During that time, interest can build on the debt at the default rate stated in the original mortgage. That’s usually four or five percentage points above the original mortgage rate, so a deficiency on even a low 6-percent loan would be charged 10 percent or 11 percent interest, doubling the cost of the debt in as little as six and a half years.
O’Connor reports that one of the biggest problems is bottom-feeding collections agencies buying bad debts for pennies on the dollar.
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Interesting that O'Connor at right-leaning DetNews avoids any discussion of the aggressive tactics of foreclosure service providers in state -- specifically the one which has handled nearly 3/4 of foreclosures and whose owner is a Republican bundler which helped fund obstruction in state senate of foreclosure reduction legislation in 2008. The foreclosure mill in question systematically refuses to allow homeowners to attempt to contact banks or GSEs to work out modifications and assesses "attorney fees" and "legal fees" which they charge homeowners during foreclosures, while refusing to allow homeowners to ask where the fees came from.
#1 Posted by Rayne, CJR on Wed 23 Feb 2011 at 08:58 PM
Society for Professional Journalists awarded Judith Miller a "First Amendment Award" for her abominable war-mongering in Iraq. I've searched in vain for some SPJ pearl-clutching on Andrew Brietbart's little ACORN and Planned Parenthood escapades and they were not to be found. I don't see any SPJ hand-wringing and garment-rending over Fox News reporting or hiring of prospective Republican presidential candidates, handing them a paid platform to espouse their views.
So, SPJ doesn't have a great deal of credibility with their pro-rightwing bias. Really, who are they to comment on how anybody "does journalism"? You're right, though, I doubt the "Buffalo Beast" cares much about what SPJ thinks of the scoop. Ha!
#2 Posted by James, CJR on Wed 23 Feb 2011 at 09:22 PM
"It takes some incredible chutzpah to take a crisis caused by Wall Street capitalists and right-wing ideologies and use it as an excuse to squash what remains of the American labor movement."
Nice try. Here is the same rant, edited for reality: "It takes some incredible chutzpah to take a crisis caused by [D.C.-Wall Street corporatists] and [statist] ideologies and use it as an excuse to squash what remains of the [productive (private) sector]."
"That bit of gonzo is as revealing as a hundred straight-news stories, no?"
Uh, no. Nothing incriminating or interesting was revealed. And "gonzo" is a too-flattering euphemism for journalistic fraud. But it's slightly promising to see that now CJR is merely apologizing for the Beast's fraud, instead of all-out promoting it.
#3 Posted by Dan A., CJR on Thu 24 Feb 2011 at 01:55 AM
Dan, give it a rest. The state regulators were the ones trying to fight the corruption and collusion between federal regulators, federal legislators, and the wall street bankers who were egging them on to apply chainsaws to all that 'red tape' that existed to protect consumers and investors.
And yes, right wingers are using the budget crisis that they caused during their time in power to beat the crap out of unions and social institutions who were fighting predatory lenders while right wingers protected them and let them blow up the economy.
The problem with libertarianism is that it's so focused on restraining government power before it gets oppressive and corrupt, that it fails horribly to restrain private power as it gets oppressive and corrupt. And then, when we're all screwed, you blame the government which was weakened and way too laissez faire to begin with.
It's not like there's a shortage of data for individuals to look at:
http://www.fcic.gov/report
but you're so focused on the scholarship of Peter Schiff to see any of it. Well now the right wingers are using the crisis to go after labor who had nothing to do with the financial crisis. Do you support this? Do you support people taking away the bargaining rights inherent to a functioning market in labor?
Because that's what most right wingers do.
#4 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Thu 24 Feb 2011 at 04:10 AM
Rayne -- Feel free to send me details. This story was about how homeowners who ALREADY have short-sold or surrendered their homes have a ticking time bomb of debt they don't know about.
I can't make every housing story the encyclopedia of foreclosure, especially when people who know more about a specific problem are more content to whine on a message board than to contact a reporter. Send whatever you've got to boconnor@detnews.com (along with any checks to underwrite the months-long effort it will take to prove your allegations).
Lastly, if you want to accuse a graduate of The Roeper School, Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia J-school of carrying water for a Republican, I can only assume you are trying for a laugh. But say that I again and I will crack you over the head with my pocket copy of Das Kapital Vol. II.
#5 Posted by Brian O'Connor, CJR on Thu 24 Feb 2011 at 12:37 PM
Like elections, pranks have consequences, viz: Acorn and Planned Parenthood -- both duped, both on the chopping block. Hey, Gov Walker, meet Acorn and Planned Parenthood at the same place.
Michael S. Cullen, Berlin, Germany
#6 Posted by Michael S. Cullen, CJR on Wed 2 Mar 2011 at 02:17 AM