Class Action Lawsuits Against Mortgage Servicers Super Thread

[Moe Bedard]

Hello to all my dear members, friends and struggling homeowners who may views these words that I am typing.

The time has come to unite, organizes and FORCE meaningful change for homeowners who are being railroaded, defrauded and abused daily. Yes, this is happening to each and every single one of you. Yet, after 3 long years, nothing has been done to truly help you all and to be quite honest with you all, it NEVER will.

However, it will if you all are willing to work together at solving this problem.

• Are you willing to work with people you never met to force change and demand meaningful help?
• Are you willing to think about not just your problems and help us all collectively come to some type of solution to this mortgage madness?

If you answered yes to the above questions, then you all have hope and possible solutions to your problems, If you answered no, then there is really no hope and you can go this alone like you have been.

My life has been dedicated to you all. I am trying my best to help with this forum, but it has grown so large, the message is being drowned out by thousands of individual discussions.

Just in case you did not know, this forum is not just for you, but for us as a group of "HUMAN BEINGS" who each are experiencing the exact same abuses and struggles.

So, now I ask you all to unite as one and care just as much about others issues as you do yours. Until this happens, you are all just running scared in a completely unorganized as the bankers control and abuse you every step of the way.

Now, lets hear some real ideas, plans, class action lawsuits and ways to truly help you all fight the FRAUD AND ABUSE!

[Do not want to lose it]

Hello to all my dear members, friends and struggling homeowners who may views these words that I am typing.

The time has come to unite, organizes and FORCE meaningful change for homeowners who are being railroaded, defrauded and abused daily. Yes, this is happening to each and every single one of you. Yet, after 3 long years, nothing has been done to truly help you all and to be quite honest with you all, it NEVER will.

However, it will if you all are willing to work together at solving this problem.

• Are you willing to work with people you never met to force change and demand meaningful help?
• Are you willing to think about not just your problems and help us all collectively come to some type of solution to this mortgage madness?

If you answered yes to the above questions, then you all have hope and possible solutions to your problems, If you answered no, then there is really no hope and you can go this alone like you have been.

My life has been dedicated to you all. I am trying my best to help with this forum, but it has grown so large, the message is being drowned out by thousands of individual discussions.

Just in case you did not know, this forum is not just for you, but for us as a group of "HUMAN BEINGS" who each are experiencing the exact same abuses and struggles.

So, now I ask you all to unite as one and care just as much about others issues as you do yours. Until this happens, you are all just running scared in a completely unorganized as the bankers control and abuse you every step of the way.

Now, lets hear some real ideas, plans, class action lawsuits and ways to truly help you all fight the FRAUD AND ABUSE!

I totally agree.
In light of the recent news I think starting State by State is a good start.
If we are to start legal action it will be our state laws that will be the deciding factor.
I am ready in Massachusetts!!!

[Moe Bedard]

OK, great suggestion is to organize you all state by state. I was also thinking by mortgage servicer. If you truly think about this, this is Federal and not state since most of the abuse and fraud is happening across state lines and in multiple states. So, in theory, state by state would not be needed. More like by mortgage servicer.

For example, Bank of America HQ's may be in Charolette, NC, but they are conducting business across state lines in all states and each person who may be defrauded or abused is in different states. Hence, this now becomes a federal issue. I am not a lawyer, but this only seems logical.

Personally, this seems to rival and organized nationwide crime ring that may fall under RICO Federal statutes etc.

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (commonly referred to as RICO Act or RICO) is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was enacted by section 901(a) of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 (Pub.L. 91-452, 84 Stat. 922, enacted October 15, 1970). RICO is codified as Chapter 96 of Title 18 of the United States Code, 18 U.S.C. § 1961–1968. While its intended use was to prosecute the Mafia as well as others who were actively engaged in organized crime, its application has been more widespread.

Under RICO, a person who is a member of an enterprise that has committed any two of 35 crimes—27 federal crimes and 8 state crimes—within a 10-year period can be charged with racketeering. Those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $25,000 and sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count. In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of "racketeering activity." RICO also permits a private individual harmed by the actions of such an enterprise to file a civil suit; if successful, the individual can collect treble damages.


When the U.S. Attorney decides to indict someone under RICO, he or she has the option of seeking a pre-trial restraining order or injunction to temporarily seize a defendant's assets and prevent the transfer of potentially forfeitable property, as well as require the defendant to put up a performance bond. This provision was placed in the law because the owners of Mafia-related shell corporations often absconded with the assets. An injunction and/or performance bond ensures that there is something to seize in the event of a guilty verdict.


In many cases, the threat of a RICO indictment can force defendants to plead guilty to lesser charges, in part because the seizure of assets would make it difficult to pay a defense attorney. Despite its harsh provisions, a RICO-related charge is considered easy to prove in court, as it focuses on patterns of behavior as opposed to criminal acts.[4]


There is also a provision for private parties to sue. A "person damaged in his business or property" can sue one or more "racketeers." The plaintiff must prove the existence of a "criminal enterprise." The defendant(s) are not the enterprise; in other words, the defendant(s) and the enterprise are not one and the same. There must be one of four specified relationships between the defendant(s) and the enterprise. A civil RICO action, like many lawsuits based on federal law, can be filed in state or federal court.[5]


Both the federal and civil components allow for the recovery of treble damages (damages in triple the amount of actual/compensatory damages).


Although its primary intent was to deal with organized crime, Blakey said that Congress never intended it to merely apply to the Mob. He once told Time, "We don't want one set of rules for people whose collars are blue or whose names end in vowels, and another set for those whose collars are white and have Ivy League diplomas."

Although some of the RICO predicate acts are extortion and blackmail, one of the most successful applications of the RICO laws has been the ability to indict or sanction individuals for their behavior and actions committed against witnesses and victims in alleged retaliation or retribution for cooperating with federal law enforcement or intelligence agencies.


Violations of the RICO laws can be alleged civil lawsuit cases or for criminal charges. In these instances charges can be brought against individuals or corporations in retaliation for said individuals or corporations working with law enforcement. Further, charges can also be brought against individuals or corporations who have sued or filed criminal charges against a defendant.


Anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) laws can be applied in an attempt to curb alleged abuses of the legal system by individuals or corporations who utilize the courts as a weapon to retaliate against whistle blowers, victims, or to silence another's speech. RICO could be alleged if it can be shown that lawyers and/or their clients conspired and collaborated to concoct fictitious legal complaints solely in retribution and retaliation for themselves having been brought before the courts.

[Do not want to lose it]

I have a meeting scheduled with a consumer advocate lawyer Tuesday October 26. I will ask him about getting a group together from loansafe here in Ma. Please respond if you are from Ma.

[luvmyhorse]

I think the state threads may be a good idea so that people could begin to congregate in person to formulate plans.

This RICO Act is good information. It probably does relate to what is going on. How to use it correctly is something that those with some legal background should take charge of, right?

I tried to unite people to do a March exclusively for the Home Modification "Fraud," but I was not able to ignite much interest. As far as I know there has not been a march on Washington that was exclusive to this issue yet. I certainly don't need it to come from me, I just want to see it happen.

Moe, maybe you can use your leverage with this site to orgainze it? I know a lot of these people are on the West Coast and I certainly don't expect them to fly East, BUT, I wonder how many of us are on the East Coast....or know people who would go in their place.. just to hold a banner that says that we have had enough. Modify loans and stop the foreclosure landslides. The Moratorium was a joke!

[Do not want to lose it]

I think something like this is in order.
I am going to see about t-shirts- HOMEOWNERS FIGHTING BACK IN MASS
Boston Group Helps Homeowners 'Stand Up, Fight Back' Against Foreclosure


SUMMARY
Paul Solman reports on a Boston non-profit group that is helping families and homeowners stay in their homes in the face of foreclosure. This is the second in an occasional series on the mortgage crisis.


The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation provided funding for this project
Transcript
JIM LEHRER: Now NewsHour economics correspondent Paul Solman reports on a fight against foreclosures in Boston. It's the second in an occasional series on the mortgage crisis.And it's all part of his regular reporting Making Sense of financial news.
WOMAN: Good evening.My name is Deborah Cox (ph).And I'm in foreclosure.
IN-DEPTH COVERAGE










More than two million Americans are in Deborah Cox's shoes, or Nowi Juwome's (ph).
WOMAN: Nowi Juwome.The house is in foreclosure.
PAUL SOLMAN: A disproportionate number of foreclosed-on Americans are black or Hispanic, according to a recent Princeton study.
WOMAN: I'm Francisca Gomes (ph).My house is foreclosed.
PAUL SOLMAN: But the movement to resist is growing and has been given a swift lift by the news that foreclosure paperwork was either flawed or fraudulent.
MAN: My name is Satinder Moses (ph).I have been receiving foreclosure notices in the mail.I'm going to see what we can do to try to fight this business.
(APPLAUSE)
PAUL SOLMAN: At the weekly meeting of Boston nonprofit City Life Vida Urbana, which been organizing foreclosure resistance for years, the mood is now more defiant than ever.
MAN: And I ain't going nowhere!
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
WOMAN: And I have been arrested at an eviction blockade to keep a family from being evicted, and I'm very proud of it.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
MAN: They took my life savings.And now they're going to take my house.But you know something?I'm in there, and I'm not going nowhere.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PAUL SOLMAN: So, while banks put a temporary freeze on foreclosures, activists are taking matters into their own hands.
MAN: We have bailed them out.Our tax dollars helped them.They should help us.
PAUL SOLMAN: City Life mounts public resistance to the eviction of foreclosed families.
WOMAN: And we go out and we show that we're all behind this family and what they're doing is wrong, and we ask the bank to just negotiate with this family.
PAUL SOLMAN: They call their approach the sword, physical activism, as their standard weekly skit makes clear.
MAN: What do you want?
MAN: Your house.
(LAUGHTER)
MAN: I give you my life savings, and now you're trying to take my home away from me.
MAN: Yes?
MAN: I'm not going nowhere.
MAN: Oh, yes, you are.
MAN: You hear that?I'm not going nowhere.
MAN: Oh, you think...
WOMAN: Excuse me.
MAN: Oh, yes!Oh, yes!
(APPLAUSE)
MAN: Who are you?
WOMAN: I'm City Life.And you have got to go.
PAUL SOLMAN: The sword is step one of a three-step program.Step two, the shield, free legal help to drag out the process for people like Micheline Champagne (ph).
MICHELINE CHAMPAGNE: They have sent me notices, got to 72 hours to quit.They have offered me (INAUDIBLE) and I have not accepted any of these offers.I opted to take them to court.
PAUL SOLMAN: Step three is the offer, to buy back the foreclosed house and resell it at current market value to the homeowner, like Pamela Nichols (ph).
PAMELA NICHOLS: And I will be closing on my home.I'm getting my home back.And I will be closing on October 22.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
PAUL SOLMAN: City Life organizer Steve Meacham is seeing more progress than perhaps ever in his 40 years of activism.
STEVE MEACHAM, organizer, City Life:People come in feeling demoralized, shaken, crying, just in complete despair, and they not only win their house or sometimes don't win their house back, but they become activists.They become protagonists in their own drama and in the drama of other people.And that transformation of people kind of taking leadership who come in so -- feeling so compressed, that is an energizing thing.That's a -- it's an incredibly powerful thing.
PAUL SOLMAN: Consider Marshall Cooper's home in the Dorchester section of Boston.It's become a monument to the power of the sword.The bank now owns it, but Cooper insists, as does every inch of his house, that he shall not be moved.
Cooper bought the home for himself and other family members back in 1997 with a mortgage of about $140,000 at 11 percent.He refinanced in 2005 and found he owed over $200,000.A state court later issued an injunction against that lender for making unfair loans.But on a fixed income, Cooper fell behind.Foreclosure followed.
MARSHALL COOPER, homeowner:I couldn't sleep at night, had to get up and walk around, look at my heart going to jump out my mouth.That's how I felt.And it's a bad feeling when you can't help yourself.And that's how I was.
Now, when I went to City Life, I was quiet.But, after a while, it all come to me.It just come.It just come out.I start feeling better.I never felt better, you know, in my life.
PAUL SOLMAN: Once shamed by his situation, Cooper is now emboldened.Still in his house, he uses a bullhorn to tell his story to passersby...
MARSHALL COOPER: Let me tell you all, this is my home.
PAUL SOLMAN: ... and warn investors who want to buy his house to steer clear.
MARSHALL COOPER: I am a member of City Life, and I am not going nowhere.
WOMAN: We're going to be hitting literally all of Boston today.
PAUL SOLMAN: In Cambridge, step two of the program, the shield, wielded by students at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, new recreates being briefed over bagels.
MAN: But the main message we try and get across is, one, you have significant rights.You don't have to leave your house right now.
PAUL SOLMAN: They break up to go door to door, using a published list of those newly facing foreclosure in the Boston area.
Harvard's Dave Grossman:
DAVID GROSSMAN, director, Harvard Legal Aid Bureau:It's probably the biggest part of what we're doing now over the last three or four years.We get the listings, because it's public record, of every upcoming foreclosure auction.And we head out and knock on doors.
And, so, to the average person, we may look like just another set of scammers, so we have to overcome that initial skepticism in order to persuade them that, yes, we're really on their side.We're building a real movement.We can help you resist, and we're not going to take any of your money.It's all free.
WOMAN: After your home is foreclosed, City Life and our legal shield protects you.And we try -- and we keep you in your home during that time.we work to prevent an eviction.
PAUL SOLMAN: The shield's goal, to drive up litigation costs for the mortgage holder, so it eventually agrees to step three: sell back the house to its owner.The news of flawed or fraudulent paperwork is a powerful new weapon in their arsenal.
DAVID GROSSMAN: We have two cases on in court this week.And we're asking judges to take a look at the paperwork that banks did behind the foreclosure to see whether it was done properly or whether, as is the case around the country, they have cut corners and misrepresented things, and possibly defrauded the court and defrauded the borrower in proceeding on the foreclosure.
PAUL SOLMAN: In the case of Prudhomme and Pierre Dumerant, the sword has been drawn and the shield is up.In 2004, the brothers spent $500,000 on this house for themselves and their extended family.
MAN: My niece, my nephew, my sister, OK, my mom.
PAUL SOLMAN: But, when the economy tanked, so too did their cab business.And the Dumerants were unable to make the mortgage.Their lender, GMAC, had been trying to evict them.City Life responded with a vigil outside the Dumerants' home.
MAN: Are we going to stand with the Dumerant family in their fight with GMAC?
CROWD: Yes!
MAN: Are we going to stand with them to stop this eviction?
CROWD: Yes!
MAN: Are we going to fight?
CROWD: Yes!
MAN: When we fight...
CROWD: We win.
PAUL SOLMAN: So far, they have stopped it.And with GMAC now reviewing foreclosures in 23 states, though not Massachusetts, City Life and Harvard Legal Aid are riding relatively high, while the housing market reels with uncertainty.
But, for all the protests...
MAN: What do you do when the bank attacks?
CROWD: Stand up!Fight back!
PAUL SOLMAN: ... and the cheerleading at City Life...
CROWD: Stand up!Fight back!

[reject]

Moe - do you know how many registered members are in this forum? How big of a group are we?

[Moe Bedard]

@Luvmyhorse - The reason it is hard to organize is the fact that each one of you in so engrossed with your own problems and issues that it makes it hard for people to function, cope and properly organize a defense. What we have here in this forum are broken down Americans who have been abused for years. To be honest, I am not sure if I can properly organize either based on this simple fact.

People that are depr4essed and abused crawl in shells to cope. They usually do not stand tall, fight back and organize. I would think the banks and servicers know this. Hence, that is why they keep abusing you all. Their thoughts are, so, what the hell you gonna do about it? From the looks of things for the last 3 years, they have been right, NOW, it is up to you all to prove them wrong.

@Donotwanttoloseit - These are the kind of people we need on our side or to work with us. The problem that I have found is that many of these organizations are looking to do their "own" thing or want all the spot light. However, if we ever want to force change, we need to all work together. I would think LoanSafe has for more reach and exposure than just about any organization around. All without spending a dime on marketing.

@reject - We have about 33,000 members and 5,000 or so active members who have posted in the last 60 days or less.

[DBarr13447]

My suggestion would be that each time a member of this forum corresponds with their individual bank FOR ANY REASON, mention said membership. (I actually do this in my emails to B of A)

If banks see this group's name over & over, we may gain some respect not to mention additional members!

Great Idea to have this discussion, Moe & Evan! I will be waiting & watching for other's ideas!

[taylor44]

Moe, I am willing to do anything to help everyone.
I and soo many others have taken the BS from BoA and the others for too long.
I still have fight in me.

[goldie]

Thanks!

Now, lets see if everyone else catches on and joins the discussion. If this works well, I'll close down the forums longer. As you know Luv, many people are so engrossed with their own problems that they cannot think clearly or see the light. This has always been my main issue at organizing anything or getting members to work as a group.

In addition, the human species is very selfish. When a person is losing it all, all they think about is themselves. Unfortunately, that way of thinking has got us all nowhere.

I hate to play the devil's advocate (being selfish and with my own strong opinion), but the ONLY way I see to fight back is individual lawsuits. MONEY is the only thing banks understand. Banks are very rich and powerful, but I don't know if they could withstand a DELUGE of borrowers filing suit. When it starts hurting the banks in the pocket-book there will be change.

I don't really like the idea of class actions, as it seems its all about the money for the attorneys and none trickles down to the borrowers. Of course, if part of the remedy is that the banks have to modify mortgages and write down principal balances that would be a win!

I am engrossed in my own problems. I'm in survival mode. I do try to help others and pay it forward and I try to give people what they want (info on a mod) even though my personal opinion is that the mods that are going on right now are no good. Maybe its time I stop giving people what they want and tell the truth. Of course, my version of "the truth" is just my own biased opinion.

I just don't see any other way besides suing the living $hit out of your pretender-lender. Help me see a different way that will work, I'm open & receptive.

[goldie]

Moe, maybe I've missed it, but I didn't see that you have a list of consumer advocate attorneys. That would be very helpful to folks who are looking to fight back. I usually furnish them with the NACA (Nat'l Assoc. of Consumer Advocates), livinglies wordpress "lawyers who get it" and Max Gardner's BK Bootcamp Grads (who have taken courses in securitization and servicer accounting practices). Could you get together a list by state. Maybe you could put up some kind of disclaimer to protect yourself of course, in case the attorneys turn out to be duds & that wouldn't be your fault anyway - just kick them off the list. Maybe the loansafe members could chime in and rate their personal experience with the attorneys too. Maybe that might also generate some revenue for you if they advertised with you. Just an idea.

[DBarr13447]

We need to focus on the BIGGEST problems that MOST of us are facing and agree on exactly what our main focus & message needs to be as a group (like you say, not so much each individual case).

We need to partner with someone in POWER who is already pleading a case on behalf of homeowners in distress, to the lawmakers who have the POWER to change things! Let's find out what state they represent, get some Loansafe volunteers from that state to contact them - get our message out to the lawmakers who have some POWER to make a change and the media who reports on it!

We need to DEMAND our rights as taxpayers - it was OUR tax dollars too that went into the bailout program!!!

Banks should have ONE set of rules they ALL need to follow and the process MUST be visible at all times to the homeowners. If bank rep's can see our information on THEIR computer screens, WE should be able to see it on OUR computer screens - total transparency!!!!!

The housing crisis effects EVERY homeowner - those not yet in distress are losing the values of their homes on a daily basis!

Let's hear some more ideas!!

[JOSUE]

My suggestion would be that each time a member of this forum corresponds with their individual bank FOR ANY REASON, mention said membership. (I actually do this in my emails to B of A)

If banks see this group's name over & over, we may gain some respect not to mention additional members!

Great Idea to have this discussion, Moe & Evan! I will be waiting & watching for other's ideas!

Great idea DBarr,
I wasn't sure if Moe would want us to mention Loansafe. I have been tempted many times to say, when speaking to my negotiator, that I have seen many posts on Loansafe regarding lost doc's etc., but didn't want to make that decision myself. I have always thought that if the banks(and the media) knew the way people network and gain insight and information here, we may get some attention. Also, I wasn't sure if individual poster on this sight would want attention brought to their individual "cases". I know the banks cannot get personal info from here, but many people will talk about the conversation they had with a particular negotiator, etc. and may feel uncomfortable if the bank see a post.
But with some organization, maybe there is a way to mention Loansafe to the banks or get the Media to look at the way people are fighting.

Josue

[Do not want to lose it]

We need to unite and fight in a visible way. We should all read our local newspapers Public Notices and gather at each home in our community when there is a foreclosure auction. We should contact our Sheriffs offices and ask them to stop evicting people from their homes until the Banks have worked out reasonable alternatives for the homeowners.[IMG]file:///Users/conniederosier/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/moz-screenshot-2.png[/IMG][IMG]file:///Users/conniederosier/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/moz-screenshot-3.png[/IMG]
[IMG]file:///Users/conniederosier/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/moz-screenshot.png[/IMG][IMG]file:///Users/conniederosier/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/moz-screenshot-1.png[/IMG]

[ubbawabba]

Dnwtli
Where di you find this lawyer?

[DaveFred]

Hello to all my dear members, friends and struggling homeowners who may views these words that I am typing.

The time has come to unite, organizes and FORCE meaningful change for homeowners who are being railroaded, defrauded and abused daily. Yes, this is happening to each and every single one of you. Yet, after 3 long years, nothing has been done to truly help you all and to be quite honest with you all, it NEVER will.

However, it will if you all are willing to work together at solving this problem.

• Are you willing to work with people you never met to force change and demand meaningful help?
• Are you willing to think about not just your problems and help us all collectively come to some type of solution to this mortgage madness?

If you answered yes to the above questions, then you all have hope and possible solutions to your problems, If you answered no, then there is really no hope and you can go this alone like you have been.

My life has been dedicated to you all. I am trying my best to help with this forum, but it has grown so large, the message is being drowned out by thousands of individual discussions.

Just in case you did not know, this forum is not just for you, but for us as a group of "HUMAN BEINGS" who each are experiencing the exact same abuses and struggles.

So, now I ask you all to unite as one and care just as much about others issues as you do yours. Until this happens, you are all just running scared in a completely unorganized as the bankers control and abuse you every step of the way.

Now, lets hear some real ideas, plans, class action lawsuits and ways to truly help you all fight the FRAUD AND ABUSE!

Moe,

I like the idea of organizing and forming some sort of Home Owners rights group. What we need is a true Association or Non Profit sort of like NACA or a PAC focused on the big picture. Perhaps a National Association of Home Owners divided into regional groups that could organize and plan Marches and events to get the word out.
The problem as you stated is we are all so deep into out own problems that we lack focus and there is no central message that we all can get behind. I would certainly be willing to join in the fight and support a nationwide movement but I lack the organizational skills to actually do it. We need a high profile Political or Celebrity spokes person to rally around. If someone were to take the initiative and start a grass roots Home Owners rights Association dedicated to our issues I would be willing to contribute to a legal fund to promote it.

[FedUp02]

I know this has been mentioned before and is a little off the subject, but, we should do what the Tea Party is doing and organize a "March on Washington." Even if it was just the members here on Loan Safe, it would be huge.

[tryinmybest]

What we need is to interest a good attorney in a class action lawsuit. Although it is important to bring attention
to the issue (i.e. march, protest etc) the reality is we are a nation of laws. Meaningful change must be forced through
our legal system. It is what the banks fear the most ~ case law.

Yes, Moe, the banks are well aware that abused people give up because they can't take a minute more of what
the banks are shoveling. This is why it is even more important to effect change through a class action lawsuit.
When you can't deal with it any longer, it is time to bring in professional help that can think rationally.

In addition, it can't hurt if we all start filing complaints with our state AG's office. Maybe a thread with a link
to the state complaint forms?

Any thoughts????

[Do not want to lose it]

Dnwtli
Where di you find this lawyer?

I googled consumer advocate lawyer in my state.
I read through a few of their websites to see if livinglies or foreclosure fraud was mentioned.

[Moe Bedard]

@Dbarr -Mentioning LoanSafe is a good idea. You better belive that each and every single mortgage servicer monitors this forum. In addition, daily, there multiple state and federal agencies monitoring our forums here. I have seen HUD, FBI, Scret Service, the White House etc IP' addresses almost daily here. Hence, they are watching you all closely and servicers. Also, ALL the major media players steal ideas and get info from here daily.

We are the experts on this crap. Certainly the lame talking heads on TV are just paid actors 3 years late to the game.

We, the LoanSafe.org community are the Wall Street Journal or Huffington Post of mortgages. The true heartbeat of the American homeowner is alive in this forum and no where else can one witness the true realities of the abuse then LoanSafe.

@Goldie - We need devils advocate. It takes a certain breed of human to take on what you are doing Goldie. Yes, this would be the most effective and do the most damage, but I just do not see a million individual homewnoers doing this on their own.

I hate to say it, but most people follow and do not lead. Once "we" start something,. then we will get millions to jump on the band wagon. Other wise, hoping for individuals to take up the fight will be a long wait and losing battle.

A class action is what needs to be done.

@DaveFred - I agree 100%. Graet Idea!!!! What you all need is a leader that is not me, but one of you. An Elizabeth Warren homeowner who can represent you all in the media and with Washington. But who is willing to be Moe and fight in public? Now, lets see who volunteers to be your voice and come out of the forum.

@Fedup - I agree. See above and let's make it happen

@Tryinmybest - Yup, a class action is what is needed in my mind. One organized simply by servicer. A Chase class, a Bank of America class etc. State by state would be too spotty and hard to organize in my mind.

More input and thoughts team??

[Do not want to lose it]

Community Responses to the Foreclosure Crisis
November 15, 2010
November 16, 2010

Date: November 15-16, 2010
Location: Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA

November 15, 2010

9:00am-10:30am: Community Organizing Workshop

Leaders from City Life/Vida Urbana of Boston will lead a workshop on developing an effective anti-foreclosure community organizing program. The workshop will address how to start a successful community organizing campaign, key community organizing tactics to fighting foreclosures, and strategies for sustaining and expanding anti-foreclosure movements. In particular, City Life/Vida Urbana will discuss City’s Life’s “sword and shield” method to addressing the foreclosure crisis, whereby City Life both takes affirmative steps to keep Boston tenants and homeowners in their homes and uses legal tactics to fight post-foreclosure evictions.

[izzle]

From my point of view this forum contains several different types of users.

1. Members who want to obtain a loan mod.
2. Members wanting to strategic default.
3. Lurkers looking for ideas/help trying to figure out what they should do
4. Lurkers who are lenders/servicers/media attempting to get a feel for what is on the minds of homeowners willing to fight/walk/run...
   

Each of us have our own reason for being here. Mine was to find out how I could get out of a bad financial situation and prepare for the future. Reading that others were going through the same thing I was, made me feel empowered. I want to provide as much help to others as I have received from members who have gone through this before me.

I like the idea of being able to view posts by state. I think I have subscribed to every thread that pertains to my state. I want as much information about what is going on with others in my situation in my state. I also subscribe to some threads with my lenders.

In terms of fight, I do not know what can be accomplished for those that have chosen to walk. I am willing to give the house up, but at the cost of my credit score/potential deficiency. If homeowners were allowed to walk by giving the house back to the bank in return for being clear I would fight for that cause. I would also be willing to fight for those who want to save their house through loan modification.

[Moe Bedard]

I agree Izzle. Many people are here for different needs.

My thoughts on this were that if each one of you has a product that was fraudulently created and sold, that means much of the whole market over the last five or so years was fraud and lies. Hence, most of you are sitting in essentially defective credit instruments, AKA lemon mortgages and homes.

A good law firm can serve you all on the above premise. The goal here is not free homes, but fair treatment and meaningful loan workouts. Whether that is a loan mod or a deed in lieu, I think you all should be treated fairly.

Yes, you all may have different needs, but you are all borrowers of what now appears to be fraudulent products. How you all deal with that or accept that fact is a different story.

My hopes were to do exactly what we have done here thus far, IDEAS!

Now, let's see if we can get some more participants to chime in or offer some help

[Kitty Moore]

I like izzle's summary of he 4 types of folks on the forum. Perhaps that is the type of set-up needed initially. Break into the first 2 groups and let the lurkers read whatever is in both. The first group, those looking for loan mods should try to come up with a uniform way to try to get the banks to honor the existing modification programs and stop jerking people around for months until they are forced into foreclosure. The 2nd group should focus on the default problems. Both groups should come under some type of main focus guidelines & intertwine their efforts at the top. There are programs & laws out there, most of us just don't know all the ins/outs and/or how to get the banks to follow the existing guidelines. The biggest issue in both mods and defaults as I see it is timelines, how long from A to B, then C to D, etc. Some of those "lurkers" may just be able to see the larger overall picture & come up with ideas or suggestions. The rest, government, banks,etc may see an actual organized process taking place and it may just make them think twice about giving out phony, placating answers while padding their pockets.