We can debate endlessly the political and economic ramifications of the bailout given to the major banks to pay them out for their greed and bad deeds. Many historians believe that the government’s decision to take the opposite course of the Hoover administration in the late 1920’s was the right move, regardless of how distasteful it was to most of us.
However, regardless of your opinion here, one thing was clear. The bailouts approved by the Bush administration and followed up by the Obama administration came with strings attached. Those same major banks were told to bend over backwards to work with home owners in foreclosure and/or bankruptcy to stay in their homes. The deal was that the banks got the money but had to implement programs to help people lower their monthly payments via lower interest rates and forgiven non-payment. One option for folks is the “Home Affordable” (HAMP) program.
Sadly, as many of the clients working with The Mark Bamberger Co., LLC are finding out the hard way, HAMP and the other programs is a shell game. The banks have apparently colluded in their efforts to make success in these programs virtually impossible. In so many cases, paperwork is lost…over and over. Information has to be updated…over and over. Then in the end most clients are denied anyway. In the alternative to working with clients, the banks seem even more obstinate and contrarian and our clients are suffering more than ever.
What can be done? More and more stories are being written and reported about this scan and the pressure is building on these greedy multi-national corporations. The Mark Bamberger Co. LLC has implemented a number of civil lawsuits against these banks for fraud and other bad-faith dealings. Further, TMBC is ever-more vigilant at checking mortgage documents to look for fraud and confirm the validity of the signing documents.
The bottom-line is this; the mortgage lenders are NOT your friends. They should be viewed with constant skepticism and viewed as enemies; be cautious and be vigilant!
Mark J. Bamberger, Esq.
The Mark Bamberger Co., LLC