Comments on: NAACP files massive lawsuit against subprime mortgage lenders

By: blah, blah

blah, blah — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:57:14 +0000

They didnt get anything worse than the hispanic community I guarantee you this.I myself underwater 250,000 ,,,good times turned to bad,nobody wanted to think this.just homes will keep rising,we got burned,me included.

By: Linda G

Linda G — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:29:17 +0000

Washington Mutual would not convert my ARM to a fixed after the first year. I foresaw that the rate could rise and decided to hedge against 2nd and 3rd year increases by converting to a fixed rate. WAMU also wrote a check to me for overpayment of escrow costs at the time of the loan. My bank returned the check as stale dated and WAMU would not reissue ($748.) They did an analysis and increased my payment. The second year, they kept $460 refund and the third year $268. This has been a nightmare. Well, they finally did a loan modification through the loss mitigation department and tacked on 12 years (a 42-year mortgage foreclosure) for $4,631.71 in arrears in exchange for a 6.505% interest rate (down from 8.85%). I’d like to know if any other readers have had this problem. PS -their phone system tracks your phone number and will NEVER send you to the loss mitigation department at WAMU. If yo persist, they label you as a trouble maker.

By: Ray

Ray — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:52:04 +0000

I feel the subprime mess has hurt all Americans. I can’t figure out how the regulating authorities (S E C / Fed. Goverment, ect, Did not see or did not care
about the ugly outcome. I applaud the NAACP for filing this lawsuit. I don’t know
if they can or will win, but I do hope our goverment rep. will take notice and hold all responcable accountable.

By: Dear Russ

Dear Russ — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 01:43:25 +0000

Russ Martin knows that the subprime loans sold to African Americans who otherwise qualified for better loan products were sold primarily by African Americans at the retail level. So, no it is not institutional at the wholesale level. It is culturally systemic, and just as wrong.

By: Morgan Brown

Morgan Brown — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 05:15:39 +0000

Hi Danielle,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience. I can’t even imagine how difficult that experience must be. I am not doubting that you were taken advantage of and I know too many other families in your same situation. The only point I was trying to make was that lenders felt no remorse about taking advantage of anyone who wasn’t savvy enough to defend themselves. Black, white, hispanic or other have all been taken to the cleaners by unscrupulous lenders and brokers. I’ve seen people with 800 credit scores in subprime loans of all colors. I’m glad the NAACP is helping trying to right wrongs, I just hope they try to make it an issue of exploitation by banks and brokers of all people, regardless of the color of their skin.

I wish you nothing but the best in getting through this difficult time.

By: danielle

danielle — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 05:59:26 +0000

Well if you are not going through this mess you don’t get it. My mortgage is about to reset for the second time and every six months after that. I tried to sell and the first franklin would not let us we had two buyers. We tried to refinance and cannot. Now our foreclosure date is set for December 6 what a xmas present. We wanted to do a forebearance put we have not been able to we payed a lawyer went bankrupt and we still can’t get no help out of this. My man is a Network Specialist I work for the governent when we bought this house our salary together was 120,000 and we still ended up with a subprime loan. By the way we are African Americans who got taken by this mortgage industry. So i for one is glad to see this lawsuit it is well deserved and before you say it is bunk got to naacp website a read the court papers it all true because it is happening to me right now….

By: Anton Grambihler

Anton Grambihler — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:47:52 +0000

Why isn’t The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution being enforced against Financial Slavery?

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:20:35 +0000

Obviously the lawsuit has no merit, but I still enjoy seeing it pursued, as it brings disrepute on the powers that be: financial institutions and government. Cases like this bring the US closer to a well-deserved collapse.

By: Morgan Brown

Morgan Brown — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 04:55:14 +0000

Russ Martin had a great response in his post on the topic. You can read it here.

In his own words: “As a black mortgage broker, I am going to go on record and say that this lawsuit is bunk…”

Definitely worth the read.

By: Morgan Brown

Morgan Brown — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 04:39:35 +0000

I have to agree as well. While the NAACP is rightfully trying to support its constituents who have been disenfranchised by unscrupulous mortgage lenders and brokers I believe they are taking the wrong track.

The NAACP should focus on predatory lending, truth-in-lending and RESPA
violations and sue lenders who violated these existing laws. Pulling out the race card could confuse an issue that affects all home owners – from white people with 800 credit scores put in to a subprime 2/28 to a black business owner who was given a loan they couldn’t afford by a loan officer putting them in a pay option loan on stated income.

There is responsibility on both ends. I think the race card is the wrong approach and the NAACP should be helping its constituents review loan documents and sue under existing laws.

One last point to agree with Brian: If it wasn’t for government required reporting via the HMDA laws we would never know the borrower’s ethnicity. The government requires that we collect the data for compliance and reporting reasons.