we gotta crack down on the crooked banks.
These should be criminal violations w/ serious jail time. I see this as worse than being mugged on the street.

The online foreclosure database company reports this morning that 635,159 foreclosure filings were served on 446,726 actual properties during those three months when the mortgage meltdown really kicked off.

For the same period last year, 223,363 homes received a foreclosure notice.

Wait, 223,363 * 2 = 446,726. The number of homes is exactly double? Is there a link to that RealtyTrac info?

What is going on in our country! Its all about greed anymore and money..money..money. The american people are getting screwed every day by big business. When is this going to stop. Its time the american people open their eyes to what is happening in America! The rich are getting richer and the middle class is shrinking to the point where you will have two classes of people AND this is what the republicans want, the rich and the poor!This is not the country I grew up in this is a disgrace to America!

Relax....the economy is booming !! [sarcasm]

This story does NOT surprise me. I worked as a senior credit risk officer at Washington Mutual from 2003--2006. I turned in a negative audit report on a sub-prime lender the Bank was financing, and wes fired for doing so.

So much for the the govt watchdog agency that watch over banks or is it the Federal Reserve's responsibility. This administration is willing to overlook anything that the powerful banks do. So what if it makes some people poorer. Somebody is asleep at the helm - but nothing new since Bush's cabinet are all asleep when it comes to helping Americans. Lots of tumbleweed rollin down Main Street these days.

I used to work for a tiny division of First American -- one that creates mortgage processing IT for lenders. When we considered going after WaMU's business, our CEO warned us away from it because, "They'll ask you to promise them stuff that's borderline illegal." I guess he was right, except for the "borderline" part!

I am also so sick and tired of big business sucking the middle class and the poor dry. To get an actual person on the phone to tell you your bank balance (First Convenience of Texas), costs you $3. To pay your wireless AT&T bill at a facility not having a kiosk, the charge (to pay your bill mind you) costs $4 extra. If you pay your electric or water bill a day late (mind you, not at the point of disconnection) costs and EXTRA $5. When is all this going to end? This is rediculous! Everytime I turn around, some fat cat has his hand clamped around my wallet. At the same time, these two faced, lying Republicans allow industry after industry screw us while asking us to spend our disposable income on luxuries to keep the economy going. It makes me want to seek the office of the presidency to help put an end to all this madness. We citizens need to step up and make it fair for all of us who have to work everyday just to keep the lights on. Oh don't forget the toll money you need to get to that job. That's also going up!

Nice - my house was one of those that got hit with foreclosure. I spent my time going to court to fight it - especially because WaMu went against the arrangement we made so I could keep my house. I ended up having to sell it. And to make it even worse - even tho I sold my house and paid off the load IN FULL - it is now on my credit record where it will stay for 10 years - continuing to cost me $ due to hurting my credit rating. Thanks - thanks alot! So what is the Govt going to do about it?

Good catch Dave, it really seems odd that the number of foreclosures is double what is was a year ago. Not close to being double, but double to the last digit. I would like to see a link on that too.

I see a lot of comments about the Republicans but in one of the recent articles concerning this, it was mentioned that the "sleep at the helm" was mostly during Clintons reign.

What is the payoff of these lenders to actually foreclose on a customer? They get the house back - to auction at lesser value than the loan - the comple satisfaction of ruining a family's morale and credit - WHAT is the dollar incentive for them? Just because a loan CAN readjust, does not mean it MUST adjust higher. My lender won't even speak to me until I miss 2 payments; I have missed none so I can't arrange to keep from heading into this mess before it happenes. Greedy and stupid on thier part and totally demoralizing and crushing fur us, the concumer.

I applaud Cuomo. However he has a lot more work to do. This type of fraud was not unique to subprime mortgages. They did it on all mortgages when the needed a higher valuation on the subject propety.

I do not blame the appraisers. They are just a cog in the wheel. Andrew Cuomo needs to clean up the entire mortgage industry and mortgage process. It is riddled with fraud.

When it comes to all the many foreclosures going on in this country, why is it that everyone is talking just about the corrupt banks and loan companies? It seems that no one is addressing the real issue. Aren't the people who bought the homes responsible for making poor decisions as well? Why did they borrow more money than what they could afford? Did they take their time to do a good market comparison to find out that the homes they were buying were overpriced for the area? Could it be that these buyers were greedy too, and possibly coveting what their friends or relatives have? Were the lenders standing there twisting their arms forcing them to borrow that much money? Maybe they should have saved up for a larger downpayment first, and chose less expensive & smaller homes? Then they wouldn't be "upside down" in their mortgages. Does anyone ever guarantee that the stock market will never drop? Why would home buyers assume that the real estate market is immune to such a decline? I don't work for any bank or loan company, but common sense tells me the buyers need to be more responsible for their bad decision making as well! Let's quit acting like all the "poor" homebuyers are the victims and are so innocent! This is not an excuse for the corrupt lending institution's procedures, but a truthful analysis of the overwhelming problem in our country.

WAMU vs USBank, they both are sucking a lot of money out of Americans earmings.

We left U.S. Bank partly because of exhorbant fees on a personal checking account. We cancelled a U.S. Bank Visa with average monthly charges over a thousand a month of which their take is three percent, that is a very big amount of money going to banks for using their plastic, its in the billions. We canceled two US Bank business accounts and had to park a sum of money somewhere else from a sale of investment properties. We went to a daily account from a brokerage, so far that was a veryn good decision.

The final straw with USBank was when they refused to deposit a third party check into a rental account from a tenent.

USBank lost quite a bit of business because of the change in third party check policy. I tell every one I can.

WAMU claimed they would take third party checks from tenents. They did not. We went to a bank with all those accounts that toes take third party checks, this without the screw the customer fees and stupid rules.

I have one of those WAMU mortgages - and this thing surprised me - thankfully I can still afford my mortgage and home equity line loan, but I think I better sell the house before it gets worse. I feel sorry for those people who have had their equity inflated to the point that they can't pay back the loans. The Republicans "tickle down" theory doesn't work - Big Business will not take care of the little guy they just rape those that can least afford to pay. Bush will have to be out of office before things get any better for the middle class.

Never knew a Bank that didn't try and screw their customers everytime the got a chance. Thirty dollars for a bounced check fee, outrageous, even if you are 10 cents short! But they take their fee out first.

Your house got hit with foreclosure? Like a giant foreclosure storm occured and due to bad luck your house got wacked? Houses do not get foreclosed. People get foreclosed. Obviously something happened to your ability to pay monthly. I'm assuming your mortgage reset at a higher interest rate. Now about interest rates. We just came off of a period of record low mortgage rates. I refinanced awhile back at 4.5% fixed. Why in the name of all that's holy would a person get an adjustable rate mortgage? Could it be they were trying to get the absolute highest mortgage on the absolute biggest, most expensive home they could swing? And then possibly set back and watch it appreciate and flip it for a windfall? Your home is not a poker table at Vegas. Successful people hedge their liabilities and do not take them to the limit. OK so you took this adjustable rate mortgage and do not feel the bank has a moral right to raise the interest rate. Where do you think the teaser rate comes from? Why would anyone loan at less that the standard interest rate? You should expect that it will be made up during the higher rate. So your credit is ruined. Duck your head down and push forward and you'll recover. As to what will the government do about it? Just what the H3LL do you expect the government to do about it? I'm assuming you're old enough to enter into a contract and able to read. I'd respect you much more if you just ran around yelling Help me, Help me, I'm stupid. Put on your big girl panties and act like an adult.

It is always about money, it will always be about money...

Until...

"The Grapes Of Wrath" comes around again...

Then let's see who's left standing

I said this very same thing over a year ago. That homes were being appraised at inflated values. That buying a home today is like buying a new car. The moment you sign your name on the dotted line and drive the car off the lot, the car has already depreciated in value.