FHA
Throws Lifeline to Those With Damaged Credit During Recession - (www.mortgagenewsdaily.com) Late
last week, The Department of Housing and Urban Development on Thursday unveiled
a new set of guidelines under the FHA program specifically geared toward
homeowners and prospective homeowners adversely impacted by the Great
Recession. The "Back to Work" program, as it's called, doesn't
constitute a free pass for those who would otherwise be unable to qualify
for financing, but it does reopen the housing market to a great many borrowers
who would otherwise have been waiting for 3-7 years to tick off the
clock--depending on their initial credit issue--before being able to qualify
for a mortgage. In FHA's words: "As a result of the recent recession
many borrowers who experienced unemployment or other severe reductions in
income, were unable to make their monthly mortgage payments, and ultimately
lost their homes to a pre-foreclosure sale, deed-in-lieu, or foreclosure. Some
borrowers were forced to file for bankruptcy to discharge or restructure their
debts. Because of these recent recession-related periods of financial
difficulty, borrowers’ credit has been negatively affected. FHA recognizes the
hardships faced by these borrowers, and realizes that their credit histories may
not fully reflect their true ability or propensity to repay a
mortgage."
Panel
votes not to certify Detroit mayoral election, sending it to state board - (www.freep.com) The
Wayne County Board of Canvassers didn’t certify the Detroit mayoral election
today, sending the matter to the state’s election board to decide. The county
board was debating whether to invalidate more than 20,000 votes, which would
cause the result of the Aug. 6 primary to be flipped — with Benny Napoleon
receiving more votes than write-in candidate Mike Duggan. Both political camps
are now looking beyond Detroit for answers and clarification. The board was
split on whether to certify Detroit mayoral election numbers after votes were
called into question due to errors by Detroit elections workers. County
officials listed a total of 69,933 votes for the city’s Aug. 6 election.
Without the questionable votes, Napoleon would have 28,391 votes and Duggan
would have 23,970 votes from the Detroit primary. Unofficial numbers released
on Aug. 6 showed Duggan with 44,395 and Napoleon with 28,351. Counters for the
Wayne County Board of Canvassers were unsure of what to do with votes that did
not use a method known as “hash-marking,” where votes are counted individually
on poll books. The 20,000 votes at issue were tallied using numbers instead of
hash marks. “It’s the most outrageous, disgraceful thing I’ve seen in 20 years
of observing elections,” said Melvin “Butch” Hollowell, legal counsel for Mike
Duggan. “This is worse than Bush versus Gore. By counting sticks (and not) real
numbers, 20,000 voters are being disinfranchised.”
The
Guardian: Downing St. involved in 'Snowden materials' destruction order - (www.rt.com) A
“very senior government official” acting on behalf of Britain’s prime minister
demanded the return or destruction of files leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward
Snowden, the Guardian’s editor Alan Rusbridger told the BBC. The effort to
seize or destroy the Snowden-related documents held at the Guardian’s London
office was handled by senior Whitehall officials, who answered directly to
Number 10 Downing Street, Rusbridger said during an interview with BBC News on
Tuesday. Initially reluctant to follow through with the request, the Guardian
ultimately complied with the demand that documents stored in the UK be
destroyed, as the daily already had copies of the material abroad and could
continue carrying out its journalistic duties. Rusbridger noting what he called
the delicate balance between maintaining state security and acting in the
public interest, concluded that the Snowden leaks revealed “concerns about
the powers of the state” and were important public issues.
Fannie
Mae Hires an Officer it Alleges Defrauded it -- and Finance Cheers - (www.neweconomicperspectives.org) Three Bloomberg reporters have done the Nation a service by
ferreting out a scandal of moderate magnitude but emblematic importance.
Dakin Campbell, Jody Shenn and Phil Mattingly broke the story on August 14,
2013 that Adam Glassner, recently described, but not named, in the Department
of Justice’s (DOJ) fraud suit against Bank of America (B of A), and named as a
defendant by Fannie Mae’s in its fraud suit against B of A and several
officers, was hired by two companies (Ally and Fannie) bailed out by Treasury. Fannie
Mae was the second of these corporate bailout recipients, purportedly run by
the government, to hire Glassner. Fannie hired Glassner after it sued
him. The suit was nominally brought by the Federal Housing Finance
Administration (FHFA), the federal agency acting as conservator for Fannie, but
Fannie is the real party in interest in the lawsuit. This is significantly
crazy on multiple levels. It is insane that DOJ has once again refused to
prosecute elite bank officials it claims engaged intentionally in fraud in
order to become wealthy (and did so). It is insane that DOJ refuses to
even bring civil suits against such elite officials when DOJ believes that it
establish the facts I have just laid out. We see the consequences of
DOJ’s dereliction of duty. In addition to destroying the rule of law, DOJ
fails to identify and hold accountable the elites it knew caused the fraud and
became (and remain) wealthy through those frauds. This destroys general
and specific deterrence, creates reverse role models that demonstrate to their
peers that fraud pays (and it pays huge), and allows the banksters to stay in
senior positions in the industry where they can cause further damage through
frauds that make them even wealthier. In addition to the obvious reasons why it
is insane for Fannie to hire an officer who Fannie alleges defrauded it, let me
don my litigator hat and note that the defense attorneys would obviously argue
to the judge that Fannie’s claims against Glassner cannot be supported by the
facts or Fannie would have never have hired him.
Detroit police adopt
‘stop-and-frisk’ - (www.rt.com) The
controversial “stop-and-frisk” tactic used by the New York Police Department
could be coming to the Motor City: law enforcement agents in Detroit, Michigan
plan to adopt a policing method from officers in the Big Apple. The Detroit
News reported on Monday that traffic cops in the once-booming Rust Belt city
are currently being trained to learn their city’s version of what has become a
hot topic of contention in New York. According to some Detroit cops, officers
in Motown have already been using practices similar to the stop-and-frisk
tactics deployed in NYC for years. Now, however, Traffic Unit officers are
being sent through aggressive training in hopes that new tactics will “prevent
street crime through the use of traffic stops.” The Detroit Police Department
has signed a contract with consultants at the Manhattan Institute and Bratton
Group, the paper reported, in order to develop a more stringent strategy for
cutting down on criminal activity.
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