Loansafe petition to d.c.

[caldwell02]

Thanks! Let's wait a few more days for the fine tuning. I think there are several places on the web that this could be posted ---- I don't know how that happens - we will probably need a link to it but I'm hoping someone other than me knows how to do that cuz I'm still struggling with gmail! Too much input! I'd rather write

[Big Booger]

Caldwell: I took your petition and did just a bit of tweeking - However, if you are not completely satisfied with said tweeking, you may return petition to original format as you previously and so eloquently crafted and I will not be offended in any manner whatsoever.

We the undersigned strongly advocate that the Federal Government create immediate, transparent and more equitable regulations for the banking industry regarding loan modifications and pending foreclosures, particularly in regards to HAMP and 2MP. Tens of thousands of homeowners across this nation have spent hundreds of hours dealing with mortgage servicers who have little incentive to actually help them/us achieve permanent loan modifications while in the process of obtaining a modification, homeowners have been foreclosed upon or threatened with foreclosure.


We propose an immediate halt to all foreclosures until new, mandatory guidelines are established and that these guidelines be overseen by a new Consumer Protection Agency, which was recently recommended by President Obama and endorsed by Sheila Blair, chair of the FDIC. We also propose that these guidelines include not only a simple 31% of the borrower’s gross income, but that additional guidelines be formulated that would open the door for modifications at an even a lower rate in significant hardship conditions. We also propose there be clear and enforceable guidelines regarding the time between the initial request for a modification and the achievement of a permanent modification and that there be no reward to the bank for a trial modification; the rewards, if any, should be only for successful permanent modifications.

There is documented evidence that the current system is not working, as reflected in the rising foreclosure rates across the nation and the thousands of people who attend NACA “Save the Dream” events in an attempt to get their loans modified. There is ample evidence that the current HAMP and other modification guidelines are being interpreted differently by each bank, reflected in many places including the scenarios described by the 20,000+ members of the loansafe.org community. Additional evidence can be found in hundreds if not thousands of complaints and requests for assistance sent by struggling homeowners to their Senators and Congressmen across the country, as well as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and other agencies that have been instituted to regulate these banks.

Mr. Bryan Bolton, SVP of CitiMortgage, has stated that “modifying within HAMP guidelines is in the best interests of our borrowers, our country and our company. With or without fees, it’s almost always in the best interests of the servicers to modify.” Unfortunately, these are empty words. Mr. Bolton, like so many other CEO’s, are telling Congress one thing, while they continue to do quit the opposite. Tougher mandates need to be placed on these banks that are simply not modifying loans at the rate they could or have been perpetuating to Congress and the media. Homeowners are not the ones not complying with the rules. The banks are complying with their own set of rules and regulations and are consistently “losing” paperwork during the application process, denying modifications after the trial payments have been successfully completed for unjustifiable reasons, and proceeding with the foreclosure process unbeknownst to the homeowners who are still producing duplicated documentation as requested by their lenders.


The American Dream has now become the American Nightmare courtesy of the banking industry who is taking a cavalier approach to the stress, heartache and despair caused by the current lack of oversight, transparency and enforcement of loan modifications. It is of the utmost importance that action be taken swiftly to correct this travesty in order to preserve homeownership for the thousands of Americans that are and will continue to be struggling in this economic time.

[Citigrope]

Nice work. I'd use the word 'demand' rather than 'recommend'. I'd also number the demands to be as clear as possible (that's what I'm like, not sure if it's the right style for a petition...) And I'd include a demand regarding the NPV test with HAMP. Here's an example:

"1. We demand that the Net Present Value (NPV) test; (a) be created and administered by the government, not the banks, (b) have it's data, assumptions and formula published so that they may be verified by the public, and (c) be made available at www.makinghomeaffordable.gov in a calculator form so that people can learn immediately, with the other eligibilty questions available there now, whether they're eligible for HAMP. After answering the questionaire at the website, eligible people could then contact their banks with confidence, knowing they ARE eligible.

As it stands, it's the banks that have the final word regarding HAMP eligibilty due to the goverment's error of allowing the banks to create their own, personal NPV calculators. This error has resulted in; (i) people not knowing WHY they're being denied HAMP by their banks, (ii) people getting false HAMP denials due to NPV errors and, (iii) people being told false information by banks regarding the HAMP program. This would not be possible with the above changes and the transparency these changes would introduce. These changes must be implemented as soon as possible, before more eligible people fall into foreclosure after being denied for HAMP and before the public loses confidence in the HAMP program."

I know there is a limit on the number of words, and that the above is probably too many words spend just on the NPV aspect, but I'm having a hard time leaving out anything. Any way we go above 1000 words on the petition?

[AZOwner]

Wow, look at THAT! Beautiful. Caldwell, you are the BOMB!

[BadBobMo]

Great Job!
I really don't post as much as I would like, but would like to have some in-put!
Sheila Blair (R), chair of the FDIC missed the boat when it comes to write downs, I saw an interview (Fortune-500 Magazine) sometime last year where she stated that she is very much against any type of write down. She is one of the group that is trying to turn all of us into life-time renters. Why in hell do a NPV and the have us pay for the whole bubble price, look we all missed read the market, we need fairness and shared cost.
I want a write down and not just some bone they through our way!
All of this could have been avoided with the BK-Law but once again they sided with bankers/lenders.
Sorry to vent but really would like to see all my brothers/sisters get a fair deal!
I lost so much $$$ and all this B.S. just take what they give us if anything has got me in a tail spend.
Thanks for all your hard work! "Caldwell"
2MP=Joke need BK passed
Write Downs to PMV=need BK passed

[bloominga]

Caldwell this is a MASTERPIECE!! Thank you so much. You have missed your calling.

[AZOwner]

She hasn't missed her calling YET!

It's never to late to find it!!!

GO CALDWELL!!!

[summerbreeze]

I have been thinking all day long how the banks calculates 31% of our income. When you look and think about it, it is just a simple and elementary grade multilpication computation process. Simple as this example of annual gross income is $56,000 multiply it by 31% is equals to $1,736 but yet it is not the correct monthly payment, because there were 12 months in a year, so have to divide 12 months, and get a monthly payment of $1,446 ( if reading this get calculator and calculate it yourself and you will be able to get the right amount). Formula: your gross income (what ever amount is) multiply by 31% and divided by 12 (which is 12 months) Banks have their own guidelines and calculates the 2 months payments out of the cycle that I think goes to their pockets and their you go BIG FAT BONUSES (our 2 months payments goes to greedy bankers). They are fooling us all even the people working for Freddie Mac couldn't figure it out. They program their computers with a lot of stuff that is hard to understand, (like the slot machines in Vegas) but what we really need is a simple mathematical process to keep our homes and SAVE OUR COUNTRY AND THE AMERICAN DREAM ALIVE for our future generation. What ever our circumtances are, banks should modify loans for those who are seeking and wanting to keep their home. IT SHOULD ONLY BE 31% of gross income (which I think suppose to be net income). This is where the OBAMA HAMP program is failing. GROSS VERSUS NET INCOME, 15% of my income goes to income tax and fica, plus 48% to motrgage company, for most of us I believe in the same situation are living in hell. WE ARE SLAVE IN OUR OWN COUNTRY. Time to do something about it.

[grullagirl]

You might check, but I think it is Sheila Bair, not Blair, of the FDIC.

[AZOwner]

Okay, caldwell . . . what would you like us to do with this petition?

I read you were going to put it on-line, but should I also take it out to the public and get signatures and then file it? Does anyone know how to do that?

Thank you, again!

[Believe]

These might be a place to start - all free!

www.petitionhost.com
www.thepetitionsite.com
www.gopetition.com
www.petition-online.com
www.petitionspot.com
www.ipetitions.com
www.petitiononline.com

[caldwell02]

thanks everyone.

I just tried to post (and it was long) and this computer lost the post.

Briefly, I'm gonna work on all the recommendations, above.

And I need help in figureing it out how to get it to the public. Please look at what Believe just posted. Do we want it on all of those sites? And how do we get it to the loansafe community?

Later.

[AZOwner]

No harm in posting to all -- you can direct loansafe members to one of the sites. . .

We will, like we have with this thread, continue to post to the thread to keep it visable for a week or however long you want to keep it out there. We should also send the link to all of our family and friends for their signature.

No one can argue the fact that this mortgage crisis is the most visable root to our current economic situation. . . including unemployment. . .

Other ideas?

[caldwell02]

i think I've included everyone's ideas here. Please do your thing and let me know. I think we are close to going global!


We the undersigned strongly advocate that the Federal Government create immediate, transparent and more equitable regulations for the banking industry regarding loan modifications and pending foreclosures, particularly in regards to HAMP and 2MP. Tens of thousands of homeowners across this nation have spent hundreds of hours dealing with mortgage servicers who have little incentive to actually help them/us achieve permanent loan modifications while in the process of obtaining a modification, homeowners have been foreclosed upon or threatened with foreclosure..

We propose an immediate halt to all foreclosures until new, mandatory guidelines are established and that these guidelines be overseen by a new Consumer Protection Agency, which was recently recommended by President Obama and endorsed by Sheila Bair, chair of the FDIC. We also demand that these guidelines include not only a simple 31% of the borrower’s gross monthly income, but that the Net Present Value (NPV) test: (a) be created and administered by the government, not the banks, (b) have its data, assumptions and formula published so that they may be verified by the public, and (c) be made available at www.makinghomeaffordable.gov in a calculator form so that people can learn immediately, with the other eligibilty questions available there now, whether they're eligible for HAMP. We are also strongly advocating that additional guidelines be formulated that would open the door for modifications at an even a lower rate in significant hardship conditions and for rightdowns of principal when homes are severely underwater . We propose there be clear and enforceable guidelines regarding the time between the initial request for a modification and the achievement of a permanent modification and that there be no reward to the bank for a trial modification; the rewards, if any, should be only for successful permanent modifications.

There is documented evidence that the current system is not working, as reflected in the rising foreclosure rates across the nation and the thousands of people who attend NACA “Save the Dream” events in an attempt to get their loans modified. There is ample evidence that the current HAMP and other modification guidelines are being interpreted differently by each bank, reflected in many places including the scenarios described by the 20,000+ members of the loansafe.org community. Additional evidence can be found in hundreds if not thousands of complaints and requests for assistance sent by struggling homeowners to their Senators and Congressmen across the country, as well as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and other agencies that have been instituted to regulate these banks.

Mr. Bryan Bolton, SVP of CitiMortgage, has stated that “modifying within HAMP guidelines is in the best interests of our borrowers, our country and our company. With or without fees, it’s almost always in the best interests of the servicers to modify.” Unfortunately, these are empty words. Mr. Bolton, like so many other CEO’s, are telling Congress one thing, while they continue to do quit the opposite. Tougher mandates need to be placed on these banks that are simply not modifying loans at the rate they could or have been perpetuating to Congress and the media. Homeowners are not the ones not complying with the rules. The banks are complying with their own set of rules and regulations and are consistently “losing” paperwork during the application process, denying modifications after the trial payments have been successfully completed for unjustifiable reasons, and proceeding with the foreclosure process unbeknownst to the homeowners who are still faxing, mailing and e-mailing reams of duplicated documentation as requested by their lenders.

The American Dream has now become the American Nightmare courtesy of the banking industry which is taking a cavalier approach to the stress, heartache and despair caused by the current lack of oversight, transparency and enforcement of loan modifications. It is of the utmost importance that action be taken to correct this travesty in order to preserve homeownership for the thousands of Americans that are and will continue to be struggling in this economic time.


We urge your swift and immediate action.

[Believe]

Regarding loansafe members and visitors, we need to humbly plead with Evan to work with the webmaster to get a banner on the site that links to the petition, and maybe research and select just one of those petition sites. Also, I think we can post a Word version of the petition (with signature lines) to be downloaded and printed by anyone who wants to help. We may be able to get businesses, such as consumer credit counseling agencies, foreclosure attorneys, etc., to post the petition in their offices. Lastly, I'm now wondering if we should mention "cramdown" in the petition? Or, would we be addressing too many topics in one petition?

[caldwell02]

Believe - I don't know what cramdown is.

Also - I love the banner idea.

Regarding the Word doc - Would only really work if some person was willing to collect the signatures and then figure out what to do with them. I am wondering if we want a flyer or something like that with the petition and then directing people to a url for signing it?

I'm going to be putting the petition on my facebook page and e-mailing it to all my contacts there and on my yahoo account.

One thing I'm not clear on is how the signatures get counted, and which site(s) will give us the greatest effect.

[Believe]

Cramdown legislation was proposed, then dropped, by Congress. It would allow a judge to modify a loan (including principal reduction) for a personal residence in bankruptcy court. A benefit of passing the legislation would be that mortgage servicers would more likely modify a loan BEFORE it reached that point, knowing that a judge could do whatever he wants.

[mimirayo]

I think the new york times

[mimirayo]

I like the idea, but for some like me the issues of the predatory/ fraudulent mortgage is not addressed. Also the accountability of the banks, and the fact that HAMP money is received for "working" on loans is given ( not to have to be paid back). I think this is why so may people are getting trial mods and not permanent.

[caldwell02]

mimirayo - this petition is about what's going on now, and I thought about the "predatory" loans (i have one too) but think that might be distracting. We could have another petition or something that addresses that.

I was hoping that the phrase at the end of the second paragraph would cover the issue of "working" on mods and getting payment for that, because I agree with you that I think they have no incentive to make mods permanent as it stands.

What does everyone else think?

[mimirayo]

I agree.Maybe if they were not allowed to add late fees as the mods are in prgress it would help too. I think they are not only getting incentives to "work" on mods, but they get the added bonus of late fees. Maybe we could address each issue as a separate paragraph with a general title of Modification Issues Faced by Homeowners then subcategories with title and examples from the forum.

I wish there was some way we could be on a panel like you see on TV where you give testimony to the Senate. Is there a way to request a hearing with the Senate?

[ama125]

Caldwell - I think you have done a fine job. I noticed one misspelling and it would not be caught on spell check. Right after the underlined sentence, it should say "quite" not "quit":
Unfortunately, these are empty words. Mr. Bolton, like so many other CEO’s, are telling Congress one thing, while they continue to do quit the opposite

There are just so many issues and things we could petition. I have lots of suggestions for improvement which I've mentioned on the Dan Frahm thread. I'm not sure if anyone else suggested it or not, but we should send a copy of this petition to Diane Thompson of the NCLC. She has published numerous reports and testified about these very same issues. I think that homeowners should also be able to contact the investor or at the very least obtain a copy of the PSA between investor and servicer to see what language, if any, exists that would bar a modification of the loan. I think the agreements between investors and servicers also need to be publicly available. If your servicer tells you a mod is not allowed due to the investor, you should have a right to see that proof. We definitely need an ombudsman.

[MyHAMP]

Great job, caldwellb02!

I like it and don't see anything I would change - just the little typo I stumbled over:

"Mr. Bolton, like so many other CEO’s, are telling Congress one thing, while they continue to do quit the opposite"

But the rest sounds good to me!

[MyHAMP]

ama125, you were faster!

[caldwell02]

We the undersigned strongly advocate that the Federal Government create immediate, transparent and more equitable regulations for the banking industry regarding loan modifications and pending foreclosures, particularly in regards to HAMP and 2MP. Tens of thousands of homeowners across this nation have spent hundreds of hours dealing with mortgage servicers who have little incentive to actually help them/us achieve permanent loan modifications while in the process of obtaining a modification, homeowners have been foreclosed upon or threatened with foreclosure..

We propose an immediate halt to all foreclosures until new, mandatory guidelines are established and that these guidelines be overseen by a new Consumer Protection Agency, which was recently recommended by President Obama and endorsed by Sheila Bair, chair of the FDIC. We also demand that these guidelines include not only a simple 31% of the borrower’s gross monthly income, but that the Net Present Value (NPV) test: (a) be created and administered by the government, not the banks, (b) have its data, assumptions and formula published so that they may be verified by the public, and (c) be made available at www.makinghomeaffordable.gov in a calculator form so that people can learn immediately, with the other eligibilty questions available there now, whether they're eligible for HAMP. We are also strongly advocating that additional guidelines be formulated that would open the door for modifications at an even a lower rate in significant hardship conditions and for rightdowns of principal when homes are severely underwater . We propose there be clear and enforceable guidelines regarding the time between the initial request for a modification and the achievement of a permanent modification and that there be no reward to the bank for a trial modification; the rewards, if any, should be only for successful permanent modifications.

There is documented evidence that the current system is not working, as reflected in the rising foreclosure rates across the nation and the thousands of people who attend NACA “Save the Dream” events in an attempt to get their loans modified. There is ample evidence that the current HAMP and other modification guidelines are being interpreted differently by each bank, reflected in many places including the scenarios described by the 20,000+ members of the loansafe.org community. Additional evidence can be found in hundreds if not thousands of complaints and requests for assistance sent by struggling homeowners to their Senators and Congressmen across the country, as well as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and other agencies that have been instituted to regulate these banks.

Mr. Bryan Bolton, SVP of CitiMortgage, has stated that “modifying within HAMP guidelines is in the best interests of our borrowers, our country and our company. With or without fees, it’s almost always in the best interests of the servicers to modify.” Unfortunately, these are empty words. Mr. Bolton, like so many other CEO’s, are telling Congress one thing, while they continue to do quite the opposite. Tougher mandates need to be placed on these banks that are simply not modifying loans at the rate they could or have been perpetuating to Congress and the media. Homeowners are not the ones not complying with the rules. The banks are complying with their own set of rules and regulations and are consistently “losing” paperwork during the application process, denying modifications after the trial payments have been successfully completed for unjustifiable reasons, and proceeding with the foreclosure process unbeknownst to the homeowners who are still faxing, mailing and e-mailing reams of duplicated documentation as requested by their lenders.

The American Dream has now become the American Nightmare courtesy of the banking industry which is taking a cavalier approach to the stress, heartache and despair caused by the current lack of oversight, transparency and enforcement of loan modifications. It is of the utmost importance that action be taken to correct this travesty in order to preserve homeownership for the thousands of Americans that are and will continue to be struggling in this economic time.


We urge your swift and immediate action

[e!!wald]

i have not posted in a while and just read the 3 pages of posts on this topic....the final draft is very well written and very specific in it's requests!! it is amazing how this one idea started as a post and where it stands today!!! great job everyone!!!

[nativelasvegan]

caldwell - thank you! you are truly amazing.
believe - great ideas. EVAN, if you are reading this thread, please find out a way to get a banner on the homepage of this website. If you need my help creating a banner, just say the word.
ALL - we need to collect as many signatures as possible. As AZ said, this is not an individual issue. All Americans will suffer if the foreclosures continue to proceed. The state of the economy as a whole will be affected if something is not done to change the HAMP regulations. I will ask my family, friends, neighbors, colleges, etc. to sign this petition. I will also promote this petition on every website I can find by voicing comments in appropriate forums. I will also visit news websites and post it in comments on appropriate articles about this subject. After it has been signed and we collect thousands of signatures, I will be happy to forward it to my State Senators and Congressman.

[QuayzyCrazy]

Barbara, this is awesome! Thank you so much for putting this draft together... It's looking great!

Logistically, I was thinking that perhaps we could all print a copy of the petition and send a PDF of all the signatures that we collect to an e-mail account and from there someone will put together the package that could be officially sent to D.C., and a copy of it via e-mail, to congressmen, president, senators and representatives, news, newspapers, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Office of the Comptroller, and all the agencies that you can think of right now. This needs to behave like a "virus"...

If we all could go to our local supermarket this Sunday, or to church, or to your local gathering place and ask for signatures, I'm sure that sooner than later we could have the signatures that we need and even more....

[nativelasvegan]

Quazy - great suggestion. This does need to go viral. Wonder if anyone is up to posting a youtube video about this???

[caldwell02]

HOW DO WE DO THIS NOW???? I am outta my league. We have a petition. Who wants to champion getting it out there?

Do you want a pdf? Then a signature page or something like that? There are also websites mentioned in previous posts. We need a plan.

[nativelasvegan]

I can help. Believe posted some sites. I'll check them out in a bit and let you know the particulars of each site. Shouldn't need pdf. Thanks again for everything caldwell.

[caldwell02]

thanks Native. We were also talking today about sending it to papers as a "my opinion" piece.

But posting it is critical!

[caldwell02]

Hi all. I just created a new thread because this petition is in the CitiMortgage forum when it should be for all. I hope this link works, and hope you are all okay with continuing the work on this petition from this new thread.

http://www.loansafe.org/forum/homeow...eral-govt.html

[nativelasvegan]

I think I found a good petition website. Here is a link to the information we are to provide. Please let me know what your comments are for the questions. PetitionOnline.com - Petition Submission Form

I have some experience with Keywords/petition tags so I can help out with this one. I will also research some google adwords to make sure that anyone searching the internet will find us by providing appropriate key words.

Before I copy and paste the final version of the petition, I will post it here to make sure it is a go.

[caldwell02]

native - cool. but please though don't use this thread for the petition. Go to the one that is NOT in the Citimortgage forum. It's under the "homeowners fight back" forum and right now it's in the top posts.... There is a link to it on my post from yesterday at 6:28 p.m.