Foreclosure Crisis – Who’s To Blame?
There is an on-going debate about who is to blame for the current mortgage foreclosure crisis. The NY Times has just reported on the issue, stating that a lot of the blame is being placed on mortgage brokers. Mortgage brokers, in turn, say that lenders’ loose lending requirements in 2005 is responsible. From what I have seen in my Manhattan law practice and in speaking to lenders, brokers and borrowers throughout the New York metro area, most of the agents who put these loans together have now moved on. The gold rush is over and they’ve closed up shop or downsized. One of my pending cases in the New York Supreme Court involves a predatory lending claim against a major institutional lender based in part on representations that were made by a broker acting on behalf of the bank.