If you read my blog much, you know that Alain Sherter is one of my favorite writers. Well, he’s hitting one out of the ballpark this time. This is from his article on BNET. It’s called “Foreclosures: Did Wall Street Banks Conspire to Rob Homeowners?” Read! –

Are the financial firms alleged to have fraudulently repossessed people people’s homes more like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight or the mob? That question underlies the spreading foreclosure scandal, and how it is answered could affect any ensuing legal or legislative remedies to resolve the crisis.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray is unequivocal in his assessment. In suing GMAC Mortgage and corporate parent Ally Financial in order to to block it from proceeding with any foreclosures in the state, he characterized the company as preying on vulnerable homeowners “through fraudulent and unfair and deceptive practices.”

Now take a look at the previous article – “Foreclosures: Help for Homeowners Means Hurt for Banks.”

The foreclosure crisis is morphing into a full-blown political crisis — and it’s about time. In Washington, lawmakers are urging the Obama administration to investigate whether financial institutions have broken the law in dealing with borrowers at risk of losing their homes. At the local level, legal officials are pressing lenders to cease foreclosures. …

Several things are happening here. First, the foreclosure epidemic, until recently mostly a subplot in the national economic drama, is now front-page news. Revelations that some of the nation’s biggest financial firms, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC) and Ally Financial, have “robo-signed” people’s homes away have seen to that. With midterms elections only weeks away, Congress has no choice but to sit up and take notice, if only to cover their backs.

Second, more and more homeowners face eviction. One in seven people with a mortgage is past due or in foreclosure, according to the Center for Responsible Lending, a consumer advocacy group. That’s up from one in eight in 2009 and one in 11 the previous year.

You should follow the links and read the whole articles. Better yet, check every few days to keep up with crisis, you can’t do any better that Sherter’s reporting.

James Pilant