KeNo's Housing and Economic Portal: Thursday September 8 Housing and Economic stories

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Bank of America Threatens Foreclosure On Elderly Couple Who Paid Mortgage Early - (www.businessinsider.com) Bank of America may want to re-check its books before it starts throwing elderly people out on the streets. ABC News reports that the bank made a mistake earlier this year, by initiating the foreclosure process on an elderly couple that had the audacity to submit a mortgage payment a week early. Late last year, the Florida couple, Sharon Bullington, 70, and her 78-year-old terminally ill husband, were forced, due to mounting health care bills, to apply for mortgage relief under the federal Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). After receiving approval for the application, Sharon sent in her first check (for January's rent) for the adjusted amount on December 23, 2010. This, apparently, set off Bank of America's powers-that-be. Official HAMP guidelines dictate that the Bullingtons should have technically made their first adjusted payment on January 1, 2011, and, "by not making January's payment on January 1st, the Bullingtons had failed to comply with HAMP's terms."

‘Fear Factor’ From Stock Turmoil Sparks Deal Hunt in Art Market - (www.bloomberg.com) As the stock market gyrated sharply in recent weeks, New York art dealer Asher Edelman began receiving calls from clients asking to sell works they owned by major 20th-century artists, including Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg. And the sellers -- collectors, investors and other dealers -- were willing to take about 20 percent less than they would have only a couple of weeks earlier, Edelman said. “I think there’s a big fear factor out there,” said Edelman, a former Wall Street investor and the founder of art- financing company Art Assure Ltd. “People are afraid of what’s going on in the world and they want to take some cash out of their art.” This month’s wild swings of the stock markets included the Dow Jones Industrial Average alternating between gains and losses of more than 400 points for four days in a row during the week ending Aug. 12, the longest such streak ever. “Whenever you have stock price declines, you do get a lot of margin calls, and people look for any form of liquidity that they can find,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Advantage Funds in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

Bank Of America Forecloses On A Man Who Made Every Mortgage Payment On Time - (www.businessinsider.com) Despite Mark Conca's slipping commissions and dwindling savings he never missed a mortgage payment and when Bank of America told him to skip some to receive loan modifications, he refused. That didn't stop B of A from foreclosing on Conca's Caldwell, NJ home, threatening him with eviction, and destroying his credit. The Star Ledger reports Conca refused to not pay his mortgage, but applied for modification in December 2009 and patiently waited. What Happened: He continued making home payments, nearly forgetting the request until he received a March 2011 letter saying he was two months late on his mortgage. “I called and said that’s impossible,” Conca told the Ledger. “I had copies of all my payments on my bank statement.” In response to Conca's inquiry, a bank supervisor told him the account would be reviewed and an answer would be provided in 10 days. Three weeks later the supervisor called, telling Conca he'd been approved for modification but there had been a mix-up in record keeping -- the supervisor said information would arrive in another 10 days. More than a month later Conca finally received a letter from Bank of America saying: “According to our records, payment for your home loan is past due.” He called a lawyer who also made no headway. Since then Conca's received alternating approval letters and foreclosure notices from a broken system that finally destroyed his pristine credit.

Greek Default Fears Rise (AGAIN) - (online.wsj.com) Euro-zone policy makers appeared nowhere near settling a dispute Thursday over Finland's collateral demands in exchange for participating in a €109 billion ($157.1 million) bailout for Greece, raising concerns the Mediterranean nation may default. Markets have grown more worried about the potential for a Greek debt default amid a lack of progress in resolving the collateral issue this week, according to a person familiar with the situation. Finland, meanwhile, shows no sign of backing down. Yields on Greek two-year bonds rocketed to a record of over 43% Thursday, according to Tradeweb, and the cost of insuring Greek government bonds against default also rose sharply. Greek five-year sovereign credit-default swaps were 1.37 percentage points wider at 22.75 percentage points, according to Markit. The person familiar with the situation said no multilateral talks on the collateral issue took place Wednesday or Thursday, despite an initial intention to hash out an agreement by the end of this week. He didn't rule out, however, the possibility that bilateral talks are under way.

U.S. May Back Refinance Plan for Mortgages - (www.nytimes.com) The Obama administration is considering further actions to strengthen the housing market, but the bar is high: plans must help a broad swath of homeowners, stimulate the economy and cost next to nothing. One proposal would allow millions of homeowners with government-backed mortgages to refinance them at today’s lower interest rates, about 4 percent, according to two people briefed on the administration’s discussions who asked not to be identified because they were not allowed to talk about the information. A wave of refinancing could be a strong stimulus to the economy, because it would lower consumers’ mortgage bills right away and allow them to spend elsewhere. But such a sweeping change could face opposition from the regulator who oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and from investors in government-backed mortgage bonds.