The Big Bank Settlement: I Call Shenanigans

When the Federal Government took my tax dollars and handed them to banks who were in trouble for writing bad loans to people who couldn’t pay them, I was angry. When I found out that the same banks were guilty of defrauding investors and betting against these same loans in their prop trading operations I was pissed. After the CEOs of these same banks went before Congress and swore under oath that they did nothing wrong to mislead borrowers and that even they had no idea that a massive sub-prime crisis was coming and that was the end of the investigation, I was flat out boiling.

Now this.What a pile of stinking, awful, you-know-what.

$25 Billion dollars was the agreed upon amount that the Federal government was willing to let the 7 largest banks off the hook for who admitted to wrongfully foreclosing on homeowners, forcing down the value of untold properties surrounding their empty unwanted homes.

Here’s who is going to benefit from this settlement:

- Borrowers from the 49 states that signed on to the settlement, except Oklahoma. (Oklahoma reached a separate settlement with the banks worth $18.6 million. If you live in Oklahoma, you will not be entitled to the $25 billion deal.)

- Borrowers who had their houses foreclosed on them from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2011.

- Borrowers who took out a mortgage with one of the following banks: Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, or Ally Financial (formerly known as GMAC). No other banks, mortgage servicers or government sponsored entities (Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae) are eligible.

- Borrowers who are in the process of being foreclosed on and borrowers whose house is worth less than the amount of their mortgage, otherwise known as “underwater” mortgages.

All of the rest of us who don’t fit in those categories are out of luck.

I don’t know what happened to the Occupy Movement, but somewhere these guys got their wires crossed. Allow me to clarify the situation, “YOU DON’T NEED TO PROTEST INEQUALITY BETWEEN THE TOP 1% AND THE OTHER 99%, ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS GO AFTER THE BANKS THAT PROFITED BY THE COLLAPSE OF THE HOUSING MARKET.”  Simple enough?

I think anyone can spot a crook when presented with the right evidence and these self admitted purveyors of non-performing loans who duped morons into taking them should be put out of business and where appropriate, put in jail. No more slaps on the wrist, and definitely no more federal guaranteed loans.

I personally couldn’t care less how bad of a depression/recession/riot follows, I want the banks that caused so much grief and hardship to go out of business. I’m not interested in loan modifications for the idiots who got themselves in over their heads with exotic no down payment, adjustable double-ballooning, interest only loans, in fact, the sooner they get kicked out of their homes, the better because ignorance is no excuse. I’m confident that there are enough banks in this world who will step up and take the place of their fallen competitors and we will be facing a whole new slew of issues down the road in a few years, but that’s OK because right now, we need justice and justice is not being served.

So that’s it America, once again, we got screwed. Why can’t we stand up to these people and put them out of business? How hard is it to let the people who made mistakes suffer the consequences, and why are we still letting the same people harm our way of life? It’s just not right and I call Shenanigans on the whole process.