IMPORTANT: Goldman settles with massachusetts homeowners...60 mil

[xiamiam]

This is way important....Goldman settles with homeowners to settle an INQUIRY into their role in subprime lending..not necessarily loans they made but by lenders they funded...why isn't this happening in other states?..is this a precedent of whats to come?..I certainly hope so...they didnt even let it get further than an inquiry..this is something..

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/12/goldman-sachs-settles-sub_n_201929.html

BOSTON (AP) -- Investment banker Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay a $10 million fee and let some 714 Massachusetts homeowners rework their mortgages in a settlement reached as part of a state investigation into subprime lending.

Attorney General Martha Coakley said the rewritten mortgages could save about $50 million for residents across the state, the bulk of them living in Boston, Brockton, Lawrence, Springfield and Worcester.

Goldman will reduce the principal on first mortgages by up to 35 percent, and work with its affiliate, Litton Loan Servicing LP, on refinancing terms.

Borrowers will be contacted by their lender or should contact the person to whom they make their mortgage payment, Coakley said.

While Goldman did not admit to any legal wrongdoing, it provided capital for mortgage lenders who provided the high-risk loans to marginal borrowers. Goldman, in turn, packaged the loans into stock market commodities through a process known as "securitization."

more at link

[pleah]

1. K&R

[Captain Hilts]

2. WTF???

[One_Life_To_Give]

3. Cheaper to write-off today than fight?

WIth TARP funds floating around and a market that is expecting heavy writeoff's anyway. Goldman was probably a whole lot quicker to give in and settle than we would of expected a year ago or likely a year from now.

[xiamiam]

6. the key is in the last sentence of the article

They didn't settle for $60M. They paid $60M to stop the investigation for fear of the whole story coming out. "Under the terms of the settlement, the state can no longer bring legal action against Goldman for its subprime activities...but that is just massachusetts..what the the federal government and the other 49 states?

[xiamiam]

4. I just sent this to Barbara Boxer...nt

[xiamiam]

5. just imagine what a full blown investigation would uncover if they were willing to cramdown

mortgages...while the banks have spent millions lobbying against them...this is really great news if we use it..just needs to get traction..slipping behind photos of miss california...

[xiamiam]

7. this is big news..why is it sinking..no comments..no dialogue...wtf

no other threads...this is the first time goldman and been taken to task for the citizens...i dont think any other state has done this..i would love to hear comments from you guys who are smart and understand the legal implications of this...