FORECLOSURES - Huffington Post Investigative Fund

Hard Times Update: Readers Share Tales of Foreclosure Schemes, Mortgage Misfortune

Amanda Zamora — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:34:57 +0000

Last month, we put out a call for stories and photos to help document the effect that "Hard Times Profiteers" are having on distressed borrowers and others suffering financial hardship because of the recession. The response was robust. We received more than 100 tips from borrowers, tenants, real estate brokers, investors and others who have experienced or observed misfortune amid the current housing crisis. We also collected dozens of photos documenting bandit signs from California to Maryland. Read more »

Victim of a Real Estate Scheme? Tell Us Your Story

Amanda Zamora — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:08:45 +0000

It’s a no-brainer: As people lose their jobs and struggle to pay the mortgage, they are increasingly vulnerable to those looking to make a quick profit off their troubles.

The Huffington Post Investigative Fund would like to shine a light on real estate schemes going on around the country. How widespread are these activities? Who is behind them? And who is getting hurt? Read more »

Additional Authors:

Ben Protess

Lagan Sebert

WaMu's Fateful Decision

David Heath — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:57:05 +0000

Executives at Washington Mutual made a fateful decision as a white-hot mortgage market turned ice cold in the fall of 2003.

WaMu's chief executive, Kerry Killinger, decided to reignite profits by aggressively pushing the lender’s riskiest but most profitable loans, including the Option ARM and subprime mortgages. Read more »

VIDEO: The Fate of a Subprime Loan: Can This Man Hold On to His Mortgage?

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:25:41 +0000

Special Display Settings

Video Lede:

Eliseo Guardado came legally to the United States in search of his own American Dream. But after he bought his home in a Maryland suburb in 2006, his dream quickly became a nightmare. Long Beach Mortgage, a subsidiary of Washington Mutual, put him in a loan that he could not afford. The story of this one bad loan helps tell a bigger tale- how fraud in the loan process was at the center of the largest bank failure in American history.

Second of two articles about the roots of the subprime lending bubble.

With the housing boom still in full force in early 2006, Long Beach Mortgage Co., one of the nation’s biggest subprime lenders, sent its eager Wall Street investors yet another package containing thousands of new home loans. Read more »

Byline Info

By Christine MacDonald
Special to Huffington Post Investigative Fund

At Top Subprime Mortgage Lender, Policies Were Invitation to Fraud

David Heath — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:20:36 +0000

Long Beach Mortgage Employees Say Firm Routinely Ignored Warnings

First of two articles about the roots of the subprime lending bubble.

Diane Kosch had one of the most thankless jobs in the subprime lending craze.

Sitting elbow to elbow with colleagues at a conference table in a northern California office building, Kosch’s job was to review a huge stack of loans each day at Long Beach Mortgage for problems, including evidence of fraud. She was given 15 minutes per file. Read more »

VIDEO: Frank May Revive Foreclosure Relief Bill

Lagan Sebert — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:09:00 +0000

Mounting evidence that the housing foreclosure crisis is only picking up steam prompted House Financial Services chairman Barney Frank today to warn again that he might revive a proposal to change bankruptcy rules. Frank, (D-Mass.), last spring tried unsuccessfully to push through a foreclosure relief bill known as cramdown, which would have allowed federal judges to lower mortgage payments and interest rates for bankrupt homeowners facing foreclosure. Read more »