More Governmental Double Standards

Mortgage cops taking tough stance against strategic defaulters as Office of Inspector General (OIG) on the prowl for strategic defaulters


Lew Sichelman of the Chicago Tribune wrote "Strategic defaulters, beware. The feds are coming for you. And they are not happy.

Not the FBI. The Office of the Inspector General at the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The OIG may not have the same fearsome "G-man" reputation as its better-known counterparts at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but it is every bit as much a law enforcement agency, with the same powers to search, seize and arrest. Special OIG agents are even authorized to carry firearms.

The OIG's mission is to seek administrative sanctions, civil recoveries and criminal prosecutions against anyone who abuses the FHFA's programs. And it is pursuing its calling with passion, if not vengeance.

Investigators are searching not only for lenders who have sold materially deficient loans to Fannie and Freddie, but also individuals, including those who reneged on their promises to repay their mortgages. So if you are a "strategic defaulter" who decided it was better to walk away from your obligation than to keep paying for a house that was worth substantially less than you owed, it's time to start looking over your shoulder".

He further states that the OIG says "If there is any indication that you falsified information on your new loan application, the OIG is "absolutely" going to refer you for criminal prosecution, Wolfe said. "We're not just going to demand repayment," he said. "We're going to lock (people) up."

And herein lies where the double standards come in. Notice that the OIG office not only is investigating homeowners who defaulted, but is supposed to also be searching for LENDERS who sold deficient loans. But have you heard of any LENDERS being hunted down to be "locked up"? How vigorously is the OIG going after the "big boys" who started this whole disgusting foreclosure fraud in the first place? Apparently, not too vigorously, as we have yet to see one lender, one bank, one rich boy banker to be criminally prosecuted and be forced to don the black & white striped uniform of crook-hood that they so definitely deserve and have earned. These lenders have stolen mind boggling amounts of money with their ponzi scheme on a grand scale but yet, the OIG office is going to be adamantly searching for and going after the homeowners who have walked away from their mortgages who owe more than $1 billion to Fannie and Freddie. Now, even though $1 billion is a lot, compared to what the lenders have stolen, it's merely a pittance. But who does the OIG office want to hunt down to pay back the $187 billion in taxpayer money that the Treasury has invested so far to keep Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac afloat — by some estimates, the tab eventually could reach more than $360 billion - surely not the ones who are responsible for the lion's share of the bill, of course not! Let's just let the big time crooks who falsified paperwork in selling deficient loans, assignments of mortgages, promissory notes and deeds of trusts (to mention only some of it!) continue to skate away from their crimes because they're just "too big to jail"!