Saturday, November 12, 2011

DOJ settles with BoA on foreclosure fraud with military families: Baggers of fire complain

Last weekend I spent some time trying to understand the status of the foreclosure fraud settlement negotiations between over 40 State Attorney Generals, 5 banks and 5 federal agencies. This week we learned that DOJ has reached a settlement with BoA over similar charges as they relate to military families.

The Justice Department announced today that, as part of its settlement with BAC Home Loans Servicing LP, a subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation, servicemembers whose homes were unlawfully foreclosed upon will each receive a minimum $116,785 plus compensation for any equity lost to compensate them for the bank’s alleged violation of the Servicemember Civil Relief Act (SCRA).

Bank of America agreed to pay $20 million to approximately 160 servicemembers who were illegally foreclosed on between 2006 and the middle of 2009.

Now that's what I call justice for the military families affected by this kind of fraud!!!

Perhaps that justice is a result of only having two parties in the settlement negotiations instead of the 50 or more involved in talks led by the state AG's. But perhaps its also a reflection of what the DOJ is committed to doing on these kinds of cases. You'd think that folks calling on Holder & Co to hold these banks accountable would be cheering their efforts here. And of course, you'd be wrong. (warning: firebagger link)

So what are the baggers of fire up in a roar about over this one? To tell you the truth, the so-called "logic" really does boggle the mind.

First of all, they want to complain because "reports" (ie, unattributed leaks) of what is currently under consideration in the state AG's case don't compensate non-military families to the same extent. So its really preemptory whining about a case that hasn't been settled yet. I guess its impossible to celebrate a victory for military families due to rumors over something that hasn't happened yet.

Secondly...there were no "perp walks."

As the Justice Department states clearly, violating the SCRA, particularly through an illegal foreclosure while the servicemember is in service, is considered a criminal misdemeanor “which is punishable by a sentence of up to one year imprisonment.”... Even this extraction of justice falls short.

I can only assume that a firebagged brain can't understand the difference between criminal charges and a settlement. The later is designed as an alternative to the former. So the question becomes, would it have been better to send a few people to jail or find a way to compensate the victims? DOJ rightly chose the later.

The final argument is that this settlement won't end foreclosure fraud. All I have to say to that one is that if our entire criminal justice system were assessed on the same criteria, we'd toss the whole thing out the window (not a completely bad idea, but then you'd have to figure out an alternative - which this writer never suggests).

There's part of me that knows I ought to give up trying to find some actual reasoning from these people. Its clear that no matter what this administration accomplishes, they'll find a way to twist it into something nefarious. When military families get $116,785+ in compensation for foreclosure fraud and they STILL can't celebrate a win, they never will.

4 comments:

  1. These people are constitutionally incapable of being satisfied. If they were satisfied, then they'd have no reason to complain anymore. They think their agitation 'helps' others make the correct decision. Delusions of grandeur aside, though, reasoning with them isn't the point. Explaining to us what happened clearly helps us understand and as a side benefit, we get to laugh at the hapless Anti-everything set. Thanks for all you do.

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  2. Thanks Tien.

    Its really a release for me to be able to write about the nonsense here. It allows me to quit arguing with them in my head and it sure beats those days when I used to try to converse with them directly.

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  3. This seems to be a much better than usual settlement. I'm usually offended by the banks being allowed to lowball their settlements without admiting fault. But I am also mindful of how backedup the courts are thanks to the lack of "advise and consent" of judicial nominees in the Senate.

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  4. I have been fighting with BOA for over 4 years....they wrongfully foreclosed on my house only to find that my property didn't qualify for an FHA loan. I filed a complt with HUD, didn't do any good. Filed a complt with my state's AG...still no good. Now I have filed a complt with the new CFPB but I don't think they are going to do any good either. All this federal money going to these large banks and we the homeowner are still being pushed around

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