Posts Tagged ‘indymac loan modification’

If You’re Struggling With a Foreclosure or Trying For a Mortgage Modification Consider This

The FDIC took over IndyMac in 2008 after a run on deposits led to the second-biggest failure of a federally insured bank in U.S. history. When no buyers emerged, the government had to manage IndyMac until the following March, when most of its operations were sold to the investor group that owns OneWest. They’re led by Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker, with backing from J. Christopher Flowers’ private-equity firm, hedge-fund manager George Soros and a fund linked to Michael Dell, the founder of computer maker Dell Inc. (See Bloomberg Article here)

Here are some details of the transaction according to an FDIC fact sheet:

•  The FDIC, as Conservator for IndyMac FSB (“New IndyMac”), entered into a letter of intent to sell New IndyMac to IMB HoldCo LLC, a thrift holding company controlled by IMB Management Holdings LP, a limited partnership, for approximately $13.9 billion. IMB HoldCo is owned by a consortium of private equity investors led by Steven T. Mnuchin of Dune Capital Management LP.
•  Uninsured depositors will not be receiving an additional claims dividend at this time. (Sorry little people, you get hosed.)

•  New IndyMac consists of:
o  The retail bank headquartered in Pasadena, CA, with 33 branches located primarily in the Los Angeles MSA with approximately $6.5 billion in deposits;
o  A loan portfolio of $16 billion and a securities portfolio of $6.9 billion;
o  A servicing platform with mortgage servicing rights (“MSRs”) representing an unpaid principal balance of $157.7 billion; and
o  A reverse mortgage platform, Financial Freedom, with $1.5 billion of reverse mortgages and MSRs representing an unpaid principal balance of $20.2 billion.

So for a $13.9 Billion Dollar Price Tag, the fat cats got all those assets described above….sounds like one hell of a deal.  Now let’s look at the same FDIC fact sheet to see what ordinary Americans got out of the deal…

IndyMac Loan Modification Program
•  Mortgages Eligible for Modification
—  46,500
•  Total Modification Offers Mailed to date —  32,274
•  Total Completed Modifications (Verified Income) to date —  8,512
•  Total Additional Verbal Acceptances of Offers to date —  9,480

Not surprisingly, the Internet is alive with stories and accounts of consumers who get no satisfaction from OneWest/Indymac (Sample here).  But instead of focusing on the negative, let’s turn for a minute to see how our friends, the Fat Cats are making out on their Indymac/Onewest purchase.  The headline screams, SCREWJOB!

(See the LA Times Article here)

So if you’re a consumer trying to get a loan modification or short sale through Indymac/Onewest, too bad.  But if you’re one of the handful of private investors who got preferential treatment from the feds and then got the deal of the century on this purchase (comparing assets to purchase price), just party on!

For more information contact Matt Weidner at www.mattweidnerlaw.com

If you’re one of the millions who have not had any luck getting a modification of their mortgage, especially one through Indymac (Now called One West) or Bank of America (Now called Screw You, We’ve Got All The Fed’s Money And We Don’t Need You), you’re not alone.  According to an article on CNN, OneWest has modified 3,605 loans under the president’s program and 14,570 mortgages under the FDIC and other initiatives between March and July. This compares to 16,158 loans adjusted under the FDIC between September and February. See the article here.

Indymac Emerges as OneWest- The Billionaires Already Profit!

Exactly a year ago a group of investors acquired the assets of collapsed mortgage lender IndyMac Bank from the federal government for about $1.5 billion and renamed it OneWest Bank.  The OneWest ownership roster reads like an excerpt of the Forbes 400. It includes J.C. Flowers & Co., an investment firm run by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker J. Christopher Flowers; Paulson & Co., the large hedge fund; MSD Capital, which invests the fortune of computer mogul Michael Dell; and a fund controlled by famed speculator George Soros.

OneWest is already generating hefty profits. For the six months ended Sept. 30th, it posted net operating income of about $700 million, according to filings with the FDIC. In 2007 IndyMac, saddled by troubled mortgages, posted a $614 million loss.  (This comes from an article in the Wall Street Journal)

So, to summarize, the federal government (that’s you and me), bail out Indymac.  The executives who’s judgement put Indymac in such peril make millions.  Then the Federal government sells Indymac to another group of investors who manage to turn a massive profit on the sale immediately.  All the while regular Americans continue to suffer and Indymac borrowers cannot get loan modifications done.

If they’re able to turn such a profit already, maybe they don’t need the loans in the portfolio of assets they purchased to be modified.  I mean, if they’re already making a massive profit with all these loans non-performing….what kind of profits would they make if the loans were modified and performing?

If you have an Indymac loan and need assistance with foreclosure or modification contact my office at

www.mattweidnerlaw.com