How about something positive, like ‘mortgage relief,’ ‘homeowner relief,’ something…

The fact remains that they will not get the original price when they go to sell their REO anyway, unless they keep the house on their books for many years. I am thinking that the reason they are insisting on the higher prices is that if marking to market is the rule, then the mortgages that they hold that are in fact performing as they were supposed to would also have to be marked down.

I would say, however, that my own experience is becoming quite frustrating. I have gone to the government website, worked out their calculation tool, and discovered that I should be eligible for a modification of my mortgage because the mortgage payment exceeds 31% of my income (it is 36% of my income, an apx. $100 gap.) I have contacted my lender (originally Countrywide, now B of A) four separate times and received four different answered on my inquiry. The first time I checked, the fellow I talked to deemed me elibible and said the next step was for me to gather all my documentation and send it in to the modification dept. by fax. He implied I should do this within 10 days of talking to him. That was in August. However, I was missing some of the paperwork and needed more time to put it all together. Once I had that done, I called back and mistakenly asked for the Making Homes Affordable dept., and the guy I contacted was very negative about my eligibility. So much so, in fact, that I called back the next day and asked for the loan modification dept. The lady I talked to was much more amenable and she determined I may well be a candidate for loan modification. She said they’ve made this much easier, so they had already taken my application over the phone, so the next step is that I would receive something from them showing what my new “trial” mortgage rate would be. Meanwhile, the bank would be contacting me for whatever they needed by way of verification, paperwork, etc. Once a month had elapsed and I still heard nothing, I called the number back and used the extention number that the clerk I talked to gave me, and once again got some guy that determined that I was not eligible. I think that once again I had gotten the wrong dept. But there was no trace of what I had been told by the loan modification dept. on my file and the guy said they had been in the process of changing Countrywide accounts to BofA accts, so whatever “Britney” told me had not saved to the BofA file. However, he said if the modification people were still in the process of working on it, they would be getting back to me, but that they were at least 45 days behind due to so many, many inquiries. At this point, I still plan to pursue whatever I can in the way of mortgage relief for however long the program lasts. This all just confirms that one must be the squeakiest wheel if they are to get any grease at all. The meek will not inherit the earth if the banks have any choice in the matter.

The reason that cramdowns haven’t happened is the same reason they won’t happen. They would force banks to revalue their assets downward. This would expose their underlying insolvency and trigger masses of CDSs. Not to mention showing that the Fed is holding a trillion dollars of crap.

Cramdowns and the zombie banking system can not exist together. We can only have cramdowns as part of a much larger restructuring of the whole financial system.

I know. The kids among us won’t know who he is, but he is a perfect foil for Congress. Famous line: “One of these days, one of these days, POW! Right in the kisser!”

These banks have vastly more economic (and political) power than most states, given the revolving door between Wall Street (esp. Goldman Sachs) and DC. And also given the fact that Congress and the Fed have been allowing the Goldman Sachs ‘investment bankers’ to borrow against Grannie’s checking account in order to ‘leverage’ huge bets.

Can’t wait to see Durbin make headway on this ASAP.

This time around, it won’t just be lobbyists watching to see who votes on which amendments and bills — I think a whole lot of people are paying attention like they never have before.

Just a thought but has congress reclaimed any of the powers that bush usurped? Or, has Obama given up any of the new powers that cheney got for bush? Once an executive gains power he or his successor is most loathe to give those added powers back to someone else.

Just as he did regarding the war in Afghanistan, President Obama can go on prime time TV to inform the American people what is at stake in the debate over “cramdowning” foreclosures. He can bring together dozens of families who have lost their homes in order to illustrate the very real pain and suffering that tens of thousands are enduring without the bailout provided for those folks about to lose their yachts.

Come to think of it, how come Obama never seems to use the bully pulpit to further the cause of folks who actually voted him into office?

Is it a character flaw or is he just like all the other politicians in Washington attached at the hip to Wall Street.

I keep coming back to this: The finance industry contributed $6,000,000 to his festive inaugguration bash. More than any other industry. I suppose they wanted the start of his administration to be especially symbolic of things to come.

Oh yeah, now I remember. Congress is corrupt right through to its core.

Which is why I’d be very surprised to see anything of real substance emerge from the cesspool miasma that is our legislative process…

Max Baucus (Montana), Michael Bennet (Colorado), Robert Byrd (West Virginia), Thomas Carper (Delaware), Byron Dorgan (North Dakota), Tim Johnson (South Dakota), Mary Landrieu (Louisiana), Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas), Ben Nelson (Nebraska), Mark Pryor (Arkansas), Arlen Specter (Pennsylvania) and Jon Tester (Montana).

I’m betting Specter peels himself off this time