HousingWire’s Monday Morning Cup of Coffee take a look at news from the weekend, with more coverage on bigger issues.
The fight over the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems is taking on a new, dramatic tone in the state of Oregon.
Within the state, the Multnomah County (Portland) commissioners recently filed a lawsuit, alleging the electronic system helped financial firms and MERS avoid paying local county filing fees on property transfers, according to OregonLive.com.
What’s more, the Oregon Court of Appeals decided in the summer that a lender has to show complete ownership history within the county records before a nonjudicial foreclosure can take place.
That case is now on appeal at the state supreme court.
In addition, a mediation requirement by the state legislature requiring mediation for nonjudicial foreclosures is forcing financial firms to choose the judicial route, the publication says.
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The shadow banking system that caused the world’s financial woes is still very much alive, the Financial Stability Board said in a report Sunday.
Non-bank financial firms grew to $62 trillion in 2007 and have increased their presence ever since, albeit at a slower pace, the FSB reported.
By the end of 2011, the system reached a value of $67 trillion, causing concern that while banks in the traditional regulatory structure are dealing with new regulatory scrutiny, shadow banking is still unconstrained to a degree.
“Data granularity is improving, with the share of unidentified non-bank financial intermediaries within overall non-bank intermediation falling from 36% in 2010 to 18% in 2011,” the FSB said.
“However, further improvements are needed in jurisdictions that still lack granular data to adequately capture the magnitude and nature of risks in the shadow banking system.”
It seems everyone in the U.S. has a mortgage problem. That’s right, 100% of the population.
At least that’s the argument Evan Feinberg of the Charles Koch Institute makes in USA Today when he compares government debt in the $16-trillion range to a very big mortgage.
Feinberg suggested Americans are underwater and when interest rates move upward, the country will be in a world of financial pain.
He calls it America’s real mortgage crisis.
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The FDIC shuttered the doors of Hometown Community Bank in Braselton, Ga., this past week. The two branches of the bank will reopen as branches of CertrusBank, which is based in Easley, S.C.
The closing will cost the FDIC deposit insurance fund about $36.7 million.
