Bank of America Alone in a Bad Spot; Depressing Housing Facts

Just updating here on the mortgage miasma in America. The bank which foreclosed upon the house in which I currently reside - Bank of America - is featured in a swell article at thestreet.com: Bank of America Stands Alone in Mortgage Mess.

Is it uncool or bad karma to root against the bank that is foreclosing upon one? Probably not. For one thing, banks have been screwing over people for hundreds of years. Maybe the proper karmatic solution is for people to screw over banks for a few hundred years, to kind of even things up.

Second, banks are inanimate, superfluous entities, somewhat apocryphal in that they, being corporations for the most part, are regarded somewhat the same, by the legal system, as people, even though they can't vote and never die. Maybe it's time for some changes in the overarching rules by which we live and are "governed."

I am cheered whenever I hear something bad happening to Bank of America. After all, they're the ones who claim to own this property. Funny thing, neither of us has paid a lick in taxes the past 21 months. Tax payments are likely to be a leverage device, but the banks, in their intimate wisdom, either fail to understand that concept or are just too stupid and cheap to pay taxes on any property.

When it's all said and done, one can only stand in awe of and marvel at the magnificent stupidity of the global banking cartel, but mostly of the American version of it, which has proven beyond doubt to be without answers to the mess they created all by themselves.

So, yeah, the heck with Bank of America. More like Bank of Screw-merica.

The other internet piece is a slideshow over at Business Insider, hauntingly titled 27 Depressing Facts About The Housing Crash That Never Seems To End. It speaks for itself.

Passing Through the Foreclosure Threshold

On March 28, 2011, I opened a bottle of wine in celebration of one year in foreclosure.

Certainly, some people out there may call me a freeloader, or say I'm gaming the system, but, as far as I can ascertain, I've done nothing that any sane person would not do. I've lived in the house that is part of my deceased father's estate, paid the usual bills, kept the property well-maintained and actually made some improvements.

All this time, I've been waiting for the bank to move off square one. They have not. Bank of America (PKA Countrywide) has made no motions or asked the curt for summary judgement, so I'm not about to rock the boat. I answered the foreclosure filing as administrator of the estate, and that's the last I heard from the bank or their attorneys.

I'm assuming that they either have concluded that they have no standing in the suit (correct), can't produce the original note, or have other reasons not to proceed.

In just a few words, Bank of America is screwed beyond belief, not only in my case, but in hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of other residential mortgages that were improperly sold, assigned, securitized or foreclosed upon.

I have no pity on the banks. They cheated and now should be held to scrutiny and suffer the fate of most criminals - which they are, plain and simple - jail time, fines and compensation for damages, of which there are many. In fact, I've looked into negligence issues concerning my own plight and am reasonably sure that I will have a claim against the bank, even if it is only that their delay in prosecuting their foreclosure action has caused me and my fellow beneficiaries in the estate financial harm.

A couple of interesting links for those who are interested:

First, the case of an Alabama foreclosure halted by a judge - thrown out - because the bank (in this case, our dear friends at Bank of America, again, along with EMC and the defunct Bear Stearns) because the securitization simply never happened.

Then, there's the 127-page report filed by the Congressional Oversight Panel which looked into robo-signing and other mortgage-related issues in November, 2010.

As for me, I'll check the mail later today and, if nothing from the court or the bank is in my box, I'll just murmur what I usually do: "another day in paradise."

Tears and Anger

I haven't posted here in well over a year, and probably should have, as a lot has gone on in the past 12 months.

Yesterday, in fact, was the 1 year anniversary of receiving our notice of foreclosure. The bank has done nothing since, and I'm still living here.

But the real reason I came here today was because of this song, Glenn Miller's I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo.

It's a classic, one my parents enjoyed in the post-war era. Hearing it makes me cry, because it recalls a better time for our country, a time of innocence, a time when the media and government didn't want to control every last bit of our lives. A time when America was truly free. A time I so sorely miss.

Maybe there's no going back to those days, though I'd like to think there was. The song, and others from that era by Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, Harry James and others bring back so many emotions.

Thoughts of a better time, days long past, also angers me, makes me wonder what the world would be like without the lying politicians which plague us, the bankers, the Lloyd Blankfiens, the Vikram Pandits and the Jamie Dimons of the world, who got bailed out, took down billions in bonuses and still want to rape the homeowners of America with their flimsy, fault-ridden foreclosures.

I hate the banks. We need to rid ourselves of these parasites and the politicians who protect them. Some day Bank of America will come knocking on my door, I know it, wanting their money, or my home. Before that day comes, I must be prepared. It's not exactly easy to get by these days, but when they do come calling, I want to have my anger restrained and some paperwork for them, like the fraudulent mortgage papers by which they swindled my father out of all his equity.

I swear never to give up this house without a fight, and maybe a huge one. I've been waiting for these sick bastards to make a move, but so far they've done nothing. I only need a little more time, maybe a few more months, and then I'll have a lawyer and the paperwork in order to put them in a place they'd rather not go - like federal court, facing fraud charges.

So far, time has been on my side, but only because the bankers are so royally screwed by their own deceit. For now, enjoy the Glenn Miller Orchestra and think of what you'd like our country to represent.