was responsible for this economic catastrophe?  Was it the borrowers… was it the loan officers and brokers… or was it the bankers of Wall Street?

Someone online said that only in the last 100 pages does Hudson talk about the years 2003-2007… and that’s true.  But Hudson responds by saying: “If I were writing about WWII, I’d have to start by writing about WWI.  Well, same thing here.”  And I couldn’t agree more.

Even if you were part of the real estate or mortgage industries over the last decade, and you think you already know everything there is to know about what went on and why… you don’t… and you’ll be glued too.

Now, before you go off reading “The Monster,” here’s something you can’t do anywhere else… listen to Michael Hudson not only talk with me about his book, but listen to how he applies his vast knowledge of the subject matter to what’s going on today in our society, our government… and even in our banking industry.

Michael and I became friends over the past year or so… we’ve never met face to face, but we’ve spent hours talking on the phone about various issues of the day… he’s a great writer and a really smart guy, simple as that.  But, because we’ve gotten to know each other, I think you’ll agree that the interview is one that couldn’t be duplicated anywhere.

By the way, Michael’s a staff writer at the Center for Public Integrity, a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal, and he was also an investigator for the Center for Responsible Lending.  He’s also written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and Mother Jones.  If there’s one thing he knows about it’s fraud on Wall Street.

I’m telling you… this is a Mandelman Matters Podcast you’re really going to enjoy… in a weird sort of way… I mean, it is disturbing… especially if you’re a homeowner… in fact, I’d say it’s safe to assume that you’ll be outraged more than once.  But, you can’t hide from the facts, and you need to know about how we all ended up in this seemingly unsolvable nightmare.

So, click the big PLAY NOW button below, turn up your speakers,

and get ready for the author of

“The Monster,” Michael Hudson,

because this is a Mandelman Matters Podcast…

To order your copy of the book, “The Monster,” simply CLICK HERE!

Mandelman out.

Subscribe to Mandelman Matters

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1. Military “Deadbeats” | JP Morgan Chase Overcharged Troops on Mortgages and Illegally Foreclosed on Military Families
2. MILITARY FORECLOSURE RATE UP 32% OVER 2008 | 20,000 Servicemembers, Veterans Lost their Homes in 2010
3. Morgan Stanley’s Unit, Saxon Faces U.S. Inquiry on Military Family Foreclosures

1. Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto Expected to File Criminal Charges Against Bank and Title Company Employees, as well as Notary Publics, Over Robosigning
2. Outrageous | Good Deeds Punished: State-Run Mortgage Lender Forecloses on Californians Current on Their Loans
3. Watch out, Whistleblowers: Congress and Courts Move to Curtail Leaks

1. Bloomberg | Ally Settles Fannie Buyback Demands for $462 Million
2. FAIL | BofA Resolves Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Loan-Putback Dispute
3. BofA, JPMorgan Fail to Make Fannie Mae Grade for Loan Servicing

1. Interview | Tough Questions for New CEO Bill Beckmann at Embattled MERS
2. Rachel Maddow | Beau Biden on MERS and Accountability of Mortgage Malfeasance
3. MERSCORP Names Bill Beckmann, Formerly of CitiMortgage, New President & CEO

1. Subprime Standardization: How Rating Agencies Allow Predatory Lending to Flourish in the Secondary Mortgage Market
2. 2004 Report on Predatory Lending & Servicing Practices & Their Effect on Corporate Compliance, Conduct, Ethics & Accounting
3. Predatory Grizzly “Bear” Attacks Innocent, Elderly, Poor, Minorities, Disabled & Disadvantaged With Predatory Lending Scams & Frauds!

1. Fraudclosure | Bondi: Don’t Cut Homeowners’ Mortgage Principal
2. Principal reduction plan for struggling homeowners could be part of settlement between lenders and states
3. Daily Finance | Will Homeowners Benefit from Mortgage Mess Settlement?

1. Principal reduction plan for struggling homeowners could be part of settlement between lenders and states
2. Second Chances Subprime Mortgage Modification and Re-Default
3. Karl Rove on Robo-signing, Fraudclosures and a Bank Settlement, “Justice and the state attorneys general are demanding $20 billion for sloppiness”

1. Principal reduction plan for struggling homeowners could be part of settlement between lenders and states
2. Fannie BofA Probe | Letter From Rep Issa to FHFA Director DeMarco
3. Official Press Release | FHFA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Announce HARP Changes to Reach More Borrowers