Foreclosure
nightmare: Family's home sold, but it wasn't for sale - (www.abclocal.go.com) What
would you do if you suddenly found out your mortgage company had sold your
house right out from under you even though you always paid on time? An Altadena
family suddenly facing eviction turned to Eyewitness News when that happened to
them. The Altadena house has been home for Ceith and Louise Sinclair, who
bought it in 2003. They've been living in it with four of their kids. Last
year, they got a loan modification with Ocwen Financial Corporation. Then they
say they got a call, and later a letter, notifying them Ocwen had sold their
loan to Nationstar Mortgage. In June, they got a knock at the door. "They
came and knocked on our door. That's how we found out our house had been
sold," said Louise Sinclair. The Sinclairs say although they hadn't
received notice prior to that day, the person at the door told them they had
two weeks to leave their house because a company called Sage Equities had
bought it in foreclosure. They were expected to pay rent in the meantime. "We
thought we were doing everything. We were paying our mortgage every month. And
then they're going to sell your house up from underneath you without you
knowing?" said Ceith Sinclair. The Sinclairs say they've always paid their
mortgage on time, in full, and they have the documentation to prove it. But
then, in June, after their first payment to Nationstar, the mortgage company
sent a check back to them for the full amount.
First loans, now this: Student book bubble
menace - (www.cnbc.com) Hitting
the books can be a serious hit in the wallet these days. Already grappling with
skyrocketing tuition and fees, college students also must contend with
triple-digit inflation on the price of textbooks. With the average student
shelling out $1,200 a year just on books, students, professors and policy
groups are searching for ways to circumvent the high cost of traditional
textbooks. It's no simple multiple-choice question. Growing rental and e-book
markets lower prices but come with a convenience cost. Budding open-source
textbook programs hold promise but aren't mainstream yet. Meanwhile, the U.S.
Public Interest Research Group says 70 percent of students admit they just skip
buying some books, saving money but often inflicting a high price on their
academic success. "It's getting to the point where students can't afford
them anymore," said Nicole Allen, director of the open educational
resources program at the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition.
"It limits access they need to complete their education, which can
undercut their ability to perform in class."
BIS
veteran says global credit excess worse than pre-Lehman - (www.telegraph.co.uk) The
Swiss-based `bank of central banks’ said a hunt for yield was luring investors
en masse into high-risk instruments, “a phenomenon reminiscent of exuberance
prior to the global financial crisis”. This is happening just as the US Federal
Reserve prepares to wind down stimulus and starts to drain dollar liquidity
from global markets, an inflexion point that is fraught with danger and could
go badly wrong. “This looks like to me like 2007 all over again, but even
worse,” said William White, the BIS’s former chief economist, famous for
flagging the wild behaviour in the debt markets before the global storm hit in
2008. “All the previous imbalances are still there. Total public and private
debt levels are 30pc higher as a share of GDP in the advanced economies than
they were then, and we have added a whole new problem with bubbles in emerging
markets that are ending in a boom-bust cycle,” said Mr White, now chairman of
the OECD’s Economic Development and Review Committee.
'You
work for Lehman? I thought that went bust' - (www.reuters.com) From
his 23rd floor office of Citi's Canary Wharf tower, Tom Bolland can see the old
European HQ of Lehman Brothers, where five years ago hundreds of his former
colleagues were abruptly turfed out onto the street carrying their belongings
in boxes. The investment bank's collapse was the symbolic moment of the
financial crisis, and it is a surprise to many that Lehman Brothers in Europe
still lives on. It is under administrators, but two-thirds of its 500 staff are
former Lehman employees helping to clear up the mess that is left. "You
work for Lehman? I thought that went bust," Bolland laughs at the typical
response when he tells people he works for Lehman Brothers. "Most people
are still surprised." Bolland is the most senior of the
"ex-Lehmanites" and recently celebrated 20 years with the bank -
including 15 years pre-crash in a range of senior roles, which included
overseeing its expansion inRussia, Turkey and
the Middle East.
No
Pensions, No Retirement - (www.mybudget360.com) Pension
disaster looms over the horizon: In 1980 60 percent of Americas participated in
a pension program. Today it is less than 10 percent and the amount saved for
retirement is startling. Americans are on the verge of a retirement
disaster. As pension plans slowly go extinct Americans are not saving
enough for retirement. The figures point to a looming pension and
retirement disaster. Retirement for most Americans is largely a mirage. As organizations switched from pensions
to 401ks it was expected that most Americans would save money. This trend
started in 1980 and over 30 years have now passed. We now have enough
data to see if this transition has been beneficial to most Americans.
[
Morgenson] After a Financial Flood, Pipes Are Still Broken - (www.nytimes.com)
[ Tett] Insane financial system lives post-Lehman - (www.ft.com)
[ Tett] Insane financial system lives post-Lehman - (www.ft.com)
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