CONGRESSIONAL INTERVENTION

It was reported last week that the government via Congress wants to buy up foreclosed homes, which I think is unwise. That's just more spending on an already buckling treasury. You need to give people their homes back that were foreclosed upon through fraud and or gouging. It would take months, but it can be done. It is the correct, viable solution, as opposed to wasting many billions in taxpayer money buying back homes that went into foreclosure, because you failed to do your jobs in properly regulating the banks the first time around.

Remove all the excessive fees and financial penalties that were piled on these mortgages, put people back in their homes where they left off before it went haywire, and at a decent, FIXED interest rate, so they can make payments again on what they worked hard for before it was improperly taken through gouging and fraud. It's better than blowing billions, possibly trillions in taxpayer money to buy back homes you may not be able to fill, as you destroyed millions of people's credit when you took their homes through gouging and fraudulent foreclosure.

At this point there are probably more people in America with bad credit than good. You do realize that? That's another thing, you need to regulate credit card interest fees. Is there any wonder people are always in debt when you have credit card companies charging 27% and 37 % interest.

Putting people back in their homes is also better than the banks owning many and I mean many, vacant homes across America that aren't selling at auctions, forcing them to do maintenance on the properties and pay taxes on them as well. Then again, some banks like Washington Mutual are idiotic and just might prefer that, as they are proud and very corrupt.

However, to rational, logical people, it is better to have occupied houses with money coming in as revenue, than empty ones costing you money every month in taxes, lawn and other maintenance fees.

It is better to have $1,000 per month, $12,000 per year coming in, rather than an empty house. You multiply that by the many foreclosed homes that ended up vacant due to gouging and fraud on the part of the banks and that's substantial revenue for the lending institutions, that would help them get back on track.

GOUGING RECAP

Angelo Mozilo testifying in Congress this month

While millions of Americans lost their homes via gouging and his company Countrywide began buckling, Angelo Mozilo walked away with a $168 million dollar golden parachute for his terrible efforts and poor practices. As I wrote in my December 13, 2007 article, "The CEO leaves the company with a golden parachute when they should leave with a golden indictment."

Several banks engaged in gouging practices pioneered by Kerry Killinger at Washington Mutual and Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide. The heartlessness under which they operate is astonishing.

Washington Mutual

They both became famous in the banking world via offering cheapness that customers couldn't refuse. They employed heavy advertising and it worked. However, underneath it all, were many incidents of price gouging, excessive fees and extreme interest rate hikes once the American consumer was through their doors.

For example, people who took adjustable loans years ago, were hit with terrible news over the last year and a half that their payments would significantly increase and there wasn't anything they could do about it. The government sat back and let them do it. People who were paying $500 per month for a mortgage for 10, 15, years, were told out of nowhere the steady rate they had for all that time was gone, and their payment doubled. This was the story of many people, a large number of them losing their homes.

There were other cases of consumers being defrauded out of their homes via Washington Mutual refusing payment or allowing people to commit fraud in wiping out checking accounts homeowners used to pay their bills. This was done to a retired U.S. colonel, among others, to gain his valuable home with vast acreage. Killinger knew, and despite public protest, stole the man's home and land. This is the kind of heartless animal he is with no respect for the law.

There have been complaints of Washington Mutual holding checks longer than previously disclosed before clearing them and using technicalities such as an item payable on an account being put through at 1PM, while the funds that were previously deposited via check not being available until 2PM, thus creating an overdraft of $27. Those $27 dollar fees ad up and create a lot of revenue. 

Many people complained of Washington Mutual's poor account security practices in allowing individuals from all over the world, unauthorized access to customers' checking accounts, illegally deducting funds in internet and telephone scams. Many complaints cropped up online of customers losing several thousand dollars a piece in this manner, then being charged excessive, multiple overdraft fees, with Washington Mutual refusing to cover the damage for the miscellaneous, fraudulent charges they allowed.

Just this month, on March 6, 2008, there was a story in the Miami Herald about Washington Mutual ATM machines spitting out receipts for transactions BUT NO CASH.

Other banks followed many of these corrupt practices pioneered by Washington Mutual and Countrywide, to boost revenue, and today we are witnessing the collapse of the U.S. banking industry that created such a ripple effect that it severely harmed the insurance, construction and furniture industries.